Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

going to be in portland last weekend in april,anyone know of vintage or otherwise guitar/bass shops,worth checking out? i did find a musical studio/museum online that looks interesting-they have quite a few vintage instruments on display,including a 50's 4000! any suggestions are welcome,i am going to be relocating from memphis,tn to brookings sometime this year,and portland is the nearest "real" city....

woodyng wrote:going to be in portland last weekend in april,anyone know of vintage or otherwise guitar/bass shops,worth checking out? i did find a musical studio/museum online that looks interesting-they have quite a few vintage instruments on display,including a 50's 4000! any suggestions are welcome,i am going to be relocating from memphis,tn to brookings sometime this year,and portland is the nearest "real" city....

Apple Music is our authorized dealer there. Seems like a good place to start, and last time I was there ('05) they had some cool vintage stuff.

Yah, Apple is the only local Portland dealer for RIC, and sorry to say Kenny, but they are the worst music store I've ever been to. The owner, Kelly, will flat out lie to get a sale, as will most of his salesmen. I once reported some lies he was saying about Vox products being discontinued to Mitch Colby at Korg, who was very interested in hearing about it as you could imagine, and later Mitch got back to me to say that he had talked to Kelly about these issues. It didn't change Kelly's and Apple's approach however.

I work with a guy who wants to get a JG 4003 and was down at Apple. They have one that has been there for awhile so they bought it at the pre-NAMM 08 pricing from RIC, and my friend went in there and looked around and saw the price. As soon as he expressed an interest in the bass, the salesman removed the price tag and quoted him a price that was quite a bit more expensive. I clued my friend into North Coast Music, and he went down to Apple after getting a quote from North Coast to see if Apple would match that price, with cash in hand, and they refused to match it and insisted on the higher price. Needless to say, my friend is not going to buy from Apple Music. If you're from this area, and you know what you want, or you want to check out a piece of gear and they are the only place that has it, then you might go into Apple. Otherwise you tend to try your best to stay away because they are even worse than GC in most cases there at Apple music. The word that comes to mind about their sales reps is that they are vultures. They work completely on commission and take their cues for how to behave from the owner, Kelly.

If you go across town to Old Town Music, which is a mostly used and lower budget new store, the attitude is completely different and they will let you plug in and play everything too, which is something that Apple won't do unless you insinuate that you are going to buy. Why anyone would buy a guitar or bass or amp without trying it out first is beyond me!

Bottom line Kenny, Apple doesn't really do your instruments any favors as their service is so **** poor as to be embarrassing. You should dump them like you did GC and find some other local dealer up here that has better service.

Greg

Woody.. Portland is a great city to see live music and have a great time but everything Greg said about Apple Music is true. It's a shame Ric does business with them. Maybe Ric sales are good but most musicians I know won't go near it.

thanks,guys!sorry to hear that about apple,we have a rather famous store here in memphis called strings and things-which i have refused to set foot in for over 15 years now because of similar shenanigans. i'm not doing any serious shopping,as i am in the process of selling my home in memphis,and buying/moving to oregon,and at this point,am just trying to hang on to the 2 rick basses i have! any music venues/clubs/museums in particular to check out?

Old Town Music as I mentioned is one of the better stores in town, but they have a lot of used and lower end new stuff there, so don't expect to find a PRS or something there unless its used. There are some other decent smaller stores around town too, but ever since GC came into the area a lot of those have disappeared. Portland Music Company is a good store and used to be a RIC dealer in years past, but aren't now. They're a bit overpriced too, but nice folks.

For live music, there is a great blues scene in town and there is a weekly jam I go to at a place called Duff's Garage. http://www.duffsgarage.com . Every wednesday night they have a jam with one of the best guitar players in Portland, one of the best bass players in portland, and the best drummer I've ever played with. These guys all play at the waterfront blues festival every year and we get to see them for a $2 cover charge every week. Then he gets the jam going after they play and we all get to have fun. I often play my RICS down there, though no one else will try them. Theres a lot of other jams around town on different nights, and good blues music about every night of the week. There are some venues around that have good jazz too, and the alternative scene is pretty good too.

Greg

Oh you lucky guy! What I wouldn't give to be in your shoes right now.

JimK, a Left Coast Expatriate & native Oregonian by the Grace of God

jimk- well,i still have to sell my place in memphis,but am really looking forward to this move.where did you live in oregon? greg-thanks for the club tip,i hope i get the chance to check it out!

Woody,
I was born in Salem and then my family moved to the little town of Lebanon, south of there, and near Albany. I graduated high school in Lebanon, and moved back to Kansas for college in '71. Got married, and been here ever since.

JimK