End of another era.

[Shane_B.]

https://www.davephillipsmusicstore.com/blogs/news/the-end-of-an-era

This was the place I bought my first guitar. First 3 actually. I still have them. I bought my first 2 amps there, my band got all their PA gear there. My first guitar rack gear, mic, keyboard, 8 track recording machine. Countless strings, cables, and a 100 other pieces of gear over the years. Basically from the time before I was in a band, all through my 16 years playing out, till the day I moved away, everything I bought that was music related came from there.

The first time I went there was with my brother when I was a little kid back in the 70s. We went together one last time on Friday. They were selling the guitar racks off the walls and everything else was gone by the time we got there.

It was the last music store in our area. Oh well. I still have Sweets I guess.

[Notes_Norton]

It's sad to see all the mom&pop music stores going away. The impersonal Big Box and Internet Order stores have taken over. Sure, you can get your strings for $1 less there, but you lose personal service that has been honed by years of experience.

I was looking for a new mic for my sax. The Sure SM58 didn't reproduce it well.

I went to the local store, the owner went to the recording studio in the back and handed me Sennheiser MD421. He said try it on the gig, and if you like it, I'll order one for you. No deposit, no credit card, just the trust of someone who has done business there.

I tried it on the gig, and our Sunday gig was in an open air bar. One of my musician friends came to see us, and she said, "What have you done? Your sax sounds great, I could hear the difference in the parking lot!"

Monday I went back to the store, with the mic in my hand, and he said, I'll order one, just keep using that until the new mic is delivered.

The new mic came, and I just paid what he asked. A week later a Sam Ash catalog arrived in the mail (This was pre-Internet) and the MD421 was in it. Figuring what shipping and handling would have cost me, I actually paid a few dollars less at my M&P than I would have at Sam Ash.

Having that service is why I bought all my reeds, strings, music books, and everything else there. When the Internet arrived, too many people when to him for advice, and then went online to get a better price. Now we don't have him anymore, just a couple of kids at the local GC store that are really not interested in you as a customer, and even if they were, they don't have the years of knowledge required to be able to help you.

In other words, I feel your loss, Shane.

 

Notes ♫

[Grem]

We still have a locally-owned and run music store in the NOLA area. It is really in Kenner, a suburb of NOLA. C and M Music Store. 

He has stayed in business by adapting to the new market. He has as many guitars hanging from the walls and ceiling as GC. Even has a custom line somebody is making out of car parts!!

Has a full service repair shop that includes a Plek machine. 

And he will match or beat any price you find on line.

And if the owner (forget his name) is in there you can strike up a conversation with him and he will gladly show you pics of his guitar collection. 

They have 4 locations over the southern Louisiana and Mississippi area. 

Last time I was in there I was wondering about how those acoustic amps sound. He has about four or five different types from Fishman to Fender and Ibanez. When I asked about them he started giving me all the ins and outs about them but recommend the Fishman hands down. He said the quality was just so much better.

Then found myself a few days later in a restaurant with a guy playing acoustic slide blues. It sounded great and the amp he was using? Yep, Fishman!! When I go to buy one, I will get it from C & M.

There's still some local shops around. But to stay viable and profitable,  they will have to adapt. 

 

Edited January 2 by Grem

[Base 57]

32 minutes ago, Grem said:

And if the owner (forget his name) is in there you can strike up a conversation with him

I am planning to go see Melvin tomorrow.

C&M is a great store with an awesome staff. 

[Grem]

@Base 57 Melvin, or as I call him  Mel!! Great guy. Really fun to talk to! 

Yep, you know who I'm talk 'bout

Edited January 2 by Grem

[Notes_Norton]

21 hours ago, Grem said:

We still have a locally-owned and run music store in the NOLA area. It is really in Kenner, a suburb of NOLA. C and M Music Store. 

You are lucky. Be sure to buy all your consumables there. That keeps the cash flow going.

Take care of them, so that they can take care of you.

NOLA is a good music town and has a large population. That helps. I suppose there might be some M&P stores surviving in Miami, but it's a little over 2 hours away.

Our local store was competitive, but once GC opened, people flocked there to save a dollar on a set of strings. Volume buying allowed that, and our local was selling them with less than a dollar markup.

I know, when I was selling music books that complement my Band-in-a-Box fake disks, I was buying them from a wholesaler who was giving me 30-40% off retail. When Amazon came around, they were selling them for less than I could get them for. Volume pricing gave them a better deal from the publishers. I quit selling them, and just provide an Amazon link on the same page as my fake disks.

 

Notes ♫

[Jonathan Sasor]

On 12/31/2023 at 11:58 AM, Shane_B. said:

https://www.davephillipsmusicstore.com/blogs/news/the-end-of-an-era

This was the place I bought my first guitar. First 3 actually. I still have them. I bought my first 2 amps there, my band got all their PA gear there. My first guitar rack gear, mic, keyboard, 8 track recording machine. Countless strings, cables, and a 100 other pieces of gear over the years. Basically from the time before I was in a band, all through my 16 years playing out, till the day I moved away, everything I bought that was music related came from there.

The first time I went there was with my brother when I was a little kid back in the 70s. We went together one last time on Friday. They were selling the guitar racks off the walls and everything else was gone by the time we got there.

It was the last music store in our area. Oh well. I still have Sweets I guess.

 

Sad news indeed. My dad actually knew Dave back in the day. Their shop in Flemington is where I bought my #1 Les Paul and Jazz Bass (among others), although that location has been gone for a little while now. 

[Shane_B.]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Sasor said:

 

Sad news indeed. My dad actually knew Dave back in the day. Their shop in Flemington is where I bought my #1 Les Paul and Jazz Bass (among others), although that location has been gone for a little while now. 

He had 3 stores at one time. Flemington, Bethlehem PA, and the location that just closed in Phillipsburg. I also remember his original location on Rt. 57 before he expanded.

I had dinner tonight at a restaurant in PA and as I was leaving I saw a guy with a D.P. t-shirt on. I stopped and was talking to him about it closing. He said he went in and bought all the old neon signs Dave got from the various vendors over the years that he had in the display cases. It was really weird bumping in to some random guy like that with that t-shirt on. Never saw one before.

[craigb]

5 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

It was really weird bumping in to some random guy like that with that t-shirt on. Never saw one before.

There are no coincidences!

[Rain]

My hometown was small (11 000 souls, if you count all the little villages around) so we never had a real music store. THE music store actually occupied a corner in the back of a furniture + appliances store. Until the early/mid 90’s they mostly carried cheap knockoffs and brands like Samick and Vantage, or the occasional Epiphone. Unsurprisingly, musicians usually travelled a 100 miles to get to a better store.

But my family was poor so even that local store was too fancy for me. There was this place downtown owned by an old lady who sold all kinds of wicker furniture, mirrors, vases, artificial flowers and stuff like that. And in a corner, behind a small counter, there was the music instruments section, which consisted of 5 or 6 acoustic guitars and an electric bass - that I really wanted - and a few harmonicas. I think that stuff was mostly leftovers from the days when her deceased husband ran the place with her.

The cool thing is that she would sell strings individually - and being flat broke despite my paper route, I became a very loyal customer. Sometimes I’d finally get money for a new string after 2 weeks playing with only 4 or 5 strings. She only sold Gibsons.  Every now and then she’d drop a few black Gibson picks in the small bag. I hated the strings and the picks, but they were all I could afford. 

I’m guessing I probably was the only kid my age ever going there, as her clientele consisted mostly people in their late 50's and older, but I was sure thankful for her, and I always remember her fondly. I eventually made a big purchase, too - a Hohner blues band harmonica. Must have cost me at least $8. 🤣

Edited January 4 by Rain

[craigb]

1 hour ago, Rain said:

My hometown was small (11 000 souls, if you count all the little villages around) so we never had a real music store. THE music store actually occupied a corner in the back of a furniture + appliances store. Until the early/mid 90’s they mostly carried cheap knockoffs and brands like Samick and Vantage, or the occasional Epiphone. Unsurprisingly, musicians usually travelled a 100 miles to get to a better store.

But my family was poor so even that local store was too fancy for me. There was this place downtown owned by an old lady who sold all kinds of wicker furniture, mirrors, vases, artificial flowers and stuff like that. And in a corner, behind a small counter, there was the music instruments section, which consisted of 5 or 6 acoustic guitars and an electric bass - that I really wanted - and a few harmonicas. I think that stuff was mostly leftovers from the days when her deceased husband ran the place with her.

The cool thing is that she would sell strings individually - and being flat broke despite my paper route, I became a very loyal customer. Sometimes I’d finally get money for a new string after 2 weeks playing with only 4 or 5 strings. She only sold Gibsons.  Every now and then she’d drop a few black Gibson picks in the small bag. I hated the strings and the picks, but they were all I could afford. 

I’m guessing I probably was the only kid my age ever going there, as her clientele consisted mostly people in their late 50's and older, but I was sure thankful for her, and I always remember her fondly. I eventually made a big purchase, too - a Hohner blues band harmonica. Must have cost me at least $8. 🤣

And yet I believe that's the type of past that helps you appreciate things more than others!

[Rain]

Absolutely!

[Notes_Norton]

I'm old enough to remember when strings were typically sold individually.

A guitar player I knew bought Black Diamond brand strings, bought a banjo string for the first string, a first string for the second, second for the third, wound third for the fourth, fourth for the fifth, and fifth for the sixth. It was a home-made light gauge string set, before they started selling light gauge sets.

He said he learned that trick while in Nashville.

I used to buy individual reeds. I'd go to the music store, hold the reed up to the light to see if the grain was even, and reject the bad ones. You can't do that anymore, either.

So I guess the individual string and reed era ended decades ago.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[Grem]

Ahhh..... Black Diamond strings. Bought many of them individually.  I don't remember ever buying a whole set. I used to get them at the drug store. Didn't know it at the time but the pharmacist was a guitar player. Ended up learning a lot of stuff from his son and nephew.

Looking back on it now... it really is amazing how clueless I was!!

[Notes_Norton]

On the road as we drove through Nashville, you could buy Black Diamond stings in a convenience store.

[Grem]

12 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

On the road as we drove through Nashville, you could buy Black Diamond stings in a convenience store.

Back in the day?

[kennywtelejazz]

Ahhh Yes I remember good ole Black Diamond guitar strings . I used them on my Harmony Arch Top guitar in 1965 .

IIRC I used  the heavy gauge Black Diamond barb wire edition   . With those string my guitars neck was bowed an it had very high archery style action  . When food and times were tough at home I used to take my guitar and a set of drum sticks to the park and try to bag a squirrel . 😋

No lie it took me years but I was finally able to play an F bar chord using those strings on that guitar .

Kenny

[craigb]

9 hours ago, Grem said:

Back in the day?

Might have been the night...

[Notes_Norton]

1 hour ago, craigb said:

Might have been the night...

Definitely.

But you couldn't buy saxophone reeds in a convenience store, only music stores.

Now I have to buy them on-line.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[Grem]

On 1/6/2024 at 3:57 AM, kennywtelejazz said:

the heavy gauge Black Diamond barb wire edition

LOL!!! Great analogy!! Those things would rust up and tear the end of my fingers up!! I had forgot about that!

On 1/6/2024 at 3:57 AM, kennywtelejazz said:

those string my guitars neck was bowed an it had very high archery style action

Yep. I had a guitar from Western Auto as my first guitar. I don't remember if it had any name on it. But I do remember that very high action!! That didn't bother me as much as trying to play chords up the neck. Further up the neck I would go, the more out of tune it would get. Just no intonation on it at all!!

Edited January 8 by Grem