Heading to Philly any good gtr shops?

[6Tones]

Heading to Philly PA and good gtrshops worth checking out?

[mc5nrg]

Cintioli Music, NE Philadelphia Oxford Avenue, walkable from the end of the EL in Frankford. A legend in MI retail.

[tone4days]

Cintioli Music, NE Philadelphia Oxford Avenue, walkable from the end of the EL in Frankford. A legend in MI retail.
love cintioli's - but DO NOT try to walk there from the end of the El ... VERY rough neighborhood

[mc5nrg]

I did it for several years...I know the neighborhood has changed some, but I've been in far worse. The other side of Frankford where the Whithall project is or was far worse.


In Center City there is Vintage Instruments on Pine which is primarily vintage acoustic oriented, Bluebond off of South, 8th Street on Arch which had a flood-don't know if they ever recovered, DiPinto's moved to Girard after my time, not sure if Neal's Guitars is still around out past Havertown...if you do a search you can probably find some info. I recommend Reading Terminal and the nearby Chinatown for good food.

[phillygtr]

Too bad Medley Music gone. I didn't care much for their electric room, but their acoustic room was nice.

Westchester music is still around. Not bad.

[todd richman]

West Chester Music has some nice boutique amps-Dave Sagherian, who posts here as westchesterdave works there and is a great player and great friend too. Shoot him a PM to see what is in inventory currently. West Chester is a cool college town about 45 minute drive from center city. Other than that and Cintioli's, the rest are big box Ash and GC type stores.

[phillygtr]

What happened to Tom Wade? He worked there for a bit after leaving Medley.
West Chester Music has some nice boutique amps-Dave Sagherian, who posts here as westchesterdave works there and is a great player and great friend too. Shoot him a PM to see what is in inventory currently. West Chester is a cool college town about 45 minute drive from center city. Other than that and Cintioli's, the rest are big box Ash and GC type stores.

[todd richman]

I don't think Tom is there any longer-he is a good guy and a great acoustic player.

[6Tones]

Thanks alot,which place is more geared toward acoustic guitars?

[Baba]

8th Street on Arch which had a flood-don't know if they ever recovered,

8thstreet's Philly store did not recover, they reside in Pennsauken NJ now.

There was a store on Ridge Pike somewhere, I forget the name and/or website, but they had some good brands. I never went there though.

[jaydub69]

Try Roxy Guitar:
7026 Ridge Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19128
(215) 483-1889

They are redoing their shop so I'm not sure what they are carrying.

Too bad about Medley-

[sixty2strat]

most of the shops are crap this is the best of list

Ciintolis tons of new stuff got some cool used gear but not much. hope the coked up sales guy is gone;douche bag par excelance
Dipinto's hipster crap ass junk
8th st. Nice stuff but all new and no bargins, was there last week and asked for flat wound...you'd have thought I asked for cat gut lute strings a small time GC or ASH
West Chester one of the last old school shops. not a fan of some of the staff but they have nice things, weak on effects.
Russo music in trenton is full of eycandy, not much used
Dtown, doylestown bit of a hike always seem to have a lot of cool player grade vintage guitars JMP/plexi cabs n heads
Swarthmore, once an icon of music shops ,now a shithole of made in asia crap.
Neals is by appointment only.
.
Bluebond...nothing special, there is a new vitnage shop a block south next to jims steak.
Roxy cool shop nice guy very helpful, lots of booteek stuff warrior dealer and heritage

no real bragins or used gear in philly

[mattmccloskey]

there is really nothing.
8th street is gone(wasn't great anyway).medley is gone. blue bond is tiny, expensive, and crappy except for a few cool pedals.

Westchester is nice, but it ain't in philly, it is at least 45 minutes away on a good day, usually an hour, so that's really not in the running.

Dipinto is a total dump, just some old low-end used stuff and a few of his import goofy guitars. It really isn't much of a shop at all.

Cintioli's is ok. They often have a number of CS fenders and some nice G&L's. As far as amps, pedals, and acoustics they suck, nothing much there.

D-town guitars is kind of cool, he does stock some serious amps like Carr, Budda, Orange, old marshalls,etc. Oddly he doesn't really have much for guitars though. Also a good 45 minutes or better outside the city though.

It is pretty pathetic! A huge city with lots of musicians, and nothing for a good pro guitar shop. There is nowhere in the city or close burbs to find anything. You would think there would be a place similar to Rudy's or Make-n-music or Fat sound, but alas, no dice.

[sixty2strat]

there is really nothing.
8th street is gone(wasn't great anyway).medley is gone. blue bond is tiny, expensive, and crappy except for a few cool pedals.

Westchester is nice, but it ain't in philly, it is at least 45 minutes away on a good day, usually an hour, so that's really not in the running.

Dipinto is a total dump, just some old low-end used stuff and a few of his import goofy guitars. It really isn't much of a shop at all.

Cintioli's is ok. They often have a number of CS fenders and some nice G&L's. As far as amps, pedals, and acoustics they suck, nothing much there.

D-town guitars is kind of cool, he does stock some serious amps like Carr, Budda, Orange, old marshalls,etc. Oddly he doesn't really have much for guitars though. Also a good 45 minutes or better outside the city though.

It is pretty pathetic! A huge city with lots of musicians, and nothing for a good pro guitar shop. There is nowhere in the city or close burbs to find anything. You would think there would be a place similar to Rudy's or Make-n-music or Fat sound, but alas, no dice.


I agree very sad. Why most of my major buys are made at the Philly guitar show.

[Liquid Ranger]

there is really nothing.
8th street is gone(wasn't great anyway).medley is gone. blue bond is tiny, expensive, and crappy except for a few cool pedals.

Westchester is nice, but it ain't in philly, it is at least 45 minutes away on a good day, usually an hour, so that's really not in the running.

Dipinto is a total dump, just some old low-end used stuff and a few of his import goofy guitars. It really isn't much of a shop at all.

Cintioli's is ok. They often have a number of CS fenders and some nice G&L's. As far as amps, pedals, and acoustics they suck, nothing much there.

D-town guitars is kind of cool, he does stock some serious amps like Carr, Budda, Orange, old marshalls,etc. Oddly he doesn't really have much for guitars though. Also a good 45 minutes or better outside the city though.

It is pretty pathetic! A huge city with lots of musicians, and nothing for a good pro guitar shop. There is nowhere in the city or close burbs to find anything. You would think there would be a place similar to Rudy's or Make-n-music or Fat sound, but alas, no dice.

I disagree entirely, Cintioli's Music is the last bastion of anti GC left in the western hemisphere...old school business and discounts in an old school buying environment...cash rules, used / vintage deals still exist...if ya want 20, under 30 "salesman" with calculators hanging from their necks rushing up and assaulting you with " Hey man...how's it goin'!!! " then don't go...if you have a real hankering for music stores the like's of which we all knew 20 years ago, then run as fast as you can...Benny Cintioli is the man to talk to..owner, character...a time tunnel into the better day's of musical retail.

[tvegas99]

Cintioli's is very cool... a character for sure

[mattmccloskey]

I disagree entirely, Cintioli's Music is the last bastion of anti GC left in the western hemisphere...old school business and discounts in an old school buying environment...cash rules, used / vintage deals still exist...if ya want 20, under 30 "salesman" with calculators hanging from their necks rushing up and assaulting you with " Hey man...how's it goin'!!! " then don't go...if you have a real hankering for music stores the like's of which we all knew 20 years ago, then run as fast as you can...Benny Cintioli is the man to talk to..owner, character...a time tunnel into the better day's of musical retail.

How do you disagree then? What did I say about Cintioli's that contradicts anything you say here?
They may provide good deals, but what amp in there would you play?
Warm and fuzzy feelings for Benny doesn't mean anything if I can't find anything worth buying there.

[sixty2strat]

Benny's is not awful and it is pretty old fashioned, but his streangth is in new high end gibson fender. not a lot of used gear like he had 20 years ago.

[mc5nrg]

Due to changes like ebay, very few retailers have a stock of used gear like they did 20 years ago. Except for incredible blowouts, Cintioli's will beat the big box stores pricewise most of the time. Also, if you don't see something, ask. You never know what is buried back in their warehouse or can be gotten ahold of somehow. Interestingly, a store mentioned previously in this thread used to get some of their stock from Cintioli's.

Dice a Benito che Cristoforo dice "Ciao, Benito, spero che tutto va bene".

[mvd18969]

I used to love going to Zapf's off of Rising Sun Ave....

[Oatman]

I used to love going to Zapf's off of Rising Sun Ave....
Was thinking the same thing when I saw this thread. Miss that place.

Out of the way but Coyles Richboro Music isn't bad. Badcat, Rivera, Orange, and some other nice amp lines. GandL dealer, though not much of the custom shop or USA stuff. Mostly Tribute stuff. The high end is pretty dead. The market for musical equipment is dead and heavy skewed to shiny low end crap. And all that is being dominated by the sacriligous big box stores (les pauls at best buy?) ugh.

+1 also for Cintioli's he has a new store in Fox Chase too. Some used stuff. Some nice Marshall handwired stuff. But still more of a small annex.

[drewl]

Cintioli's used to have all kinds of great used stuff in every corner, they've cleaned it up but they still have alot of good things.
D-Town, yes it's way up from the city but it has all kinds of new and used guitars, amps and effects. I've found a ton of vintage gear there.
Possibly try some pawn shops, you never know what you'll find.
My old bassist was a cab driver, so he'd find alot of great bargains all over the city.

[dkaplowitz]

Man, I'd heard about Russo's for years. Finally got out there a few weeks back. What a disaster and a waste of gasoline. Nice people working there, actually, but the atmosphere was like getting punched in the nuts on a hot day after relaxing them in the sun for a while and then falling back on some jagged rocks after getting the shot in the pills. Dudes of every age playing loudly and poorly everywhere, with nowhere to run and hide from the aural onslaught. And the selection of gear hurt pretty bad too (if you like high end stuff). Ugh!

[readymade]

but the atmosphere was like getting punched in the nuts on a hot day after relaxing them in the sun for a while and then falling back on some jagged rocks after getting the shot in the pills.

I like your style.

[mightypudge]

I'll have to check out D-Town since I recently moved a lot closer to Doylestown.

Hated Russo's. Until a few months ago I had never been there so I made a point to check it out. Agree, it was a waste of time.

[todd richman]

Russo's was amazing back in the early 1990's-got my first Bradshaw switcher there and some high end Mesa rack pieces.

Pittman Music Museum was great too with a lot of rack gear like Eventide back in the day.

Where in Fox Chase is the Cintioli's annex?

[_Brandon]

I used to love going to Zapf's off of Rising Sun Ave....
I still have a Peavey Nitro I bought from them in the late 80's. I only keep it for sentimental purposes. I had forgotten the name of the store until I saw this post.

[_Brandon]

Try Roxy Guitar:
7026 Ridge Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19128
(215) 483-1889

They are redoing their shop so I'm not sure what they are carrying.

Too bad about Medley-
What's Roxy like? I pass it every day but I've never gone in. I guess I expect a lot of uncomfortable pressure to try this and that in such a small store.

[anais]

What's Roxy like? I pass it every day but I've never gone in. I guess I expect a lot of uncomfortable pressure to try this and that in such a small store.

Roxy has a lot of gear, although it is not fairly priced.. Lou is cool, and he will cut you a deal on gear if you just talk to him and let him know that you know gear.. I heard they just expanded the building.. It is the only place in philly you can find a large amount of boutique gear.

[fazen]

Pittman Music Museum was great too with a lot of rack gear like Eventide back in the day.


Music Museum was the first music store for me. Got my first amp there. A Peavey Bandit 65 in 1985.

[scottl]

Ahhh, the memories.... Been to Music Museum, Zapfs, etc many times.

I prefer going to NAMM and meeting the builders and establishing a relationship. Then if I need gear, I deal direct.

I know not everyone can do this, but considering the suck factor in Philly retail, I am glad to have this ability.

I guess I have to toss a vote in for Cintiolis....

Actually the Cherry Hill Guitar Center is one of the better ones. I knwo the manager and have always been treated fairly. Not that I shop there much, but they have decent selection of overpriced vintage. Also helps it is local for me.

[Kalalau Hiker]

the Philly music store scene sucks baby gorilla afterbirth.

Word on the street is that The Best guitar store in the area BY FAR is Dave Kaplowitz's house.

Haven't been there yet,
I think it might be private invite, ex shredder fusion guys only,
and no one knows where it is - some kinda Harry Potter cross dimension shift from the R5 Paoli Thornton rail is needed to get there,

but heard the selection is awesome, and the service is fantastic.

and there's a tatoo parlor in the back for that South Street cred!
;):)

[Blue Fin]

I still have a few pieces of gear that I bought from Benny Cintiolis back in the very early 80's. It was a pretty cool place back then.

[jaydub69]

Roxy has a lot of gear... Lou is cool...

Yes he seems willing to work with you on your needs. He was very interested in explaining to me about items he didn't have in stock. Haven't been since the construction finished.
-john

[dkaplowitz]

Word on the street is that The Best guitar store in the area BY FAR is Dave Kaplowitz's house.

Haven't been there yet,
I think it might be private invite, ex shredder fusion guys only,
and no one knows where it is - some kinda Harry Potter cross dimension shift from the R5 Paoli Thornton rail is needed to get there,

but heard the selection is awesome, and the service is fantastic.

and there's a tatoo parlor in the back for that South Street cred!
;):)
Hah! I wish! Tattoos, computers, guitar gear, esoteric books, now THAT would be a cool store to open. You're giving me ideas!

Anyway, I'm in the mood to do a grand tour of guitar stores in the area today, but alas, every time I do that I usually only make it to one store and just getting there burns me out enough to end my journey. Anyone heading out to any stores today?

Dave

[pete kanaras]

DePinto is a really cool shop, if it's still around? 3rd street area, near the old Warmdaddy's

[pete kanaras]

Dipinto is a total dump, just some old low-end used stuff and a few of his import goofy guitars. It really isn't much of a shop at all.

oh, it must've changed since i was last there, which was around '97 or so. bought a super bad rockabilly pink & black strap with miniature inserts from old detective pulp magazines inlaid into it. they did'nt have much afa inventory goes, but i dug the vibe and what they did have in stock

[todd richman]

Hey Kap-I will go in on a store like that with you. If we can only get Scott Lerner to help out. His house is a pretty cool store too I bet with those Dumblicious style amps, rack gear (TC 2290 and Eclipse I think) and his killer chops.

[dkaplowitz]

Hey Kap-I will go in on a store like that with you. If we can only get Scott Lerner to help out. His house is a pretty cool store too I bet with those Dumblicious style amps, rack gear (TC 2290 and Eclipse I think) and his killer chops.
Recommend a place? I'm game. I started even looking into NJ shops to go to, but I'm not sure how much driving I'm up for. ScottL says the NJ GC is actually one of the better ones. I could hang. Is there anything else in that area? I'd trek into NJ for something decent. Not sure if I'm up for the drive into Northern NJ though. I haven't been to Cintioli's in about 2 years either, so I could check them out too.

Dave

[todd richman]

We should get together sometime and do the store thing like I used to do with a good friend from West Chester who has since moved to L.A.

I would love to open a store too but not sure how that would go over in this area. Seems that GC has shut out the ma and pa game in that business.

[dkaplowitz]

We should get together sometime and do the store thing like I used to do with a good friend from West Chester who has since moved to L.A.

I would love to open a store too but not sure how that would go over in this area. Seems that GC has shut out the ma and pa game in that business.
I agree. Any successful small store would have to be mostly online business (and would need a GREAT web site) with a small-ish store-front type business (e.g. very low overhead). And even then, I imagine the competition is fierce and the money is scarce.

I sent you an email. If you want to meet up, I'm game. If not, no worries. Would be cool to meet some time, I'm sure we will. Like I said in the email: It'd be fun if we could get a small handful of TGP'ers to bum-rush a store or two.

All the best,

Dave

[Robertito]

I visited Vintage Instruments yesterday for the first time; it was worth the trip to see the building, which looks like it's more than 100 years old. I played a very nice 1955 Les Paul, all gold w/P90s and stoptail, and which had almost no wear on the frets.

I also enjoyed seeing The Classical Guitar Store, on Ransom between 20th and 21st.

[todd richman]

Both of those are cool to check out. Fred at VI knows his acoustics for sure.

[dkaplowitz]

I also enjoyed seeing The Classical Guitar Store, on Ransom between 20th and 21st.
I just bought a classical guitar there about 2 weeks ago. Nice little shop, nice people. It's kind of unsettling to play a guitar there though since it's such an intimate setting. They're very nice and no attitude at all about my ghastly attempts at classical guitar though. ;)

[todd richman]

That would be me! Did they give you a footrest? lol

[dkaplowitz]

They have a chair and a footrest at the ready. Actually, the guy (I think his name is Ryan -- it wasn't Bob the owner) demoed the guitars for me as well, since I didn't even have nails on my fingers to play with -- and I hadn't played a radius that flat (or a nut width that wide) in at least 10-15 years. After a couple weeks with the guitar, I'm actually totally acclimatized to the guitar.

[mc5nrg]

Keep in mind that with the right prodding Bennie can probably get you just about anything you want.

[dkaplowitz]

Spent some time at West Chester music yesterday. I don't know, is there anywhere else in the area where you can play a bunch of different Collings acoustics and compare them to some Santa Cruz and Bourgeois guitars? It's getting harder and harder to find a place where you can actually play some really nice stuff. Those Collings guitars are so nice! I was lucky to walk out of there without a guitar. And Dave's a great guy, knows gear and always nice to chat with.

Dave

[ickywoods]

I'll toss in a vote for Cintioli's, I played a bunch of McInturff's there a while back and some CS Strats.

Dtown Guitars is an interesting place, for being in the 'burbs they have some really nice amps. I believe this is Martin's place which moved from Lansdale years ago...I had one of the funniest experiences of my life in that store.....

The only all used place I know of is up a little further north called The Guitar Barn. Karl has a little of everything and at one point, every piece of equipment I owned came from him.

[dkaplowitz]

I believe this is Martin's place which moved from Lansdale years ago...I had one of the funniest experiences of my life in that store.....
Don't leave us hangin' man!

The only all used place I know of is up a little further north called The Guitar Barn. Karl has a little of everything and at one point, every piece of equipment I owned came from him.
I've seen their billboards offering free coffee on my way out to Reading, IIRC. I keep meaning to get out there. And yeah, I have to make it out to DTown some time.

Regarding other shops "in the area", I'm interested to check out Jack Gretz (from Magdon)'s new place: http://www.nemusiccenter.com Not sure if his store is open for visits yet, but it should have some nice stuff if you're up for a bit of a drive.

Dave

[BadAssBill]

The Best Buy off 73 (or is it 70) in Moorestown has incredible buys there. Surely worth the trek, most of the prices are 200 less than GC on 1k+ guitars. Also, forget where, but somewhere in NJ is Pick of the Ricks, an all Rickenbacker store.
In Cherry hill the GC/Sam Ash always have decent selections between the two of them. Elliot at GC is some kind of icon...he sold me my first strat and amp back in the early 80's and is still working there.

[Kalalau Hiker]

Spent some time at West Chester music yesterday. I don't know, is there anywhere else in the area where you can play a bunch of different Collings acoustics and compare them to some Santa Cruz and Bourgeois guitars? It's getting harder and harder to find a place where you can actually play some really nice stuff. Those Collings guitars are so nice! I was lucky to walk out of there without a guitar. And Dave's a great guy, knows gear and always nice to chat with.

Dave

hey Dave
Do they have Suhrs there?

[dkaplowitz]

hey Dave
Do they have Suhrs there?
Rob,

No they don't, did they ever? I remember Medley carrying them, but not WC. I didn't go to WC much while Medley was still in business, so maybe they did and I just wasn't aware of it.

They had some really nice Andersons, a Collings CL Deluxe, and some nice Fender CS stuff. I didn't really take notice of the Gibsons they had, but I did buy my current R8 there (even though I thought I was done with Gibsons when I bought it! :bonk) a couple years back now.

Dave

[JuanK]

I need to take the opportunity to reinforce just how nice Dave and his staff are at West Chester. I don't think I've bought anything substantial there for a long time, just some amp repairs. I had a Rivera there on consignment for a few months, just no real interest, so I went to pick it up. Was feeling bad, I had just lost my son, and just guilty that here I was again giving them zero business (I'd buy half the store if I had any bread!).
They treated me as graciously as if I was buying the amp new, let me try a Two Rock they had (in fact Dave invited me to turn it up!) and are just overall nice people. They really deserve everyone's business, and respect.
I really miss the local music stores; Medleys, Skips, etc. West Chester is the closest thing we've got out here, and I thank them for it.

[dkaplowitz]

I tried that Two Rock (Emerald Pro) too. It was nice.