FortWayneMusic.com

Here is my opinion (i know i am leaving some out so i will add them to the poll was I remember)


Good ones

Music Star
Sweatwater
Music Manor (when it was still around)
Music Go Round
Conser

Bad Ones

Gig (assholes)
Tri State (assholes)
Mr Music (only becuase its cluttered)
Mynett (poor hours)

Sweetwater

Music Star is my favorite. Tri State SUCKS! There is a new store on Jefferson Blvd. beside Chops. Jen Fisher runs it. I bought some stuff there the other day. nice place.

I buy different sh*t at different places. I've known Otto at Wayne String Shop for like a decade, so he always treats me and my instruments right. I recommend him to anyone needing an acoustic stringed instrument repaired. It may take him a while, but when he says it's fixed, it's fixed. Or at least he'll tell you what the problem was so you can fix it yourself next time.

In terms of products though, I have to say Guitar Center down in Indy. Nothing here comes close except Sweetwater.

Guys, go to B# guitars on Goetz Road! Gibson electrics and acoustics and amps, Epiphone, Fender guitars and amps, G&L guitars and basses (if they have any left since they gave up their dealership), Yamaha, Tobias basses, Martin, Alvarez, Ovation (okay, I know they suck), Ampeg, plus various trade-in used stuff. Monster cables, good string selection, Yamaha and Gretsch drums... It's a small store, but they carry really nice stuff. They also have the best instructors in town, and a great, highly knowledgeable sales staff - and NO, I'm not one of them, nor do I get a commission or discounts from them. I just know what I like, and I like B#. You should add them to the poll, and if you haven't been there, you need to go soon.

Oh yeah I forgot about b-sharp. those guys are really awesome, very nice.

music star sucks........

Music Go Round: bought my '89 NT Warlock there and Brad works there.. two things that make it cool.

Sweetwater: very professional audio, but I hate dealing with Greg Baum. He mailed about $160 worth of cables to the wrong address after I waited a month for them. That's after they tried to give me a 16u rack case (when I ordered a 6u). I would have gladly taken it if it would have fit in my car. Still, they screw up orders a lot.

Conser: I bought my Washburn there when Greg Conser was starting out. He's a nice guy, but there are times where he keeps talking after it's clear that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Last time I had him work on my guitars, I had to take them to Greg Reszel to fix the pickup wiring that Conser couldn't.

Music Star: ASSHOLES, AVOID DOING BUSINESS WITH THESE FRAUDS. I had a friend put a bass on layaway with EMG active pickups in it. When he paid the bass off, they handed him the same bass with the pickups removed and passives put in. They told him that it would be an extra charge to replace the EMG pickups (THAT HE ALREADY PAID FOR). Besides that, last time I was going to buy a guitar there, I asked them to hold the guitar for 24 hours so I would have time to go to the bank to get the money out to buy it. Of course, the next day it was gone.

B-sharp guitars seems like a cool place. They carry nice guitars, though they seem to lean towards only classic designs.

The people at Get in Gear (GIG) are complete newbs.

Tri-state is pretty much worthless. They no longer carry some of the major brands that they used to. Plus, they're business men running a music store. They're not guitarists or musicians themselves, so simply can't relate.

Music Star has never done me wrong. I bought most of my bass amp rig there and one of my ESP's. They almost always give you a great deal, if you deal with Brian. Plus he gave me a warranty on a several year old used head, and followed through by replacing the input jack for free when it went bad. He also gave me a free jack for my ESP when it started tripping. My favorite store in town.

Lately I have been dealing with American Musical Service mailorder because you can't beat their deals on basses. And BP Strings is the only place to get cheap strings.

I've done a lot of business with American Musical Supply, www.americanmusical.com, and have never had any problems at all.

I've had bad dealings with every store in town, one way or the other, excpet for B#. They've always been honest and informed, and have plenty of selection and service.

Everyone else has screwed me one way or another, but especially Music Star, who sold merchandise that I had partially paid for and reserved, then procured some pretty rude comments about my musical taste. That's some bad business right there.

Thank god Stage Left went belly up. They were even worse.

tri-state sucks c*ck. the guy who owns the store acts like such a pretentious butthead that it's frustrating for a newer musician to even ask questions.

gig was also pretty bad. i went in there one time, and he let one of my attractive friends play a guitar, but wouldn't let my other one because he didn't think she was hot enough.

the whole "you need money to even browse the store" attitude is BULL5H1T.

The Hand of Poo wrote:I've had bad dealings with every store in town, one way or the other, excpet for B#. They've always been honest and informed, and have plenty of selection and service.

Everyone else has screwed me one way or another, but especially Music Star, who sold merchandise that I had partially paid for and reserved, then procured some pretty rude comments about my musical taste. That's some bad business right there.

Thank god Stage Left went belly up. They were even worse.

Yeah, Music Star is totally untrustworthy from many things that I've experienced and stories that I've heard.

coldnovemberrain wrote:tri-state sucks c*ck. the guy who owns the store acts like such a pretentious browneye that it's frustrating for a newer musician to even ask questions.

gig was also pretty bad. i went in there one time, and he let one of my attractive friends play a guitar, but wouldn't let my other one because he didn't think she was hot enough.

the whole "you need money to even browse the store" attitude is BULL5H1T.

I hate that attitude that some music stores have. It's bad when guitar stores are no longer fun and you'd rather just order online or through a catelog.

Music Star-When I was just begining to play, they sold me a guitar amp, but assured me it was a bass amp.

Mr. Music-Absolutely the worst non-service beat-around-the-bush overpriced music store I have encountered. I took my upright there (because I had purchsed their maintenance package when I bought my instrument) 7 times to not fix the same problem.

Music Go Round-I got a steal on a used 200 watt Peavey bass amp ($150). It worked great.

Wayne String Shop-Best service for acoustic string instruments. Otto is always able to fix my problems and explain the work he did on my upright. He has managed to pull off short notice work before I was in a pickle too.

Grindspine wrote:Last time I had him work on my guitars, I had to take them to Greg Reszel to fix the pickup wiring that Conser couldn't.

I had Greg set up my electric and it sounded fantastic when he was done with it.