Boston to Columbus Road Trip - where to stop?

[Coop47]

Hoping for some guitar shop suggestions for an upcoming trip from Boston to Columbus and back. I have a day and a half to make the 11 hour drive out nd even longer to get home, so time to hit a few stores in western MA, upstate NY, PA and eastern Ohio. Keep in mind I can take a different route home. I'm mainly interested in acoustics, preferably used. I've already been to the Martin Factory, so that's no longer on my bucket list. Would love to hear what you all think - thanks in advance!

[@lagatrix]

Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburgh... I've yet to visit the shop in person, but they always have a load of sweet Instruments on their website.

[cyclistbrian]

Parkway Music always has a decent selection of Gibson,Martin, and Taylor including many of the pricier models. They now carry Larivee, Fairbanks, eastman-bourgeois, a local builder Krakat, and Iris.

[fazool]

The House of Guitars in Rochester is a *MUST*


The Fretted Buffalo in Buffalo is a fantastic boutique source

[Tunesalot]

Well haven’t been there yet but on my next trip up there plan to visit Mill River Music in Easthampton, MA. Looks like quite a selection up and down the spectrum, of course they all look better online. Easthampton has gotten quite hip as of late as well. Enjoy the journey.

[Shortfinger]

In Mt Lebanon, Empire Music. It's a Pittsburgh suburb. Prepare to be babysit while you "try out" anything. Lotsa Martins.

[brad4d8]

If you can detour through southern CT on your way back, check out https://acousticmusic.org/ in Chester, just off I-95.

[FatFingerCharli]

Originally Posted by Tunesalot

Well haven’t been there yet but on my next trip up there plan to visit Mill River Music in Easthampton, MA. Looks like quite a selection up and down the spectrum, of course they all look better online. Easthampton has gotten quite hip as of late as well. Enjoy the journey.

I believe Mill River Music is in Northampton, Mass. If you do go that way you can do a two-fer in town. Downtown Sounds is just around the corner from them. Birdhouse Music is showing that they have moved to Easthampton which is one town over.

[Jwills57]

I live in Columbus, well, a suburb of. I can drive 12 minutes and be right in the heart of downtown or 12 minutes the other way and be in cornfields. The quality of life in this city is incredibly high--it's an unrecognized gem of America. But as for guitar stores, it's a wasteland, which is quite strange considering an urban-suburban population approaching 3 million and lots and lots of higher paying professional and semi-professional jobs in just about every industry and business, especially insurance, banking, high tech manufacturing, and education. The only truly interesting stores are Bluegrass Musician's Supply on High Street south of downtown, not really a guitar store, although a few Martins can be found, but chalk full of cool musical instruction material and c.d.s of the bluegrass-alternative country variety. It's a cool, quirky little shop, for sure. And also there's a shop called Guitar House Workshop owned and managed by the best repair person around, John Bolzenius. He's started to carry Martins and Eastmans and usually has several interesting consignment guitars in stock. We have, of course, a Guitar Center, but as for as a dedicated, professional shop, like Acoustic Music Works or The Music Emporium, where you could find Collings, Bourgeois, higher-end Martins, etc.--nothing here at all. Very strange, I think. I'm hoping that in the coming few years some enterprising folks will jump in and try to get the gutar buying scene here a boost.

[Tunesalot]

You are so right, Northampton, oops. Mixed it up with the Luthier Co-op/jam spot.

[Squirrel40]

Not much in Columbus except the Bluegrass Supply (Bluegrass Jam on Saturdays in the basement) and GuitarHouse Workshop. You could go up to Elderly Instruments in Michigan.

[Teherie]

I mentioned this in another post but The Loft above Lays Guitar in Akron, OH is a must see stop.

https://theloftatlays.com/

You need to check the hours and call before you stop.

[SongwriterFan]

Tim McKnight (McKnight Guitars) has a shop about 40 miles NNW of Columbus. Might be worth trying to schedule a visit there!

[Coop47]

Great suggestions here - thanks everyone!

[srick]

Originally Posted by fazool

The House of Guitars in Rochester is a *MUST*

That store is amazing - the rooms just seem to go on and on. Just when you think that you’ve seen it all, there’s another room. And last time I called them, their answering system was pretty trippy too.