Too cool!

casper leblanc · March 2004

THe city magazine I work for is doing a rock-issue soon, so I asked if I could do story on the different guitarshops in Ghent. And the editors liked it!

So now I get to nose and ask around in all the coolest gear shops in my city. Maybe I'll stumble onto a great deal for myself!

Pacomc79 · March 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
THe city magazine I work for is doing a rock-issue soon, so I asked if I could do story on the different guitarshops in Ghent. And the editors liked it!

So now I get to nose and ask around in all the coolest gear shops in my city. Maybe I'll stumble onto a great deal for myself!

Need an intern? I'll work for free if you feed me and let me sleep on the floor.

casper leblanc · March 2004

Originally posted by Pacomc79
Need an intern? I'll work for free if you feed me and let me sleep on the floor.

I could use your expertise. You pay for your plane-ticket though. But don't expect to much cool stuff. This is Belgium remember, allthough there is this cool place that has been building amazing acoustics by hand since 1843.

I'll let you know when you're expected.

Pacomc79 · March 2004

Please, I'm a history buff, there are some amazing historical occurances in Europe. Some of the finest guitar building ever started in Spain, not to far from you guys, I'm sure there are some outstanding musicians in the area. As far as gear goes think of it like beer. People drink Heineken over here as if it were good and damn budweiser as if it were somehow inferior. You guys have much better beer over there. Fender amps are essentially Budweiser your average decent standard amp way overpriced in Europe because it cost a shitload because of the shipping and tarriffs. If you look hard enough I'm sure you will find some brillant pieces in back rooms or hidden behind stacks of Marshalls and Fenders. I know because I used to do it. On one Saturday I sold 2 amps that I really wanted to buy myself. There have to be some high end shops somewhere close to you that sell stuff like Diezel (Germany) or other Uber high end amps. That's the place to get the average stuff used because that's where people trade them in. My advice for the article is to look up the company websites of say all the high end companies you can think of... Orange, Diezel, Hiwatt, Jacques, etc. they will have listings of dealers in your area. If you can find some hole in the wall places with badass gear, that's where you want to start. Pros have to shop somewhere afterall.

casper leblanc · March 2004

Originally posted by Pacomc79
If you look hard enough I'm sure you will find some brillant pieces in back rooms or hidden behind stacks of Marshalls and Fenders. My advice for the article is to look up the company websites of say all the high end companies you can think of... Orange, Diezel, Hiwatt, Jacques, etc. they will have listings of dealers in your area.

Now see Paco, that's where you're making a mistake. This is Belgium, not Germany, not Spain and even though we are close to those countries, this still is a whoooole different world.

I looked up the brands you said and I will take them into account, but the Belgian dealers, that only exist for Orange and Diezel, are located on the other side of the country. Not far at all for people who live in the US, but I'm doing this for a city magazine for Ghent (225.000 inhabitants, which is fairly big here), so I can't go outside that region. Sorry to say, but although we have great beer in Ghent and a lot of history, we have nothing more than Budweiser guitar shops. Gibson and Fender is what it's mostly about here. A Hiwatt in Belgium would be so rare it would be priceless.

Anyway, I am planning on asking them about any hidden treasures and looking around for stuff like that, but I seriousy doubt I'll find anything. If I do, be sure the guys in the shop will know what it's worth, don't worry. And those guys will keep it for themselves, not sell it. But I'll keep a good eye out!

And keep in mind that I'm writing for a general cultural city magazine, not Guitarworld or anything. My mission is to show the readers who can get what where at what price, readers ranging from absolute guitar dummies to the somewhat more experienced players. I'll also add their pièce de resistance and cool anecdotes and stuff... And I only have one page to fill.

Anyway, if you wanna join me, I hope the history and beer can satisfy you, cause that 'll be all you'll find here. Or it would have to be the handcrafted ones. They make really cool looking gipsy-like acoustics and violins.

Do come over, I can set you up at my house, we could have a ball and you could make fun of my gear, lol.

More tips on what to look out for (brands and stuff, amps, guitars, ...) are apreciated though! Thanks

Pacomc79 · March 2004

nah, I'm not much on making fun of other peoples gear, I don't have all that much great stuff or skill either and not much of an ego.

It makes sense that you would be limited to Ghent. Oh well, I still think there are a variety of gear needs in your area. I've found that often because of the extensive marketing by Fender and Gibson alike many people only know about these brands, what I tried to do was get the best guitar or amp for the particular persons style and wallet into their hands. Maybe your article will help accomplish that for some of your readers in Ghent.

Find out about the brands they do carry and the perspective price vs features they offer. That's really helpful when searching for a guitar I think. Most people know the style and sound they want with no idea how to get it.

Hmm, I don't think my passport is current.

casper leblanc · March 2004

The music scene in Ghent, and the whole of Belgium is actually pretty mindblowing at the moment. Only problem is that it hardly passes our borders. Labels are not interested in Belgian artists, because the homebase is to small to earn from. But I honestly think our bands are by no means inferior to say the Brittish scene.

Anyway, yeah, all you see here are Fenders. Some strats and a shitload of Tele's. Most young bands all go out and get themselves a Jaguar or Jazzmaster. Somehow you are only a cool alternative band when you have a bunch of those.

Otherwise you see a lot of Gibsons in the E-... range and a few Les Pauls or Flying V's. Oh, there's the occasional Gretsch as well, but that's rare.

Don't really know about amps though. It does say a lot that whenever someone has a unique piece of gear, they got them abroad somewhere. Go to Germany and England, only a few hours away and you'll be in gearheaven, but not in our house.

:rolleyes:

puremagic · March 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
THe city magazine I work for is doing a rock-issue soon, so I asked if I could do story on the different guitarshops in Ghent. And the editors liked it!

So now I get to nose and ask around in all the coolest gear shops in my city. Maybe I'll stumble onto a great deal for myself!

Even better, let some of the shops know ahead of time what your magazine is doing and you might end up with a couple of freebies.

Pacomc79 · March 2004

hey man don't despair most areas are like that.

I used to work 10 miles from the Atlanta Guitar Center at the Marietta store, we sold maybe 80% NU Metal crap and the really cool stuff that you always read about was almost nowhere to be found but in little guitar shops that are hard to find. Little did I know that 10 miles away was one of the biggest volume dealers in the country that gets trade in's on all kinds of stuff all the time.

I'm sure there is a great music scene, there is nothing wrong with anything from Fender or Gibson the Jazzmasters and Jaguars are just en vogue right now and they are very "Brit Pop"

The folks over here are doing the same thing,

The other hip thing are Jacksons or Ibanez's through Mesa Boogie Rectifiers with loads of distortion. It's kind of boring really and a little ashamed since Mesa's are really more flexible than they are often given credit for.

Bottom line, good music is good music, have amplifier , sound will travel

casper leblanc · May 2004

So I'm going on my guitarshop-route today. I'll fill you in on what I found Paco.

I have one question before though. One of the stores had - it is sold now - this in store. It's an exact picture, from the store. It's a Fender Corona (1969). Could I consider this a rarity?

http://www.thomaokaze.com/images/Fender_Coronado.JPG

Pacomc79 · May 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
So I'm going on my guitarshop-route today. I'll fill you in on what I found Paco.

I have one question before though. One of the stores had - it is sold now - this in store. It's an exact picture, from the store. It's a Fender Corona (1969). Could I consider this a rarity?

http://www.thomaokaze.com/images/Fender_Coronado.JPG

Yeah it's pretty rare they couldn't have made them for more than a few years. Everybody had a model like that in 1969 I guess. Looks really cool. I guess it's fenders take on the Gibson/Epi Casino.

Fender has some new hollowbodies from the custom shop. The "Robbin Ford" model

They used to also make 12 string hollowbodies, one was the Fender XII I can't rememeber if the other is called the Coronado.

I like it. Cool man. See, rare stuff in Ghent.

Lovely Sunburst isn't it.

casper leblanc · May 2004

So I did two shops today. Nothing special really, except that Corona. It was still in the shop but is sold. It went for 1350 euros. It looked good.
They also had a Voss acoustic jazz guitar from 1949 (350 euros) and a Mesa Boogie plus 400 tube bass amp for 1300 euros.
For the rest this is mainly a budget store. Most guitars here, the news ones, are Stagg an Richwood. Lots of Behringer amps and some Marshall.

The one shop, the allround shop where all the bands in Ghent shop has Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson, Yamaha, Gretsch and for amps Mainly Fender and Marshall, some Vox. Acoustics are Martin, Takamine, Ovation, Cort and Yamaha. As for Bass they have Musicman, Fender and Ampeg amps, Hartke and Ashdown. He sold a Gibson L5 for 9500 euros a while back.

This guy was thrilled to see me - free advertising - and said he owed me one. This guy normally doesn't set up your guitar if you didn't buy it there, so next time I need something fine tuned, I know where I'm going, since I just bought mine of some guy.

Tommorow I'm seeing a metal gear freak shop and maybe one other shop.

Pacomc79 · May 2004

9500 euros for an L5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!! That's INSANE!

Everything else sounds cool. Seems like you guys have pretty good shops over there in Ghent. Hopefully, the story will benifit you both and that guy will hook you up when you go in.

The fender you speak of is actually called the Coronado. It was made in Corona though.

Then again if the L-5 was masterbuilt or a Wes Montgomery....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33040&item=3724869621&rd=1

Still, way over what I'd pay but I don't play a lot of jazz I guess.

casper leblanc · May 2004

I was just gonna add that it indeed was a Wes Montgomery. The guy from the shop told me. I checked Harmony Central and some guy paied $7999 for one. And another one paied $500 in a pawn shop, lol.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Gibson/L5-CES-01.html

And I meant Coronado btw

Cool guitars.

Pacomc79 · May 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
I was just gonna add that it indeed was a Wes Montgomery. The guy from the shop told me. I checked Harmony Central and some guy paied $7999 for one. And another one paied $500 in a pawn shop, lol.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Gibson/L5-CES-01.html

And I meant Coronado btw Cool guitars.

Yeah My roommate bought a rather nice vehicle last night for $14,100 about the same in Euros.

For 9 grand. that guitar better kiss me good night and love me tender.

casper leblanc · May 2004

like I said my editors gave me an extra page to fill. Now I've beenlooking for a fourth shop and I found this amazing one! I had no idea it even existed, but a guy from one of the other shops told me about it. I'm glad he did, cause not putting this one in the story would be a huge mistake. He has the coolest and simply the most stuff of all of them.

I don't really know yet what they have, cause the guy was busy so I'm going back on Friday, but a look in the shop was awesome. The guy has a lot of Fender gear (he has this award for being in the top 50 dealers for fender). Fender Amps I've never seen before. I actually saw The Twin in real life, everywhere else you have to order it. But he also has a lot of other cool stuff. Loads of Line 6 and a very cool vintage looking VOX amp. I have to check on details though.

Only funny thing is that the manager looks zero rock & roll. He's more the type to be working in a cell phone shop.

This could be good... I'm gonna enjoy this visit.

Pacomc79 · May 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
like I said my editors gave me an extra page to fill. Now I've beenlooking for a fourth shop and I found this amazing one! I had no idea it even existed, but a guy from one of the other shops told me about it. I'm glad he did, cause not putting this one in the story would be a huge mistake. He has the coolest and simply the most stuff of all of them.

I don't really know yet what they have, cause the guy was busy so I'm going back on Friday, but a look in the shop was awesome. The guy has a lot of Fender gear (he has this award for being in the top 50 dealers for fender). Fender Amps I've never seen before. I actually saw The Twin in real life, everywhere else you have to order it. But he also has a lot of other cool stuff. Loads of Line 6 and a very cool vintage looking VOX amp. I have to check on details though.

Only funny thing is that the manager looks zero rock & roll. He's more the type to be working in a cell phone shop.

This could be good... I'm gonna enjoy this visit.

Those are the best ones to be in. They usually know their crap. Zero Rock and Roll mostly business. You'd be suprised I'd bet by his talent level I think. It's like going to a candy store with new flavors. I love seeing new stuff. Should be fun to poke around. See if he has a Pro Sonic. You'll like it I think.

casper leblanc · May 2004

Not only did the guy look zero R&R, the guy sucked pretty much and had nothing interesting to say.

Only cool gear he had was a Fender Telecaster '72 Custom Reissue and a very cool 1974 Vox AC-30, used and only for €850. I('m like: 'Sweet, I'm gonna mention that!' He's like: 'Meh, maybe you shouldn't, you know its, not my stuff and we don't wanna dissapoint readers if it's gone'. Screw him, I'm putting it in!

Pacomc79 · May 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
Not only did the guy look zero R&R, the guy sucked pretty much and had nothing interesting to say.

Only cool gear he had was a Fender Telecaster '72 Custom Reissue and a very cool 1974 Vox AC-30, used and only for €850. I('m like: 'Sweet, I'm gonna mention that!' He's like: 'Meh, maybe you shouldn't, you know its, not my stuff and we don't wanna dissapoint readers if it's gone'. Screw him, I'm putting it in!

Indeed, however at that price I'm wondering if something is wrong with it. Ah, maybe they are slightly cheaper over there. What a dumbass. Don't tell your readers? Anything that brings traffic into the store is a good thing. 850 is a great price if it's in good shape

casper leblanc · May 2004

Well, it looked pretty used, didn't test it or anything. It already has a few potential buyers, so he says. Don't know, the guy was a slick and sticky salesman, like one in the cell phone shops. I was right after all.

Pacomc79 · May 2004

Originally posted by pearlwax
Well, it looked pretty used, didn't test it or anything. It already has a few potential buyers, so he says. Don't know, the guy was a slick and sticky salesman, like one in the cell phone shops. I was right after all.

yeah, I'm gonna go with it needs a new choke, tubes, filter caps and probably sockets. You still might come out ok. check out http://www.plexipalace.com for more info on Vox AC-30's

We had one at Guitar Center for around 3 years. Decent ones go for 1600+

The broken one was being sold for what they had in it (around 800).

Really good ones can go over 2K.

Too cool!

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