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  #16  
Old 08-02-2015, 02:03 PM
footbeat footbeat is offline
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  #17  
Old 08-02-2015, 03:19 PM
handers handers is offline
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Sad moment. I still remember driving Manouk Papazian from his apartment to Rudy's to buy a guitar case for the 1971 Papazian I bought from him (new win 1983). That block conducted so many transactions with famous people we all recognize. Sad to say that condos have overtaken the music industry on 48 th St. NYC is/has been changing. Guess it always was.

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  #18  
Old 08-02-2015, 03:48 PM
Skorman Skorman is offline
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Default The Death of NYC's Music Row

In 1968 my Dad took me to Mannys to buy a brand new Strat. What a thrill for a budding new musician. Over the years I've purchased many guitars on that street. It was always fun hopping from one store to the other drooling over the gear. NYC has lost an iconic musician's mecca.
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  #19  
Old 08-02-2015, 06:02 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is offline
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This reminds me of a restaurant that was sitting on a chunk of property being developed into a strip mall. When they announced their closing, hoards of people came in bemoaning the end. Most had come in for dinner once or twice a year.

I think the specialty high end guitar shop in affluent areas will survive nicely because most want to play before plunking down six or eight grand, the rest had better become net savvy quick. Too many who want a typical Taylor or Martin buy online, the bemoan the fact their local store closed when they want to buy strings. Can't have it both ways.

It's like being a jeweler to the rich. They can be tucked in any building with no street presence. Their clients will come. I think a high end shop could be put anywhere. Look where Gryphon is. Four blocks off the secondary shopping street in Palo Alto. No way could they pay downtown rents.
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  #20  
Old 08-02-2015, 06:15 PM
6L6 6L6 is offline
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I certainly had my share of fun experiences over the years on 48th St. and at Mandolin Brothers.

One of my other hobbies is collecting old Lionel Trains. Every trip to NYC included a mandatory stop at Madison Hardware store located at 101 E. 23rd St. It was mecca for Lionel Train lovers like me. But the owners got really old and sold out to Richard Kughn, then owner of Lionel Trains. With 11 fully loaded big rigs, they moved everything from the store to Mt Clemens, MI where Richard lived. He literally reassembled Madison Hardware Store in a building he owned! Some years later, Kughn fell on hard financial times and sold the company to Neil Young and Wellspring Mgmt Co. Neil still owns 22% of Lionel today.

http://tcaetrain.org/2d-articles/col...ME/TIME012.jpg

Great stores, great folks… all will be missed.

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Last edited by 6L6; 08-02-2015 at 09:34 PM.
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  #21  
Old 08-02-2015, 06:52 PM
The Growler The Growler is offline
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Originally Posted by Bob Womack View Post
To those of us with memories there it is a sad thing. My company had a studio in the Brill Building before it became too expensive. Of course, 48th Street Music Row was only a block down and a block over if you needed strings. I bought things at Sam Ash back in the '70s and visited the row whenever I was staying nearby in Times Square or down the Avenue of the Americas.

But the problem is far larger: property rates in the major metro areas have increased to the point where major studios and music industry and broadcast support concerns are being sold to make way for housing or businesses. In Manhattan, A&M Studios, Sony Studios, and the Record Plant are all now upscale housing. Howard Schwartz Recording was priced out of the Gray Bar building. The same happened all over Hollywood and L.A. Sadly, retail is just the more visible tip of the iceberg.

Bob
Yup. Even outside of LA, the Cerritos Sam Ash lost their lease and the center is being ripped down for way overpriced, almost on the freeway condos. Sad.
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  #22  
Old 08-02-2015, 07:17 PM
Dwight Dwight is offline
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Well, there's always Guitar Center in Times Square. They're the equal of all the Sam Ash stores that were on 48th St. Well not really, GC is much better, the Ash stores were very tired for a long time. I haven't been the new store on 33rd. rudy's in SOHO will be even better, now that everything is down there.

I do miss "We buy Guitars" as a place to gawk at strange and rare electrics.
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  #23  
Old 08-02-2015, 11:57 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Does anyone remember when Electro Harmonix had the shop with all their pedals set up for customers to try?
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  #24  
Old 08-03-2015, 03:18 AM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Originally Posted by ewh2 View Post
Replace NYC with London, UK too.

I had a conversation with a shopkeeper in Tin Pan Alley, who said a similar thing was happening there with rents rising by the day and the property developers circling like vultures.
I really can't remember when I last went to a music shop/store in London.
Time was, in the late '60s and '70s a tube into central London and Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue, St. Giles, Denmark Street(Tin-pan Alley) and of course Mairants in Rathbone Place were regular stops for a young guy with big hopes.

I moved down to the south coast in 1979, and hardly every went back into town apart from on business, and the very occasional theatre night.

The likelyhood of finding anything that appeals to me locally is now pretty rare, and I have to say that I'm one of those baby boomers who has now acquired about everything I aspired to.

Until about ther 2007/8 slump there were about four quality guitar shops within about 40 miles of me but there are less now.

The last finial slump seems to have reduced the specialist shops now.
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  #25  
Old 08-03-2015, 08:26 AM
baimo baimo is offline
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Originally Posted by footbeat View Post
My parents took me there in 1965 when I was 11 years old, to buy my first electric guitar, a Fender Mustang. I went back a few years later and bought a Rickenbacker 6-12 interchangeable Great memories. Saw Donovan there.
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  #26  
Old 08-03-2015, 09:03 AM
zabdart zabdart is offline
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How sad! Used to shop at Manny's all the time in college -- bought my Telecaster and a Fender Deluxe amp there. Got chased out one afternoon close to closing time so Jimi Hendrix could try out Stratocasters there. The "Wall of Fame" was something else -- containing autographed pictures of every famous musician who shopped there for half a century. I am sure going to miss those stores and the ambiance of 48th St.
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  #27  
Old 08-03-2015, 10:00 AM
jpjr50 jpjr50 is offline
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I would never thought instruments purchased online would kill music stores since it's a feel and hear type purchase.

I guess it's true and happens all the time if the customer has heard and felt it before.

I just don't buy instruments online, guess I'm old school.
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  #28  
Old 08-03-2015, 12:10 PM
baimo baimo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jpjr50 View Post
I would never thought instruments purchased online would kill music stores since it's a feel and hear type purchase.

I guess it's true and happens all the time if the customer has heard and felt it before.

I just don't buy instruments online, guess I'm old school.

I have recently come to think that Martins and Fenders come out of the factory with pretty good setups these days. Even though each guitar will sound a little different, I am very comfortable calling Jon at MFG and ordering a Martin. If he has more than one I ask him to let me know what he thinks of each one.

There are brands I would not consider buying online.
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  #29  
Old 08-03-2015, 12:55 PM
Ted @ LA Guitar Sales Ted @ LA Guitar Sales is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jpjr50 View Post
I would never thought instruments purchased online would kill music stores since it's a feel and hear type purchase.
Instruments purchased online are not killing local music stores. Instrument purchased online from real online stores are purchased at full MAP, a price your local dealer can easily match, even if they have to cover local sales tax. True online stores provide a valuable service to folks who don't have access to those items locally, but they can't compete with local stores. It's discounters masquerading as online stores that are killing your local stores. These business, some of which are run out of converted garages, offer lower prices, and the ability to circumvent local sales tax, but little else. They are a burden to the industry.

Quote:
I guess it's true and happens all the time if the customer has heard and felt it before.
You just hit the nail on the head, "if the customer has heard and felt it before". Fact is, most folks who buy long distance have tried the guitars locally. What do you think will happen once that is no longer an option?

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I just don't buy instruments online, guess I'm old school.
You are not alone.
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  #30  
Old 08-03-2015, 03:28 PM
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Mbroady Mbroady is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwight View Post
Well, there's always Guitar Center in Times Square. They're the equal of all the Sam Ash stores that were on 48th St. Well not really, GC is much better, the Ash stores were very tired for a long time. I haven't been the new store on 33rd. rudy's in SOHO will be even better, now that everything is down there.

I do miss "We buy Guitars" as a place to gawk at strange and rare electrics.
I find the GC on 14th street to be a nicer shopping experience. Mostly for the fact that they have a separate room for the higher end acoustics. The sales staff also seem to be more knowledgeable....IMHO

48th street was where all the folks went. Back in the day it was not uncommon to see folks like Joey Ramon, Keith Richards, Rick Ocaske, etc, strolling down the block.
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Last edited by Mbroady; 08-03-2015 at 03:42 PM.
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