Good vintage guitar dealers?

Re: Norman's Rare Guitars

For anyone planning on visiting Norman's be advised that the store itself is moving and will not opening again at that location because their landlord has not extended any grace to them in light of the pandemic situation. However, they will continue to operate online until the new location opens.

BGReed2 said:

Re: Norman's Rare Guitars

For anyone planning on visiting Norman's be advised that the store itself is moving and not open because their landlord has not extended any grace to them in light of the pandemic situation. However, they continue to operate online.

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I didn't realize that. So Norm's Rare Guitars is moving from their hugely popular store on Ventura Blvd, in Tarzana, CA?

Where will they be moving to?

marshall1987 said:

I didn't realize that. So Norm's Rare Guitars is moving from their hugely popular store on Ventura Blvd, in Tarzana, CA?

Where will they be moving to?

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Good question! The sign on the door explained it was a lease issue caused by the pandemic, and "we are moving." Since L.A. County has had stringent policies on businesses deemed "non-essential" I am quite sure there will be plenty of folks shutting down permanently, leaving us with a good supply of potential store locations to be had.

It was hard to see inside the store but I could see they are in the process of moving. I heard back from Norm today regarding the guitar I am interested in and he said roughly "things are a bit crazy" and "he will get back to me shortly" with the information I requested. I will post again once I get more information, but they will still be with us!

Fried okra said:

There are so many: these guys have always treated me right.
Guitar House of Tulsa
Garrett Park
Emerald City
Rumble Seat
Carter Vintage
Abalone Vintage
Drew Berlin
Gruhns

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Don't post on here often, but chiming in to give the thumbs up to Garrett Park Guitars, which is a semi-local (about 30 mins away) shop for me. Amazing people over there!

I've used many of the dealers named above. One smaller dealer that has not been mentioned is Grinning Elk. They seem to visit the guitar shows below the Mason Dixon line. The owners have a good eye for value, and helped me to obtain a 1965 Fender Jaguar at a low price.



In general, hunting for a vintage guitar of a certain year and model is a full time job. It is both rewarding and frustrating, and there is no easy path. Outside of bona fide dealers, dealing with strangers on ebay and reverb is a necessary evil, but if price were no object, I would (hands down) prefer negotiating with professional dealers. Reverb seems to have way more flakes than ebay. More fake or misrepresented guitars than at a garage sale.

The only thing I would warn about is sending checks or doing wire transfers. A dealer with a storefront is now always a guarantee you will get the merchandise you ordered. According to internet folklore, people lost money or their consigned guitars at Solidbody Guitars. Stick with dealers who actually know how to run a business, and not those who are surly on the phone or in an email. At the end of the day, a guitar is just a guitar, not a holy relic. Everybody makes mistakes in the business, and what some call Excellent is only VG to a curator. Ask many questions and get detailed pics. This means you also have to cultivate a relationship with the dealer, before you can even trust him with a payment in the thousands of dollars range. Ask here first.

The art of the guitar deal is a finely learned ability. I guess that Pat of the Doug and Pat show is reputed to be phenomenal at this sort of negotiating.

I bought this from Alex at Lefty Vintage Guitars a years ago. Happy with the guitar, and would recommend Alex to my fellow lefty players.

I'll put another good word in for Charlie at OK Guitars. He helped me out with some good information when I was selling a boogered 335 (only guitar I ever bought off the LPF classifieds :wah) that I bought when I knew a little but not enough.

I still enjoy the hunt.

In all honesty, I would say that if one had to go after vintage guitar dealers, first recognize the guitar you want. Then vet by each dealer. For example, SGs were mentioned in the thread. First off, decide that it's the SG you want. Then, do the research to get an idea of which vendor is the best when it comes to selling SGs. I had a buddy who once owned a store in Van Nuys CA. He sold guitars to many aspiring artists in the area. The number one thing that brought his customers back was his quality, maintenance, and prices. You can't top of that.