I was just wondering where you have had the best experience buying gear online. I am about to buy a strat that I am super excited about, and no one in town has the color and features that I want. Where do you all find the best prices, the best service online etc?

My last experience with Guitar Center was not that great, so I'd like to find somewhere new online to order this guitar from. I would like to have it be the kind of place that I would feel certain would take care of me if there were a problem, and would give me the best price too.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

By the way, if you are curious about which guitar I am dying to buy...
I played the new Am Standard with the Fat 50's at a store the other day, and I am in love. However, I really want the Charcoal Frost Metallic with the RW fingerboard. That finish is more "me" than the other choices. Those pickups have such a cool vintage-y quality, with so much character in the attack. Love it.

A lot of people like Sweetwater for their service, but I've found them not to be the cheapest. Americanmusical, music123, and musiciansfriend are ones I have used. Never a problem. Have fun.

OK... First let me start off by saying that I am a TOTAL Newbie here.

I just got my 1st Strat on Sat. (not even a week). But I had such a positive experience that I must share it.

I live in St. Paul, MN and have for 24 years (nearly half my life). There was always this little guitar store less than a mile from my house - Willie's American Guitars -http://williesguitars.com/index.cfm/home/1 .

Deciding to take up the guitar again after more than 40 years, I decided to stop in one day at Willie's and get acquainted with what's happening in Guitar World. One of the employees, Ely stepped up to assist me. I told him that I had nothing but questions in my head and if he had other duties, I could wait. He said he didn't.

Ely explained that Willie's sold nothing but Stringed Instruments (Guitars, Basses, Banjos and Mandolins) and Amps - no Drums, Horns, Keyboards, or Maracas. That they were an Authorized Fender Dealer and showed me around the shop - 3 rooms full of new, used, consigned and vintage Guitars, Basses, Electric, Accoustic - some as high as $40k !! He said that 50% of their business was internet business - including lots of Int'l. sales.

I explained I was a novice and he steered me to some Accoustics. I told him that I live in a condo and that an Electric would be better because I could play using a practice amp and headphones, not disturbing my neighbors. That I did want an Accoustic eventually, but felt it would be better once the neighbors were listening to Music rather than the 'Noise' I'd likely be producing for the next several months (hopefully not years). Plus, I said I had my Heart set on a Stratocaster.

Ely then showed me more than 30 Guitars (out of the hundreds all over the shop), taking the time to explain all their intricacies and playing each one for me - Ely has some serious Chops! I also mentioned that it seemed there were a lot of salesmen on the floor (5) for such a small shop. Ely told me they were all on their days off - that they all come in to play the various guitars Willie's gets in - amazing!

Anyway, to get to the point, Ely spent 2 hours with me and after a little haggling, sold me a new CAR Fender FSR American Vintage '57 Stratocaster (Limited Edition), an Epiphone AJ-100CE Acoustic-Electric, Gig Bag and Orange Crush pix Practice Amp for less than the price of the Stratocaster alone at some of the 'Big Box' Music Stores.

It was the best shopping experience I've had in many years.

Anyway, like I said, I'm a total Newbie and don't know squat yet. But, I would really recommend taking a look at Willie's.

I'm certain there are others who will chime-in who know much more than I, and maybe even have a better shop to steer you to, but take a look at Willie's site (they can order anything you want from Fender).

If nothing else, be sure to read the ' Notes from Willie's ' section and his story: Willie Goes to the Clapton Auction! http://williesguitars.com/index.cfm/not ... _willie/16 - It's amazing !

Good Luck with your search... I hope your experience in buying your Stratocaster is as good as mine was !!

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele

i have got a whisker of a better deal from Willcutts than GC or Sweetwater and you actually can talk to the same person twice in a row [Eric is who i delt with on 4 different guitars]:shock: --jmo

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2011 PRS 25th SAS
2008 Eric Clapton Custom Antigua Strat
2012 PRS Artist Package Studio Special Order

For online "New" guitar purchases I generally always go through AJ at sweetwater.
They actually Inspect them prior to you getting them. music 123, MF and the sort don't do much other than slap a new label on the box. Heck, AJ even sends me personal hand written notes and freaking Candy with my purchases
also their prices aren't set in stone, if you call they can sometimes work you a deal.

I have spent thousands there over the years and I have never had a single issue, if you get a good sales rep you are taken care of. and If you want guaranteed great service request Aj.

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E.M. Shorts is probably the best place I've ever bought from, small shop, staff is very attentive to details. Good experiences on my side for new, used and trade ins and support after the sale. You will not be disappointed. If I was in the buying market, I'd check here first


For the big online stores:

Sweetwater will offer a pretty good experience, they have a nice guitar gallery web app where you can look at the various available in stock models, and then just select which serial # you want. They're pretty good about follow up with you.

Bought an SG there back in May and I was very pleased with the experience.

Musicians Friend is always excellent, I've bought tons of stuff from them, (several guitars, a few small combos and countless accessories and other gear)

Any time I have had a problem (which is very rarely) they've stepped right up and fixed it.


Both have a very good return policy if there's a problem.

Willie's is really cool. The faux-Bigsby they have on the website right now is pretty nifty.

They used to use Savage for amp repair, but things move at the speed of Savage. Everyone in the Twin Cities should drive down to Savage's shop to look around. It's like a museum for Fender amps.

I've order'ed from all the big boys. What I like about sweetwater is after you place your first order you deal with one guy. My rep contacts me regularly to see how me and my gear are doing and if he can help with anything. We talk about his gear and mod's he's done, the music biz, gettin old, whatever. There Guitar Gallery is Awesome. You get to see the actual guitar you are buying and if there are 4 or 5 in stock you can pick the one you like best. ie woodgrain, tint, your not just looking at stock photos. Ya they might be a few bucks more on some models, but you get a full factory warranty on a Demo not a 45 day no factory like GC or MF.
Willie's sounds like a cool place and I'll check them out in the future.

If I can't find what I want at my local Guitar Center, or any of the mom & pop guitar shops in my vicinity, then Sweetwater....(hands down, no questions asked)....

You might pay a buck or two more than some of the others mentioned, but you won't get the backing, set up, or after sale service like Sweetwater......

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American Standard Strat
American Standard Tele
Custom Vibrolux Reverb
Fulltone RTO
Boss TU-3

Definetly musicians friend they have all kinds of strats there.
They many guitars in sale you should buy there its safe dont worry.

Funny because Musicians Friend and Guitar Center have the same parent company.

zzounds claims to make it right if there is a problem and their prices are in line. They also have pay to play, where they will ship today while splitting your payments.

Many Showcase dealers will sell you the instrument for the same price and set it up properly as well. But, they will charge a premium for shipping.

Oh, and Sam Ash I have never bought an instrument from on line, only strings and accessories. We have a local Sam Ash here and it depends on how busy it is as to what kind of service you get. But since they also sell band instruments, they also have quite a selection of music in stock as well as blank staff paper, manuscript paper, etc...

Art

@ Lightnin MN......A '57 Stratocaster (Limited Edition) is enough to make any shopping experence the best anyone's ever had.....of course your mileage may vary! My God! have funnnnnnnn!

I got a Strat for Christmas last year. Wife wanted to surprise me but couldn't figure out how to order it. I ended up ordering it myself from Sweetwater. My experience was great. They matched another internet price, shipped free and the guitar came in set up very well.

I've made other purchases there since, they can be hard to deal with, they hate to give.

Here's a pic from their Guitar Gallery, it's the one I got. While I do like Sweetwater, I like posting pics of my guitars and basses better!

I will say again sweetwater is #1 for online customer service. They treat you like a person much like they do in a small local shop. as said previously they follow up after the purchase and If there is ANY problem, they will fix it. they do like to use the phone though, even if you email them they will call. Its almost like the staff wants to talk to you I have talked to my sales rep for an hour just shooting the $@!& before. and after a few months of big purchases he even gave me his personal Cell number in case i needed something overnighted . ( I guess he got the impression I was a traveling musician from how often I moved this past year)
to me this is all worth passing up the $15 to $20 savings from a mass budget dealer. besides, return customers will generally always get a good price match. when I bought my PRS Mira I simply emailed him the link to the cheapest place online and he matched the price with free 2 day shipping. also when I got the guitar the case contained a hand written note with a sandwich bag of candy.
those small personal touches are what make them #1 in my opinion.

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Sweetwater has great service. Just picked up a Tele from Same Day Music. Ordered it on Friday and it was delivered on Monday Morning. I don't use Musicians Friend - they are owned by Guitar Center and I don't make purchases there either.