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Has anyone purchased anything from Musician's Friend online?

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Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Their prices are very similar (although cheaper on some things and more of a variety) than Guitar Center which is an actual brick and mortar store.

Nothing unusual about their prices.
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A new tenor saxophone for $599 is unusual. I don't care if it's the crappiest brand out there, that's a steal.
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I'll take a shot in the dark and guess that it was made in China. 😀 It took them a few years, but they figured out how to make guitars pretty darn well (some of them anyway). Maybe some of the wind instruments are decent too, I don't know.

About the seemingly huge discounts, it's routine in the music instrument biz for the street price to be 65-70% of "retail." Any online store or big B&M will be right around there with their pricing.
 
I used to buy microphones, mixers, and other sound/staging equipment from them fairly frequently (I suppose I still would, if I needed something more). Most of my friends that are musically inclined in the least buy from Musician's Friend.
 
I bought a Digital Piano from them, my biggest $ online buy ever. They were great and gave me free shipping (was supposed to be $90 in shipping that they waived) and shipped out next day. Good prices thats for sure.
 
Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Their prices are very similar (although cheaper on some things and more of a variety) than Guitar Center which is an actual brick and mortar store.

Nothing unusual about their prices.
Click to expand...
A new tenor saxophone for $599 is unusual. I don't care if it's the crappiest brand out there, that's a steal.
Click to expand...
I'll take a shot in the dark and guess that it was made in China. 😀 It took them a few years, but they figured out how to make guitars pretty darn well (some of them anyway). Maybe some of the wind instruments are decent too, I don't know.

About the seemingly huge discounts, it's routine in the music instrument biz for the street price to be 65-70% of "retail." Any online store or big B&M will be right around there with their pricing.
Click to expand...

The problem with those saxes is not that they're made in China. Several of the big companies in Band instruments are using facilities there now. The problem a lot of the time is they aren't name brand and no one makes parts for them.

That means when you take it to your local repair shop when your high F doesn't close all the way, they may very well not be able to fix it.

599 is only a steal if you don't have to buy another one when that one breaks.
 

Musician's friend is a division of Woodwind and Brasswind, but WW&BW recently declared bankruptcy, and Guitar Center is buying them out.

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2006/11/20/daily27.html

the cheap wind instruments from china and india currently flooding the market aren't worth the brass they're made from. Maybe in a few years they'll be better, but for now steer clear of them. They are made with inferior quality brass and shoddy workmanship. the solder points are done poorly, and the moving components are not built to last longer than a year. I'm familiar with the cheap trumpets manufactured by these companies, and the valves seize up within a few months of play time. Repair shops won't touch these instruments because the brass cannot be reworked because of it's poor quality and the cheap components used for the moving parts (valves, springs, pads, etc) cannot be replaced with standard, quality parts, and OEM parts from these manufacturers are unavailable.

 
I ordered a keyboard off them. Then notice some other site has same kb for same price but with 2nd year warranty, pedal and power brick. Called them up and they threw them in. Very good of them.
 
I've bought from them for about 10 years and have mostly positive experiences. They're not that cheap, it's just that the B&M stores (especially mom and pop shops) tend to price very high. MF's prices are comparable to the other major online stores.

They used to run some great deals from time to time though. I once bought a Japanese Fender Jazzmaster from there for $340 on sale. Nowadays the sales aren't that good, probably due to increased demand.

Originally posted by: DestinyKnight

Musician's friend is a division of Woodwind and Brasswind, but WW&BW recently declared bankruptcy, and Guitar Center is buying them out.
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You're thinking of Music123. GC bought out MF years ago.

 
Originally posted by: NightDarker
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I bought my first bass from their catalog back in 1995. I just got a PA and some speaker stands from them last week (ordered online, of course 😛).
Their prices are right in line with zzounds.com, americanmusical.com, and music123.com
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do you play in a band of some kind?
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Yep, Purple Polefinger. We've only played out somewhere once, we're still working on getting the sound together, since I'm the only one that's played in a band proper before (the others being a classically trained pianist and a trumpet player who was in band in high school).
We should be doing a free show at Rhylander park in Plattsmouth soon.
 
I've ordered a couple of gifts. The only issue is that they start sending you their bulky catalog way too frequently if you order from them. Though probably if I weren't lazy I could put a stop to it.
 
I bought an acoustic guitar from them. It came packaged safely and it was brand new in perfect condition.

Great prices.

Edit-Saxaphone huh? Who do you think you are? Bill Clinton?
 
Read over some of the reviews. Don't think I ever saw one (although they probably censor😉) that even implied a poorly packaged product that fell off a truck. Also, too bad they don't ship across the border, but they really do have great prices and a great selection of stuff. Still, nothing like walking into the local music store with a few hundred guitars hanging on the walls for you to 'try' on the most expensive Marshall amps they have...
 
i think my friend orders from them a good bit.

i ordered a hard guitar case from them awhile back.
they are a reputable company.
 
They're a great store, however, like most chain music stores, their sale prices are lies. They report the MSRP, and nobody ever sells any item at MSRP. Then, they take 60% off the MSRP and say "60% OFF SALE!!!!!"

Their prices are good, but not much different from any other large music store.
 
Quite a few orders; never a complaint. Prices are good - not incredible. As Fritzo said, they're comparable to other big music stores.
 
Originally posted by: DestinyKnight

Musician's friend is a division of Woodwind and Brasswind, but WW&BW recently declared bankruptcy, and Guitar Center is buying them out.

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2006/11/20/daily27.html
Click to expand...

Wrong. Musician's Friend has always been owned by Guitar Center. Read the page you sent.

"The Woodwind & The Brasswind filed for bankruptcy protection in Indiana on Nov. 21, 2006. The proposed asset acquisition was entered into by Guitar Center's Musician's Friend subsidiary. "


http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zht...=irol-newsArticle&ID=956676&highlight=

"United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Indiana has approved the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of The Woodwind & The Brasswind by the Company's Musician's Friend, Inc. subsidiary for approximately $29.9 million. "

"The Woodwind & The Brasswind filed for bankruptcy protection in Indiana on November 21, 2006. Musician's Friend had initially entered into an asset purchase agreement with The Woodwind & The Brasswind on November 22, 2006, "

Learn to research a subject and not spread FUD.

 
I've bought guitars, amps and various other items over the past few years. Never a problem, saves a trip out to Guitar Center if I'm not in a hurry.
 
Here's a sax for even cheaper.

Also, it says that the retail price is about $1300 when they're selling it for $500..."retail price" means nothing. Most of the time it's either the MSRP (unless the product was just released, places rarely sell things at the MSRP) or just a number the retailer puts there to make their price look cheap.

On the other hand, musiciansfriend is an amazing dealer.
 
i purchased a nylon string acoustic/electric guitar and it came in one piece but they didn't even include a pick which seems cheap to me, like a Chinese restaurant who wouldn't give a fortune cookie at the end of the meal
 
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