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So I was at Sam Ash music store today....


kevbass
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Right, first week in America, Im in NYC and I thought "I'll check out some of the guitar shops see whats knocking about" so I head on down to Sam Ash and then on to a shop called Mannys which is directly opposite. Well, Sam Ash and Mannys both had a nice decent stock of basses.

Sam Ash had a selection of tune basses, spector, esp, ibanez, warwick, fender etc and had a particularly nice high end Ibanez SR bass with a wenge neck and a Burl top, a ltd edition for about $759 or something thats about four hundred quid at the exchange rate at the moment, and a special edition quilted maple stingray for about $1995 agan just over a grand at todays exchange rate. I really liked the look of some of the tune basses, they almost look quite boutique and custom made.

My trip ends up with me passing through NY again to get home so Im going to try and budget a bit tighter so I can nab one of these bargains possibly just before I fly home, just out of interest has anybody flown a bass back from the states and did you get stung by customs?

If I get a chance I might run down to the place where they make Sadowskys, If I find any more music shops that are decent I'll flag them up on here.

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[quote name='kevbass' post='142227' date='Feb 17 2008, 11:55 PM']just out of interest has anybody flown a bass back from the states and did you get stung by customs?[/quote]

Well worth using the search function on this question. IMHO not a thing to do on the spur of the moment.

Hamster

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Whilst there are plenty of tales of people who have walked through unquestioned, personally I think I would be inclined to 'fess up and pay the tax if the price still worked out better than a UK price. I would just hate to be the person picked on who has my prized new toy confiscated because I tried it on. :)

Perhaps others will say go for it and that's just my honest streak rearing its head but my 6p would be it's not worth the risk

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I like Mannys most - wasn't a fan of the staff in Sam Ash. Guitar Centre is dreadful and they had NOTHING desirable so I wouldnt bother with that! There are a few FANTASTIC vintage music stores in Brooklyn / Williamsburg that you should try to track down. And you should definitely give the Sadowsky folks a call and ask if you can pop by and have a look!

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Hi there
Been to both those shops i used to work in a band on the QE2 so we docked there every 2weeks, they are fantastic shops with great gear that is cheaper than home, but do beware the US sales tax which is added on top of any purchase
when you actually buy it, it can be anything up to about 10% of the purchase value, so if a bass is $1000 itll add another$100 it has been a while since i was there though, as for customs at airports i always came off ships with loads of gear as crew so have no experience im afraid. But itll still probably be cheaper than buying things in the UK and youll find lots of tasty stuff we cant get so happy shopping.
All the best-LEE



Right, first week in America, Im in NYC and I thought "I'll check out some of the guitar shops see whats knocking about" so I head on down to Sam Ash and then on to a shop called Mannys which is directly opposite. Well, Sam Ash and Mannys both had a nice decent stock of basses.

Sam Ash had a selection of tune basses, spector, esp, ibanez, warwick, fender etc and had a particularly nice high end Ibanez SR bass with a wenge neck and a Burl top, a ltd edition for about $759 or something thats about four hundred quid at the exchange rate at the moment, and a special edition quilted maple stingray for about $1995 agan just over a grand at todays exchange rate. I really liked the look of some of the tune basses, they almost look quite boutique and custom made.

My trip ends up with me passing through NY again to get home so Im going to try and budget a bit tighter so I can nab one of these bargains possibly just before I fly home, just out of interest has anybody flown a bass back from the states and did you get stung by customs?

If I get a chance I might run down to the place where they make Sadowskys, If I find any more music shops that are decent I'll flag them up on here.
[/quote]

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I spent some time in NYC last summer and wish i'd done a bit more research around shops

Have you tried the New York Guitar and Bass Boutique?

There's also a place in the Village , Matt Umanov near the cupcake shop....!

Apparently Manny's are now owned by Sam Ash but did you check out all the signed artist photos on the walls?

I was tempted to unbolt a neck and put a bass in my bag.......no-one even glanced at me when I came into UK, not that I'm condoning illegal activity!

Edited by yorks5stringer
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