Guild/vintage/cool guitar shops in San Francisco?

TBK711

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I thought I would check to see if anyone happens to know of any cool shops in San Francisco. My wife and I are going to be kicking around there on Sunday and Monday with no particular agenda. Wondering if there is a cool shop or two I should check out - particularly one with some Guilds. Pittsburgh PA is pretty low in Guild inventory, so I thought maybe I could take advantage of the trip to play some stuff and maybe find a guitar that must come home.
 

adorshki

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The two that spring to mind are Gelb, a long-time dealer/authorized repair center (the 2 are rarely synonymous anymore)
and Gryphon, home of Frank Ford and purveyor to many legends of "the San Francisco Sound".
These are only suggestions from reputation not personal experience and sadly I think you'll be disappointed because even authorized dealers have had very little new stock on the floor at any time ever since New Hartford started producing, as I mentioned elsewhere.
Even longtime stalwart Guitar Showcase in San Jose, who was tight enough with 'em historically to be offered (and took)#1-of-50 50th Anniversary D55's from Fender in '03, doesn't stock 'em anymore.
But "They'll be happy to order one for you".
And I'm sure Gelb'll say the same thing.
Their website kinda gives a clue:
http://www.gelbmusic.com/m-59-guild.aspx
Although to be fair I suggest calling 'em to verify how current that info is.
Redwood City's only about a 20 minute drive from SF, Palo Alto another 10 in mid-day traffic.
Y'never know though, you might luck out with a fresh used piece having just shown up by surprise.
I wouldn't suggest Showcase without calling first unless you actually really like driving even on congested freeways.
About the only time there's any smooth sailing at all anymore is outside of 7-10 or even 10:30 AM, and 3-7PM.
SF to San Jose's anywhere from 50 to 90 minutes ramp-to-ramp in good conditions.
Gryphon has been reported to have a very good selection of used/vintage pieces, again, suggestion is to check website/call first to see if they actually have any up.
https://www.gryphonstrings.com/

The root of the problem is Fender alienated a lot of dealers with all the factory changes since Westerly (Showcase finally threw in the towel about stocking 'em when they closed Tacoma); and the New Hartford production was orders of magnitude smaller than any of the other "big 3" so there were never really all that many to hang up on dealer's walls in the first place.
Then almost 2 years of no production at all between close of New Hartford and first shipments out of Oxnard, and you can see what you're up against....
:friendly_wink:
"Don't say I didn't warn you"
:glee:
Edit: in the interests of balanced reporting I just now checked out Showcase's website and it looks like they aren't even a dealer anymore......
One used DeArmond by Guild Electric comes back if you search their site by brand.
 
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TBK711

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Wow!! Thanks Al. Fantastic info. I will do some checking out of these places and see if I can get to one or two them. Even if not Guilds, maybe I will find some guitar or another to mess around with.
 
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Of course, you could always buy an accordion and play for the tourists on the Golden Gate.

 

SFIV1967

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I have to agree with Al's suggestions. Guitar Showcase in San Jose https://www.guitarshowcase.com/ is a great guitar shop, two floors in a kind of warehouse building, but unfortunatelly no Guild's anymore, except from time to time a used one. I have been there a couple of times when they had some great Guilds like that number 1 of 50 al mentioned. Here's their Reverb shop: https://reverb.com/shop/guitarshowcase
In that video the owner showed a cool Guild Avalon they had a few years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkZDB6XgI-I

Gryphon Stringed Instruments is almost a must for any guitar lover as it is the shop of famous Frank Ford! https://www.gryphonstrings.com/staff-member/frank-ford/
https://www.gryphonstrings.com/
Frank is famous for his million of repair suggestions on this site (when you scroll down)
The shop is in a little building opposite a Mercedes Dealer in a little side street.

To me Gelb Music in downtown Redwood City was a bit disappointing as it was a very cramped shop and I felt not really welcome there. Maybe I was there at the wrong time with the wrong seller working there, who knows.

I also visted some little guitar shops in San Francisco itself (like Panhandle Guitars, Real Guitars, Schoenberg Guitars,...) but didn't find anything interesting to me. Sometimes those are just one room shops, they might have some rare finds but overall nothing for me. I don't think I have been to Steve's Guitars http://www.stevesguitars.com/ , they sound interesting at least.
https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=guitarstores&find_near=steves-guitars-san-francisco

And there is a Guitar Center directly in town close to the Nob Hill area which has sometimes a few good used instruments (at 1645 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94109).

Ralf
 

adorshki

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I have to agree with Al's suggestions. Guitar Showcase in San Jose https://www.guitarshowcase.com/ is a great guitar shop, two floors in a kind of warehouse building, but unfortunatelly no Guild's anymore, except from time to time a used one. I have been there a couple of times when they had some great Guilds like that number 1 of 50 al mentioned.
Also, I was so focused on "who might have Guilds" that I neglected to mention that in fact their "museum" alone sets Showcase apart from just about everybody else and might be worth the trip for its own sake:
A glassed -in room stuffed with some one-of-a-kind genuine collector's items of actual instruments owned by music legends and other rare and/or exotic pieces.
The upstairs has been converted to acoustic room now with an acoustically magnificent playing area sonically isolated from the rest of the store and they also have a climate controlled glassed in room for some vintage acoustics.
Even had a maple jumbo Gibson on display for the grabbing (high and mid-range Martins too), somebody invited me to play it but I have a philosophy against putting play wear on a piece like that if I have no actual purchasing intent.
It's truly tragic Guild doesn't have a presence there anymore.
 

Br1ck

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When Oxnard was just getting going, I asked the acoustic manager of Guitar Showcase If they were going to stock them, and he doubted it. With a room full of Taylors, Martins, and Gibsons, there just didn't seem a need for another brand. I haven't been to Gelb in a while, but they always had a consignment shop, now defunct, that was interesting. More of and electric store.

But you need to go to Gryphon, maybe the west coast's finest acoustic shop, a real institution, where people from the world over make the pilgrimage to see their inventory of fine instruments. But Guilds are few and far between in this town.

Almost forgot, but Steve Swan has a shop in Burlingame if you are into vintage, particularly old Gibsons. He is also a big bass dealer. Limited hours though, so check. It is a real sign of the times that San Francisco proper has so few music stores. The rent is just too prohibitive. The good stores are spread between Tiburon( Shoenberg) to Santa Cruz (Sylvan) with a gem of a high end store in the East Bay, Mighty Fine Guitars.
 
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netspirit

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If you are actually in SF, you may check out Haight Ashbury Music. While you are there you can visit the house where Jimi Hendrix stayed at. It is a coffee shop now a few houses down from the music store.
 

TBK711

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Thanks. We are heading to haight ashbury today. Need to take the obligatory pic at 710 Ashbury. I will check out the music shop for sure.
 

6L6

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REAL GUITARS in San Francisco is always worth a look. They are not a dealer of new instruments, but the owners are big Guild fans and they usually have a few around.
 
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