I visited the Rockville Guitar Center yesterday afternoon. They seem to be getting in more ERG's than the others that I've visited. The last time I was there, they had 2. This time, it was around 10. They were all various Ibanez models, but that's better than nothing. If anyone on here lives in that area, go check them out.
That's pretty cool. It's good to keep the people updated! The closest GC to me (Emeryville, California) usually has one RG8 and an iceman 7 and some schec 7s, I know the one in Concord California had two tam10s and a few other Schecter 8s. the GC in San Francisco had a used M8M (or whatever the expensive one is called), A Schecter Damien Platinum 8, some LTDs and Ibby 8s
"A" market GCs typically have more exotic stock than the smaller market stores and the Rockville GC is the highest grossing store on the East Coast IIRC.
^ You play guitar in The Heads Are Zeros, right? I really like what you guys are doing. And yeah. The Glen Burnie MD store doesn't carry all that good stuff, at least since I was last there. I've never set foot in the Rockville store.
I think the Rockville store is the one that just retooled and had a grand re-opening thing. They seem to be a little more with it than Towson or Glen Burnie; certainly much nicer inside.
I always thought one of factors contributing to the great state of the Maryland music store scene was competition. Koob Veneman and Chuck Levin both build up pretty great music store businesses, and I'm sorry that Veneman's is gone. When I was looking for an battery-powered acoustic amp to use for a family wedding out at some wine place about a year or two ago, I first did some shopping/pricing at the Rockville GC, and then went to Chuck's. Chuck's had gotten in a special deal from the Roland sales rep on the same family of amps, but with a nicer rosewood exterior, and were selling them for a lower price than GC for the plain model. ERGs are kind of a niche, and I check in a various places, normally from Victor Litz up in Gaithersburg to Atomic over in Greenbelt, and all points in between. I don't normally see much in the way of ERGs, and TBH I got all the keepers online, both used, and direct from Rondo. I think one of my LTD FM408s came from the Rockville GC, and since ERGs weren't really a thing, it was pretty inexpensive.
That Guitar Center used to be Venneman's, and their annual sale was EPIC. Fond memories of camping out for once-a-year-if-not-better deals.
I stopped there on the way up to Frederick for a gig in December, and the stock was decent - a Tosin 8, an LTD8, and several 7s - and a nice assortment of sixes and used stuff, too. I miss having Veneman's in Springfield - I bought a lot of gear from Steve over the years.
Veneman was a longtime dealer for a lot of gear that is still exotic today. They always had USA Brian Moore, McInturff, Anderson, Tyler, and others on the wall. They were a Bogner dealer when no one had any clue what Bogner was. When GC bought them out they blew out all that gear and went to the usual cheap stuff.
Geez... now I'm trying to remember what the name of that one "shop" was, the boutique-y place somewhere near Viers Mill and either Randolph or Connecticut. That was a long time ago, before Atomic had moved next to the CDepot.
I miss Veneman's to this day. Whenever I'm home I make a point of visiting that GC and Chuck Levin's, out of nostalgia if nothing else. Chuck's guitar selection is kind of sad compared to what it used to be
Chuck Levin used to make some great out the door deals on amplifiers and they usually had much better stock than GC. They also used to stock Behringer which gave them a leg up on GC, I remember I bought some B2 mics back in the day, in store. They also used to stock everything Peavey in store. These days, I wonder if Levin can compete with the standard phone and holiday discounts doled out by MF. I haven't been there in over five years, but if there was something high end that I wanted to try in store, I would give them a call first. They quote prices over the phone.
I thought the Atomic location next to CDepot was original? Atomic still gets some cool stuff once in a while. I stopped by the new location in August to pickup a SZ4020FM that was on their eBay page. I don't recall them having many 7/8's, at least nothing special.
Washington Music Center *is* Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. The place I'm thinking of was kind of in the top floor of a house-looking building. Regarding Atomic, before they were next to CDepot, they were on the other side of Route 1, in that building just north of where the 7-11 is. That location was a used record store for a long time, and is where I'd buy King Crimson albums. I also remember getting some great Vangelis albums there (both his solo stuff and Aphrodite's Child) before he really started to hit with his music in Cosmos. After Atomic first made the jump to the larger space, I think the former location became a skate shop. ---- I've had dealings with Chuck's since I bought my first new guitar, an Ovation Collector's Edition. They've managed to do pretty well on pricing in my experience, but I have a working relationship with people I've been buying from over the years. It could be that I get good pricing because I'm a loyal customer, but building that kind of relationship is within anyone's power.
Anybody remember Rolls Music in Falls Church? I bought my first real guitar there.. a black Charvel in the late 80s. Also a Les Paul Studio in the early 90s. Miss that place. (sorry to go off topic)
Good to hear OP, I'll be heading by there friday for the Periphery show. Stoked to hear there are some ERGs to play with.
