Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Wow! That is heretical..........

Progress?

There wasn't a reason stated for Sam Ash to close this store. Is it due to poor sales?

Sorry to hear that.

nukebass wrote:There wasn't a reason stated for Sam Ash to close this store. Is it due to poor sales?

My guess is.....money talks!

That's sad. When I made my one and only trip to NYC in 1972, Manny's was the first place I wanted to visit. I still remember the sight and smell of all those beautiful guitars in that old shop.

The town looked a lot different then, with no twin towers yet. Do they still have the Empire State Building, or have they torn that down too?

I'm sure 48th street was pretty wonderful in it's heyday, but for as long as I've been going there, it's really just two shops - Rudy's and Sam Ash. Rudy's has some great vintage and new stuff but is silly expensive and essentially for ogling only (they're also not friendly in my experience, even on days when I HAVE purchased from them!). Walking through Sam Ash is like thumbing through a Musician's Friend catalog, and Manny's is no different. There are much cooler shops out there, especially out in scenic Lindenwold, NJ.

Total sign of the times I remember as soon I was old enough to take the brave trip into NYC from Joisey in 1984 I headed directly to slobber all over the glass of all the shops on Music Row. Especially "We Buy Guitars"
Sadly, as JB pointed out, the essence was gone probably years ago. The odd thing is, whenever I've passed by in recent history and didn't stop, I've always gotten the same butterflies. So Viva Lindenwold !!

My late father was a Jazz drummer and bought his 1948 Gretch drum set and ziljan cymbals at Manny's in the early 50's. I still have his drums and his stories and memories. I been to Manny's many times in my life and it's sad to see something like this but the economy being as it is i'm not surprised. I miss you dad.

nukebass wrote:There wasn't a reason stated for Sam Ash to close this store. Is it due to poor sales?

Redundancy.

Manny's is where I got my first close up look at a Rick..... my father took me there in the spring of '64 and THERE IT WAS (inside a glass case).... a Jetglo 325 ...."just like that Beatle guy plays!" . I also got a closeup look at Beatle autographs (there to this day I believe). Pretty heady stuff for a 10 year old who had started to play guitar the previous summer. Now THERE's a story that's probably been repeated thousands of times!

Jimi Hendrix was a frequent customer as well. They would open after hours for him to try stuff out. Somewhere theres a great story about him buying a strat and giving it to a kid who was chased out of the store while he was there. They said he was always good for a few thousand dollars in sales when he visited.

Anyone know what they are going to do with all those fantastic signed photos on the wall, like Hendrix?

mgauction wrote:Anyone know what they are going to do with all those fantastic signed photos on the wall, like Hendrix?

Definitely worth going in and asking...

To me, when We Buy Guitars fell, 48th st was never the same. When I think of all the Hofners and Pre-CBS Fenders they had in the window for practically nothing..although nothing($150 for Hofner's, $400 or so got you a nice vintage Fender) was a lot in the late 70's early 80's. ....Next to Manny's was a store called "Alex's Music". They were pretty cool too.

but I guess I have to agree, the falling of Manny's is the last pillar on Music Row.