Where do you buy your instruments
 

I have seen ads all over the internet advertising 'cheapest' instruments. Some of these sites are:

1) MusiciansFriend.com
2) GuitarCenter.com
3) zzsound.com
4) ebay.com
5) music123.com

I am not sure if they just have the largest advertising budget or if they really have the best prices. Give me feedback and share your experiences with these companies or add to this list if you have one that is better.

Well it depends what kind of instrument and what quality you want.

I only know about drums and percussion stuff so ill help you with that. ( although i assume its the same with everything else)

If your getting a starter kit then just go to your local store or any website and buy the basic setup because there almoost all the same. ( i started with Pearl Forum, was good set and lasted a few years)

If your going for a more expensive middle road or higher end kit look in the paper for used kits, or to your local music stores because they often sell many used kits or vintage kits for WAY less than a new one. And the beauty of this is that you pay a fraction of the price for the same quality, with maybe a few dings or scratches.

So id imagine for any instrument, look in the Classified section first, then try music stores for some nice used instruments.

I've had nothing but positive experiences ordering gear from Musician's Friend, and recommend them highly.

I buy my guitars on ebay and get pedals,amps and such from musicians friend (I only get guitars off ebay because you can't find vintage hagstroms anywhere else, except for my '72 tele which I got on musician's friend)

I also buy my guitars on ebay and have only experienced good sellers. Of course, check the history!

I like bestgibsons.com

musicians friend and ebay interchangibly.

i've bought most of my expensive stuff from ebay, because i needed it cheaper and as long as it worked, i didnt need it in pristine condition.

of course, with anything else on ebay, you need to make sure you're 100% positive that it is a good buy, and not a scam or anything like that.

overall, ebay is great for like beginners, younger players w.o that much money, or people on a budget.

I play guitar, and like to try the instrument out first. Make sure the neck is straight, and everything works properly. Purchasing direct from music store.

Me, and my family too, usually buy all of our music stuff (instruments, guitar strings, amps, tuners, picks, etc.) at a music store. When we do our music shopping, it's usually at Long & Mcquade, which is a chain of music stores. I don't think they have them in the states, though.

same, there or axe music.

I always buy my instruments second hand... I bought my Ibanez Silver Series bass for $382 NZ and recently picked up a Casio CTK495 keyboard for $85 NZ. I'm absolutely rapt with it!

i've only ever bought from music stores or pawn shops. like others have said, i'd much rather be able to try it out and inspect the gear before money changes hands. i know you can return online purchases if you're not satisfied but that's a pretty big hassle in my book.

I think musician's friend is the best honestly! The deals are almost unbeatable!

Alright! Here we go...

eBay's the sh*t, but it's also addictive as sh*t. Some fun sites to peruse and maybe buy are...

Music Machine Home :: 1-888-NICE-GTR
Inventory of fine vintage and used Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters, Gibsons, and other makes - Strat Collector
Wildwood Guitars | (303) 665-7733 | Our New Arrivals Page is Updated Daily!

And my favorite...
The Music Zoo - Great guitars, amps, effects, and more

They sell some rare, exclusive, and high-end guitars, but if nothing else, it's just fun to dream...

Not unless you can't find that brand of guitar anywhere else......and I usally ask for all the details on a guitar from sellers on ebay...If it has a small bow you could get it fixed easily anyway.

yeah i suppose that would be the only situation where i'd turn to an online vendor. but if that were the case i'd obviously be looking for a specific name or model rather than a new instrument, like a melodic piece of furniture i might hopefully be able to rock out on.

for example, the old sears silvertone's. in the 60s they were originally made by national, harmony, danelectro then rebranded for catalog sale. you might end up with something really cool, or you might end up with leftover plywood from a cabinet painted like a guitar (which ironically enough is what the early danelectro's were if memory serves me correctly). but when vintage sites are asking $799 for something that may or may not be leftover furniture with a funky paint job i'm thinking i'd rather just go to the pawn shop and see what they have on the cheap wall.

Guitar Center
American Musical Supply (online)
Sam Ash

I like to use American Music Supply. Never had a bad expericence through them. Plus they have an excellent buying feature where you can do payments for 3 months or 5 months depending on what your grand total is. It is not a credit card you apply for. No interest. It is more like a layaway plan but you don't wait to get your gear. You get it right away. Then every month or so, they debit the next payment from your account. This has been a lifesaver on gear that I needed to buy.

Exactly why I use them :thumb:

My burns Brian May model guitar was from them, had a chip on it so the price went from $800 to $600. After it arrived I had it setup... plays great.

I try to support my local music stores as much as possible.

Has anyone here ever heard of or ordered anything from Rondo Music? I heard they make quality knock offs for a great price.

Yeah, I've seen them eBay a few times and just checked out their site from your link. Great price is right! $89.95 for a '57 "Strat". On the other end of the price spectrum is Nash Guitars. Also, (mostly) Fender copies, but heavily relic'd. The music shop near me sells them and I'm always tempted to pull the trigger, but they're up in the $1500 price range.

i've looked into them in the past. i've also heard good things from people who actually own them but i've never tried one myself. nice to see they updated their page though. quite a few new models since the last time i checked too. not really seeing anything that really grabs me this time around though.

which one are you checking out?

another brand to check out if you're into knock offs is Eastwood™ Guitars

My studio engineer bought a couple of guitars from Rondo and loves them... I'm not into knock offs but if these play close to the original and cost substantially less I would consider it.

I'm looking into a nice strat type model and a gibson les paul model.

i wouldn't expect any $400 LP style guitar to be the equivalent of an actual gibson. likely on the same level as the epiphone les pauls but a little cheaper.

basically rondo instruments strikes me like a great spot for intermediate players. people who are looking for their first decent guitar after learning how to play on a cheap beater but not ready to drop $1000 on a new guitar just yet. which, incidentally, is pretty much what they say about their company on their 'about us' page.

if you're going to get a rondo at least get one made in korea as opposed to china or taiwan.

Yeah, I'm going to have to research it a bit... I don't want to end up with a sub par instrument... got enough of those.

it's all relative, what may be sub par to one person might be amazing to another. just what is it you're looking for in a new instrument? why are you looking for a new guitar?

variety I suppose, different sounds for different songs.

so basically, just for poops and giggles? ;)

yeah.

I actually want to learn how to set up an electric and acoustic before I do anything... my instruments aren't sounding too great and I'm thinking if I can learn how to make them sound great I can save a lot of money.

Anyone know of any setup tool kits out there to get me started?

I do want a really nice fender strat (in the near future) though... for poops and giggles as you said. Guess I'll have to skip Rondo for now.

if you want a really nice fender strat save up for a real deal fender strat or the ones that are known to be steps up from the run of the mill made in the USA strats, like the higher end G&L models or Tom Anderson guitars. the TA guitars are pricey but i've yet to hear or read a single bad thing about them.

as for setting up a guitar the only tools you really need is a good set of hex (allen) keys, and possibly a level if you don't trust your eyes. a good setup will improve the playability of an instrument and help reduce fret buzz but it's not going to drastically improve a piece of crap into gold.

first thing that gets checked in a setup is the bow of the neck using your eyes or a simple bubble level. the bow is controlled by the truss rod which is a metal rod that runs about part way through the neck of most guitars (you'll notice a small hole at the top of fender style guitars or under the little face plate with the model name on gibson styles. use a regular hex key to tighten the rod, which will straighten out the neck. unless the rod feels really loose do NOT turn more than 1/4 or 1/2 rotation before checking the neck again. you CAN mess up the neck if you're not careful.

once that's done you can check the actual action of the strings. the action on electrics is measured by pressing down on the first fret, the 12th fret, and the 24th (or highest) fret on the same string. either use a capo on the 1st or a big stretch with your right hand to nail the 12th and highest. you'll want to check the distance between the string and the fretboard around the 5th to 7th frets. ideally you want to be able to slip a piece of paper or a business card between the string and the fretboard depending on whether or not you want high or low action.

if you notice that the space between the string and fretboard isn't to your liking you can use smaller hex keys to raise or lower the saddle of the string on the bridge. you don't have to worry when adjusting the saddle as compared to the truss rod so long as you're only moving it up and down as opposed to front and back.

there's one advanced part about setting up a guitar that does require a specialized tool though. the intonation. it's basically making sure that a note played 12 frets higher on the neck is still the same note. it's measured by tuning the harmonic of the string in relation of the regular note. you need a special tuner that can measure the harmonics in order to do this properly (or have super ears) newer guitars have compensated nuts (like earvana or the buzz feiten system) that are supposed to alleviate intonation issues. the intonation is adjusted by changing the position of the saddle within the bridge.

having said all that i'm NOT a tech. i'm remembering an article from guitar world magazine from years ago about simple maintenance guitar players could do on their own. quite frankly, intonation is not something that i've ever concerned myself with. fret buzz was always a much more significant issue. i have one guitar with an earvana nut and i can't really tell if it makes a difference or not.

acoustics don't have as many adjustable parts. if i remember correctly the only thing you can really adjust is the truss rod, and you only need to press down on the 1st and 12th frets to check the action on an acoustic.

:band:
I personally think that its not where you get the instrument but the quality of the instrument and how it sounds. I personally like Jupiter.

Hey Mr.Dave, thanks for that post... very informative and I will refer back to it when I am setting up my guitars.

I actually just bought a $99 Rondo music strat knock off to practice (setting up) on.

thanks man, nice deal on the rondo too, let me know if it feels much better than a squire hehe. but there's nothing wrong with having a good test subject. breaking a $100 guitar shouldn't exactly make you cry hehe

exactly... for my 30th birthday my family and friends are all chipping in to get me a top of the line Strat :tramp:

anyway, I'll let you know how the Rondo plays... should be here any day now.

nice. now i'm really interested to know how the rondo will compare hehe. i've read more than a few comments about how their guitars are better than gibsons and stuff. i'm not denying that people have said it, just wondering how many of them actually had the option of properly comparing both. picking up a gibson or a fender in the store and playing it for 10 minutes hardly counts as knowing the instrument hehe.

The man that mixes my music has over 30 years experience as a guitar tech/audio engineer and he already bought 2 of the Rondo Strats as well as this guy which he told me totally sounds the part of a quality Gibson (I may be buying this one in the near future as well). I trust this guys judgment which is why I went ahead and bought the Rondo Strat. I played one of his in his studio (for a few minutes) and I was impressed with how it played for such a cheap guitar. He said the only thing to avoid with the Rondo Strats was the ones with a "stop" tail piece and the ones that say "short scale" and always get them with a maple neck as Rondo hasn't gotten the Rosewood necks down as well.

that's a really nice looking hollow body but i can't shake the feeling that something is amiss for the price they're asking. the no name pickups are kind of a concern as well. hollow bodies are notorious for feedback. but if you dig by all means get it. the name on the headstock becomes irrelevant if the sound produced is good. and at rondo's prices you can fill a room full of guitars pretty quickly.

personally i'm hoping to score one of these as my next guitar somehow. Surfcaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

looks sweet... the price ain't too bad either. Get a sam ash card and do the 15 months no interest financing on it, that's a great way to own expensive gear. Some sites allow you to pay in increments without paying interest over 3-5 months... I know American Musical Supply does this, unfortunately they don't have the guitar you want.

it's because they stopped making surfcasters a few years ago hehe :p:

i also never finance anything, especially not guitars. i'd rather save up over a few months or year or whatever and using that time to do research / check other models etc and make sure i'm getting exactly what i want. it's really easy to get trapped in huge debt when you're financing stuff without having to start paying right away. i'd much rather pay cash and own the product 100% outright as soon as i walk out of the store instead of having the guitar in my hands and the cost hanging over me.

at this point i've been eyeballing those surfcasters since last fall hehe. i saw an ibanez talman at a local pawn shop that was remarkably similar, even had the semi-hollow body action but i just couldn't drop the cash at the time (kind of need a job before another guitar...)

Understandable... and smart.

so here is a guitar I am looking at getting.

and here is the guitar being played.

here is a comparison to its Les Paul counterpart

Doesn't sound like $1800 worth of difference to me.