Best Place To Buy New Gear, Regular Music store or internet? Options

[Nels]

Hey guys and/or gals,

Hoping some of you out there will shine a bright light on the subject of buying on-line.

Every piece of gear I own,(guitars, amps, recording gear, etc.) I've gotten at a local music store.(Sound Post, Guitar Center, etc.) I'll be getting some more gear in the near future and so I was wondering.....if anyone could comment on their experiences when ordering on-line.

Can anyone comment on their experiences with the likes of Musiciansfriends.com, ..GuitarVision.com and other such places?

Would it be safe to order a large, fragile and very expensive piece of equipment, like the Triton Studio, for example?(That's a lot of money to be gambling with.) ....And what about the return policy dilemma?

As with most of you, I've had some good and not so good experiences when buying at a regular music store, but the one thing that I just can't knock is that... ...if needed, you can return the piece of gear to the regular music store and not have to wait anxiously for a replacement. ...And generally one can check the gear out before ones buys.

Any thoughts, I'm sure would help others as well.

Thanks,
Nels

[iscralatchtical]

hello Nel.

There are only a couple of reasons to shop online
1) Value and availability (often times, stores just don't have the vast selection internet vendors offer)
2) saving a bundle on tax and shipping (which you will if you buy bulky and expensive stuff)

But there is the golden bond which you can never forget between internet shopping and store shopping. Always use the stores to check out the items you plan on buying from the internet. So long as you make the most out of both places, you will get the best deals.

Personally, store shopping is too chaotic for me. The sales pushers are usually uninformed self-righteous and single-minded. And like i've mentioned, they hardly carry everything I need, so i am forced to drive everywhere to get what i want. But then again, i don't like zzounds.com, musiciansfriend.com, sweetwater.com, nor samedaymusic.com either (mostly cause i live in jersey, and i am taxed to hell).

My number one recommendation is seriously to consider ebay. 30%+ discounted items if you consider the fact that music equipment is either broken or not. Hardly any middle ground for second hand. All kinds of funky, vintage, out of date products are available. And you save on tax. Everything is left up to barter as well...don't like the shipping quote? Do some research and claim a lower quote. Want to trade? Want to pick up the item yourself? You set the rules with the people who you've decided you can trust. The items sold are all hands on, so you can ask for pictures, detailed descriptions, manuals, and anything you can think of to cover your ass (should you be a skeptic).

I just recently purchased a 1.25 ghz G4 powerbook for $2300 on ebay. My warwick thumb 4-string neck through bass was a $1100 investment from ebay as well. I don't know how many countless other music gear I have from ebay. Overdrive pedals, voodoo power supply, furman pedalboards/conditioners, fender acoustasonic combo, mackie 1402 vlz mixer, etc etc. They all work perfectly fine after just a little bit of tuning and tweaking when i get it. A little risk gets a lot of gain.

willie