The bass cellar - denmark street

[kjm]

There no longer there closed down as has hanks

[Tee]

[quote name='kjm' post='1321367' date='Jul 30 2011, 03:17 PM']There no longer there closed down as has hanks[/quote]

"Hanks" has moved in to what used to be "Andy's" then "Music Ground" at the end of the street.

[SlackAlice]

[quote name='kjm' post='1321367' date='Jul 30 2011, 03:17 PM']There no longer there closed down as has hanks[/quote]

Yes I had no idea. It's been 3 years since I last ventured down Denmark Street. It has merged with a store opposite (forget the name). They are located in the basement with percussion.....small area with a small selection of Ricks, Yamaha, Fender, Squire, Tokai & Warwicks. Amps & cabs in the centre of the room. No staff down there, just one potential customer trying out a bass....fairly uninspiring all in all and I won't bother with future visits.

I then popped into Wunjo - totally opposite experience! Lively, good selection of basses with very friendly & helpful staff! I've had my eye on a Deluxe Active Fender P bass special for a while & low and behold they had one......& in the colour I wanted (chrome red with maple fretboard). As soon as I indicated my interest a young and very polite chap asked if I wanted to try it out which I did for about 15 mins. He was very knowledgeable. Explained the controls and variety of tones it had to offer........lovely bass (this WILL be my next bass)! Played for a while and another colleague came over & asked how I was finding it - again very helpful and polite. I did say I wasn't in a position to buy today and he was absolutely fine - he said I could pay a 20% deposit to hold the bass. Again I couldn't do that but he was wonderful......nothing was too much trouble. As Mr. SlackAlice and I left the shop the young assistant came over and shook our hands......

Wonderful stuff!

Angie

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[quote name='SlackAlice' post='1322051' date='Jul 31 2011, 11:41 AM']Wunjo ... very knowledgeable.[/quote]
Hopefully a bit more knowledgeable than the bloke there I spoke when I mentioned that they were selling a squier bronco bass with a badly repaired 70s musicmaster neck (broken & glued headstock) as a genuine 'virtually unplayed' US musicmaster at a typical Denmark street price. It was still on their website several weeks later complete with the false description and pumped up price. It seems to have gone now - I hope some poor sucker didn't pay six times its real value.

Then there was the member of staff in there who insisted that S8 on a fender serial is a reliable indicator of an instruments age & ALWAYS means that a bass was made in '78 - even on the models that didn't come out until '81

[SlackAlice]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1322072' date='Jul 31 2011, 12:03 PM']Hopefully a bit more knowledgeable than the bloke there I spoke when I mentioned that they were selling a squier bronco bass with a badly repaired 70s musicmaster neck (broken & glued headstock) as a genuine 'virtually unplayed' US musicmaster at a typical Denmark street price. It was still on their website several weeks later complete with the false description and pumped up price. It seems to have gone now - I hope some poor sucker didn't pay six times its real value.

Then there was the member of staff in there who insisted that S8 on a fender serial is a reliable indicator of an instruments age & ALWAYS means that a bass was made in '78 - even on the models that didn't come out until '81 [/quote]

Wow

Thought the experince was too good to be true.......perhaps I'm just gullible & naive . Indeed I've just had a look on their website: they have the P-bass on there and is listed as 'used'......no mention of that on the tag yesterday. I thought £629 was cheap for a new one Cheapest I have seen new is £647. The bass itself is in immaculate condition but they should say if it's second hand.

Angie (gullible )

[DirkThrust]

[quote name='SlackAlice' post='1322086' date='Jul 31 2011, 12:26 PM']Angie (gullible )[/quote]

Not really. The main beef about Denmark Street seems to be the contemptuous attitude of the staff to customers who aren't famous rockstars. Judging by your experience that at least seems to have changed

[Stacker]

Vintage & Rare - makes me chortle every time!!

Sound Control up my way always let you have a strum without any pressure whatsoever; shame they went under.

My fav bunch of bullsh*tt*rs/stonewallers are Music Ground. Remember going there - Leeds - back in the '90s with a mate who was wanting a dekko at a vintage Gibby Melody Maker they had avertised in Melody Maker (is that still on the go??). My mate had the spondulicks on him but as we went through the shop we couldn't see the Gibby. What happened next was the worst case of music-shop stonewalling I have ever witnessed: upon enquiring about the guitar, we were told, after jogging the puzzled shop-wallah's memory of what the guitar looked like, that it had been sold, despite having spoken with one of their guys about it on the phone the day before. Now it is [i]possible[/i] that the guitar had been sold but we doubted it and were puzzled by the guy's behaviour. He seemed to be enjoying telling us it was sold. We left and a phonecall later on informed us that the guitar was still there but 'kept out the back', whatever the F that means!

On a lighter note, one of my fav shop-owner pi**-offs was back in nineteen-canteen in Edinburgh. As all young guys have done over the decades, we lived in music shops on a Saturday afternoon and on one ocassion we went into this old shop run by two old stuffed-shirts in tweed jackets. One of the tweedies was re-stringing a guitar on the counter and one of my mates asked if he could try a Coloursound wah-wah pedal. Tweedie huffed and puffed and got said wah-wah out, plugged it into the guitar on the bench, strummed the strings and opped the wah-wah with the other hand. "See? It's working!!" he said, all the while staring malevolently at my mate. We got our coats and left...........

Edited August 1, 2011 by Stacker

[KevB]

[quote name='SlackAlice' post='1322086' date='Jul 31 2011, 12:26 PM']Wow

Thought the experince was too good to be true.......perhaps I'm just gullible & naive . Indeed I've just had a look on their website: they have the P-bass on there and is listed as 'used'......no mention of that on the tag yesterday. I thought £629 was cheap for a new one Cheapest I have seen new is £647. The bass itself is in immaculate condition but they should say if it's second hand.

Angie (gullible )[/quote]

I had a look on the web site, very nice bass. I have one that is very similar except it's the US version with the double humbucker on the bridge end and thru body strings. I got mine via eBay earlier this year for not much more than the one in Wunjo. However if it is the colour/fingerboard that's a big factor for you then hanging on for a US version S/H for similar money isn't worth it. If you get it go easy with the mid range boost, the bloke who sold me mine said he'd destroyed an amp by using too much boost!

[Happy Jack]

Chris Bryant (corner of Denmark Street and Charing Cross Road) had a Polish bass player named Daniel working there for ages.

Daniel is about to start renting part of Chris's basement to sell specialist & custom basses, apparently.

Watch this space.

[Blondino]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1322973' date='Aug 1 2011, 12:28 PM']Chris Bryant (corner of Denmark Street and Charing Cross Road) had a Polish bass player named Daniel working there for ages.

Daniel is about to start renting part of Chris's basement to sell specialist & custom basses, apparently.

Watch this space.[/quote]

Is this what the poster advertising GMR basses is about? They look very nice. Is it going to be a custom shop then?

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='steve-bbb' post='1321321' date='Jul 30 2011, 02:16 PM']or maybe instead try the over-keen inexperienced amateur approach with something like 'im thinking doing my hair purple and spiky for my new band and wondered if you had a bass that would go nicely with it .... AND keep a straight face[/quote]

someone has to do this, idealy while I am there

[Chris2112]

[quote name='Stacker' post='1322855' date='Aug 1 2011, 10:45 AM']Sound Control up my way always let you have a strum without any pressure whatsoever; shame they went under.[/quote]

Sound Control used to be alright but it was very much a case of who you spoke to in the Newcastle store as to what experience you'd get. Some were happy to let you play without pressure, plenty were content to hook you up to a crappy practice amp and hover around for five minutes before asking if you were buying it. I remember playing a nice Spector 6 string there and being quite impressed, and saying to my friend "I'll definitely be buying a Spector at some point" (having also played a great Euro 4 string the same day). The manager came over and he had a good chat about the bass, which he thought was great and we talked about how good the boatload of Czech Spectors the shop had were. One of the other staffers came past and said "If you can't do it on a P bass you shouldn't be doing it at all".

Great sales technique there!

As it happened, I did end up buying a Spector, from Sound Control in Preston!

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Blondino' post='1342961' date='Aug 17 2011, 12:02 PM']Is this what the poster advertising GMR basses is about? They look very nice. Is it going to be a custom shop then?[/quote]

Yup - they're just finishing off the painting & carpeting, reckon they'll be trading by the weekend.

As far as I can make out, "GMR" is Daniel's partner in the venture. He's also laying the carpet.

[Sibob]

GMR are a polish custom shop....they're opening a shop with this Daniel guy in Denmark street?

Si

[Ben Jamin]

I was in Denmark Street yesterday, went in Wunjo Guitars. Stared at the bass selection for a while until an assistant asked me if I'd like to play anything. Got plugged in and ended up sitting unattended with a '73 Telecaster bass for about an half an hour. Struck up a cool conversation with the shop owner about guitars in general, not the bass I was playing. Eventually I told him it was a great bass and I'd love it if only I could afford it. So he took 400 off the price and offered me 600 in part exchange for my Warwick (considering how much Warwicks are selling for at the moment, I'd probably get less on here)! Immense deal there, but I still didn't have the money, and the Telebass wouldn't be versatile enough to warrant selling off the Warwick

So I played the bass for another ten minutes, chatted about other things, and then moved onto an even more expensive Stingray.

So I'm really not going to miss the Bass Cellar.

Anyway, there is a nice all-original 1973 Fender Telecaster Bass with the original case (if I remember correctly), in really good condition, with a beautiful neck, at £2250. Figured the least I could do is give them a plug after their amazing service!

Edited August 18, 2011 by Ben Jamin

[DaveB]

Was in London over the weekend and popped down Denmark street and saw they have finally gone. Really anyone in the know wouldn't bother there anyway as The Gallery is a few tube stops on. Popped into the gallery on the hunt for a Roscoe to play, unfortunately they only had a 6 string so didn't try it. Purchased a nice mono strap in there though. I'm yet to buy a bass or amp from The Gallery but it's only due to situation, Alex provides fantastic knowledge and service. I'm now after a Roscoe which I need to go to bass direct for, very helpful on the phone just need to make the car trip there. When I purchased my Markbass rig last year I had played it in a local shop to me, Fretz in Hemel Hempstead, and the manager Barry is a top guy so I promised i'd buy it from him (and did). I wanted to try an Eden rig out and made the trip to the gallery but explained to Alex even though he also sold the Tube800 head I had promised to buy it from Fretz and he still gave me great service and totally respected that.

On a note about sound control, the nearest branch to me was Milton Keynes. I bought my Mesa Boogie F50 guitar amp from them and I remember the great service I got from them after the horrific service from GAK, they are missed round this way.
Funny story about them, this idiot I know used to try and be flash with his cash so would buy ultra expensive gear in front of his mates then return it a week later claiming he needed something better (basically he couldn't afford it). He bought a microphone for £1000 from sound control then went back a week later to get his money back and the store had shut down so he was stuck with it lol

[throwoff]

[quote name='Ben Jamin' post='1343885' date='Aug 18 2011, 12:41 AM']I was in Denmark Street yesterday, went in Wunjo Guitars. Stared at the bass selection for a while until an assistant asked me if I'd like to play anything. Got plugged in and ended up sitting unattended with a '73 Telecaster bass for about an half an hour. Struck up a cool conversation with the shop owner about guitars in general, not the bass I was playing. Eventually I told him it was a great bass and I'd love it if only I could afford it. So he took 400 off the price and offered me 600 in part exchange for my Warwick (considering how much Warwicks are selling for at the moment, I'd probably get less on here)! Immense deal there, but I still didn't have the money, and the Telebass wouldn't be versatile enough to warrant selling off the Warwick [/quote]

Wunjo is my favourite store on Denmark St atm. both as a customer and when I was a rep they were always the coolest guys to deal with.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Sibob' post='1343549' date='Aug 17 2011, 07:09 PM']GMR are a polish custom shop....they're opening a shop with this Daniel guy in Denmark street?

Si[/quote]

Yup - Daniel and his partner are both Polish and, unless I missed something in translation, it's his partner who "is" GMR.

[GMR]

Digging up a topic ;-) It's all up and running now. Administration took a while, as it does. Come and visit us and see for yourselves.
Daniel