I’ve got several friends with Artist guitars and I’ve only heard very good reports about them. Amazingly low prices.
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My favorites include:
We have 1 music store locally and I do like to support them, a family owned business
But my favorite guitar store is in the Toronto area. I don’t get down there very often, it’s 1,400 km away, but it’s still my favorite store.
I bought my resonator used at Ronnie’s Allbang & Strummit. All used and sometimes he has highly collective/desirable vintage guitars. Ronnie is decades in the game and loves to tell tales.
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@sclay yeah Shane, they are excellent. I recently had a package of new strings delivered. Unfortunately and unusually I didn’t get a notification of their delivery date, so the parcel was delivered unbeknown to me. It lay in the heavy rain overnight. The parcel fell apart when I picked it up. The strings were saturated.
The guy had new strings on their way to me before the call ended, no problem at all.
My favourite store is on the other side of my village: an all lefty guitar store!
It isn’t big but in comparison with other major physical stores, the selection of lefties is HUGE! 
Patrick, the owner is a chill guy who takes his time to help you explore or fix your issue. His and my band shared stages already and we remain in contact. He gets customers from all over the country and beyond and he gladly provides info and shipping for other other locations
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What a brilliant store. I’m heading straight onto Google to find where it is and see if I can plan a visit!!
Another vote for Richard’s Guitars from me. I got my G&L from him several years ago when he was one of the main stockists for them in the UK. He is, as you say a genuine bloke who is passionate about what he does.
He also stocks guitars he believes are quality instruments, and he tends to have a good selection of great guitars from lesser-known brands including Dowina and Furch.
I see, from his email newsletter, that he has recently started to stock lap steel guitars from Paoletti. Not really my thing, but awesome looking.
Cheers,
Keith
My favorite local guitar shop is Great Southern Music in Houston. Kevin is the owner and has been very patient with my non-stop questions. He set up my old Alvarez RD20S acoustic and it’s been really fun to play. After a couple more grade advancements with Justin, I think I’ll treat myself to a nicer guitar. If you’re ever in Houston, stop by and visit with Kevin. Great guy with lots of terrific stories about ZZ Top, Clint Black and more.
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For some reason I was thinking Great Southern was farther south in Houston, but it looks like they moved closer to me at some point (still a 30 min drive, but for Houston that isn’t bad). I’ll have to swing by there in the near future.
@Socio …Hi James,Because of this post I just bought a guitar… can I declare the receipt to you… 
…Thanks… ,it is the Ibanez Q54 2,36 kg
@roger_holland Hi Roger, I’m glad you found a guitar that you liked and met your weight requirements. I’d love to accept the receipt, but unfortunately, I’m broke now as GAS snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking, and I ended up also making a purchase from them. That’s a sweet guitar you’ve got on route to you. I look forward to seeing a picture of it. It should come pretty well set up.
,
GAS is indeed a persistent condition and very contagious too, even just by looking at the screen I contracted it…
I will have to get used to the guitar itself, so headless and broken at the bottom 
…but playing an extra hour in the early evening will make up for a lot. 
…have a nice evening and a picture will follow next week on my learning log…Greetings
I bought all 3 of my guitars at the same store in Budapest, but I don’t know they qualify as a “favourite” as I haven’t been to a lot of other places. However, their service is good, the assistants are friendly and knowledgeable, and they have a separate room for trying out instruments which makes the experience more convenient. This is their website: https://www.hangszeraruhaz.hu/
The luthier I went to is in the same space as a guitar store. I haven’t purchased anything from them yet, but that’s where I spotted the Epiphone Casino.
As for accessories, I use this website quite often as their pricing is reasonable and the items arrive in 2-3 days from the Czech Republic: https://kytary.hu/
I found another store in a different city from where I ordered my recording equipment. Their service is also good and I hope to buy the Casino from them when it arrives: https://www.hangszerdiszkont.hu/
Great Southern Music was a little further south previously in the Bear Creek area. Now it’s up in Cypress. Nice little place. Go check it out.
Great Southern Music is also my go-to guitar store. Kevin is great. He gives good advice and does great work. Just a fun place to do business or just chat. I’m glad he moved the store to the new location - much easier to get to.
Sure makes a difference. As we travel around the country in our RV, I visit guitar shops wherever I can. Some give a great vibe, others not so much. Happy to hang where the vibe is good.
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We travel in an RV also. Spend about 4 months a year on the road. I have a Taylor GS Mini (mahogany) for travel. Love it - great size for travel and the sound is amazing. Safe travels!
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We’ve been on the road full time now for nearly 2 years. We are circumnavigating the continent, what’s colloquially called “The bit lap” here in Australia. We expect to be doing this for maybe another 2 years. My wife likes to call it “little bit long way”.
I’ve got my full size Epiphone acoustic with me, a scrap-o-caster and a carbon fibre Journey travel guitar as my backup.
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