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Which online guitar retailer do you like and why?

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Neo Fender

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First, I try to buy locally when I can and I actually do better cost wise at one of the local shops on accessories (strings and other hardware, etc.)  However for selection, I often look at the online retailers.  I’ve heard good and bad about most of them.  So assuming price, shipping, return policy are approximately equal, which (Musicians Friend/GC, Sam Ash, Sweetwater, American Musical Supply, etc.) do you like or dislike and why?

Thanks.
 
I used to do business with Musician's Friend until I found out Mitt Romney owned stake in them.  Politics aside, I think he's a total jackwagon and don't care to put money in his pocket. 

Let it be noted I'd never gotten poor service from Musician's Friend but half the products I've gotten from them had to be returned for one type of damage or another.  While doing returns was easy and hassle-free, I shouldn't have had to return products in the first place.  This got to be most taxing.

I started ordering from Sweetwater soon afterwards.  I'd received a big catalog in the mail and figured I'd give them a shot.  I believe years ago my wife had gotten me something from them and had good luck, so I figured it couldn't hurt.

These days, I swear by Sweetwater.  They're all about establishing a repoire with customers and since I'm dealing with one person, ordering is easy.  It doesn't hurt that they're knowledgeable and have helped me out with questions on products I'd hadn't even purchased through them.  :occasion14: 

All products I've purchased through Sweetwater have been in flawless condition and have not had to be returned.  The prices are also normally on par with those of companies like Musician's Friend, AMS, and Sam Ash. 

All in all, to make a long story short, the purchasing experience from Sweetwater is just...better.
 
+1 with Sweetwater.  Nothing but good things.  However, they use FedEx, so I usually have it shipped to a FedEx dropoff.  FedEx requires a signature, and I always miss them.  For them to leave it on the porch if you're not there, you waive any damage claims.  They do have a UPS option which I may use in the future.
 
LA Music in Canada.  Strings and Beyond for strings and accessories - these guys tend to 'forget' about declaring the contents of the package - very convenient when crossing the border.
 
I like Sweetwater too.  For one, its not one of the other "big guys" who seem to dominate everything.  And I like that you get a sales representative who is assigned to you, even if its just to email you to ask whether you still want to receive their catalog if you haven't ordered for awhile.  The sales reps seem to have a lot of industry experience and knowledge, often with a music related school degree.  It just feels a little bit more personal dealing with them.
 
Nightclub Dwight said:
I like Sweetwater too.  For one, its not one of the other "big guys" who seem to dominate everything.  And I like that you get a sales representative who is assigned to you, even if its just to email you to ask whether you still want to receive their catalog if you haven't ordered for awhile.  The sales reps seem to have a lot of industry experience and knowledge, often with a music related school degree.  It just feels a little bit more personal dealing with them.
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Exactly what I was saying; just a more personal experience.  :occasion14:
 
Although I always check my options worldwide in the new & used market when I want to buy something, I have ordered more than once from these stores http://www.prymaxevintage.com/ http://proguitarshop.com/ because they always provide coupons, they offer low pricing with USPS and they treat international customers very well. It's mostly pedals & accessories for me but I bought a guitar unseen for half the price I could find it in Europe and it's a keeper.
 
I haven't settled on a single place. I've never ordered anything from Sweetwater, despite living in Fort Wayne for 5 years and driving past their home base many times.
 
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom said:
Norb is my Sweetwater guy.  Always calls after I had an order for a while to see if I'm liking it.  Oh yeah, candy in the order too.
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I've always dealt with Mark Bruhn.  Good guy and has helped me out a few times with stuff I hadn't even purchased from Sweetwater.  He also always calls and throws in some candy as well.  Can't go wrong with an order AND sweets!  :occasion14:
 
Daze of October said:
I used to do business with Musician's Friend until I found out Mitt Romney owned stake in them.  Politics aside, I think he's a total jackwagon and don't care to put money in his pocket.
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:toothy12:
 
I bought a bunch of stuff from Sweetwater because they weren't one of the big guys, but now they've become one of the big guys! And I liked AMS, some of their specials were great. Which is true to a certain extent of all of them. Like, before MF bought Sam Ash, the Ash guys bought out all the "DeArmond" guitars, which were Guild's Korean imprint. And they sold them out for $240, $270 dollars. I wish I'd bought THEM out - go look up "DeArmond Starfire" on Ebay, or "X155" - ouch. Triple your money.... :sad1:

There's a store called Sigler that have really competitive prices on several lines of pickups, and they have them on site. But I'll still check Ebay, and there are so many of 'em you can often find an unexpected deal somewhere. Like this guy "gman" who's selling off stuff he got from a closing Washburn factory. I generally have a "shopping list" of sorts by my computer, and if I still want something for two or three months, then I start looking.

My last serious coin-dropping was on a Pigtronix Infinity looper, and I bought it direct from the owner, because I had sent him a somewhat stubbified e-mail discussing the intelligence of ANY box that has both little knobs for your fingers and big switches for your toes...  :icon_scratch: I'm glad I didn't get too stubby, because he made me a special footswitch and rewired the innards so the knobs are by my hand, and the switches are on the floor. Great guy to deal with, I still have to figure it out better before I write a review for y'all because it's pretty complicated, and I still keep pushing the things that you push on a Boss RC-20XL, my old looper, to make something happen. And then it won't, but I don't think I can blame Pigtronix for that. :laughing3:
 
+1 for both Sweetwater and AMS.

I've always felt that the service you get when there is a problem is more significant than just filling your order on time.  For Sweetwater, I recently purchase an "demo" ioDock from them and it showed up with no power adapter.  They quickly had one shipped from the manufacturer after I called and let them know it was missing.

For AMS, I had an almost identical experience.  This time it was an Alesis electronic drum kit and it arrived without one of the cymbals.  Again, I just had to call them and they had the part shipped from the manufacturer.

Finally, I recently ordered cables from Performance Audio.  It was the first time I had used them and everything was great.  I only mention them because I was pleased with their prices and a lot of the regular music stores just over charge for accessories.
 
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