I'm planning to buy an electric guitar (Fender or Gibson) during my stay in town next week. I've never been to London before, which I'm very much looking forward to , and was hoping for some advice about where to look for it.

Visit Denbmark Street, once the tin pan alley of london now home to gutar shops. Tottenham court Road tube. and just east of charring x rd.
the scene wher Dylan is looking at guitars in Dont Look Back is dneamrk street.

Hey, thanks man. I'll go there! Guitar player yourself?

Denmark Street is definitely the place to go - Tin Pan Alley as it used to be known as Nanker P said - make sure you check out 'Regent Sounds' where the Stones made their first album.....some great pictures and newspaper articles of that event in there.

Thanks a lot! I'll definetely go there

In denmark street there are loads of music shops there. Some better than others. There is rose morris, which is huge, but a bit of a corporate feeling. If you walk into denmark street from charing cross road (which is most likely, of you arrive from tottenham court road) there are two places in particular that are great. One is on the right hand side, and has all these really cool guitars, and whats cool about the place is the decor, lots of furnishings, and the place feels more like a museum,just the way it's presented. The other place is on the left, towards the end. I think it's called "Andy's" and you go downstairs and the place is full of vintage stuff. Some are really pricey but it's great. The smell of glue, they have a little repair section there. Really cool...

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What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!

Thanks for this info.

Leaving for London Tonight... yawza

Regent Sound Studios:



As can be seen, it´s mainly a Fender dealer nowadays:



Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

Please do realise that Denmark street is VERY expensive for guitar shopping. It's one of the three guitar centers of the world, and that's reflected in the pricing.

Mathijs

Thanks for the advice all of you! Mathijs, do you know about any other part of the town where I can get either a new or a used Fender or Gibson?

New Kings Road, near Fulham and West Brompton is very good. At least a bit cheaper than Denmark St.

But where are you from? In general, buying outside London is always cheaper, and if you're not living in the UK I would just never buy anything in the UK, the pound simply is too expensive for the rest of Europe. Germany probably has the lowest price for guitars.

Mathijs

I'm from Norway. I've been checking out prices on specific guitars, and it seems that when comparing them with norwegian prices, they are about the same. The only thing is, that if I pay more than 500£, the customs will charge me 25%! I've already got a Gibson Les Paul 1972 model (reissue from 1992) two colour sunburst, which I'm very happy with, so I'm only looking for a cheaper
second guitar. I'm mainly thinking of a Telecaster wich I later on might change micks on, and figured that the selection is probably much better in London than over here...

Why not just tell customs you had the guitar with you to London from Norway?
You could have been doing a gig, or an audition or whatever?

Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

mickijaggeroo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why not just tell customs you had the guitar with
> you to London from Norway?
> You could have been doing a gig, or an audition or
> whatever?

That is absolutely an option

bring and empty old batterd case with you.

S.T.P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mickijaggeroo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Why not just tell customs you had the guitar
> with
> > you to London from Norway?
> > You could have been doing a gig, or an audition
> or
> > whatever?
>
> That is absolutely an option

No it's not an option. You need a receipt by customs that you already owned the guitar before. So when you go to England you've got to show the guitar to customs and get a written proof that you already owned it.

Mathijs

Well, it worked fine for a friend of mine. The guitar was brand new, with all tags etc on it. Swedish customs did not bother at all.

Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

Well thats the least you can do - take off all the tags and stickers, manuals and warranty.

If you want to keep all that stuff, put it in an envelope and send home by mail.

Here are some guitarshop-links to check out:

[www.allinlondon.co.uk]

[www.musicmakerassociation.co.uk]

mickijaggeroo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, it worked fine for a friend of mine. The
> guitar was brand new, with all tags etc on it.
> Swedish customs did not bother at all.

Sweden is part of the EU, Norway isn't.

Mathijs

Mathijs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mickijaggeroo Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Well, it worked fine for a friend of mine. The
> > guitar was brand new, with all tags etc on it.
> > Swedish customs did not bother at all.
>
> Sweden is part of the EU, Norway isn't.
>
> Mathijs

Gee, i did´nt know that

Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

mickijaggeroo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mathijs Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > mickijaggeroo Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Well, it worked fine for a friend of mine.
> The
> > > guitar was brand new, with all tags etc on
> it.
> > > Swedish customs did not bother at all.
> >
> > Sweden is part of the EU, Norway isn't.
> >
> > Mathijs
>
> Gee, i did´nt know that


To be honest -I thought Norway WAS part of the EEC, enabling free trade. But apperently Norway isn't a member after all.

Mathijs