A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Me, Mrs. Hand and the little Hands went to Toronto for a few days last week. The plan was to go to the Zoo, hit the Science Centre, and spend some quality time at the hotel pool. With that planned, I couldn't help but notice that the hotel was a short drive from Canada's largest music store, Cosmo Music.



The wife took the kids back to the hotel, with the plan that I would Uber back. The have a sizeable guitar area, with many models of most of the major brands, so she wanted me to have fun. I spent a long time walking around, looking atbthe piles of guitars packed tight in there. For example, they had probably 30 PRS on the wall alone.

Finally, I went into the room marked "The Collection." A guy had left a cablenin a Suhr Pete Thorn amp, so I went with it. I started with a Friedman guitar, which was very nice. I then moved on to a Music Man Axis Roasted model, a wonderful Suhr modern, and a JP15 seven string with a roasted flamed neck. I moved on to a powder blue Ibanez PIA, and a Marconi Lab fanned 7 before settling in with a Jem Jr. that I had no idea why it was there.

Because I wear contact lenses for distance I couldn't really see the prices, but l kept playing and having fun.

When I got back to the hotel, I decided to look up the prices. My jaw dropped: aside from the outlying Jem Jr., the CHEAPEST one I played was the EBMM Axis.

At $4399.

https://www.cosmomusic.ca/ernie-ball-mu ... uId=315643

There I was, playing Dokken, VH, Yankee Rose on guitars thar cost more than many of my cars.

I have to say, they were nice, and the Suhr made everything easy, but not one of them was worth that money. The Marconi Lab desperately needed a setup, the Suhr was wonderful, but not that wonderful, the Friedman was cool, but...what's the return on investment? I would bet I could get 95 percent of the way there with a Mexican Charvel and some pickups. The PIA was great, and sounded great with its pickup combos, but...for $4800, it ought to. And I could get similar results with a RG550 for a quarter of the price and some pickups.

I will say this: even though it is pricey, the Pete Thorn amp was a beaut.

And I had a lot of fun befouling Cosmo's Collection.

What an afternoon! Thanks for sharing.

Cool beans. I've never been in a music store that big.
Car: guitar cost ratio seems a good measure.

That sounds like a fun day! I remember visiting Willcutt Guitars in Lexington KY. It was a very nice store with a lot of goodies. On the website they indicated they carried Rickenbackers and many brands of boutique amps but I saw none in the store. So I asked about them. The guy took me upstairs where there were shelves full of high end guitars including many Ricks. I ended up buying a Rick. Then I asked about the amps. He sent me across the street to his "online sales" warehouse. Not open to the public in general but he called and they buzzed me in. There was room with every boutique amp you could name just all stacked up. I was like a kid in a candy store. Tone King, Victoria, Matchless, Schwartz, Bad Cat, Top Hat and many I had never even heard of. It was amazing like your visit to Cosmic.

tonebender wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 8:56 am That sounds like a fun day! I remember visiting Willcutt Guitars in Lexington KY. It was a very nice store with a lot of goodies. On the website they indicated they carried Rickenbackers and many brands of boutique amps but I saw none in the store. So I asked about them. The guy took me upstairs where there were shelves full of high end guitars including many Ricks. I ended up buying a Rick. Then I asked about the amps. He sent me across the street to his "online sales" warehouse. Not open to the public in general but he called and they buzzed me in. There was room with every boutique amp you could name just all stacked up. I was like a kid in a candy store. Tone King, Victoria, Matchless, Schwartz, Bad Cat, Top Hat and many I had never even heard of. It was amazing like your visit to Cosmic.

I wish that I could have tried more amps, but that PT15 sounded great, and I was focussed on the guitars.

I love it when music stores treat you well, and not like an annoyance (looking at you, Steve's in Ottawa). It's also nice when they let you be, like Cosmo did.

Mildly amusing aside: I found one used guitar in the entire place, a Peavey HP Special EXP for $375. Not special enough!

I went into the room because of the Friedman. I had never even seen one, let alone played one, so it was a treat. Great pickups.

I hesitate to say this, but in the interest of being fair to business owners, of which I am NOT one but my father was, to stay in business you have to protect your business.

I have no doubt that damage has been left in music stores by overly enthusiastic people, mostly young. Any reasonable owner of said store will likely make some kind of determination of risk as well as likelihood of a sale with visitors which will show up in how closely they watch them. I fully expect that older shoppers are given more freedom and I can assure you that race also plays a bigger part than it should.

I totally agree with you all that it's sooooo nice to be treated well in a music store, and I can assure you that I am aware that there ARE in fact some buttholes running stores, but I also have no doubt that there are some who are overly cautious from having been burned by a bad shopper or five.

And yes, I'm a little jealous off both of you for your great experiences. But only a little, because I now limit myself to only trying out stuff that I could comfortably pay for.

Sounds like an Excellent Adventure!!

Nice that the family let you have your 'side trip!' Sounded like it was first-rate.

It was a first-rate excellent adventure.

Oddly enough, the one piece of gear that's renting a rehearsal space in my head at the moment is the Suhr Pete Thorn amp. It just sounded good tk my ears. The only tweaking I did to the knobs were to add a hair more treble and presence. It had the squeals and the sustain without sounding gained out. If one popped up around here used for a reasonable price (hah!), I'd have to think about it.

Usually, I am thinking about cheap used Peaveys, so...yeah, I don't think it's likely.

That Suhr is one beast of an amp.