Another High St Music Chain Closes

[The Picnic Wasp]

I was sad to read during the week that PMT has gone into administration. I'd used them in the past and their phone staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. This comes quickly after GAK also went bust. I'd used them too and always wanted to visit there to see that brightly painted store front in reality. It was repainted most recently to yellow and black although I much preferred the signal box red and yellow that it used to be. I'd sometimes catch a glimpse of it on TV if there was a film or article about Brighton. Things must be getting grim on the High St so I hope some stores can beat the trend and hang on locally. Getting an instrument delivered is great but you can't beat the hands on try before you buy system. I spent most weekends in my teens drifting from one guitar dealer to another just staring in wonder at the walls of hanging art. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that Gear4Music has bought the PMT inventory. I believe they also bought GAK's. I'm probably part of the decline as I use Andertons more these days and I've never visited their only store. I just find the info they provide is better and they've never let me down with an order unlike a local store I won't mention. Peach Guitars in Colchester looks a good place but I'm unlikely to visit that town again in case I bump into a certain female. I nearly typed young lady there but she's in her 60s now. I wonder what it would be like to see someone for the first time after they'd aged by 30 years. Might be nice. Might be a weird and a bit disconcerting. Hang on in there music shops, we don't want to just deal with Amazon and other warehouses.

[Slim]

I always enjoy your contributions, but I don't understand why you don't like paragraphs.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I always enjoy your contributions, but I don't understand why you don't like paragraphs.

I know, it can look like right ramble, but I've been swithering over my replacement computer purchases for ages now. I find on the iPad if I'm not careful, I can, and have lost stuff I've been typing for a while. I never quite trust that return key on here. I'll probably not go the Mac Mini route that has appealed to me lately and settle for a MacBook when I finally figure out how much unified memory I actually require for my music stuff. I know I'm definitely overcooking this but I feel this might be my last throw of the dice to try and produce something worthwhile, so I'd like to chuck in as many soft synths and plug-ins as I can. Not getting any younger you see. Sorry, another one paragraph dirge but thanks for saying you enjoy them.

[Slim]

You could get a bluetooth keyboard, cheap but cheerful, from Amazon for about £7. Mine works great with an Android tablet.

[The Picnic Wasp]

You could get a bluetooth keyboard, cheap but cheerful, from Amazon for about £7. Mine works great with an Android tablet.

Thank you. Definitely worth a try but I must buy a computer next week. Might even manage to post a picture or two on here.

[Slim]

AI can help with this, just tell gemini.google.com what you want and how much you want to pay, what applications you want to run etc.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Kenny's Music now. Very sad. Interesting article by Lee Anderton highlighting the difficulties High St music retailers now face. Buying online is ok, but nothing beats the excitement of browsing for a guitar in a store. One of Kenny's stores, now closed, used to be Soundcontrol in Jamaica St. I remember staring for ages at the white Rickenbacker 4080 double neck hanging there. I think it was about £1200 in 1980. Just out of the question money. They go for about £15K in the used market now.🥲

[Slim]

Speaking of lusting after guitars - I definitely do not need another guitar, in fact I need to get rid of a few but - I'm tempted to buy a Gibson Les Paul, a sunburst one. It was the out-of-reach guitar I lusted for in my teens. I did get a Les Paul Deluxe when I was 23, but it was never the guitar I really wanted. I bought a Standard in 1995 but actually that was a poor guitar as well.

So I had one made by Sid Poole and that's a fantastic Les Paul, still have it. It's just the idea of having a nice Gibson Les Paul that would finally fulfil a childhood dream. It wouldn't be as good as the Sid so it would be a perverse thing to do in that sense. Nonetheless just symbolically, it might be a nice thing to do.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I need to move a few on too as they're just not getting played nearly enough. Plus, I'd like to buy a Caterham 7 and a few bob coming in will take the sting out of that. I'll sell my Gibson Les Paul probably. I bought it as it was such an unusual spec. 2015 Les Paul Less Plus in Desert Burst. It's the LP 100th anniversary model, slightly wider neck, G-Force tuners and thinner body for comfort and less weight. I think it's been out the case half a dozen times as Gibsons aren't really my thing I discovered. The gold case smells amazing when I open it.

[Thenop]

I love how this thread sways from a music shop closing, to computer advice, back to the music shop, 2 men talking about their Les Paul lust and one of them even wanting to buy a Caterham sportscar.

We end with the smell of opening a guitar case.

A not so sensory deprived thread this.

[David L]

I need to move a few on too as they're just not getting played nearly enough. Plus, I'd like to buy a Caterham 7 and a few bob coming in will take the sting out of that. I'll sell my Gibson Les Paul probably. I bought it as it was such an unusual spec. 2015 Les Paul Less Plus in Desert Burst. It's the LP 100th anniversary model, slightly wider neck, G-Force tuners and thinner body for comfort and less weight. I think it's been out the case half a dozen times as Gibsons aren't really my thing I discovered. The gold case smells amazing when I open it.

You'd better hurry up and buy that Caterham, we're moving headlong towards the "motor law" and you might find you can only take it out on Sundays and only then if you've got a narrow bridge in your neck of the woods 

[The Picnic Wasp]

I need to move a few on too as they're just not getting played nearly enough. Plus, I'd like to buy a Caterham 7 and a few bob coming in will take the sting out of that. I'll sell my Gibson Les Paul probably. I bought it as it was such an unusual spec. 2015 Les Paul Less Plus in Desert Burst. It's the LP 100th anniversary model, slightly wider neck, G-Force tuners and thinner body for comfort and less weight. I think it's been out the case half a dozen times as Gibsons aren't really my thing I discovered. The gold case smells amazing when I open it.

You'd better hurry up and buy that Caterham, we're moving headlong towards the "motor law" and you might find you can only take it out on Sundays and only then if you've got a narrow bridge in your neck of the woods 

The "motor law" is the least of my worries with this sciatica.😁 I'm confident I'll get in it, but getting out again is a bit of a concern.

[David L]

The "motor law" is the least of my worries with this sciatica.😁 I'm confident I'll get in it, but getting out again is a bit of a concern.

I'm sorry to hear that, my friend. I hope your current situation does not hinder your dream of owning a Caterham. Hold your fire.

[Matt2112]

I have two very good, dependable electric guitars (Ibanez RG655 Prestige and EVH Wolfgang Stealth Special) and don't need another one, but the idea of owning a PRS CE24 is so compelling that I track its price across the diminishing number of music stores constantly.

And of course there seems only one way to end this all-consuming obsession.