Widest choice of acoustics in the UK

BlazeHelm · February 2022

Friends, where, in your opinion, is the best place to go for a quality new acoustic guitar. Which store/stores has the widest choice, biggest selection - am thinking Taylor, Martin, Gibson and Larrivee. D-28 has always been my dream guitar but I want to play as many in one place, ideally a D-18, D & HD-28, Taylor 717 in the same place before I make my choice...without driving for hundreds of miles between playing them.....

Winny_Pooh · February 2022

Tough one. Last time shopping for my friend we did GuitarGuitar Epsom & Guitar Village Farnham, Surrey in an afternoon. Still bloody far for you.

GoFish · February 2022

Guitar Village is good but not worth that distance trip unless you're already near. Its not that big!

Hobgoblin are pretty useful.

Failing that, Brimingham has a collection of shops all close-ish to each other?

ToneControl · February 2022

I'd recommend also trying the newer brands that are more hand-finished or made in a small workshop
I started with a Taylor, and was disappointed once I'd tried the brands below

Lowden - plenty of these around the UK shops
Avalon - very good value in the UK

Bourgeois
Santa Cruz
Goodall
Collings

In particular try Frailers in Runcorn - they have new Lowdens and many used Gibsons, Martins, Larrivees
and Coda have lots of new stuff including Lowdens

BlazeHelm · February 2022

Winny_Pooh said:

Tough one. Last time shopping for my friend we did GuitarGuitar Epsom & Guitar Village Farnham, Surrey in an afternoon. Still bloody far for you.

Thanks - not bothered about distance but Guitar Village have a lot in stock and were not on my radar. Appreciate the steer

Mellish · February 2022

PMT would have D18, D&HD28 and Taylor 717 normally, but I don't think they stock Larries. GuitarGuutar, as mentioned, usually has Martin, Gibson and Taylor. That's where I bought my HD28. However, there's a shortage of these brands atm due to Covid restrictions

stickyfiddle · February 2022

GV are great and I've had 2 great acoustics from them. Coda isn't too far either (in context of a trip from Derby...)

I'd strongly recommend trying an Atkin for an old-Martin-style thing, and they're a big stockist. This one is out of stock but I'd bet it knocks spots off a boggo D18

https://guitarvillage.co.uk/products/atkin-essential-d-aged-natural

Redlester · February 2022

I'd second popping into a branch of Guitar Guitar, just for having a lot of guitars by a representative number of brands to try in one space.

springhead · February 2022

Lots of Martin and Taylor at Peach when I visited them shortly before Christmas. And a nice environment in which to try them out.

AsterixTG · February 2022

Mellish said:

PMT would have D18, D&HD28 and Taylor 717 normally, but I don't think they stock Larries. GuitarGuutar, as mentioned, usually has Martin, Gibson and Taylor. That's where I bought my HD28. However, there's a shortage of these brands atm due to Covid restrictions

I wanted to check some stuff out in Cardiff PMT - their website said they had stock, made a trip down, nothing was there.

Check first by calling.

bertie · February 2022

I was going to mention Acoustic Music Co. in Brighton which used to stock nearly every "top end" - just seen the website and now its just mandolins, Even Ivors seems to have shed "all the good stuff"

ToneControl · February 2022

bertie said:

I was going to mention Acoustic Music Co. in Brighton which used to stock nearly every "top end" - just seen the website and now its just mandolins, Even Ivors seems to have shed "all the good stuff"

Trevor at Acoustic music is retiring now

ditchboy · February 2022

BlazeHelm said:

Friends, where, in your opinion, is the best place to go for a quality new acoustic guitar. Which store/stores has the widest choice, biggest selection - am thinking Taylor, Martin, Gibson and Larrivee. D-28 has always been my dream guitar but I want to play as many in one place, ideally a D-18, D & HD-28, Taylor 717 in the same place before I make my choice...without driving for hundreds of miles between playing them.....

I have a beautiful D28 for sale. £1000 cheaper than retail.

MrTee · February 2022

I'd second Frailers in Runcorn

ToneControl · February 2022

MrTee said:

I'd second Frailers in Runcorn

yep, no one seems to know about it, I've seen people turn up on a train from London, pick a Martin, and off they go, it's a huge and varied selection

Frank even used to have about 10 Larrivees at a time in there at one time

to those who don't know, Frank is past retirement age, and doesn't owe any money on the premises, so does not have to mark things up as much as other places. He used to fly to several guitar shows a year in the USA, and buy hundreds of used acoustics, but that's been curtailed by the rosewood ban and covid, so he does a lot more new stuff now as well

MrTee · February 2022

....and his in store notice board has been home to many a fine guitar for sale from some big names too

CavemanGrogg · February 2022

I would add Gear 4 Music to this list with a caution, you have arrange for them tp have the guitar broughtt in to their showroom from their warehose, plus their range and stock of acoustics tends to be clustered around the big brands, like Taylor.

tomjax · February 2022

Forsyths in Manchester is also worth popping into, especially if you’re heading to Runcorn for Frailers.

guitarjack66 · February 2022

ToneControl said:

I'd recommend also trying the newer brands that are more hand-finished or made in a small workshop
I started with a Taylor, and was disappointed once I'd tried the brands below

Lowden - plenty of these around the UK shops
Avalon - very good value in the UK

Bourgeois
Santa Cruz
Goodall
Collings

In particular try Frailers in Runcorn - they have new Lowdens and many used Gibsons, Martins, Larrivees
and Coda have lots of new stuff including Lowdens

I live in Runcorn but dont use Frailers at all due to the horrible attitude of the fella that runs it when I went in there my first couple of times. I always shop up the road at Ideal Sounds,but Karl tends not to sell new. He also has a second shop across the road for storage.

ToneControl · February 2022

guitarjack66 said:

ToneControl said:

I'd recommend also trying the newer brands that are more hand-finished or made in a small workshop
I started with a Taylor, and was disappointed once I'd tried the brands below

Lowden - plenty of these around the UK shops
Avalon - very good value in the UK

Bourgeois
Santa Cruz
Goodall
Collings

In particular try Frailers in Runcorn - they have new Lowdens and many used Gibsons, Martins, Larrivees
and Coda have lots of new stuff including Lowdens

I live in Runcorn but dont use Frailers at all due to the horrible attitude of the fella that runs it when I went in there my first couple of times. I always shop up the road at Ideal Sounds,but Karl tends not to sell new. He also has a second shop across the road for storage.

wow, you're the first person I've heard say a bad word about him, everyone I know thinks he's ok

guitarjack66 · February 2022

ToneControl said:

guitarjack66 said:

ToneControl said:

I'd recommend also trying the newer brands that are more hand-finished or made in a small workshop
I started with a Taylor, and was disappointed once I'd tried the brands below

Lowden - plenty of these around the UK shops
Avalon - very good value in the UK

Bourgeois
Santa Cruz
Goodall
Collings

In particular try Frailers in Runcorn - they have new Lowdens and many used Gibsons, Martins, Larrivees
and Coda have lots of new stuff including Lowdens

I live in Runcorn but dont use Frailers at all due to the horrible attitude of the fella that runs it when I went in there my first couple of times. I always shop up the road at Ideal Sounds,but Karl tends not to sell new. He also has a second shop across the road for storage.

wow, you're the first person I've heard say a bad word about him, everyone I know thinks he's ok

Oh right. My guitar teacher was not even surprised when I mentioned the fella's poor attitude and my teacher is local too. Maybe I caught him on a couple of bad days? Surprisingly too,the native Runcorn people can still have a bad attitude to those of us originally from Liverpool,especially some of the older ones. Anyway,maybe I am seeing something that's not there? I'm just too old now to tolerate anything other than just good manners and civility. I try to do it.

bertie · February 2022

just checked the Frailers website, pretty good, if you want a Martin................. disappointingly not a great deal else, 100+ Martins, a few Taylors, 4 Lowdens, couple of Gibsons and a Santa Cruz and some cheaper stuff

ToneControl · February 2022

bertie said:

just checked the Frailers website, pretty good, if you want a Martin................. disappointingly not a great deal else, 100+ Martins, a few Taylors, 4 Lowdens, couple of Gibsons and a Santa Cruz and some cheaper stuff

I'm seeing 30 Gibsons

bertie · February 2022

ToneControl said:

bertie said:

just checked the Frailers website, pretty good, if you want a Martin................. disappointingly not a great deal else, 100+ Martins, a few Taylors, 4 Lowdens, couple of Gibsons and a Santa Cruz and some cheaper stuff

I'm seeing 30 Gibsons

OK, still heavily weighted to Martin tho.............. I couldnt see any Larrys sadly - but TBH I didnt look that closely cos the amount of Martins were hurting my eyes and taking my soul

Image: /plugins/EmojiExtender/emoji/fb/smiley.png

ToneControl · February 2022

bertie said:

ToneControl said:

bertie said:

just checked the Frailers website, pretty good, if you want a Martin................. disappointingly not a great deal else, 100+ Martins, a few Taylors, 4 Lowdens, couple of Gibsons and a Santa Cruz and some cheaper stuff

I'm seeing 30 Gibsons

OK, still heavily weighted to Martin tho.............. I couldnt see any Larrys sadly - but TBH I didnt look that closely cos the amount of Martins were hurting my eyes and taking my soul

yeah, he used to have more variety before the crackdown on rosewood imports

bertie · February 2022

ToneControl said:

yeah, he used to have more variety before the crackdown on rosewood imports

such a f****ng shame..........................

bertie · February 2022

* double post *

ESBlonde · February 2022

Coda in hitchin have a decent acoustic loft with some small makers featured.

tomjax · February 2022

bertie said:

just checked the Frailers website, pretty good, if you want a Martin................. disappointingly not a great deal else, 100+ Martins, a few Taylors, 4 Lowdens, couple of Gibsons and a Santa Cruz and some cheaper stuff

I was in there just before Christmas and I’ve never seen so many Gibsons in one store, used and new. They definitely way outnumbered the Martins available.

it was my first time in the store. Got talking with Frank, the owner, he’s quite a character with plenty of stories to share, though sadly not in the best of health.

Definitely worth a visit, not many stores like that left in the UK now.

Snags · February 2022

ESBlonde said:

Coda in hitchin have a decent acoustic loft with some small makers featured.

Worth bearing in mind that they're actually in Old Stevenage, and have separate premises for acoustic vs electric. Both in the old town though.

Hitchin used to have Machinehead, long gone. And John Myatt for more classical stuff.

artiebear · February 2022

No such store ( I wish there was ). Do you want the usual ( used = smelly / new = less smelly ) choice of Martin"s and Gibson"s,
that have been traded in because a) it's a dog or b) it's ok but been bought/abused by an idiot who had no idea how to cope with a decent guitar. ?
Beyond that, it's a roll of the dice.

The answer is to narrow down what you are looking for ( to some extent ) re tone|( what is that until you are what you perceive ?) , body size, etc. Then throw in budget. After that look at stores with a few guitars to check out Repeat and rinse until you get a shortlist, then work out why.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Widest choice of acoustics in the UK

Comments