Who has been to the House of Guitars in Rochester NY?

I've heard a lot of stories about that place, both good and bad. Wasn't this the place that some former employees had a lawsuit against the owner?
 
Went there about 9 years ago I think. It's literally an old house crammed with music gear, lol.

I didn't like how they had most of the guitars stuffed in wooden cabinets, they get kind of banged up easily that way imo.

To me it seemed more like a museum than a music store. I liked seeing the photo's on the walls of famous artists that rolled through there. I remember seeing quite a few metallica pics lol.
 
Last and ONLY time I was there was when I worked for a guitar company in about 1986.. It was the coolest music store in the world back then!!! I have NO IDEA what's became of it, as they're one of the few that hasn't taken advantage of the internet. Is is still cool? Tell us what's great about it? Seriously :rock:

Eric
 
JerryP":2caxpu51 said:
Been there many times. It's a very cool place. Weekdays are the best time to go, weekends are too fucking crazy. The giant Marshall in the entrance is my favorite thing in the place.
http://www.houseofguitars.com/
Jerry


Hey there, yep they've been "ON THE WEB" for a long time ,but just like Drome Sound , never took advantage of the web.. .Places like Dave's Guitars and Elderly INstruments etc (and even Lark Street) have had their inventories on the web since the 90's , WITH the 'asking prices' and with their inventories updated Daily . Some of us have ordered SO MUCH from places like that just because of that. . Then Elderly quit shipping amps and that was a bummer for us consumers.. ANyway HOG is cool for sure and 1 of the best I've been to ever. Others were the OLD Daddy's in the 70's when they used to have heaping piles of vintage and custom stuff, and the original Drome Sounds but HOG was better! . .

Eric
 
Grew up two blocks from the HOG. Cool place, but yeah, gear gets pretty banged up the way things are left stored. And good luck finding a power cord if you are trying to test an amp!!! :LOL: :LOL:
 
I grew up very close to HOG as well. I always wondered what they are like now. Its been 17 years since I have been in the store and I didn't play guitar way back then but thought the way they kept guitars was stupid. I remember trying to find a cd from the bins ..... ha ha ...... I have never seen a more organized store in my life :LOL: :LOL: ....
 
strungup":3m94d1iu said:
I grew up very close to HOG as well. I always wondered what they are like now. Its been 17 years since I have been in the store and I didn't play guitar way back then but thought the way they kept guitars was stupid. I remember trying to find a cd from the bins ..... ha ha ...... I have never seen a more organized store in my life :LOL: :LOL: ....


Curious as to where you grew up? I was a product of the West Irondequoit School System......
 
daver101":3lhuhgph said:
strungup":3lhuhgph said:
I grew up very close to HOG as well. I always wondered what they are like now. Its been 17 years since I have been in the store and I didn't play guitar way back then but thought the way they kept guitars was stupid. I remember trying to find a cd from the bins ..... ha ha ...... I have never seen a more organized store in my life :LOL: :LOL: ....


Curious as to where you grew up? I was a product of the West Irondequoit School System......

My grandparents lived in Irondequoit when they were alive so I spent a lot of time there that was before they got a mall. :confused: My parents were from Irondequoit and technically I lived on stonehenge rd off Empire blvd not far from Irondequoit bay park west, but don't remember that early on. I lived in Greece for as far back as I remember and went to the greece school system (Athena actually) until I moved out on my own then I moved to Park ave area of Rochester for about two years. Then if I have to remember the year of my life that I lived in Big Flats NY I was transfered there by my job before leaving the state. I didn't like Big Flats :no: . I didn't play guitar back then so I guess I looked at HOG as just a clustered mess. I need to stop at the HOG when I go back and visit.
 
strungup":3hfgsf7e said:
I grew up very close to HOG as well. I always wondered what they are like now. Its been 17 years since I have been in the store and I didn't play guitar way back then but thought the way they kept guitars was stupid. I remember trying to find a cd from the bins ..... ha ha ...... I have never seen a more organized store in my life :LOL: :LOL: ....


My first trip there was nearly 23 yrs ago. My last trip was 2yrs ago. Hasn't changed much if any. I remember my first trip seeing all these killer Jacksons piled in showcases. The main floor was,is guitars and amps. The lower level is a music shop such as cd's and lp's, tshirts, posters all the cool shit. And then another level for drums and keys. And the coolest thing about the lower level is an entire wall dedicated to bands (signatures) passing through... old school... Mercyful Fate... Slayer, from back in the day. Metal still lives in Rochester and don't forget to check out . . . http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =115356648
 
They cleaned things up quite a bit. The T-shirts aren't piled on the floor anymore, CD's are in order. They brought a lot of vintage gear in from storage and have tons on the stage now. They have so much stuff stashed away in rooms it's not even funny.
Jerry
 
Digital Jams":1ungll35 said:
Isn't there a Yngwie story involving this place??

I heard they ended up with some of Yngwie's amps, but I don't the story behind it. :confused: Maybe someone here can shed some light on it.
 
I have traveling to Rochester for work over the past 10 yrs, but usually swamped when there. I will definitely try to check it out next time...after recovering from a fine dinner at Dinosaur BBQ :thumbsup: !
 
strungup":odwk3iab said:
Digital Jams":odwk3iab said:
Isn't there a Yngwie story involving this place??

I heard they ended up with some of Yngwie's amps, but I don't the story behind it. :confused: Maybe someone here can shed some light on it.


I think he bought a Marshall Major there and he might have traded in some of his stuff towards it. At one time they had about 4 Marshall Majors up on the stage. They had a Soldano modded Marshall that I think they told me came from Paul Gilbert. I'd like 10 minutes alone in that place!
Jerry
 
I was there years ago, the owners were great to deal with, awesome store. If you ever get the opportunity to check it out go, amazing selection of gear but you have to really look because there is so much stock. :thumbsup:
 
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