OffsetGuitars.com

im headed to new york for a couple of weeks anyone the could refer me to some vintage guitar shops in manhattan or long island that'd be awsome.

So NYC right? there are some good places upstate, but I think NYC prices are inflated.

David

im interested in anything around the new york area really ill be there for a week or two so ill get around what are the places upstate? im looking for a reasonable price it makes me sick to see these guitars being sold for 12,000 bucks and on top of that going to collectors who just hang them on a wall

48th Street would be a great place to start.  All of the stores are on that one block.

48th st is pretty pricey.  They can be a little rude too.  There are also 2 shops on either 30th I think, near the Empire state building.  Little more low key, though one was seriously lacking in guitars when I went a few weeks ago.

Seriously, I'm a New Yorker and I really don't think it's a very good place to buy guitars.  There might be some decent neighborhood shops that only the locals know about but the big shops are all pretty much crap IMO.  Same stuff you can get at any Guitar Center or Sam Ash in the suburbs but with higher prices and ruder staff.

I do shop at Sam Ash on 48th St. for accessories and there is one guy there that's pretty nice and that I actually feel a little sorry for because he's obviously an aging rocker who just needed a job to make ends meet - he's a terrible salesman.  I like guys like that, though - if you go there, I think his name is Keith, and he's got white hair.  Everybody else there is basically a jerk in my experience.

I do remember there being a great little shop down on St. Marks Place between Ave A and B (or maybe 1st and A) when I lived down there, so I'm sure other places like that exist.  I've talked about that place before here; back in the early 90's they had two vintage JM's in the window for under $500.  Haven't been there for a while, though - I sincerely hope those two JM's are long gone!

"I do remember there being a great little shop down on St. Marks Place between Ave A and B (or maybe 1st and A) when I lived down there,"

it's gone now... was called Mojo music.

If you can get into Williamsburg Brooklyn... check out Southside guitars... they had a great selection of Offsets last few times I was in there.


Cheers!

JazzBlaster wrote: So NYC right? there are some good places upstate, but I think NYC prices are inflated.

Agreed, New York stores are quite overpriced.  You sometimes do see really nice guitars for sale, though.  (Tell us more about these places upstate!)

Anyhow:

The one to check out on 30th Street in Manhattan is 30th Street Guitar, which is between 7th and 8th Avenues.  They have a pretty great selection of vintage guitars (plus amps and effects galore), and last time I was there they had the most Jags and JMs I'd seen in one place in NYC.  They aren't cheap, but you might be able to bargain them down (for example, they have a black refined Jag that's been there for almost a year).

In Williamsburg (Brooklyn), Southside Guitar does often have a couple of offsets, though they seem to have less than in the past--at least according to their gbase page.  They're also pretty expensive, but the last time I was there they had a great-playing sunburst JM. 

Main Drag, also in Williamsburg, is a pretty good guitar shop as well.  They have some vintage guitars and some newer ones, but everything's used.  (They have a refinned JM in LPB that they've had for a while.)

Oh, Matt Umanov on Bleecker Street has some pretty nice guitars as well--it's just really, really expensive.

I wouldn't touch 30th Street with a thirty foot pole.  They ripped me off and flat out lied to me repeatedly over the course of several months on a guitar I bought from them.  No thanks.  There isn't a place I know of in the City anymore that's worth a damn to shop for vintage stuff.  New Jersey has some much better shops.

I just saw a few ok priced offsets at Rivington guitars...

serial wrote: I wouldn't touch 30th Street with a thirty foot pole.  They ripped me off and flat out lied to me repeatedly over the course of several months on a guitar I bought from them.  No thanks.  There isn't a place I know of in the City anymore that's worth a damn to shop for vintage stuff.  New Jersey has some much better shops.

Fair enough--the only dealings I had with them were seven years ago when I bought an Echoplex from them, but the guy who sold it to me (who's no longer there) was decent.

And what NJ shops are you referring to?  I've been to a few, but probably not the right ones, as I didn't think they were very special.

dhadis wrote:

serial wrote: I wouldn't touch 30th Street with a thirty foot pole.  They ripped me off and flat out lied to me repeatedly over the course of several months on a guitar I bought from them.  No thanks.  There isn't a place I know of in the City anymore that's worth a damn to shop for vintage stuff.  New Jersey has some much better shops.

Fair enough--the only dealings I had with them were seven years ago when I bought an Echoplex from them, but the guy who sold it to me (who's no longer there) was decent.

And what NJ shops are you referring to?  I've been to a few, but probably not the right ones, as I didn't think they were very special.

Lark St Music in Teaneck is pretty cool.  Might not be cheap but has a ton of cool stuff, at least amp wise.

I was gonna say .. I mean, I've never been there but they'd definitely be on my list to check out if I was in the area.

I think Marc had a good experience buying from them IIRC?

guinsu wrote: Lark St Music in Teaneck is pretty cool.  Might not be cheap but has a ton of cool stuff, at least amp wise.

Bought my '65 JM from them over the phone all the way back in '92!

Lark Street always has some cool stuff.  There's Guitar Bar in Hoboken that's ok, but pricey (not necessarily by NYC standards) and although it's a bit of a haul (if it's still there) Outlaw Guitars on Rt 22 near Piscataway always had tons of cool old stuff that wasn't unreasonably priced.  TONS of offsets last time I was in there years ago.