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Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Manchester city centre is certainly poorly served - which is a gap in the market given the massive number of young people and presence 2 of the biggest universities in the country
There is the flagship Dawsons in the centre - not a place I enjoy, but you can look at lots of new Gibsons and Fenders,
1 mile from the centre is the biggest PMT in the country AFAIK, which surely is useful
in the suburbs is Sounds great, which is basically the North west of England's equivalent of Coda
Many people would wish there was a shop like that in their city
Back in the day, A1 on Oxford Rd was the brilliant, old school shop, the size of a newsagent, with a doorway behind the counter leading to several floors underground, like some giant rabbit warren (some will not know about this), which was bought then closed by Academy of sound I think
Johnny Roadhouse could effectively take it's place - the Hobgoblin franchise upstairs is good, but the main shop is still just selling very cheap low-quality used gear, same as 20-30 years ago. Surely the University of Manchester and Manchester Met with 72k students between them (both on Oxford Rd) could keep a decent guitar shop running?
I should have mentioned Forsythes - they have an interesting selection of acoustics - particularly from British builders.
Call me a snob - but I just don't like PMT. Not a 'sharp' operation in terms of service, nor cheap - so the worst of all worlds for me.
I've never been to Coda - but I know people rate them highly - Sounds Great was probably once the Northern equivalent but is now a shadow of its former self. Poor staff, very little high end stock compared to its glory days. There is also a back story - which I won't state publicly - which means I will never give them a penny of my money again.
Johnny Roadhouse is a strange place - a real Manc institution - but I agree the stock is almost always low end. I was in there a few weeks ago and surprised how expensive their 'better' stock was - a 1980 Gold Top Les Paul Standard at £2500, a late '70s Tele at £2295....
Given the city's music scene, I'm genuinely surprised there isn't a 'proper' independent guitar shop in the city centre.
Sounds Great isn't the store it was, but they can manage a few surprises amp-wise. I suspect that pedals continue to sell well for them.
I do think there is a bit of a hole in the North West (of England) for high-end amps - Coda, Andertons and Peach seem to have tied-up this part of the market. That's great for them, but it makes it rather difficult to consider dropping a lot of coin on (or even just experiencing) something that you really need to spend some time with to determine if it suits you and your possible playing contexts. Playing the mail-order game with amps isn't really ideal, at least to my mind.
I think Guitar Guitar would do well were they to establish a store in the region - although they might opt to stay away from PMT's immediate patch?
Gibson Custom Shop is also, to my mind, somewhat under-represented in the region.
Yep, Fair Deal is the only city centre one, it isn't huge and doesn't get much love here.
Yep, PMT and GG are opposite sides of the city, both would be a considerable walk from the city centre. If you are driving there's free parking around both though. PMT is bigger but more varied music stuff, GG more high end.PMT probably has the larger dedicated acoustic area, although it's a bit of the shop I walk through and don't pay much notice.
Not a great deal of interest in the immediate area around either of them, the Little Guitar Shop is better in that respect as the Jewellery Quarter is stuffed with independent coffee shops and, err, jewellery shops.
Fair Deal didn't keep the Gibson dealership that they used to have (from a convo that i had with a sales ass't) but i always thought it was a decent enough shop if not looking for top-end - or should i state high-priced ? - gear.
As PMT also stopped having Gibson then for one of those GG is obviously the place in Brum.
Nope, from Llani. Which puts me, natively, just on the other side of the McDonalds/KFC/B&M border.