Haluu!
Please let me know where I can find guitar shops in the Taipei area. Preferably one where at least one staff can communicate in English.
Thanks.
There are some musical instrument shops on Heping East Road between Guting MRT Station and NTNU (Shi-Da), and on Roosevelt Road between Guting MRT Station and the junction of Shi-Da Road. There is one on Aiguo East Road opposite the National Theatre - it’s on the 2nd floor. There are one or two on the north side of Zhongxiao West Road Section 1, close to the junction of Zhongshan North Road - also may not be on the ground floor.
I was recently directed to a guitar shop on Wenlin Rd. in Shihlin which is o.k… It’s not big and “only” has guitars & basses from what I could see (i.e. no drums, keybords …) but what they had semed to be slightly better than some other stores I had seen downtown. It’s Wenlin Rd., on the east side of the street, shortly before it becomes much smaller and eventually ends right in the Shihlin nightmarket. Xpet.
does anyone know a shop that sells good quality guitars? Not the usual Korean etc. no-name jobs.
Galaxy on Jinshan S. Road (about a block south of Chunghsiao East Rd.)
Tony’s Music off Heping East Road
There’s another one on Heping close to Shida. I think it’s called Player something or other.
There was a thread where Sandman gave directions to Tony’s, but I couldn’t find it. Maybe you can do a search for it. The staff at Tony’s is real nice and English friendly. Galaxy has one in the window that I want, but I talked myself out of it.
And you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Korean gits, either. There’s a lot of really good ones around. In fact, unless you buy something like a Gibson, Taylor, Martin or something, there’s a fair-to-middling chance it was built in Korea. Times have changed and it’s the Chinese and Indonesian ones you need to be careful of these days. My Korean Ibanez 335 clone knocks the socks off every of the many Gibson 335s I’ve tried in build quality, playability, tone AND finish, and is much less than half the price.
As for Tony’s, you can find it by getting off the MRT at the Liuchangli stop (brown line) and continuing up Heping E. Rd, through four sets of lights until you come to the first multi-street intersection (kind of a star-shaped intersection about a 5-minute walk from the MRT, you can’t miss it). Take the right-most turn and Tony’s is about 20 yards in, opposite a small park.
Happy shopping!
Well gentlemen, many thanks for the prompt and informative replies. Much appreciated.
Tony’s is nice and friendly, but I’ve had some difficulty with an obviously defective Fender guitar bag. Every time I go there they tell me they will call the Taiwan distributor, but they never do it. I’ve heard advice that you should go there to check out the wide selection, but you should go elsewhere to buy because of the prices (and service).
Ayers Music
Jian Guo N. Rd, Sec 2, No. 139
Tel. 2505 8856
This is not a guitar shop per se, but a distributor for Ayers Guitars. Their guitars are designed by an Australian luthier, and built in a small shop in Vietnam. Their office is a converted upscale apt. near Minquan East. Very nice people, and they have a lot of guitars to try out.
It’s not a “big-name” guitar, but they make high-quality versions of Martin OMS, 000s and dreadnoughts. Classicals, too. Prices start at NT30,000.
I visited once, had a chance to play the guitars-- decent craftsmanship, excellent sound at a much lower price than your average Martin, Taylor.
Ayers Music is also Taiwan’s Santa Cruz Guitar dealer.
It’s a good idea to call before you visit.
I had heard about these before, just took a peek, looks very nice! I’ve got a Takamine dreadnought, but would like something smaller, their Grand Concert- or Orchestra-series could be worth a visit to Jianguo Rd. …
Do any of the above mentioned shops have second hand guitars? Specifically Ibanez, Aria or Westone? The stuff that interests me was made after the era of ‘copies’ when these companies started producing their own designs.
This site shows the sort of guitar I refer to:
speakeasy.org/~sven/site/index.html
If not do you have any suggestions where to look.
PS no pointy headstocks please 
Here’s an axe for you then, gotta be the butt-ugliest I’ve seen, and it’s their “NJ Beast” model that has a Floyd Rose Speed Loader bridge, so in addition to being ugly, the headstock is also completely naked … uaahh 
I have one of these. Bought from Player on Heping East several years ago for (I think) just NT$24,000. Wonderful guitar.[/url]
Does anybody know if Steinberger guitars are available in Taiwan? I am thinking of the cheaper ‘Spirit’ models that are made in Korea. Something like this ‘cricket bat’:
gibson.com/products/steinber … gtpro.html
They are hard to come by here in the UK and when they appear on ebay they usually fetch a good price. I am thinking of getting one as a travel guitar but want to ‘try before I buy’
Thanks
if you’re interested in buying a second-hand ibanez, i’m considering selling mine. it’s an s series made in japan, not the usual s, but a rare discontinued model. email me at: cosmicmystery@hotmail.com for specs and to make an offer. thanks. -tiff
[quote=“aidiming”]Here is the website for Tony’s music
There is a link to a map.[/quote]
Tony’s music is great for the selection, but they weren’t very concerned when I had a problem with something bought that under warranty. They keep telling me they will call me and they never do. They are also reluctant to do repairs or set up instruments there. If you are buying a nice guitar, you can check out Tony’s for the selection but go to Player or somewhere else to buy it.
I buy lots of books at Tony’s so that’s one good thing about them. Also, they have a lot of used guitars so if you’re willing to take care of the guitar you buy and fix it yourself, it’s a good place for that.
Check out Galaxy, the music shop at 37 Jin Shan South Road Section 1.
金螞蟻 台北市金山南路一段37之1號一樓 (02)2357-8665
There are some good deals on the guitars.
I’ve just bought a made in Korea Fender light ash telecaster off ebay in the UK and it’s a pretty good guitar.
The body is 2 pieces of solid ash not particularly light but a nice grain pattern. The neck is birds eye maple with a satin finish and has a really nice feel. The pickups are Seymour Duncan and they have a really good tone.
The guitar is well put together and finished. The only thing that I don’t like is the bridge which has the old style 2 strings over one saddle.
So they’re not all bad.
[quote=“twocs”]
Check out Galaxy, the music shop at 37 Jinshan South Road Section 1.
金螞蟻 台北市金山南路一段37之1號一樓 (02)2357-8665
There are some good deals on the guitars.[/quote]
Second that… I bought a japanese fender from them and their service is great. I personally dont like that big guitar shop close to the park near the train station (cant remember the name… but its not that ATT shop though…) because everytime I go there to check stuff out they give me the “when are you going to buy something” kind of look… Sometimes I wish they had shops like Guitar Center where you can browse without the salesperson trying to pressure you to buy something.
Are there any Large Guitar Shops in Taipei. I live down in Toayuan and only know of one small one here not offering much. If anyone can give me a few ideas and phone numbers I’d appreciate it. Shopping for a new axe…