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Topic: Musicians Friend or instrumentalley.com?? |
Todd Brown
From:
W. Columbia , South Carolina
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Posted 20 Feb 2011 5:24 pm |
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| Going to puchase the Beard GoldTone PBS reso, musicians friend has the guitar and generic hardshell case for $579.00 to my door, shipped from their warehouse in KC. InstrumentAlley, who I've never dealt with has the guitar, a GoldTone hardshell case , and "12 point setup" for $599.99 shipped to my door, I believe this ships direct from GoldTone, hence the setup. This is my first reso so I know nothing about actually setting up and adjusting or fine tuning these guitars. Would the guitar coming from MF's warehouse need some setup and adjustments? Musicians friend has excellent customer service and fast shipping . Some reviews of instrument alley have me nervous about them , but wanted to get some opinions from forum members. Any advice? |
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Allan Jirik
From:
Wichita Falls TX
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Posted 20 Feb 2011 6:42 pm
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In 2009 I ordered a Gold Tone dojo deluxe from Instrument Alley cold turkey. I'd never heard of them before but they beat everyone's price hands down. For the past 35 years or so I've purchased all my acoustic instruments from Elderly but this time I thought I'd take a chance. Satisfied? Hell yeah! The instrument arrived promptly, it was in pristine condition, set up and ready to play.
I read the reviews of Instrument Alley, some good and some not. I decided to risk it and it worked out great for me. On the other hand, Musician's Friend has been around forever... so I'd say do some research, and good luck with your decision.
Allan
I should have mentioned that Instrument Alley ships from Utah. My instrument's setup and adjustment was free. I bet they'd beat MF's price if you call them. |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 20 Feb 2011 7:23 pm
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| On this particular purchase, Todd, I'd make sure the Goldtone was set up by the Beard shop, they are available without that setup, which really makes a huge difference in tone, volume, playability. I'm not sure if the online retailers sell the Beard setup models, you might check with Beard on that. |
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Todd Brown
From:
W. Columbia , South Carolina
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Posted 20 Feb 2011 8:35 pm
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Thanks guys, I read some reviews that said their Beard GoldTone purchased from instrument alley was shipped direct from Beard. They do offer a setup and inspection add on for $ 30 that I believe is done at the Beard shop. Only thing is that the reviews seem to all say 4 to 1 the customer service is non existent to rude and dishonest with instrument alley. They all say that the website would say the item was in stock and a few days after placing the order they would then be notified of a backorder situation and it will take a few weeks that turns into several weeks if not a month or two. No one has said they go ripped off , but lots of people had to wait an unacceptable amount of time for an item that is said to be in stock
Musicians Friend ships the Beard GoldTone from the MF warehouse. No setup . Just don't know which is worse , taking my chances either way with possibly having to wait weeks or not have it set and adjusted right. |
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David Nugent
From:
Gum Spring, Va.
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 3:22 am
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| Todd....My advice is to purchase the "How To" DVD from Paul Beard (Resophonic Outfitters)and learn to perform the setup yourself. The old "Give a man a fish etc...." idea. It is a fairly simple process, well worth the time to learn, and the DVD costs about the same as an initial setup. |
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George McLellan
From:
Duluth, MN USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 5:20 am
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Sweetwater says all guitars are setup ready to play before they ship. Also the shipping etc is included. Their prices seems to be the same as MF.
Geo |
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Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 6:27 am
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Where as I live in Florida I drove over to the Gold Tone place in Titisville, FL and picked mine up from the owner.
I had bought two dobros from M/F and both were damages and had to be returnd.
Thus I called Gold Tone and arranged to buy directly from them at a better price than what was quoted on the internet and it was setup right.
They also installed a Fishman pickup at cost for me.
Don
_________________
Private one on one lessons available
Member: FSGC, PSGA, TSGA
Co-founder: Florida Steel Guitar Club
"Steel guitar is like playing chess in the dark with three players". Jeff Newman quote from 1997 seminar |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 6:53 am
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I'm not a reso player, so I have to ask the question.
Why does the builder ship out instruments that aren't already set up and ready to play? |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 7:37 am
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I'm not the builder, but I would guess that instruments shipped from China are not given a final setup until they arrive in the USA. The final setup they receive will depend on the qualifications of the person doing the work.
In the case of Paul Beard and his crew, you know people have a lot of experience doing this sort of thing. In the case of other companies, it might just be someone who is learning as they go, or who has never worked with resophonic guitars before.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Rusty Smith
From:
Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 10:37 am Re: Musicians Friend or instrumentalley.com??
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| Todd Brown wrote: |
| Going to puchase the Beard GoldTone PBS reso, musicians friend has the guitar and generic hardshell case for $579.00 to my door, shipped from their warehouse in KC. |
Others have commented on the two vendors you mentioned. Here are two other options to think about. Buy direct from Beard for $614.00 and then you know it has been setup by them. Buy from local store and support them. I deal with Madison Music and they will deal with you on pricing (ask for Mike the manager).
They got me a Goldtone from Beard for a good price. They primarily deal in top of the line acoustic guitars and also have mandolins and resonators. Customer service is high on their priorities.
Hope you find what you are looking for.
_________________
Rusty Smith
Mount Horeb WI |
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Bob Moore
From:
N. Rose, New York
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 4:41 pm Musician's friend
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| Todd check and see if there is a MF store near you. They will ship to the nearest store and you can check it out before pursching. Just a thought Bob |
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Beard Guitars
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 21 Feb 2011 5:10 pm
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Sorry,
We don't normally ship to any big box retailer. The one time we did was to get them out of a bind...so the explanation went.
You can find the complete list of our dealers at our WEBSITE.
You can call us too. 
h
_________________
Beard Guitars, LLC
21736 Leitersburg Pike
Hagerstown, MD 21742
301-733-8271
pbeardguitars@hotmail.com |
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