the advice about austin is right on. i lived there for 4month about 15 years ago. the people are great, great food, music and the weekends on lake travis. i was a tourist and working there... yeah...ended up seeing jimmy vaughn and tiltawhirl at a antones...also the dirty dozen brass band on another night. and let's here it for shiner bock and lone star on a hot sticky summer night!

enjoy austin!

Metro Chicago is world class and has hundreds of musical venues, serious blues and at least a hundred music stores.

I wouldn't worry too much about that in Austin. Be yourself and you'll be fine, Austin is a fairly international city. So is Houston and even Dallas. We're not all hillbillies, contrary to popular belief. Like anywhere in the world, try to avoid putting yourself in bad situations. If it looks like a shady part of town, don't walk around there at night.

I've been in fairly bad parts of town at night before because sometimes my band is booked out of town, no one bothers to see what the venue is like or where it is located. So far I've survived all the surprise out of town gigs. For example several months ago my band was booked into a really sleazy looking place in downtown Austin. It was a few blocks from 6th street in a questionable part of town. We walked in and low and behold about a dozen biker looking guys were sitting at the bar. We were really nervous since our music would be in the alternative/pop/rock category, and bikers aren't a big part of our fan base. But this is how cool Austin is, after we played our first song the bikers are started cheering and clapping, and people packed the bar from off the street too. It ended up being an awesome gig, and we were even invited back! That sort of thing probably wouldn't have happened anywhere but Austin.

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+1

Great jazz in Chicago. Buddy Guy's club is located in Chicago. If you get to Chicago, Milwaukee is an hour north of Chicago and has the Les Paul exhibit. This is really a cool exhibit. Has lots of his photos, guitars and equipment. The worlds largest music festival (Summerfest) is also in Milwaukee each year. Eleven days, eleven stages and over 700 bands. http://www.summerfest.com The Harley Davidson museum is also very cool. Cream City music is the best place in Milwaukee for vintage gear. Hope you have a great trip.

That's nice, I'll consider chicago too.
Thanks!

I think if I were picking only a couple cities, I'd certainly do Austin, but would skip Dallas and hit Hollywood. I work for a Dallas based company and everytime I'm there, I look for guitar shops and just end up at the North Dallas Guitar Center. The Hollywood Guitar Center is its flagship. A friend of mine was out there a couple weeks ago and was amazed at the guitars there.

I'm a hard core used buyer, but when it comes to strats, unless you're a real expert, I think I'd want to buy from a place who knows their stuff and has a reputation on the line. Guitar Center certainly fits that. (I'm an engineer.....I don't work for Guitar Center).

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

Thanks guys!