Where is your favorite acoustic guitar shop?

[Tone Disciple]

I have several that I really like - Charley's Guitars in Dallas is a great shop for the quality of people that work there, but my all time favorite acoustic guitar shop is High Desert Guitars in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

http://www.highdesertguitars.com

Steve and Terry have partnered to offer one of the best selections of acoustic guitars ever assembled! I get to travel to New Mexico on business several times a year and I always find a way to pay a visit to High Desert Guitars. They carry a great line of medium sized luthiers like McPherson, Lakewood, Collings and Lowden, but their most amazing material is in a room devoted to small custom luthiers like Ryan, Haemblin, McCollum, McAlister, Wingert, DeJonge and many more.

This most recent visit I played several guitars by these luthiers whose material you almost never get to see let alone play and compare in one store! My favorite guitar was a Haemblin with cocobola back and sides.

Be sure to check out their website! Better yet, go to Santa Fe and pay them a visit! Very nice! Great people with great guitars who like visitors!

Where is your favorite acoustic guitar shop?

I may be in that part of the country sometime and I would like to know!

Regards
Tone Disciple

[Bryan T]

I'm lucky to live near McCabe's Guitars in Santa Monica. They carry everything from starter guitars through Goodall, Lowden, Collings, Santa Cruz, and some single luthier built guitars, plus the typical Taylor and Martin instruments. They also have a great selection of sheet music, including a big section for fingerstyle guitar and a nice classical guitar section. Finally, they have great concerts with very good sound. I've seen Laurence Juber, John Jorgenson, Pierre Bensusan, Charlie Hunter, and several others there.

Honorable mention goes to Gilroy Guitar Gallery in Gilroy, CA. They area fairly small shop, but have a number of Santa Cruz, Breedlove, MacPherson, and other high end guitars, as well as Martin and Taylor. The owner, Kevin, is a really great guy.

Bryan

[riffmeister]

Acoustic Roots in Bryn Mawr, PA.

http://www.acousticroots.com/AcousticRootsmg.asp?SubCatID=88

A very dangerous place for me to be.......:p

[Tone Disciple]

That's great! I have actually been to Guitar Gallery in Gilroy and Acoustic R0ots in Bryn Mar, PA. The store in Gilroy was very nice with several different galleries of guitars. I am usually in Gilroy at least once a year so this store and another in Santa Cruz that carries Lowdens are a sure stop for me.

The Acoustic Roots store in PA was a place I visited on a trip to Philadelphia. I agree, both of these stores are dangerous to visit!

The routine usually goes like this -. Get to the hotel, break out the yellow pages and look up all the music/guitar stores you can find. Write down the phone numbers and call in between business appointments the next day to see what top lines they carry. If the stock sounds interetsing prioritize which stores you will visit in whatever extra time you will have.

Seeing the great guitars and playing many of the best really helps you identify the ones that are outstanding.

Here are two more - Anderson Guitar Gallery, Frisco, Texas near Dallas and Guitar Resurrection in Austin. Check out their websites!

[riffmeister]

Whatever you do, don't EVER take a trip to NYC or more specifically, Staten Island. Mandolin Brothers has a huge stock of irresistable toys!

[GeetarGoul]

Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, CA. Dangerous shop. :dude

[jokerjkny]

Originally posted by riffmeister
Acoustic Roots in Bryn Mawr, PA.

http://www.acousticroots.com/AcousticRootsmg.asp?SubCatID=88

A very dangerous place for me to be.......:p

seriously,

and Tom's a righteous lap slide player.

another great place is the Guitar Gallery (www.guitargal.com) in Nashville. have never been there, but Robin was a peach to deal with.

[hemlock]

The Guitar Shop in Washington DC is a pretty cool place.

[MichaelK]

Dreamcatcher Guitars in Roswell, GA. Eddie Mathis is a great guy to deal with. Maple Street Guitars in Buckhead has a nice selection and they're good people, but they tend to be inflexible on price - which is on the high end.

Gruhn's in Nashville has an awe inspiring collection of vintage flattops, archtops and mandos. I could spend all afternoon just looking at their walls.

[DrSax]

I've bought all my acoustics, and one electric from my favorite guitar store:

Mandolin Brothers!!

www.mandoweb.com


Best place!!!!

[DrSax]

I've bought all my acoustics, and one electric from my favorite guitar store:

Mandolin Brothers!!

www.mandoweb.com


Best place!!!!

[Tone Disciple]

Several of you in the NJ area have mentioned Mandolin Bros. so I checked out their website. Very Nice!

[AnthonyL]

Wildwood Music in Ohio. Acoustic only shop - great service and prices.

[Wheels]

Originally posted by riffmeister
Acoustic Roots in Bryn Mawr, PA.

http://www.acousticroots.com/AcousticRootsmg.asp?SubCatID=88

A very dangerous place for me to be.......:p


+10,000!!!!!

[FreeBlues]

Let me put in a strong second for High Desert Guitars in Santa Fe. You can check out their high end inventory at http://www.differentcity.com/.

Steve has a very large and good inventory - Collings, Lakewood, Larrivee, McPherson, Goodall and others. Great selection of classical guitars.

Each guitar is selected by Steve and he'll take all the time in the world to get you what you want (need).

I'm local and biased, but I also travel a lot and High Desert Guitar has to be on everyon'e short list of great stores.

[e-z]

+1 for McCabe's. I bought my Santa Cruz there 10 years ago and if I ever "need" another acoustic I'll go there first.

Edit: For classical/flamenco I highly recommend Trilogy Guitars in Play del Rey. I bought my classical there. John Silva was extremely helpful and he stands by his instruments.

[phoenix 7]

There are so many super cool acoustic guitar shops -- big and small -- around the country, and I've been known to drive 500 miles and more to visit them.

If you're into ultra-high-end solo-luthier acoustics, the Guitar Gallery just north of Nashville is one of the very best, with an incredible selection including Olson, Ryan and other amazing guitars. I bought my Blanchard Bristlecone here.

Steve Swan guitars near San Francisco is another fantastic shop -- I bought my Merrill OM-28 from him.

Schoenberg Guitars in Tiburon, CA is another beautiful shop. It's a very pleasant ferry-ride across San Francisco Bay.

+1 for Mandolin Bros. in NY -- another fantastic place. Stan Jay is the best.

I could go on, but those are some of my very favorites.

[Ken I]

another vote for Mandolin Bros. great selection of acoustics

[mitch]

Billy Bling, a memeber here, Manages Royal Music in Merrick N.Y. as well as Brooklyn N.Y. I wandered in ther a few years ago, and MUCH to my suprise, he had an acoustic room FILLED with unreal guitars. @ of my best playing and sounding guitars come from him, a CL-50 Gibson, that is probably the best acoustic I have ever seen, and a sweet taylor 714.

[fatback]

+1's for Gryphon and McCabe's. Very cool shops.