Hitting NY this weekend, what music store is a must see?

[Mokaccino]

Educate me on music stores in NY, what to avoid, what not to miss.

It'll be my first time in NY, I'll be staying at the Days Inn - North Bergen, seems to be about 20 minutes from Manhattan.

I'll be there from friday dec 3rd to sunday dec 5th. I'll probably be busy as hell and I won't get much sleep, I wanna see all of it!!

Thx!

 

[bigdaddyd]

What exactly do you want to see at the stores? There are no deals here, and they all seem to have the same stuff you will find everywhere. Most don't have great service either. I am speaking strictly of store in NYC. You might do better of ones outside of the city. I have dealt with them all over the years and narrowed them down to one place until that owner screwed me over one to many times as well. I am finally done with all stores here. If you want to just look around at the nice guitars, you can always go to 48th street, which I believe is just Sam Ash, which sucks...14th street has Guitar Center...which sucks, you have Matt Umanov, and Carmine Street...the latter of which I can't recommend. Same with First Flight, or 30th Street. Rudy's has nice stuff at insanely high prices. In summation...unless you need something, avoid them all and spend your time seeing other more worthwhile NYC highlights.

When I was a kid, I used to love NYC guitar stores. Those were different times.

 

[155]

go to ultrasound studio and play some stuff?

 

[Ancient Alien]

Yeah, the only place in NYC to check out amazing gear is at Ultra Sound....
The stores kinda suck price wise and selection wise.
There are a few vintage shops if you are into that, but VERY pricey.

 

[Mokaccino]

What exactly do you want to see at the stores? There are no deals here, and they all seem to have the same stuff you will find everywhere. Most don't have great service either. I am speaking strictly of store in NYC. You might do better of ones outside of the city. I have dealt with them all over the years and narrowed them down to one place until that owner screwed me over one to many times as well. I am finally done with all stores here. If you want to just look around at the nice guitars, you can always go to 48th street, which I believe is just Sam Ash, which sucks...14th street has Guitar Center...which sucks, you have Matt Umanov, and Carmine Street...the latter of which I can't recommend. Same with First Flight, or 30th Street. Rudy's has nice stuff at insanely high prices. In summation...unless you need something, avoid them all and spend your time seeing other more worthwhile NYC highlights.

When I was a kid, I used to love NYC guitar stores. Those were different times.

lol! I think I'll just do the NYC highlights then!!! It sounds a lot like some places here in Montreal!

And my gf whants to see the big christmas tree so...

Thx dude!

 

[bigdaddyd]

No problem. Ultrasound is cool, but it isn't a store. It is a studio and you have to make an appointment to book time to check out their amps. I believe you have to pay as well (studio.) That said, you do get to have fun jamming on some great amps. It is in a crusty building, and I am not sure, but you might have to bring a guitar. I know the last time I was there, my friends were rehearsing and had theirs.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Educate me on music stores in NY, what to avoid, what not to miss.

It'll be my first time in NY, I'll be staying at the Days Inn - North Bergen, seems to be about 20 minutes from Manhattan.

I'll be there from friday dec 3rd to sunday dec 5th. I'll probably be busy as hell and I won't get much sleep, I wanna see all of it!!

Thx!

If you have time there's a few in NJ close to North Bergen. Lark Street Music in Teanack and Odibella's in Bergenfield. If you're in Hoboken checkout Guitar Bar and Hoboken Vintage which are on 1st and Park street. Also, Hoboken has a great night club/bar scene.

http://www.larkstreet.com/

 

[Mokaccino]

Educate me on music stores in NY, what to avoid, what not to miss.

It'll be my first time in NY, I'll be staying at the Days Inn - North Bergen, seems to be about 20 minutes from Manhattan.

I'll be there from friday dec 3rd to sunday dec 5th. I'll probably be busy as hell and I won't get much sleep, I wanna see all of it!!

Thx!

If you have time there's a few in NJ close to North Bergen. Lark Street Music in Teanack and Odibella's in Bergenfield. If you're in Hoboken checkout Guitar Bar and Hoboken Vintage which are on 1st and Park street. Also, Hoboken has a great night club/bar scene.

http://www.larkstreet.com/

Thx dude, very cool!

 

[PaulyPanacea]

UltraSound is super cool. you do need to book an appointment & it costs $$ per hour. But if you buy something they waive the fee. If you are looking to spend $$, they have it all...and Ken Volpe is a great guy to deal with!

 

[steve_k]

Rudy's

The Music Zoo

 

[rupe]

Rudy's

The Music Zoo

+1

Also, see if you can hit 48th St in 1985

 

[dawnofdreamx97]

Come by My shop.... ! pm me for details...

 

[bigdaddyd]

Rudy's was cool up to like '96...still has great stuff, but way overpriced...unless of course you consider like $25 appropriate for a Floyd Rose replacement bar. Things like that. I think I paid $11 for the same thing online...(from a B&M store.) I remember when I was younger they charged me $85 to setup my Les Paul Special. That was a basic setup. Nothing included. You know, what should have cost $35. That was when I learned to do my own work. They are expensive by even NYC standards. Their gear is even worse. The stuff they carry is very nice though.

I second 48th street in the '80s....lol...it was awesome. Especially ...WE Buy Guitars.....(from crackheads that stole them from you )

 

[Big Rich]

yea rudys is the only good store near times square ... everything went out of business

my friend was just at rudys and he said that they didnt even have anything on the floor though cuz it had all been sold


i miss the ESP store 48th st customs .... that store was completely EPIC!!!

 

[bigdaddyd]

yea rudys is the only good store near times square ... everything went out of business

my friend was just at rudys and he said that they didnt even have anything on the floor though cuz it had all been sold


i miss the ESP store 48th st customs .... that store was completely EPIC!!!

I miss the ESP store too. I got to play Vernon Reid's Glamour Boy's guitar there in the Artist's shop upstairs when I was a kid and I will never forget it. I was up there when they were fixing my Mirage Custom. That place ruled. Ah those were the days

 

[Gainzilla]

I like 30th st guitars but thats about it. I have some friends at GC that give me some great deals on stuff but I really dont buy anything worth anything in NYC. You can onfact buy amps from Ultrasound but its like BigDaddyD said, you have to book an hour but then you have the benefit of playing a bunch of boutique amps that youre hardpressed to play elsewhere. Dont expect any deals there, just go to see if you diig it and buy elsewhere.. and yes, Im a Manhattanite who has lived here for YEARS!!!

 

[AmpliFIRE]

30th St Guitars. The owner (Matt) is a great guy and will wheel and deal a bit if you see something you like

 

[bigdaddyd]

30th St Guitars. The owner (Matt) is a great guy and will wheel and deal a bit if you see something you like

YMMV on this one, and I strongly disagree with the great guy part. I will never go back there. Just to clarify, this was the last store I went to. I gave up on all NYC stores, except this one and then Matt ruined that too. I won't into it on a public forum, because he is very sensitive, let's just say bought a Hakko and starting soldering and doing even more work on my own to avoid having to deal with his shit. There are other people that do good tech work, which was mostly what I used his services for anyway. He does have a cool lizard in the back. That is the best part of the shop.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

30th St Guitars. The owner (Matt) is a great guy and will wheel and deal a bit if you see something you like

YMMV on this one, and I strongly disagree with the great guy part. I will never go back there. Just to clarify, this was the last store I went to. I gave up on all NYC stores, except this one and then Matt ruined that too. I won't into it on a public forum, because he is very sensitive, let's just say bought a Hakko and starting soldering and doing even more work on my own to avoid having to deal with his shit. There are other people that do good tech work, which was mostly what I used his services for anyway. He does have a cool lizard in the back. That is the best part of the shop.

Hmm...that's odd. I've done 10 or so deals with him and it worked out great every time...

 

[bigdaddyd]

30th St Guitars. The owner (Matt) is a great guy and will wheel and deal a bit if you see something you like

YMMV on this one, and I strongly disagree with the great guy part. I will never go back there. Just to clarify, this was the last store I went to. I gave up on all NYC stores, except this one and then Matt ruined that too. I won't into it on a public forum, because he is very sensitive, let's just say bought a Hakko and starting soldering and doing even more work on my own to avoid having to deal with his shit. There are other people that do good tech work, which was mostly what I used his services for anyway. He does have a cool lizard in the back. That is the best part of the shop.

Hmm...that's odd. I've done 10 or so deals with him and it worked out great every time...

I have dealt with him for longer than that, and have always liked him and put up with his quirks. I kept most of my business to the tech side since I quite frankly found better deals elsewhere. I always brought my gear to him though and he even asked why I didn't buy the stuff from him. I told him, "when you give me these deals I will." That was never the problem. I had around 15 guitars or so at a time and he would have easily charged like 2x what I was paying for some of them, so I can't blame him If I new he had something for sale that someone was looking for, I would direct them to his shop and sold some stuff for him. I never got anything out of it, and probably not even a thank you... certainly not a discount. He did always hook me up with gear that didn't sell, which worked out for me because I have those kind of tastes.

Like I said, I will not publicly air my problems that caused me to stop using him, but I will say that he would think it was one particular occurrence, but rather there were many and the last one was the one that just was the straw that broke the camel's back. I actually owe him for making me more proactive in my attempt to learn sharpen my own skills when it comes to working on my own gear. I have gotten much better at soldering and was already doing setups and such before. Bottom line is, maybe he had a really bad day the last day I was there. The thing is I am the customer....and if anyone saw what he did and said....well he is pretty lucky I am a nice guy.