Pilgrimage worthy music stores.

[jco5055]

I will be doing a good amount of traveling starting later this year, and after reading @ThePIGI King ’s Sweetwater thread, I thought I’d go ahead and make a list of great shops to check out if possible in the US. I can make time to go a bit out of my way depending on time and area. It also seems like a neat idea overall to have a reference since great or noteworthy shops and becoming rarer. Having a list seems like a good idea.

My list so far:

-Sweetwater
-Matt’s Music
-Axe Palace
-DCGL (Been many times. Always worth going again.)
-Wild West Guitars
-The Music Zoo

What are yours?

FYI Music Zoo is appointment only and you have to specifically request what you want to try when making an appointment. Maybe that doesn't change your opinion, but for me I like the idea of being able to just walk in and see a massive amount of inventory on the walls etc.

 

[xwmucradiox]

A lot of the shops mentioned in this thread are full of nice gear but they're also just like going to see the internet in person. Once you've gone somewhere and seen that it really is just the stack of $6000 guitars they have listed on their web site and you cant really play any of them without looking like a tire kicker it becomes way more interesting to go into stores where you don't know what you're going to see.

So for that reason I'll say Atomic Music in Beltsville MD is the best guitar shop you could possibly go to if you've already been to a lot of guitar shops in your life. They'll have some $10K vintage pieces on the wall but they'll also have rows and rows of regular people guitars and forgotten gems, tons of amps, cases with literal piles of pedals. Its an almost exclusively used shop so the inventory is constantly cycling through. If you go once every 6 months it may seem like a completely new store.

 

[xwmucradiox]

FYI Music Zoo is appointment only and you have to specifically request what you want to try when making an appointment. Maybe that doesn't change your opinion, but for me I like the idea of being able to just walk in and see a massive amount of inventory on the walls etc.

I believe Eddies mentioned above is like that as well and has been since at least the pandemic.

Emerald City in Seattle might also be appointment only too.

The "specific thing" part reminds me of going to Rudy's in NYC in the early 2000s. They had incredible guitars and amps that I hadn't seen before but if you tried something out you only tried that one thing. If you tried a guitar out you got to play through a little practice amp. If you tried an amp out you could play their shop mongrel mexican strat through it. I think it was somewhat to keep the tourists from camping in the store for hours.

 

[Sir_Shreddington]

If you’re going to be around the Detroit area, I would check out Motor City Guitar and Huber breeze.

MCG has a huge pedal section and if you don’t see a guitar on the wall that they have online they will get it from the back for you to try.

Huber Breese is also a big store with a sweet amp room and a nice vintage LP collection on the wall. HB has a sweet drum room too. They even have those hippie handpans

 

[TedEH]

If y'all make a detour into the land of poutine and maple for some reason, you should try Spaceman Music in Ottawa instead of the big box stores. It's all used and old stuff - some of it is just junk, but some interesting stuff lands there. Vintage stuff. Obscure stuff. The "I didn't realize I needed this in my life until I found it here" stuff.

 

[thraxil]

Is Rudy's in NYC still good? (haven't been there in more than a decade now).

If you ever make it to London, we have a whole street (Denmark Street) that's full of guitar/music stores and pretty legendary for various historic reasons and pilgrimage worthy.

 

[sleewell]

were playing chicago and then toledo in a couple weeks. looking forward to hitting up sweetwater during the day on sat.

 

[jco5055]

Is Rudy's in NYC still good? (haven't been there in more than a decade now).

If you ever make it to London, we have a whole street (Denmark Street) that's full of guitar/music stores and pretty legendary for various historic reasons and pilgrimage worthy.

haven't been in a few years, but I used to walk by it all the time when I lived in Manhattan last year. It's not bad, but it's pretty small and unless you are in love with Pensa guitars it doesn't really have a mecca-level of stuff imo

 

[AJS]

Sam Ash NY

I live in NYC. Honestly, while I'm sad it's going, the selection they had has also been going downhill for years. It's a shell of its former self, when it used to have the new NAMM models for ESP and Schecter and just anything interesting. Tried my first multiscale guitar and evertune guitar there.

 

[AJS]

haven't been in a few years, but I used to walk by it all the time when I lived in Manhattan last year. It's not bad, but it's pretty small and unless you are in love with Pensa guitars it doesn't really have a mecca-level of stuff imo

I was there last month for a guitar repair. This is pretty much accurate. The selection isn't amazing, at least besides Pensa guitars.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

I've been going to Zoo Music in Ft Worth Texas since the 80s. Definitely check it out if you're in the area.

 When I first read the title I was thinking
Actual music store and not guitar shops. On that note, if you're ever in Arlington, Texas, check out a place called Forever Young...

 

[Rosal76]

Other forum members have already mentioned Sam Ash and to add to that, according to a Email I got from them, they are, unfortunately, going to close 18 of their 44 stores. With that said, there's going to be the liquidation sales that go with stores closing down. So, there may be some gear that you may like marked down if you come across one of the their stores closing down.

 

[ThePIGI King]

If y'all make a detour into the land of poutine and maple for some reason, you should try Spaceman Music in Ottawa instead of the big box stores. It's all used and old stuff - some of it is just junk, but some interesting stuff lands there. Vintage stuff. Obscure stuff. The "I didn't realize I needed this in my life until I found it here" stuff.

Bro, traveling to Cananda? I can't take a gun, and I've heard stories bro.

The moose can smell my American ways, hear my accent...I can't fight a moose without a gun, or a large sharp pokey thing. Do you think border patrol would let me take spears and swords in my Subaru?

Also, I've threatened every Canadian Goose I've ever seen, I was yelling out the window at some just the other day to stop invading my country. Had some choice words for their leader Justin too...the birds would tell your PM I'm there and they would come for me...unless the Moose's's's's got to me first.

 

[budda]

We forgot Ish guitars in NY. Maple syrup land has capsule, 12th fret, folkway, stang guitars, guitar brando, northerner guitars, rufus guitar shop, spaceman mentioned, pauls boutique

 

[mlp187]

Escondido, San Diego County, CA:
WildCat Guitars
Lot’s of high-end gear and they want you to play it.

 

[TedEH]

Bro, traveling to Cananda? I can't take a gun, and I've heard stories bro.

Let's not go there. We have plenty of political threads for that.

 

[ThePIGI King]

Let's not go there. We have plenty of political threads for that.

I mostly meant it as a joke to help me fight the rabid Moose or the geese that I've been provoking - all good bro lol

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Capitol Guitars in St. Paul usually has some pretty cool Jacksons, ESPs and pointys.

 

[DoctorStoner]

Drum City Guitar Land near Denver. Most of their inventory is in the warehouse and not on display, but if you check their website first, they will pull out any gear you want to check out. Lots of custom Schecters, etc. Good guys for sure.

 

[ErockRPh]

Apologies if someone else mentioned it and I missed it, but the Gibson Garage is a must-see if you're in the Nashville area.