yer lemoley is right, soundofmusic shop is appallingly rubbish
on the other hand:
Name: RnT
Place: Barrowinfurness
Country: NW England
this shop is great, its full of loadsa instruments and its good jus to hav a play around in. and theyve loads of 5 stringers and yes they do sell six stringers. the shop owner(i think he is) is incredible on his six stringer and he is one of the reasons i started bass. its a friendly shop with a drum section upstairs. money is knocked off if your a regular and most of the prices are very reasonable anyway.
rating:8.5/10

where do you live man?

Name: Music workshop.
Place: Sydney.
Country/state: NSW, Australia.
Review: Great place, been a regular customer for nearly 5 years. Anything I want they'll order in if they don't have it, I get great discounts, and yeah, it's good.

Rating: 10/10

i wish i lived close to a good guitar shop...the closest GC is like....50 miles away...thank you parents for chosing to live in the middle of nowhere

[QUOTE=BassIsTheSoul]Guitar Villa
Nazerath, PA
Review: hence the name not too bass oriented but there is still a big selection... theres a drum room with about four drumsets(acoustic), an acoustic room with one acoustic bass in it, and the main floor with about over a hundred guitars and maby 40 basses... ok selection0OLP, musicmans, fender jazzes, spechter, shadosky, aria, and nice amps to go, nemisis, ampeg, ashdown, etc..
overall ratiing: 6.8/10 cause i take awsoem lessons there and bought all my equipment there... pretty knowelageable manager, too... and victor wooten visited(they have a picture of him there) and a few other awsoem ppl.
:smash:
-pat[/QUOTE]



How far is this from Philly?

Name: Instrumental Music
City: Santa Barbara
Country: USA

Review: I'm kinda on the fence with these guys. I hate the dudes who work there, but they have a better bass selection than the other store in town, Jensens, who I am friends with almost everybody there. Intrumental always hires retards who don't know how to set up basses right, and they b*tch at you when you reach for higher end guitars. However, if you are good, they'll leave you alone, most of the time. I've gotten b*tched at before when an Ibanez with sh*tty electronics started shreiking ("Hey! What did I tell you about letting us set up stuff for you?!"), but I started talking sh*t and he layed off. Anyway the bass selection is like this: Mostly Fender and Ibanez, a few Spectors, a few Warwick Rockbasses, and sometimes Musicman, one of those Line 6 modeling basses, and some Peaveys. Amp Selection: Fender, SWR, Eden (only one combo), Peavey, Ashdown.

Rating: 5/10 for moderate selection with douchey employees.

Shop: Sam Ash Music
City: Margate, FL
Review: Awesome place. Not perfect in terms of quantity and selection, but decent nonetheless. The employees are awesome people. Always helping, chatting, giving you suggestions and tips in terms of technique and gear. Anything you can see, you can test. It really helps. Always my first choice for gear. Really cool place. And they get regular shipments of Warwicks.

Rating: 8/10 for the imperfections on their selection. (Fener/Ibanez whores)

Name:Skip's Music
Place:Citrus Heights, CA
Country:US
Review:
I love this place. It doesn't have the widest selection. Only about 25-30 basses at a time, but they change it up all the time and they have the basic stuff. Their prices are REALLY low. I use this place basically for my "Oh I need an extra one/set" store. Also, the people are really cool there. Most of the guys are about 20-30 years old, all musicians, so they know what they are talkind about. And they never try to sell you the most expensive, or the most popular, they show you what they think you'll like, then the expensive and popular. Very nice place.

Rating: 8/10

[QUOTE=trumpeter617]Name:Gerry's Music
Place:Southampton
Country/state:USA/MA
Review: At first glance, they have a nice section of guitars and basses, but wait, there is no amps to be found. After a slight look you will notice, they only carry crate GUITAR amps. Also, all guitars and basses are some no name brand or "slamer" by "hamer". However, they have an excellent selection of brass and woodwind instruments, and know what they are doing when it comes to repairs. I would never buy anything here, due to the amazing overpricing (strings cost upwars of 50$ a set), however they do excellent repairs.

they get a 4/10 because of crappy selection, but excellent repiars[/QUOTE]
I thought I was the only one here that knew about that place.

Name: Doesn' have one
Place: Burns Lake BC
Country: Canada

Review: Doesn't exist, I don't have one.

Rating: 0/10

Does anyone live near Rondo? I'd like to know what kind of selection they have. I'm sure they have more than just Brice, SX, and Douglas basses...

Plus, I'd like to go there...

Name:Crippa Music
Place:Grand Rappids
Country/state: Minnesota
Review: they only stock squire and washburn basses and crate amps. they have a good selction of tab books. most things are over priced. they do offer lifetime warentys on the thing you buy from them, the people that work there are very good and nice.

Rating:7 /10

Name: Music Machine.
Place: Napier.
Country: New Zealand.

Review: This shop is situated in town so its about a ten minute car drive from my house. It has a range of instrument's: Guitars, basses (electric and acoutic) drums, electricdrums, PA systems, amps etc.

The thing that stands out about it is the service. I am always getting free extras added on to my purchases, service with a smile basically. Also I know the guy who works there and he is a really great guy.

Oh and the recently got in a few more basses which are boost the score from an 8/10 to a 9/10.

Rating: A solid 9/10.

name :aerohead
place :mentor ohio
country :usa

review:not a very good place to go if you want to buy an instrument they really dont know much they can tell the differance between a bass and a guitar but thats about it .there all lazy besides for there guitar tech who is pretty nice and knowledgeable about everything .other then that there prices are too high and the customer service is bad.

3/10 only good for strings and picks other then that i dont go there.

Name: Instrumental Music
Place: Ventura
Country/state: California
Review: The wall they keep all their guitars and basses on is huge, so you can't always get the one you want down by your self. Very helfup and friendly, cheapest and best guitar/bass tech guy in town as well.

BRANDS = Fender, Peavey, Warwick, Ibanez, Schetcher, Spector, (some others I cant remember)



Rating: 7/10

Name: Duck son and Pinker
Place: Swindon
Country/state: England/Wiltshire
Review: Pretty good shop were i buy loads of stuff some basses and guitars kinda over priced but still good pretty good range of amps, pa systems and guitars/basses not such a good range of drums very helpful assistants

Rating: 7/10

Name: John Holmes
Place: Swindon
Country/state: England/Wiltshire
Review: This shop is pretty good quite a small shop hardly any range of amps pretty good range of guitars, basses and drums for the size of the shop dependign on whos it the shop assistants can be helpful or unhelpful i dont think they sell pa systems and if they do ive never seen them.

Rating: 4/10

i have quite a few local ones.

1.
name: spectre sound
place:bingley, west yorkshire, uk
review - quite good, realy good on the guitar side, plenty of amps. bass brands include fender, wawrick, musicman, rickenbacker, peavy, epifone, squire, vintage and loads of crapy obscure brands. the staff are ok, they can cartainley talk the talk but from what iv been told they cant walk the walk.
2.
sound control
leeds, yorkshire, uk
good shop, good amps (hartkie, trace eliot, wawrick, messa and so on), bass brands include aria, cort, musicman, fender, epifone, wawrick and a few others, they have plenty of pedles, you can allways try prety much anything you want, they get lots of **** bassist in (from the goth gathering ground pretymuch next to it) so there usualy glad to see a half decent bassist. the staff are prety sound to me (ocasionaly try and purswade you to buy stuff but thats there job) iv been told by a few guitarists that they can be a bit gay tho (suposedley they get lots more guitarists in than bassists).

3.music ground
leeds (next to soundcontrol), yorkshire england.
decent shop, more colectors basses and guitars tho. they have sid viciouses bass (or did last time i was in any way). its more of a museum of good instruments than owt else tho (it even looks like a museum)

4.belmont bridge guitar shop
skipton, yorkshire
there bass suplys mainley fender and squire, the shops very small, there freindly staff but i dont think they know much about bass.

5.keighley musicians centre
yorkshire
used to suck but is improveing, there working with local musicians to find out what everyone wants. they have started stocking yamaha and ibanez now along with orange amps, there geting a load of pedles soon, they sell instructional books, do lessons on keys, bass, guitar, piano, vocals, drums and much more. they have a practice space. very sound staff, they will try for ages to get you what you want even though there only just realy starting out as a proper guitar shop.

Motorcity guitar: Waterford Michigan. Midwest musician mecca. Awesome vintage-new gear. Huge percussion/drums section, top-notch teachers and they beat ANY going price on new equipment by 5%. [url]www.motorcityguitar.com[/url]

Herb David guitars: Ann Arbor Michigan. World famous luthier Herb David's shop. He can order anything for a good price, his guitar work is world class and great service!

Name: Billy Hydes

Place: Blackburn, Melbourne

Country/state: Victoria, Australia.

Review: I love Billy Hydes. It has got a GREAT selection of basses and amps. ALso got a great selection of drums, Guitars, everything you need really. The people that work tehre are all REALLY friendly and will be happy to help you out. I go there all the time too they're probably getting sick of me, :lol:. They have great prices and can order in anything you need really.

[QUOTE=warwickcorvette]Name: Marks Music
Place: Cambridge, Cambridgshire
Country/state: UK
Review: A fairly small music shop located in the centre of cambridge, for its size it stocks a great variety of basses at great prices ( Got my stingray for £1050) . The customer service is great, everyone in there is very friendly and happy to help with problems. If you're ever in cambridge check it out

Rating: 9/10[/QUOTE]
Although you are right about the atmosphere and willingness to help, this store is no bigger than my bedroom. I often go in for a chat with employees, however many of the basses are significantly overpriced, and I would not agree with this high rating

More around a 4 or 5/10

Sorry, this is a great thread and I'm afraid I can't allow it to be sucked under with a bunch of the other of the great threads.

Name: Andertons music
Place: Guildford
Country: Ye Olde England


Review: Andertons is pretty big, it caters for most musicians, ie guitar, drums, classical, piano. the bass selection comprises of Warwicks and Fenders mainly, although Ibanez, Epiphone, Musicman, Squire, Rickenbacker and others are also provided. they also have a large selection of amps, from the likes of SWR, Ashdown, Hartke, Ampeg and Randall. there are also soundproofed rooms provided to test the products.

its always fun to head down there and piss about on the rickenbackers to the horror of the staff :D

Rating: 8/10 misses out on a nine because of the staff, who at times can be very pushy and un-welcoming

[QUOTE=gaslight]Name: Music workshop.
Place: Sydney.
Country/state: NSW, Australia.
Review: Great place, been a regular customer for nearly 5 years. Anything I want they'll order in if they don't have it, I get great discounts, and yeah, it's good.

Rating: 10/10[/QUOTE]

Where abouts is music Workshop

Name: Big Apple Music
Place: Utica New York
Review: It's a great local shop but, I can't tell if they just don't really like basses or if they lack funding to get high end gear. I've only seen one six string bass there and it was the ESP LTD. The best bass I've seen(and played and am about to buy for that matter) is a Schecter Elite-5. The shop has 3 fretless Jazz basses, and all are lemons. The strings are bad and the pickups are ****ed up. I've yet to try any guitars out but they all seem really nice. They have a nice vintage section. There amp/cab/head sections are very nice. I've seen fenders, hartkes, and a peavey tnt 115 the other day. I've never been in the drum/keyboard section cuz its past the basses :lol: . Service is great though. I already bought a wah pedal from them and like I said, plan on getting the Schecter. Also they give lessons for like 10 or so instruments and have a great rental policy.

Rating 7/10 because of the lack of high end basses.

Bump! Feel free to carry on posting reviews :)

Name: Soundcontrol
Place: Glasgow
Country: Scotland (UK)


It is a great shop with plenty of space and a lot of instruments. One thing you will notice is the staff are all very friendly and most are pretty knowledgeable. Their range of instruments is good with a lot of different makes. Also this store is the only official Schecter dealer in the UK with plenty in stock at all times. :D You get plenty of time to try out an instrument and the staff pretty much leave you alone with it. The prices are also pretty decent and the staff are not afraid of chucking in freebies with big purchases.


Overall: 8/10

Name: Guitar Center
Location: San Bernadino, CA
Country: USA

Review: One of my favorite places to go. All the employees I have talked with were very courtious and helpful. Many good bass players work there and jammed with me. Their knowledge of the bass was great and they answered my questions without getting annoyed. Actually, it is pretty hard to leave that store because those guys always have a bass, riff or story to tell me/show me. And they have a great supply of Schecters, Warwicks and Musicman's, so I am busy for hours... Amp selection includes Ampeg, Mesa Boogie :naughty:, G-K, SWR, Fender and a few others. A good selection of distortion pedals and strings too.

9/10
Not a perfect score only because its about 25-30 miles away...

*****************************************************************

Name: Music Mikes
Location: Riverside, CA
Country: USA

Review: Kind of a hole-in-the-wall store, pretty small, not the best selection of basses. Mostly Fernandez, Fender Squires and some brands I haven't even heard of... They do, however, have a small supply of Corts that I play when I go there. Their amp selection is a tad bit better though, having a good selection of Ampeg and SWRs. I bought my SWR LA 12 combo there for only $180 which was a decent deal. The employees there a helpful and knowledgable though not as outgoing as the ones at Guitar Center. I mainly go their to pick up strings and other misc. items.

5/10

Only minutes away from my house and has a good amps at a decent price. But due to its limited selection of basses and other items, I give it a 5.

:thumb:

[QUOTE=good rats]Name: Billy Hydes

Place: Blackburn, Melbourne

Country/state: Victoria, Australia.

Review: I love Billy Hydes. It has got a GREAT selection of basses and amps. ALso got a great selection of drums, Guitars, everything you need really. The people that work tehre are all REALLY friendly and will be happy to help you out. I go there all the time too they're probably getting sick of me, :lol:. They have great prices and can order in anything you need really.[/QUOTE]

Pretty much the same for the store in brisbane.

Rating: 8/10 because they never had six string and took ages to order in some parts for me.

Name: Bass Centre

Place: South Melbourne

State/country: Victoria, Australia.

Verdict: A really top notch shop. A shop only for basses, only 2 of its kind in australia. These guys will do anything for you, with incredible prices. Really friendly. Will order in anything for you...Good store, well presented etc.

Rating: 9/10. My favourite store!