Favourite guitar shops?

Dan5150

Planning a jaunt with a few mates to check out some gear in the near future. We normally hit up Andertons and/or GuitarGuitar Epsom but fancy a change. 

Any recommendations for places that have a great selection of gear (big bonus points for interesting second hand goodies) and friendly staff that don’t mind you trying stuff? 

We’re based in Kent and Essex so somewhere within a few hours of either would be ideal.  

Cheers

idiotwindow

Coda

Whitecat

Coda is amazing. 
Peach is great but you need an appointment. 

Andertons is alright but as far as guitars go very mass-market. I guess you know that!

Guitar Village in Farnham has very nice stuff and great staff but it’s a slightly “stuffier” experience. Not that far from Andertons, can do both in a day. 

scarry67

I’m in Kent too and it’s a real shame that most of the old guitar shops have gone. I used to brave Chatham for the 3 or 4 shops running along the road to Rochester, and Canterbury had a number of half decent places too. One option is take a day out in Brighton where there’s Badlands, Mudpie, Hobgoblin and GAK of course. Unfortunately, the M25 is unavoidable…

HAL9000

Whitecat said:

Andertons is alright but as far as guitars go very mass-market. I guess you know that!

Guitar Village in Farnham has very nice stuff and great staff but it’s a slightly “stuffier” experience. Not that far from Andertons, can do both in a day. 

My recent experience of Andertons and GV was that Andertons had guitars on display that seemingly hadn’t been given even the most basic of checks  - you know the kind of thing - strings past their best, ridiculously high or low actions, bridge saddles all over the place, lose or missing screws, etc.

In contrast, GV’s stock was better set up and more playable. I tried maybe half a dozen or so instruments in each shop so suspect that’s a trend rather than me just being unlucky.

prowla

I like somewhere which isn’t wall-to-wall new guitars and has some old junk too. 

Unfortunately those kind of shops are fading away. 

I bought something in Andertons yesterday, but it could have been anywhere. 

Wazmeister

Coda Music.
Coda Music.
Coda Music.

ToneControl

HAL9000 said:

Whitecat said:

Andertons is alright but as far as guitars go very mass-market. I guess you know that!

Guitar Village in Farnham has very nice stuff and great staff but it’s a slightly “stuffier” experience. Not that far from Andertons, can do both in a day. 

My recent experience of Andertons and GV was that Andertons had guitars on display that seemingly hadn’t been given even the most basic of checks  - you know the kind of thing - strings past their best, ridiculously high or low actions, bridge saddles all over the place, lose or missing screws, etc.

In contrast, GV’s stock was better set up and more playable. I tried maybe half a dozen or so instruments in each shop so suspect that’s a trend rather than me just being unlucky.

I just don't understand why shop staff don't fix bad set-ups.
AFAIK there's always some quiet time most days

scovell001

i wanna put out some solid mentions, for those cool order style guitar shops.

the guitar store Southampton  - world guitars & if you are on holiday, check out Willy’s guitars in Cowes on the Isle of Wight ! 

My no 1 is peach, Andertons is just ‘andertons’ - I just can’t do guitar village anymore, some nice pieces but, please ! 

Always have fun in Denmark street also 

StuartMac290

Coda. 

revsorg

Surely if you tell Peach what you have in mind they'd realise it was in their interest to entertain you.

Troglodyte

Another vote for Coda.

pjf

Coda acoustics bit is great, very easy going staff and no hard sell, genuinely pleasant experience and Kelvin in particular is happy and able to put the guitars through their paces, letting you hear how they sound on the other side of the strings 

I’m sure electric side of Coda is similarly good but no personal experience there.

Guitar Village is excellent, slightly more expensive but lovely shop and again in my experience the staff are happy to leave you alone to try anything you like (ask first of course).

GG Epsom is good but can get quite busy. 

Andertons is hit and miss, I’ve found, but YMMV. And hard to park there.

tone1

Cash Converters…..

stickyfiddle

Coda is ace. No other comments

Guitar Village is ace but some find them a bit overbearing sometimes. I've never had any issues personally. 

Andertons is fine and has loads of stuff but a bit less special. 

Peach looks brilliant but I haven't been since they moved to their current huge place. 

prowla

scovell001 said:

i wanna put out some solid mentions, for those cool order style guitar shops.

the guitar store Southampton  - world guitars & if you are on holiday, check out Willy’s guitars in Cowes on the Isle of Wight ! 

My no 1 is peach, Andertons is just ‘andertons’ - I just can’t do guitar village anymore, some nice pieces but, please ! 

Always have fun in Denmark street also 

In that general area on the South coast: there's some small independents left:

• Street Level, Southsea.
• Steve's Guitar Centre, Cosham (moved from Southsea).
• Guitars To Go, Chichester.
  

prowla

Wazmeister said:

Coda Music.
Coda Music.
Coda Music.

StuartMac290 said:

Coda. 

Troglodyte said:

Another vote for Coda.

stickyfiddle said:

Coda is ace. No other comments

Interesting re. Coda

I've been there a few times but not seen anything interesting; the last time I went to Stevenage North I didn't go in.

I like tatty old basses, parts, oddments, projects, so I accept that I may not be their target clientele.

Grumpyrocker

Not a single one anywhere near me. Living in the south west sucks sometimes. 

stickyfiddle

Coda is ace. No other comments

Guitar Village is ace but some find them a bit overbearing sometimes. I've never had any issues personally. 

Andertons is fine and has loads of stuff but a bit less special. 

Peach looks brilliant but I haven't been since they moved to their current huge place. 

sev112

Grumpyrocker said:

Not a single one anywhere near me. Living in the south west sucks sometimes. 

WM guitars in Ashburton - nice chaps and independent

Grumpyrocker

sev112 said:

Grumpyrocker said:

Not a single one anywhere near me. Living in the south west sucks sometimes. 

WM guitars in Ashburton - nice chaps and independent

Quite a way from me still. I'm in West Dorset, which isn't west enough for Exeter, but too west for everything else. It's a bit of a blank space for all kinds of shops.