Parisienne Walkways (a little trip advisor)

[Montelovesco]

As noted elsewhere I am in France for vacation (close to Biarritz to be precise), one more time with a (very, very small) RV. On our way to the Atlantic we passed Paris, and I could not resist to visit the Pigalle district, which seems to be some kind of red light district (proof at the end of this thread). But I was not there for this kind of amusement but for the music shops instead: You find plenty of them only a few steps away.

 

 

Stars Music is a shop that spreads over three or four stores, everyone specialized on a certain istrument (strings, keyboard etc.). Nothing special, but just around the corner you will find „Guitar Legends“, a vintage friends wet dream. I am no Fender/Gibson expert but to my knowledge there are plenty of treasures here. No hang tags, no price tags on any of them, so you can only guess...

 

 

Some more steps and you find „La Pedal“, a shop specialized on (vintage) pedals. Nothing (and I mean NOTHING) but pedals here. Must be hundreds, most of them used. I am no collector of pedals, but I know my stuff and I know that La Pedal deals with stuff that is out of production for a long time.

 

We did not enter the other shops (wife and kids were with me), but close to Le Pedal you will find a drum shop, two or three second hand guitar shops and one shop specialized on microphones, another one on basses. Lots of vintage stuff, here, too. And I am sure that there is more to find in this part of town, maybe some of our french friends may chime in here. 

 

I know, in times of a pandemic and economic crisis travelling tipps may seem inappropriate - but time WILL change, and then this may come handy.

 

Oh - and as promised:

 

[Disturber]

Awesome. Love Biaritz. Great place. Crazy memories form 20 years ago when we stopped a random driver on the road and demanded to get a lift to the train station, as they were closing at 8 pm and we had our bags there in a locker. 

Do you rent the RV, or is it yours? If you rent it I'd gladly take some advice on good places to rent and what to expect and what to plan for. Have a great trip!

[BoogieMKIIA]

Cool.  Any such places in Germany? I had an assignment in Eichstaett for several months  and a friend stayed in Coburg for a year or so (25 years ago). Nothing like it in small towns. Found some cool smaller shops in Stockholm and Amsterdam.

[Montelovesco]

4 hours ago, Disturber said:

Awesome. Love Biaritz. Great place. Crazy memories form 20 years ago when we stopped a random driver on the road and demanded to get a lift to the train station, as they were closing at 8 pm and we had our bags there in a locker. 

Do you rent the RV, or is it yours? If you rent it I'd gladly take some advice on good places to rent and what to expect and what to plan for. Have a great trip!

Thanks! Concerning the RV - ask the other members here how I bored them to death with my road trip diaries in 2013 and 2015... 😂

if you rent one in Germany you will have to calculate 80-120 Euro/day, depending on size and comfort. Ours is f***ing small, more a camper than a motorhome. We got it from a friend for 300/week, which is a bargain. But I got no further recommendations on RVs here. Other than in the US😎

[Montelovesco]

43 minutes ago, BoogieMKIIA said:

Cool.  Any such places in Germany? I had an assignment in Eichstaett for several months  and a friend stayed in Coburg for a year or so (25 years ago). Nothing like it in small towns. Found some cool smaller shops in Stockholm and Amsterdam.

I would not bet a Hamer on this, but to my knowledge there is no explicit „music quarter“ in any German town. Depending on the size you will find some somewhere around the city. But concentrated like in Paris? Non, monsieur. And certainly not with that amount of coolness and mojo. Way to stiff, ze dschermans. Believe

me. I know. 

 

[Jakeboy]

Very cool! Have a safe and fun trip!

[Hardrockracer]

Equipment-wise Germany has become pretty much "Guitar Center" when it comes to music stores. Many small shops that might have the occasional used section closing down. A few big Stores in big cities with the same inventory. Worth checking out is the Thomann Store (the real store not the online store) and (for bass players) Station Music. When it comes to vintage instruments Guitar Point near Frankfurt and Vintage Guitar in Oldenburg. But other than that nada. Everything else is classified ads and Reverb. Too bad the times are changing.

[Montelovesco]

What he ^ says. Beside the fact that Thomann is not as „hot“ as you may suspect after visiting the website. 

[Hardrockracer]

I mentioned the Thomann Store as they really have a lot there in the showroom that you do not find in other music stores. Lets say you want to try a U.S. Sadowsky or Spector Bass or other exotic Brands in general.