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Favorite Minneapolis/St. Paul Guitar Shop?

Maess

By Maess
in Electric Guitars

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littlemilo Newbie

littlemilo

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LaVonne's is a cool little shop. Nice folks, not a huge selection of gear. It's nearest to where I live.

 

Savage Audio does most of the amp repair work in the area. They also build Savage Amps, very nice boutique stuff. He has almost every Fender amp ever made on display, along with other stuff. There is a benefit on March 22 at the Fine Line for Jeff Krumm, owner of Savage Audio (cancer). The Honeydogs and others are playing.

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Maess Newbie

Maess

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Used to be Pete's Guitars, before he passed away due to cancer, I believe. Lots of mega-stars bought stuff there. Willy's is kinda cool. I'd prefer to follow the river down to Lacrosse, though.

 

 

What shops would I want to check out in Lacrosse?

 

When I was a kid and first getting into guitar I used to hang out in shop in Virginia MN owned by a local luthier named John Paul Emery, I'd love to find a cool little local shop like that again.

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Patuney Newbie

Patuney

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If you drive an hour and a half up to Brainerd, there's a mom and pop store called Bridge of Harmony that has, in stock, every production Taylor guitar. They're also eager and willing to do trades. Great place!

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littlemilo Newbie

littlemilo

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What shops would I want to check out in Lacrosse?


When I was a kid and first getting into guitar I used to hang out in shop in Virginia MN owned by a local luthier named John Paul Emery, I'd love to find a cool little local shop like that again.

 

 

Stop by Dave's Guitar in LaCrosse, be sure to go upstairs. It's quite a bit larger than a little local shop, tho.

 

 

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Maess Newbie

Maess

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I like Willies, Twin Tone, and a little hole in the wall shop with nice folks called
. They do everything they can to compete with on-line vendors. They seem to have a lot of Gibson stuff, but others as well. Very likable people there.

 

Wow, DC's website made my eyes bleed. But, strangely, I still want to check them out.

 

I've been to Willies a number of times, and the guitars are great, but they guys who work there aren't very interested in working to sell them. I've only been there on the weekend though, and heard that if you go during the week its a little different.

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Bassopotamus Newbie

Bassopotamus

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Willie's is pretty cool, but it is mostly pretty expensive. The staff can be indifferent, but it really isn't a problem. THey'll let you play whatever is out. It is better to go on a weekday afternoon.

 

Twin town is getting better since they expanded into the space next to them. Their selection is super hit or miss though.

 

DC is kind of a mixed bag. I've had the best service ever there on one visit, on another I couldn't have gotten anyone's attention had I put a bass under my coat and walked out. The selection isn't bad.

 

I've only been once but Groth, down on the south side, is pretty huge.

 

Encore has alot of cool used stuff (I don't know that they deal anything new), and is only about 10 blocks from Twin town. I've had really erratic service there though. I tried to work a trade with an amp towards a guitar, and the owner was actually kind of mean about it. He could have just said no, but ended up being insulting. I didn't buy the guitar, and haven't been back since IIRC.

 

American guitar boutique moved out of St. paul out to the burbs someplace. Their old spot was pretty cool.

 

Lastly, acoustic only, but the Podium in dinkytown has a good acoustic selection

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Funkwire Newbie

Funkwire

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Not my 'favorite', but I used to work in the basement guitar department of downtown Minneapolis's 'Chester Groth Music' back in the early 1970's....even though I couldn't play worth a crap and sucked at selling things. I think the store's long gone.

 

Yes, the downtown Minneapolis Chester E. Groth store is long gone, although there are still some Groth stores in the suburban malls. For a store that focused on orchestral instruments and sheet music, the tiny guitar department at Groth was pretty cool. They would only have one or two models of a particular item in stock, but it would be stuff you couldn't find elsewhere in town. Because of the Groth music store, I got to try out a Gibson Chet Atkins solidbody classic and a Fender Starcaster...the semi-hollow with the Seth Lover pickups, NOT the present day Strat copies. Ah, memories...

 

My favorite stores today in the Twin Towns? Capitol Guitars is the closest to my house (State Capitol neighborhood), and it's great. Run by two musicians who know their stuff and are straight shooters. I've bought three guitars in the last two years from them.

 

The Music Go Round in St. Paul (Highland Park) is pretty good...the owner is a good egg and always has an interesting mix of gear on sale.

 

I've shopped the Guitar Centers in Roseville and Edina, but not recently. I've had good experiences at both.

 

Willie's is a great shop, but a bit rich for my tastes. I have noticed the same vibe that Maess mentioned coming from the sales staff.

 

On the other side of the coin is B-Sharp Music. If you recognize the name, I don't really need to add any details, do I? :freak:

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Bassopotamus Newbie

Bassopotamus

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Yes, the downtown Minneapolis Chester E. Groth store is long gone, although there are still some Groth stores in the suburban malls. For a store that focused on orchestral instruments and sheet music, the tiny guitar department at Groth was pretty cool. They would only have one or two models of a particular item in stock, but it would be stuff you couldn't find elsewhere in town. Because of the Groth music store, I got to try out a Gibson Chet Atkins solidbody classic and a Fender Starcaster...the semi-hollow with the Seth Lover pickups, NOT the present day Strat copies. Ah, memories...

 

There is still a big Groth down south. It's at 80th and nicollet in bloomington (If you go that way, Jun Bo is a great chinese place with dim sum all day)

 

 

On the other side of the coin is B-Sharp Music. If you recognize the name, I don't really need to add any details, do I?
:freak:

 

Didn't B sharp burn down?

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Seeds Newbie

Seeds

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LaVonne's is a cool little shop. Nice folks, not a huge selection of gear. It's nearest to where I live.


Savage Audio does most of the amp repair work in the area. They also build Savage Amps, very nice boutique stuff. He has almost every Fender amp ever made on display, along with other stuff. There is a benefit on March 22 at the Fine Line for Jeff Krumm, owner of Savage Audio (cancer). The Honeydogs and others are playing.

 

+1. I've been going to LaVonnes for 25 Years now and have been friends with Pete ever since. It's about 15 Mins from my house. I was just there Yesterday and probably there an average of once a Week. :cool:

Savage audio has done many amp repairs for me as well and we were just talking about Jeff Yesterday.

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Maess Newbie

Maess

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+1. I've been going to LaVonnes for 25 Years now and have been friends with Pete ever since. It's about 15 Mins from my house. I was just there Yesterday and probably there an average of once a Week.
:cool:
Savage audio has done many amp repairs for me as well and we were just talking about Jeff Yesterday.

 

Cool, I just realized I live about 10 minutes from LaVonnes, so I will have to check it out for sure.

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slider Newbie

slider

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Willies American Guitar

Podium

Twin Town are what i use.

 

 

I heard a rumor that Best Buy is taking over the old Rainbow store and opening a guitar store. it is practically on top of the GC is in Roseville.

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Inazone Newbie

Inazone

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Capitol has become my shop of choice. I haven't actually bought any guitars there, but I got a minty Mesa vertical 2x12 cab there a couple months back, and they have extremely reasonable prices on setups and other work.

 

I've had pretty decent results at the Groth store up on Nicollet Avenue. A lot of their merchandise is priced near MSRP, but sometimes they have stuff marked well below that of the GC/MF types. I always make a point to check out Music Go Round stores if I'm in the area, and my drummer works at GC in the event that they actually have something I want.

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golias Newbie

golias

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I absolutely LOVE Groth Music in Bloomington (which is actually the entire old Minneapolis store, musty old sheet music and all.) Their selection is small, but well-chosen.

 

Last December, I bought a new Peavey JF-2 (a 335-style hollow with mini-humbuckers and a bigsby trem) there for three hundred bucks! (I think they have two still hanging around there, if you want to get in on the famous Chinese Hollow-body trend for even less than the cost of an Artcore.)

 

Just came from the new Best Buy music store in Roseville. Pretty much the same set-up as the Bloomington Best Buy, except fewer Yamahas & Peaveys, but more First Acts. These stores are better than I expected from Best Buy, but so far I'm not exactly blown away.

 

Since Guitar Center shares the parking lot, I did a little comparison. GC is typically about 5-10 percent cheaper on the Gibsons & Fenders, and carries a lot of brands that Best Buy doesn't.

 

However, seeing that Best Buy set up their two new music stores practically right on top of the two Guitar Centers in town, you can bet your boots we're going to see massive corporate warfare for a year or two. Good news for cheapskates everywhere.

 

Twin Town is a nifty little store, but I dropped a tube head off for repair there almost two weeks ago, and the tech has yet to even bother to call me. When I called the store, I was informed that he hasn't even looked at it yet (contrary to what I was promised before I dropped it off.)

 

I can't complain much, though. Their tech's hourly rate is HALF that of Savage Audio, and my amp is an el-cheapo that I don't want to spend a fortune on.

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ew_ Newbie

ew_

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There is a good store in Golden Valley called My Music Store.Nice people cool new and used gear and one of the best guitar techs in The Twin Cities.


 

My Music Store's a cool place. I've known Jim since he and Leo Fine were running Park Music back when it was in St. Louis Park- he's a great guy.

 

It's mostly TwinTown for me these days. My favorite of all time's probably between Park Music back during the early- mid '80s, the original Knut- Koupee before they started expanding and Karl turned into a headcase, and the original MusicGoRound, back when it was HiTech Consignments over on 38th and Nicollet.

 

ew

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