NW Guitar Links
Updated 5/04/2007Local NW USA and Canada
Contents of this page:
Retail Stores
Manufacturers
Want Ads/Lists/Reference
Other Cool Sites
My Wonderful Kids
My Friends
This page is by Paul Arntson in the Northwest USA. I’m the Paul Arntson who grew up in the wheat fields of Eastern Washington, if that’s who you are looking for.
There is another Paul Arntson (perhaps a distant relative) who teaches at Northwestern University. I’m not him, and he is not me.
To email this me, use the address guitar_paul1AThotmail.com ,substituting of course the@forAT.
Fish from your window:
These are links to music stores, manufacturers and other sites in the
Pacific Northwest, mostly located within a day's drive from
UPDATES:
I hadn’t done anything with this page for about 5 years. Lots of stores have closed in that time.
I went through and tried to prune all the link rot. Please advise me of changes I need.
The big-box influx has removed a lot of regional variation, but some sites of note remain.
If you don't want your URL to be listed here, just email me and I'll remove your link as quickly as possible. All I ask is a link in return.
Retail Stores in the NW
Shoot me an email if I’ve missed one. I know there are more than this!!
American Music Home
Page (
Stocklists frequently updated. Good listings and occasional screemin deels.
Apple Music (
I’ve not been here, but it looks pretty fine.
archtop.com (
Archtop guitar heaven! Nationwide Locating Service.
A nice vintage
place on
BandWagon
Music (
Sadly, Neil has closed the
Bass Northwest Homepage
(
Excellent stock list with illustrations. There always seems to be something new and interesting here.
Bellevue
American Music (
There was a split in American Music. Both fine companies to deal with.
Bunker Guitars
(
Unique local inventor/manufacturer/retailer. His store retails Bunker Touch Guitars, as well as his PBC line of acoustic/electrics. I have been seeing Mr. Bunker's stuff for 20 years, and it's astounding. He's a wonderful person in addition to being a genius. Well worth a trip to the shop.
Dusty Strings (
Wide variety of instruments. They manufacture hammered dulcimers here, also. I have found their classical guitar repairman very helpful and knowledgeable. Fun store to visit.
Dutch's Vintage
Guitars and Classic Instruments (
Smaller stocklist of fine vintage pieces.
Emerald City
Guitars (
Very interesting and frequently updated stocklist.
Guitar Center (Seattle/Lynnwood/Totem
Their stores are quite large. Good place to find cheap pedals. Quantities are overwhelming, though.
Guitar Crazy (
Huge well established store. A must
if you're visiting
Guitar Maniacs (
Amazing array of stuff. I see them every year at the Greater Seattle Fintage Guitar Show.
Guitar Emporium
(
Beautiful acoustics. Nice pictures of a lot of stuff.
Guitarville - Main Index(
Large list of instruments. Always worth a visit to the store. Huge vintage stock.
Helmer's Music
(Mt Vernon &
Wonderful huge stores to get lost in.
Kennelley Keys (Seattle/Lynnwood,WA)
Lots of new instruments and supplies. Many locations to choose from.
Lark
in the Morning (
Lots of world
instruments, and some very high quality guitars. Very
entertaining store in
Manna Music (
Located in a pretty part of
McKenzie River
Music (
Interesting lists of stuff. Very high end.
Mills Music(Bothell, Greater
Many entry level instruments. Some high end pieces, but not much vintage. Their level of customer service is excellent, however. Great selection of printed music.
Music 6000(
Great selection.
Music Centers
(
Large store with
many locations south of
Music Unlimited(
Tri-Cities site with new stuff. I couldn't find a used department, but they have links to the pages of their vendors. No stock list.
Musician's Friend
(
Interactive stock list. Lots of ways to order a catalog. Varied reviews on Harmony Central, although I've never had a problem. I've gotten great deals from their internet garage sale area.
Neil
Morris (
See the above entry on BandWagon music.
NoPoint Records (Hansville,WA-peninsula)
A recording studio that also sells gear. Interesting taste and a fun site. They've recorded some very well-known artists.
Pacific Music (
They always seem to keep some very nice high end pieces in stock. The used department never fails to be interesting, and they have the greatest collection of old wierd guitars around the ceiling. Very pleasant to deal with.
Petosa Music (
While mainly selling accordians of EVERY variety, there is also an excellent used department where you can find guitars and effects very reasonably. Arguably the definitive accordian site.
Pioneer Music Co.
(
New and used. Always has some beautiful pieces in the store. Also a National dealer, with great photos.
Portland
Music Co. (
Good list of used merch and also new pieces.
Randys Guitars.Com
(
Randy is a local collector who buys and sells from his website. Some nice pieces. Randy also supports the Greater Seattle VIntage Guitar Show, where I sometimes have a table with my junque.
Replay Music (
New and used. Some interesting vintage pieces in the stocklist.
Rhythm & Blues New & Used (Concrete,WA)
Very eclectic list of used stuff. Well worth visiting the store if you're up on Hwy 20. And they're very friendly. Lots more goodies in the store than what shows here...
The Rosewood Guitar
(
Very sophisticated classical guitar store.
Showcase
Music and Sound (
Big Store, I think. I've not
visited there yet, but it's on the itinerary next time I get to
Ted Brown Music(
Interesting site with a variety of services offered.
Tom Lee Music(
Several other locations in BC, also. Line card, no stock list.
Tommy’s
Guitar Shop (
Tommy is a prince of a guy. Stop in and see the great selection and get treated like a king. I stop there every chance I get. Incredible selection of vintage pedals, too!
The Trading
Musician Home Page (
Large list of interesting stuff,
Located in
Andersen Stringed
Instruments (
High end manufacturer of beautiful archtop guitars. Internationally renowned as a fine luthier. This site has beautiful pictures.
Bertoncini Guitars (
Very elegant designs emphasizing the natural appearance of the materials. I've played these, and they are excellent. He knows how to get in touch with the manufacturer of the excellent Anderson Amps, too.
Breedlove Guitar
Co. Homepage (
Manufacturer of wonderful high end acoustic guitars
Bunker Guitars
(
Mr. Bunker has a retail shop and a manufacturing facility in one location. He makes the excellent and radical PBS guitars, also.
Byrd Guitars(
High end guitars - "Super Avianti" - made by a local guitar virtuoso. Interesting headstock and body design. Lots of graphics of cool wood and finishes, and the beginnings of pages for "Atlantis Rising". Lots of pop-up windows when loading.
Cat Fox, Luthier
(Greater
Ms. Fox builds beautiful instruments.Her web site is quite entertaining, also. I haven't gotten a chance to sample any yet, but they look like they'd be delicious.
Doolin Guitars (
Incredible Acoustics. The only guitars besides Lowdens that I've liked as much as my old Guild acoustic. Very original designs, too. These are future collectibles to be sure.
Michael Dunn -- Luthier (Vancouver, BC)
Beautiful acoustics in the spirit of the Selmer Macaferri (sp?). It is easy to see Mr. Dunn has trained with the masters.
Mr. Girdis is a discriminating luthier. I haven't tried any of his work yet, but I'm looking forward to the day...
JP Guitars (
Mind-boggling electro-acoustic basses and beautifully finished les-paul type guitars. Very nice.
J.T. Hargreaves (Ties
to
These acoustic asymmetrical Kasha design instruments boggle the mind. They are innovative and extremely high quality.
Koll Guitars (
Beautiful custom instruments. He was recently reviewed very favorably in Guitar Player.
Larrivee Guitars Ltd.(
Manufacturer of wonderful high end acoustics.
Lollar Guitars(
Best guitar pickups on the planet. Here's how to make your own winder. As an engineer, I agree totally with his position on the role of distributed capacitance in great tone. Plus, Jason's prices on rewinding are really reasonable. His links pages have interesting stuff, too.
McElroy
Guitars (
Handmade acoustics and wonderful pictures of the supervisory cat, Picasso. I haven't got down to see the guitars yet, but Mr. McElroy is a nice fellow to talk to. Lots of great graphics to drool over.
Mike Lull Guitar Works &
Custom Guitars(
Beautiful high end customs and repairs. They've been too busy to work on some of my low-end guitars, however.
Milburn Guitars (
Luthier making classical guitars.
Graphite necks are a cool deal. I have one on my Charvel San Dimas, and "duuude, it rules". Tone, feel, stability and durability. Plus coolness.
Nolte Guitar Home Page (Cove,OR)
Beautiful handmade guitars.
Sierra Steel Guitars(
Some of the best steels and pedal steels made in the world.
A. Lawrence Smart,
Luthier (
Beautiful acoustic guitars and mandolins. These are made using a locally available timber,. according to the website.
Smith Family Music (
I know,
Soldano Amplifiers(
Very famous amplifiers. I think you need an appointment to tour the factory.
Stephens Stringed
Instruments (
Custom instruments and repairs.
Welcome to Tacoma
Guitars! (
Manufacturer site
in (yup)
Way cool amplifiers.
Timm Guitars (
Beautiful acoustics by a member of Seattle Luthiers Guild.
Timtone Custom Guitars
(
You must see these guitars to believe them! True innovative designs from a luthier located in my favorite region of the northwest. Check out this site to learn what pyrography is.
Trimmed and
Burnin (
Beautiful Hand Crafted Guitar Amp Cabinets. Also extensive custom work available.
USA Custom Guitars(
These guys have fantastic prices and selection on guitars and parts. They have worked with (and indeed are) some of the premium luthiers in the Northwest.
Warmoth
- Custom Guitar Shop. (
The parts are made in the
http://seattle.craigslist.org/
is of course now the default for online non-*-bay buying and selling
Search for the guitar of your nightmares or dreams in this compendium of guitar stores across the nation. Very useful for finding selling prices.
The PrePal Internet Used Gear Price List
Reference site. I use this one a lot when I see stuff for sale and I need to know whether it's a deal or not. Mostly synth stuff. They have a good monthly update email list.
Classifieds.
A partial list of pawn shops in the NW. Fun stuff.
Virtual Classifieds (internet - mostly out West)
The Little Nickle blossoming in cyber space. You can search by keyword or area. Great for browsing online. Also access to other Little Nickels.
Yahoo Classifieds (internet)
Yahoo has good classifieds which
can be searched by geographical area. This link sorts Musical Instruments For Sale by "
Tube Amps made in Philly by a co-worker of mine.
Bothell Jewelry & Collectibles
Fun place to drop in and check out. They always have some instruments and amazing collectible LPs.
Donn Bennett Drums(
Great drum shop. Plus my very good friend Jim Busch works there! Ask for him by name.
Experience Music Project(Downtown
Architectural considerations aside,
Amplifier tubes
and electronic information. Located in
Scroll down this page to see a picture of me. Then check out all the stuff in this huge site.
Guild of American Luthiers
(
This is a very important NW (indeed, worldwide) site. Tremendous resource for all of us into the instrument from any aspect.
With the advent of nut compensation, this site makes sense out of the hype and explains it in fair terms.
Check out all the stuff in this huge site.
Extremely interesting site with gobs of new music stuff. This site is a national enterprise. I noticed they lifted all my Northwest links and put them up on their site. Good. More hits for y'all. Be sure to read the pages on the authors. Fascinating.
The Inland Empire Blues Society
Jason's upgraded his site. I still can't find myself in there, but it says I'm there, because it won't let me add it again. So in good faith, this is the reciprocal link.
Pickups to amplify acoustic instruments.
Dan Rowe is a
Mackie Mixers (not to be confused with Mackie Messer of Brechtian fame) is Woodinville's own success story.Good stuff the world around.
Recent Pacific Northwest Earthquakes
All about slide guitar.
Of course no site would be complete without the mother of all steel guitar sites.
24 / 7 streaming steel guitar music. All genres all styles. Bound to hit something you like. I love it.
Stompin-Ground.com ~ Pedalboard and Touring Systems
Stompin-Ground.com is a manufacturer and merchant of top quality Pedalboards for your effects, Pedalboard Cases, Power Supplies, Shockmount Racks, and Cable Systems. Custom and stock orders. Evolutionary products that simply work!
There seem to be great deals, as well as a boatload of entertainment.
Historical hysterical guitars from a true Northwest original. Check out the gorilla suit on the catalog page!!!
Here are links to my kids' pages:
Planescape, Sea Monkeys, QuakeC, Great cartoons, and much much more.
Jacob Arntson's band,
Abikyokan, has some mp3s from their new release directly available
from their site. This is what they play in clubs in
Includes some
Joel is a good friend of mine from school daze. Astronomy (you will be amazed at the images), web development, and just general coolness. Joel has a vast and eclectic listing of links, too.
Back to the top of the page, and how to email
me.
