Don’t remember seeing this anywhere else, but I can be slapped if someone already hads a thread like this.
I need music equipment, stuff for guitar and the like. Don’t know how many musicians are online here, but does anyone have any recommendations on where to get stuff? I know all the usual jam studio spaces, (appa, player, blackjack) but they don’t carry much gear and I know they won’t have what I’m looking for. If anyone has some suggestions on music stors, I’d greatly appreciate it.
I noticed there is one shop selling guitars and stuff on Roosevelt Road, half way between Guting and Taipower MRT station.
I think. Let me confirm tonite when I go back home …
The stuff that you can buy here is ridiculously over priced. I wanted to buy a new Warwick Bass, but it would be cheaper to have it imported myself.
What gear do you want specifically?
In general I’m looking for a good place for all my music needs.
But specifically, at the moment my band is looking to invest in some mikes to solve our miking problems. So mikes are an immediate concern.
I’m actually looking to get these miniature mikes that you attatch on the outside of an acoustic instrument. The small mike is on a coat hanger type thinngy that you can just bend to put it in your ideal location. Real specific I know, but if it’s a good store they should have them or at least be able to get me one quick.
They usually have those mikes at Tony’s music, which is off Heping E. Rd., one street up from Anjou Street. Get off at the Linkuang MRT stop on the brown line, walk back down Heping for a block till you cone to the big intersection and turn left at the 711. Go down about 20 meters and you’ll come to the shop. Pretty big and the downstairs part is alll drums, with a big PA/lighting rental area. Upstairs is guitars, mikes, etc. Those mikes are not cheap though – they’re AKGs I think. I used to use one on my sax, but it cost almost NT$10,000 about 10 years ago. Maybe they have cheaper models these days.
thanks sandman, I know of a shop in that area and my recollection of it matches your description. I’m aware they don’t come cheap, but for the sanity they will afford me, I think the price is worth it (I have a hard time standing still, and that pretty much makes playing into a standard mike a headache for me, and the sound is too electric when you plug an acoustic directly in – seems those mini mikes are my only option)
Not for what you’re describing. If its for an acoustic guitar you’d be far, far better served buying a Fishman system for about US$500 or so. You get an under-the-saddle piezo coupled with a gooseneck mic that goes INSIDE the body and can be adjusted to your desired position. You also get an onboard EQ and a blender to mix the two signals. This is by far your best option and you’ll probably get a bigger choice of options, too. Fishman are one of the best but there are several other cheaper options.
Fishman huh? well I’ll have to look into that. 500 US yikes! that’s not cheap. I guess I’ll look into some more options but I thougt those little mikes sounded like my best bet for what I could afford.
Thanks for the tips. keep 'em coming if you got more
Certainly `aint. There again, as i pointed out, there are many cheaper options – Fishman is kind of the benchmark for this type of micing system – you wouldn’t even consider it unless you’re playing a high-end Martin or custom jobbie. Consider trying out one or two of the more expensive Takamine guitars in a shop (not the cheaper ones – their micing sucks) just to see how far acoustic micing has come in the last decade or so. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised! I can’t remember what system they use, but its a lot more affordable than Fishman.
A few other music equip store locations:
On Chunghua Rd right across from foreign affairs police station, bit north of Hankou St.
On east side of Jianguo just north of Nanjing
Think there are one or two on Zhongxiao W Rd near corner of Zhongshan, across from police station.
Thanks Daltong, I know some of those shops you’re talking about.
Sandman, yea… for the guitar that I have now it would hardly seem worthwhile to invest that money in it. While it’s not a bad guitar, It’s been taken its knocks over the last (can’t remember how many) years. It’s already got a pick-up built in but it’s an old guitar and pick-ups from back then don’t quite cut it. I was thinking those small exterior mikes might be a good option for being able to move around a bit, cut down on feedback, and be an improvement on the “electric” sound I get from the built-in pick-ups. Holy shit, I sound like some guitar-geek.
What was your experience with using those exterior mini - mics? I know it was for a sax, but maybe you have some dirt on how those things perform.
Exterior mics just don’t cut it. Well, you need to spend a lot of money to get something that doesn’t suck.
A Takamine would be better.
mine is a takemine, though a little on the worn and aged side.
There are Takamines and Takamines these days – no longer just cheap expendable stage guitars, they also do a number of more expensive, far better appointed numbers. Well worth checking out.
As for the AKG sax mic, I can’t really compare it to a guitar mic, as it was voiced specifically for tenor sax, but it worked really well indeed and I was never less that very happy indeed with it, specially compared with the first “attached” mic I used – a NT$199 tie-clip mic from the Changhua Rd. bazaar that made the thing sound like an inordinately loud kazoo (or maybe that was just me) 
Akosh, don’t know if you’re still looking but maybe it might be worth checking out K&K products. They specialize in Piezo-Ceramic pick-up systems for acoustic instruments and also have some combined mic/pietzo systems, considerably more affordable than fishman and others.
I can only share my experience with bass pick-ups, but the pick-up system and specialized pre-amp (also K&K) I use for my double bass was, by comparison, quite inexpensive and sounds great.
Their website is urbbob.com/pu3.html (his guitar pick-up page), Bob’s always very helpful, his prices are great and the service even to Taiwan is quick. I couldn’t find anything in Taiwan, but then I’m not in Taipei, that might be the reason …
As for the tie-clip mics someone mentioned before; I tried those also just out of curiosity, but even if you get a unidirectional mic (as opposed to an omnidirectional mic that pics up sound from all directions) they’re plain shit, not recommended at all.
Other than that, I think amplification makes a world of difference. I play a Takamine with Martin ThinLine Piezo pick-up under the bridge. When played into a “normal” guitar amp it’s not so great, but when played into a specialized acoustic/semiacoustic guitar amp, the sound opens up and you get the true sound of the instrument, just louder and a little more percussive, nothing like the “electrification” of the sound you mentioned. For acoustic stuff (both steel-string and nylon-string guitars) I play a little TraceAcoustic TA 50R, which is really great. It also has a built-in feed-back suppression system, so this problem becomes much less pronounced when working with mics …
Bye.
For those of you on a budget, Ibanez makes a super thin semi-accoustic guitar. It’s EQ is great and the sound through any amp sounds great. The body is light and thin. It sounds just “ok” unplugged but plug it in and it opens up a whole new world.
I can’t remember the model but with a bit of searching I am sure that those out there with a taste in guitars could find it.
I’ve got a 2000 model Gibson J45 with built in pickup/mic thing … sounds beautiful and much richer and more naturally acoustic than the shrillness of a Takamine et al. Visit the Gibson website to see what they put inside them … I think it is just a piezo thing.
If you are going to HK anytime soon I would just wait and make all your purchases there. As with most things (other than clothes and womens shoes) shops here dont seem to subscribe to the ‘old stock sellout’ mentality (here I mean guitars and mountain bikes 
).
There is a chain in HK (name escapes me) with a large store in Kowloon… last time I was there I bought a new old stock (2001 model) Martin HD28 for approx. US$1200.
Can anyone recommend Music instrument stores that sell violins?
(I’ll try to check out the ones mentioned here this weekend 
)
there’s a pretty big one near kuting station, on hoping a few buildings down from the starbucks, on the 3rd floor i think. i think they have some used stuff, there’s at least one smaller shop on another floor that does.