Decent Musical Instrument shop

Omenplaya

Any one know of a well stocked decent musical instrument shop in waterford city...

I am particularly looking for Yamaha and Korg Keyboards, Rolands too id possible,

Higher end models, Psr s700 and up for yamaha, Korg pa500 or M50???

Tellox

Only musical store in Waterford now since Pro Musica closed up is Palmers, down off Red Square (by Subway, across from Shaws) - decent enough selection, but expensive enough too.

Their keyboard range is a little lacking through - got some korg equipment there myself, but I was only after kaoss pads. Phone number should be on yellowpages.ie if you fancy taking a gander before making the trip

Omenplaya

thanks for that tellox

Kcboy

I know this is not in Waterford but it is worth checking out Www.thomann.de . If you know what your looking for you will notice a fairly large price difference. I get all my gear from them. Has saved me 100's

Adyx

Actually Palmer's will often try and price match with Thomann so there's no harm in asking. Also Digital Village has a smaller selection than Thomann but is usually a good bit cheaper. But I'd say try Palmer first to see if they'll match the price.

zeppe

Palmer's is great for guitar/bass gear, pedals etc Maybe not so good for keyboards/studio stuff.
He'll match or get pretty close to internet prices if you talk to him plus if anything goes wrong you can bring it straight back to him no problem. Cant beat
local customer service.:D

brendansmith

zeppe wrote: »

Palmer's is great for guitar/bass gear, pedals etc Maybe not so good for keyboards/studio stuff.
He'll match or get pretty close to internet prices if you talk to him plus if anything goes wrong you can bring it straight back to him no problem. Cant beat
local customer service.:D

John Palmers is a very poor retailer. The gear is all hoofed up on the walls and [snipped]. The staff can be very smarmy also.

If he was any good he would have moved to a bigger premises long ago.

zeppe

John Palmers is a very poor retailer. The gear is all hoofed up on the walls and [snipped]. The staff can be very smarmy also.

Hmmmm, a bit harsh. [snipped] I've actually taken home and gigged numerous amps and guitars before buying and have never had any problem with their "smarmy staff".

However I do agree with the space issues.
There's no room to set up drumkits etc It would be great if he ever had the opportunity to lease the next storey up, it would help a lot.

Tellox

brendansmith wrote: »

John Palmers is a very poor retailer. The gear is all hoofed up on the walls and [snipped]. The staff can be very smarmy also.

If he was any good he would have moved to a bigger premises long ago.

Whatever about it being small, but I definitely wouldn't think any of the gear would be knocked about. It's not as if they stand behind the counter and chuck the guitars into place on the wall.

Also wouldn't say the staff are smarmy.. always have a good laugh whenever I'm in with them. Clever enough guys too.

..You're not Brendan that worked in pro musica by chance, are you? :pac:

old gregg

re the smarmy staff thing .... I think it's the case that almost anyone who works in a musical instrument shop, anywhere on the planet perceives themselves to be a rock god of some sort and behaves accordingly.

I've encountered the same attitude in countless music shops on several continents over the last 30 years. Perhaps the only exception being the legendary Manny's in New York.

I suppose the trick with Palmers is to only deal with John. I've found him to be OK once you know what you are looking for.

Ask in advance what they have in stock and do some serious research into qualified reviews prior to spending money, with John or anywhere.

Quigs Snr

By the way, he appears to have perhaps hundreds of items in storage somewhere. Only a small handful of guitars are in stock. I wandered in earlier in the year and wanted a particular secondhand guitar for a particular pricepoint, he didn't have it in the shop, said he had hundreds of guitars in storage and sure enough when I returned later he had exactley what I was looking for.

And he matched the price of the amp to what I would have paid online.

Omenplaya

thanks for all the info guys, i had noticed thomann alright and found thier prices v good, had intended on using it as bargaining chip of sorts but u can't beat local service, espec if anything goes wrong but if the price is right i don't mind where i get it from in the end...

for larger musical items it can be hard to find a place that has it in stock so u can try b4 u buy which is really important with any musical instrument, i can understand that shops don't wan to be lumped with an item so expensive that they cannot sell it.

old gregg

XMusic in Dublin also have a pretty decent keyboard section if you felt like a day trip. Their web site is a bit spartan but the keyboard room is substantial up there.

brendansmith

zeppe wrote: »

Hmmmm, a bit harsh. [snipped] I've actually taken home and gigged numerous amps and guitars before buying and have never had any problem with their "smarmy staff".

However I do agree with the space issues.
There's no room to set up drumkits etc It would be great if he ever had the opportunity to lease the next storey up, it would help a lot.

Tellox wrote: »

Whatever about it being small, but I definitely wouldn't think any of the gear would be knocked about. It's not as if they stand behind the counter and chuck the guitars into place on the wall.

Also wouldn't say the staff are smarmy.. always have a good laugh whenever I'm in with them. Clever enough guys too.

..You're not Brendan that worked in pro musica by chance, are you? :pac:

Well lads whatever you think yourselves.

All I know is that I have seen stingray basses (along with their 1000 punt price tag) being knocked over by people because their bags/jumpers/etc caught them as the were walking. The 500mm walkway through the shop is really inadequate.

I brought in an amp head to be fixed and it sat there in the exact same spot for 3 months and everytime i went in 'AHhhhhh uuuuuuuuu I have a lad fixing that this afternoon. I had to take it back off him and bring it elsewhere.

I brought in a bass to be fixed which i had originally bought there, needed a new input jack and likewise it sat there for months and then after really putting the pressure on he did a halfass job that came apart within a short time afterwards.

With regard to the smary staff, I know a girl that went in looking for a guitar tutorial book for her boyfriend and mentioned that he 'likes to sometimes listen to music and try figure it out on his guitar' to which she was told to 'buy him a radio' in a condescending manner. She went elsewhere.

I would never consider going back again except for an emergency.
I cant believe the place that opened up on the same street went out of business. The majority dont share my opinion obviously but thats fine.

ZiMZuM

I dropped an electric guitar into palmers,one of the pickups was gone and was told it would be ready in about a week,grand job i says,heads back in a week later,nope still not fixed,person who repairs is away come back next week,grr fine so,week later head back in "yeh its ready for you to take",looked at the guitar,they had put new strings on it which i didnt ask for,plugged it into an amp in the shop,nope still didnt work,john couldnt tell me why they had put new strings on it and not fixed the issue i had in the 1st place so i just took it else where,i do agree with old gregg that staff in music shops seem to have a superior attitude and in my experience those in john palmers are no exception.

Tellox

brendansmith wrote: »

With regard to the smary staff, I know a girl that went in looking for a guitar tutorial book for her boyfriend and mentioned that he 'likes to sometimes listen to music and try figure it out on his guitar' to which she was told to 'buy him a radio' in a condescending manner. She went elsewhere.

Ah come on, that's a bit funny.

Are you Brendan that worked across the street in Pro Musica?
At least I think that's the name of the younger chap that worked in there. Very nice guy anyway, been looking out for him since the place closed up shop.

brendansmith

Tellox wrote: »

Ah come on, that's a bit funny.

Are you Brendan that worked across the street in Pro Musica?
At least I think that's the name of the younger chap that worked in there. Very nice guy anyway, been looking out for him since the place closed up shop.

Its funny yes but helpful, not quite.

Sorry mate pro musica was after my time in Waterford, I am not this Brendan you speak of. Would be pretty funny though if I was a bitter Brendan from Pro musica exacting my revenge on the internet.

Asmodean

I'd stay out of palmers if you are a beginner musician. Not being biased just giving my honest opinion. There's a definite clique in there and if you're not part of it you'll be fleeced within an inch of your life. I have many personal experiences of the 'Oh ummm' response myself and have seen the same thing happen to a few of my friends.

Psychedelic

I went in to Palmers to get a midi cable and was told that they are not used any more!

I went in another time and was buying a small book for practicing piano scales and was told "you'd be better off getting lessons" in a kind of "what the hell are you buying this for?" attitude, which I thought was very strange. Usually the shop owner is happy when someone makes a purchase, not look down on them or recommend they don't buy something in their shop.

It's a shame there isn't a proper big music store in Waterford. Considering the size of the city and the region it's serving there should be enough customers in the South East to keep a decent music store open. I'm sure plenty of local people have to go to Dublin for their musical equipment.

Adyx

It's not just me then! It's a terrible thing to say but I actually hate going in there. I've had plenty of experiences like the ones mentioned here unfortunately. You'd think dropping €5000 on a PA, lights and sundries would get you a bit of politeness. Although it is really just two members of staff in particular. If it wasn't for the convenience and the other lads in the band, I'd never go in there again.

jonnyfingers

Years ago when I was getting my first electric guitar my mother went in to get some prices. They tried to push a Fender Squire on her for £300! She came home telling me about this great deal she was getting! I had to laugh. Didn't get the guitar but bought a 60W amp from them. Turned up to collect it one day and the guy in the store said "it must be one of them, just take it". Walked out with a 100W amp!

But that's what I love about Palmers, everyone has a story about them. I only ever buy a few spare strings in there, everything else I get from Thomann. I suppose I should support local business but they're just too expensive for me. I didn't know that he will match Thomann sometimes. Might try that next time.

Would be great to get a big music store for a bit of competition but I don't think Waterford is big enough to support two music stores, hence ProMusica closing.

brendansmith

Was Pro musica any good?

Tellox

brendansmith wrote: »

Was Pro musica any good?

Yeah, fantastic really. Loooads of room, separate drum and guitar rooms upstairs. really clever guys working in there too. Loved all their guitars.. Palmer sticks with Duncan pickups, which are fine and all..but there's a lot more variety elsewhere.

Quite cheap too.. oh, and a lovely selection of keyboards and pianos to boot. Not to mention decent range of effects pedals.. and the amps, some wicked amps in there. Picked up a big valve amp from there myself, beautiful.

old gregg

I thought Pro Musica was a pretty good shop as well.
Bought some lovely Yamaha PA equipment there when I started doing live work again.

Their entry level guitars were pretty good too for kids starting out. I think they offered Yamaha Pacifica strats and Epiphone Les Pauls as the entry level guitar which is streets ahead of the crappy Squire Strats that Palmers have been selling to unsuspecting kids for years.

brendansmith

jonnyfingers wrote: »

Didn't get the guitar but bought a 60W amp from them. Turned up to collect it one day and the guy in the store said "it must be one of them, just take it". Walked out with a 100W amp!

I suppose there is always that side to it too. My mum bought me my first bass out of there. She put a deposit down and came back on the day she was told to guitar collect the bass. Of course John didnt know who she was or had any recollection of the transaction and thus hadnt progressed the order so she got a much higher spec'ed bass off the wall for the lower price.