Chaps- heads up- do read.

bloodandtears

TimmyO said:

bloodandtears said:

They seem a bit pricey?? Is it just me??

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=5141

https://www.thomann.de/gb/vintage_icon_v100mrpgm.htm

That post is a handy illustration of the topic of this thread :-) 

Even post-brexit ;-)

xSkarloey

bloodandtears said:

They seem a bit pricey?? Is it just me??

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=5141

https://www.thomann.de/gb/vintage_icon_v100mrpgm.htm

To be fair to them, there shop price for that Lemon Drop is middle of the road. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive.


This though is about £100 north of where most people place it- web or shop purchase

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=5140

bloodandtears

Skarloey said:

bloodandtears said:

They seem a bit pricey?? Is it just me??

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=5141

https://www.thomann.de/gb/vintage_icon_v100mrpgm.htm

To be fair to them, there shop price for that Lemon Drop is middle of the road. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive.


This though is about £100 north of where most people place it- web or shop purchase

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=5140

I was gonna post that one too but thought it overkill lol... that and it being out of stock..

hugbot

I popped in there today. A few deals but not many, heard the store owner saying that more stuff would be going at cost later though. 

There is an engl combo for 450 if anyone wants it 

Blaendulais

Teetonetal said:

Visited chandlers a few times when I lived in Ealing.  Not a great shop. Over priced in the main and seriously failed to embrace the Internet.

What distinguishes Chandlers is the workshop. The three guys there are awesome and clearly trusted by many players of repute. The sales has been crap for years overpriced and often with attitude. The workshop guys will thrive I know for a fact. 

Blaendulais

ChrisRG said:

I got both my old Ibanez RG and a "custom" guitar a mate's brother made for me setup there.  The "custom" wasn't of the greatest quality but they had the neck off, put a new nut on and did as much as they could to get it playable.  Did a great job on both guitars.  The guy doing the servicing was great but the older guys running the shop seemed a bit unwelcoming.

It's a real shame though as I work in Richmond and was planning to take another guitar down there for a setup.

Wait a few weeks Chris - the same guys will do it for you

FelineGuitars

They are having to close as the long term lease they had has come up for renewal. As when they took it out it would have taken them all to an age where they might have been considering retirement I guess it seemed an ok thing.  I suspect that if a renewal is offered the time is too long or the price will be way more than you'd go for. It may be that the building could be lined up for part of a redevelopment.

I have a soft spot for Doug, Paula and Charlie from my brief stint working there back in '94.
Brinsley was also a font of knowledge even though I don't think he liked me.

sad to see it have to go and a bitter pill for those who work there both in the shop and workshop.

Blaendulais

FelineGuitars said:

They are having to close as the long term lease they had has come up for renewal. As when they took it out it would have taken them all to an age where they might have been considering retirement I guess it seemed an ok thing.  I suspect that if a renewal is offered the time is too long or the price will be way more than you'd go for. It may be that the building could be lined up for part of a redevelopment.

I have a soft spot for Doug, Paula and Charlie from my brief stint working there back in '94.
Brinsley was also a font of knowledge even though I don't think he liked me.

sad to see it have to go and a bitter pill for those who work there both in the shop and workshop.

I keep saying...workshop living on....

FelineGuitars

Blaendulais said:

FelineGuitars said:

They are having to close as the long term lease they had has come up for renewal. As when they took it out it would have taken them all to an age where they might have been considering retirement I guess it seemed an ok thing.  I suspect that if a renewal is offered the time is too long or the price will be way more than you'd go for. It may be that the building could be lined up for part of a redevelopment.

I have a soft spot for Doug, Paula and Charlie from my brief stint working there back in '94.
Brinsley was also a font of knowledge even though I don't think he liked me.

sad to see it have to go and a bitter pill for those who work there both in the shop and workshop.

I keep saying...workshop living on....

Oh good to hear...do you know if they have sourced new premises?

Kebabkid

Didn't know about the workshop continuing somewhere else but what Jonathan says is true - the lease renewal came up and it's very expensive. Plus, believe it or not, Paula is close to retirement age and has worked solidly for that entire time and it's time (over 37 yrs) to call it a day.

Doug, Paula and Charlie regularly got credits on albums for their invaluable help.

xSkarloey

Do you know if this is actually going to develop into some sort of 'evertything must got' sale, Gas?
Web prices seem pretty much static and FB says nowt.

Sporky

A quick look around the website shows they have a general contempt for customers.

No refunds on sale items
Only 7 days to return
Must include original packaging
No refund of the delivery charge

If they can't even be bothered to offer the minimum required by law then they don't deserve to stay in business.

Winny_Pooh

They always have had interesting stock, best part is the basement amp room where volume is not an issue. 

FelineGuitars

Chandlers was never a cheap shop - especially in a world that seems to know the price of everything but the value of nothing....
....but it was a very important shop for many many players, many of whom are pros and many who will feature in your album or CD collection. The reason it was important was (in it's heyday) the level of knowledge was second to none and they were great at guiding players looking for answers to their playing desires towards finding a rig or just parts of it. People bought from them even though there were discount merchants selling cheaper because of loyalty to the store that would always help them out and offer guidance and also the technical back-up they would get from the store, should they need it.

Reverend

Skarloey said:

Antique_Guitars said:

Skarloey said:

It is sad to see shops close. In the last year or so, that neck of the woods has lost the music shop at the top of Twickenham High St, Hands in Kingston and now seemingly this. 

Yeah but alberts in Twickenham was always shit, stereotypical music shop, the type who looked down on you if you weren't some kind of royal college student. And it was actually crap inside just budget rubbish.

@Antique_Guitars ;;I was talking more from the general principle that to see a bricks and mortar shop go is a shame, on the understanding that if we lose all our shops and go over to the net, we lose a potentially valuable service. I never actually went in Alberts Hands though, I bought a few bits from them. Always courteous and helpful, but the lack of any web presence and not realising until too late that "RRP and then some" for many items is not a good pricing policy may not have helped. Last time I was there they'd actually opened a cafe on the ground floor, which did make me think they were in a spot of bother relying on sheet music and instrument sales alone.


The old Richmond Music Shop in Red Lion Street went years ago. I had the old 'been here for ages and no-one's served me' treatment, so once was enough.

@ChrisRG If you want to stay local Ritz Music opposite the Red Cow do guitar repairs and setups. There's always Charlie Chandler's down in Hampton Wick of course as well.

I used to live in the one of the flats above the row of shops in Richmond.  That music shop was a weird place. I liked Chandlers. Gary Moore once walked in on me trying out a guitar. No pressure. 

TheBigDipper

I lived on the other side of London, so Chandlers was never a regular place to go to, but always worth it when I was serious about buying something. I bought my 'go to' MusicMan Sillhouette from Paula 27 years ago and always enjoyed dealing with her. I bought my Rivera there, as well. 

I visited Kew Gardens a couple of weeks ago and popped in. It felt very flat and not like it used to. Oh well... 

Strat54

Ahh say it ain't so, must have bought thirty or more guitars from there in the 90's even though I lived 200 miles away. Doug and Paula were always lovely to deal with and very fair too cos I was always chopping and changing guitars. Such a great place to hang out there in its heyday and met loads of big names there too, but they treated me a young 20 yr old home player just like they did the famous guys. 
Back in the day they weren't over priced, I bought quite a few ex name guitars and was never charged more for that...Mick Ralphs '82 AVRI Tele was £425...Graham Gouldman's (10cc) '87 PRS Custom cost me £1200 for example....oh and my dear long since departed ex Roger Taylor Schecter Tele....£750...bugger! Everything came set up to perfection too, the workshop was brilliant. Who remembers the tariff board complete with extra charge for those who wanted to watch them work on your guitar...funny! 
My first Custom Shop Fenders circa 1990 came from there....my first PRS Custom....my first '90 Tom Anderson....it was never ending, I'd ring Doug up for a chat pre internet days on a regular  basis, he'd send me guitars on appro if I couldn't travel down. Once when Tom Anderson took ages to make me a guitar Doug loaned me a lovely  £1500 Strat to play F.O.C whilst I waited.
He never made me feel like I was a walking £ sign through the door. I'd spend hours there just chatting. Doug was knowledgeable and well connected, he had a real passion for quality instruments. Went to a Guitar show in London once and spent a couple of hours with him and Paul Reed Smith just talking guitar over coffee. Happy days. I was gutted when he left to work for PRS in the U.S and split from Paula. End of an era right there.
Chandlers also sold plenty of guitars for me, even when I'd bought tthem from elsewhere...they were always very fair with their commission charged and sold them well for me.
Things change, not for the better....never felt quite the same about other shops.Sounds Great were fairly close to me but they weren't on a par with Chandlers despite Gary's best efforts. These days I avoid the shops and either buy privately or online, quite often from the U.S....can't bear there attitudes and bland modern shelving....give me the posters and wooden pegboard at Chandlers any day.....it was like an Aladdins cave...you'd go for one thing then find another gem whilst you were there.
My fave moment with Doug was when he was dealing with two guys trying out amps, he sold them a Mesa Boogie in the end ..the softly spoken guy in a blue parka with hood up paid and I could tell that Doug had no idea who they were. They left and he came back across to me, I was laughing...he asked if I knew them....he suspected they must be famous cos their address was a P.O Box...yep it was Ian Broudie and Terry Hall of the Lightening Seeds and Specials fame...I told him and he was still none the wiser...lol....he was such a gent...denim shirt, beige slacks and deck shoes....last of a breed.
Alas I did sense the end was coming, I had a sneaky look online at the accounts of various guitar shop a while back just to see the state of the market and was sad to see Chandlers as one of the ones who were struggling. They aren't alone....others will follow. One day we'll be left with only the dreaded _______ !

Thanks Doug, Paula, Charlie & Brinsley.

crunchman

As I said in the other thread I've spent well into 5 figures in there.

As others have said the service was great.  I remember borrowing something over the weekend to take it home and having a good try out.  Not going to get that from Amazon without paying return postage.  I've also taken something into the workshop and on a couple of occasions they have fixed minor things in 5 minutes and not charged me.

I think they took a decision in the early days of internet retailing to keep margins up rather than compete on price which looks to be a mistake in hindsight.

In that location the overheads would be crippling though compared with a lot of other shops.  The rent must be 3 times what retailers would pay for similar space outside of London.  A box shifter outside of London can probably pay minimum wage (or close to it) for wages as well.

impmann

Kebabkid said:

 and Nigel, who went on to open his own shop near Milton Keynes, then worked as manager at Guitar Guitar, Epsom and now heads up sales at Suhr UK.

Nigel Spennewyn? I used to work with him at Line6. Nice bloke.