Chicago Music Exchange

GAD

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Anyone been to their store? I'll be in Chicago in a couple of weeks and plan on visiting, though I might have to leave my wallet at the hotel to be safe.

I love my Guilds, but I'm not sure I'll be able to leave the Les Paul Wall alone...

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F312

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Don't forget a Portillo's Italian beef sandwich while in town.

Ralph
 

Neal

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Super nice place. I spent the better part of an afternoon in there.

I bought a '59 Gretsch Clipper from them. A very nice experience.
 

jeffcoop

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Their website is a dangerous enough place as is. I don't think I'd survive an in-person encounter. I know my balance sheet wouldn't.
 

Antney

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My son moved to Chicago this past January. I'm going out to visit him and see the city in June. He sent me a proposed itinerary and one afternoon is blocked out for Chicago Music Exchange. I told him I didn't want to spend an entire afternoon there. He replied "yes you do".
 

GAD

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Made it to CME today and took some pics. It's a very nice store with hundreds of nice guitars on display including maybe 7 Guilds. All the cool stuff that's on Reverb was nowhere to be found with a couple of exceptions.

The shop is very much mostly Gibson/Fender. And by mostly Gibson/Fender I mean mostly Gibson. Well, maybe not, but it seemed like the Gibsons were more out in front than the Fenders.

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This is the majority of Guilds on display. The one in front is a '66.

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This one was cooler than I expected, but the finish is still tacky so it felt kind if icky.

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Same corner (all the way in the back of the store:

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The acoustic room:

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The basement is all bass:

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One of the few things I really wanted, but it was almost $3k:

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I will say that the store is very nice. There are little practice rooms where you can bring a guitar and each one is filled with a nice variety of nice amps (one had a Two Rock in it).

The people were all super nice and the entire store had a very relaxed and friendly vibe. It was 2PM on a Thursday, though, so very few people in there.

Believe it or not, I spent some time at the Les Paul wall and not a single one of them caught my eye. Go figure.
 
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walrus

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That looks like a store I would enjoy! Any Guilds in the acoustic room?

walrus
 

richardp69

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CME just recently bought from me, my NH built D 40C. They've bought at least 5 from me now. They are really great to deal with.
 

jcwu

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The shop is very much mostly Gibson/Fender. And by mostly Gibson/Fender I mean mostly Gibson. Well, maybe not, but it seemed like the Gibsons were more out in front than the Fenders.

IMG_5642_1600.jpg

Hey, I'll be honest, I'm much more a strat guy, but nothing screams guitar lust to me like a wall of Les Pauls. They're just so pretty to look at. Maybe it's the shape and the curves. That belly. I've had a visual thing for Les Pauls ever since I saw Slash playing one.
 

GAD

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Hey, I'll be honest, I'm much more a strat guy, but nothing screams guitar lust to me like a wall of Les Pauls. They're just so pretty to look at. Maybe it's the shape and the curves. That belly. I've had a visual thing for Les Pauls ever since I saw Slash playing one.

I fully expected to walk in, see a few that knocked me out and have to fight not to buy one, but that didn't happen. I like a very specific look on a Les Paul and they just didn't have any I liked.

I agree, though, I think they're great looking.
 

GAD

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Not even that one that looks like blue on the top row just to the left of the chandelier?
Not that I was looking hard or anything.

I do like that Pelham blue look, but if I'm going to drop $5k on a Les Paul it's going to be *exactly* what I want. Honestly, though, what keeps me from buying (and when i do gets me selling it again) is that the perfect Les Paul for me is this:

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This is about as close as I've come with a Les Paul:

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The problem is, as much as I loved that Les Paul it was freaking $4k. I sold it and bought TWO Nightbirds with that money!

There's just something about an R9, though. I think it's the necks. I love me some fat neck Lesters.
 

GAD

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BTW that beautiful Nightbird is in Fixit's hands and he just told me that he finished a fret job on it (the frets were really worn and apparently not original) and I cannot wait to get it back. I have a pair of NOS 4-wire gold HB1s for it (Thanks Hans!) that I may finally get around to installing.
 
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