YARDLEYS GUITAR SHOP

[ecca]

Ryan, if you look on Google Earth you'll see what it looks like now - shuttered up with the old Sound Control signs up.

[dave robinson]

Our Sound Control shops in Sheffield both disappeared within months of each other. Sound Control came into Sheffield a few years ago and then took over what was Academy Of Sound, formerly Carlsbro. At the end, only the City Road branch remained open and in my opinion met it's demise through not stocking what people wanted and trying to sell crap. If that's what all of their stores were doing they brought their demise upon themselves. Today in Sheffield we have Richtone Music that is owned by the former Carlsbo/Academy Of Sound Manager James Ferguson. He has made his shop everything that Sound Control wasn't, with huge stocks of almost every great guitar (they were doing G&L before they expanded, but not at the moment - I'm working on him) and their string deals are great. Look them up on Google, there are some good deals.

[Mikey]

I'm enjoying this trip down music shop memory lane!
In Bournemouth where I grew up it was Minns where I gazed at a Gretsch Country Gentleman every Saturday for what seemed like weeks on end and where I used to go and write down chords from the sheet music I was too tight to purchase! Over in nearby Boscombe was Eddie Moors (Eddie was in the RAF with my brother-in-law) and then in Westbourne was the very popular Don Strike's. I believe Don started out by making banjos.
However, the places that always fascinated me were the Exchange & Mart shops - remember them? They usually had a few guitars, nothing spectacular but the occasional "gem" and when your budget is ultra-tight you can' be too discerning. My best pal who was an aspiring drummer managed to put together a Pearl drum kit, most of which was from piecemeal purchases at E&M.
Ah, those were the days!

[RayL]

The ads at the bottom of the Shadowmusic screen bring in money for Bob Dore to keep the site going. I noticed one the other day for music dealers Courtney & Walker. Now they've been going since the 1960s because here's a Guild leaflet that I picked up from their shop in Portsmouth in 1963.

Courtney & Walker.JPG

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[RUSSET]

Ah yes, I remember them well. Yardleys was indeed the Music store at the bottom of Snow Hill, just behind the Snow Hill Railway Station. It subsequently became Musical Exchanges, which was a 'second hand shop' on Broad Street originally. As mentioned, George Clays was the main music store on Broad Street, where the Hilton Hotel now stands.
There were two other 'guitar shops'. Jones & Crosland on the Queensway next to the Albany Hotel, & Ringway Music, run by Pete Oliver on Moor Street opposite Moor Street Station. There was actually another very small store on Hill Street behind the Albany Hotel.

Tony.

[MMStingray54]

I also remember this shop well - corner of Lionel St and Old Snow Hill and all of the buses to the north west of the City stopped outside it. Quite a distraction for a bass fascinated teenager!!

My first decent bass came from there, an Antoria Jazz Bass copy (with black tape wound strings) bought as a present by my Dad - in the window next to the bus stop hung a gorgeous natural/maple Precision with a black scratch plate which was an object of my dreams for a long time - I even remember the price tag (£252) new. I never did get it. I tried to sell them a top of the range Acoustic bass stack in the early 80s, as used by Aston (Family Man) Barrett, Jermaine Jackson and a host of other notable players - unsuccessfully - so not all memories of the shop are good!!

I'm amazed it was stil a music shop until so recently given the changes in the market in recent years. Back in my day Musical Exchanges was viewed with a little suspicion but their window did contain one of Dave Hill's guitars (aluminium shaped body in the form of the word YOB). There was also a guitar shop in Dale End and one at the corner of John Bright St and Navigation St. I bought my first Musicman Stingray from Jones and Crossland at the end of the 70s.

[stephen]

Our Sound Control shops in Sheffield both disappeared within months of each other. Sound Control came into Sheffield a few years ago and then took over what was Academy Of Sound, formerly Carlsbro. At the end, only the City Road branch remained open and in my opinion met it's demise through not stocking what people wanted and trying to sell crap. If that's what all of their stores were doing they brought their demise upon themselves. Today in Sheffield we have Richtone Music that is owned by the former Carlsbo/Academy Of Sound Manager James Ferguson. He has made his shop everything that Sound Control wasn't, with huge stocks of almost every great guitar (they were doing G&L before they expanded, but not at the moment - I'm working on him) and their string deals are great. Look them up on Google, there are some good deals.

Going back about 10 years or so, I bought my first modelling amp from Academy of Sound. USA made (Digitech) Johnson Mirage JT50. Still got it, still use it, really great sounding & versatile amp. Johnson with their Millenium stereo combo was the first modelling amp on the scene............then followed by Line6. I remember the incredulous crowds around it when it first made it's debut at a London guitar show in the '90's.
Stephen.

[RUSSET]

Quote : 'There was also a guitar shop at the corner of John Bright St and Navigation St.'

That was Jack Woodroffe's. I bought my very first electric guitar from there when I was 16 in 1962. A 2nd-hand Hofner V3 solid. It cost me about £30 at the time, on the old Hire purchase payment plan, I remember.

Tony.