A little shocked/disappointed

[kellar]

Was in Thomann yesterday and wandered by the ESP 400 in Tobacco Burst that I was drooling over several months ago. In the end, I wound up going with the much more expensive option, the Eclipse II. Honestly, it is a great guitar but I never really got on with it all that much. Neck is too thin and much faster than the standard Les Paul that I am used to. Also, the overall vibe of the guitar just feels different.
Anyway, I picked up the 400 yesterday and was absolutely shocked at how much more comfortable it was for me to play than the Eclipse. The setup was spot on and it was intonated perfectly. The neck is a bit fatter and really felt smooth in my hand. I hooked it up to a Laney VC-15 and it ripped (loved that amp by the way).
I can't believe that I spent nearly a grand more on the Eclipse and am actually slightly regretting my decision now. :(

Rant over.

[hamfist]

Now you already know what you gotta do now !  One in, one out.

BTW, didn't realise Thomann actually had a shop outlet. Thought they were just an internet sales company.

[Philly Q]

Completely ignoring the bulk of your post (sorry!) but is that the actual Thomann warehouse where they operate the mail order business, or do they have a shop as well?

(Edit: bit of an overlap with Hamfist's post there!)

[kellar]

 :lol:

Thomann is massive music store! You can spend a day just wandering around. Their guitar department is outstanding and even better, you can try out nearly every piece of equipment that they have listed on their website. They have separate sound proof rooms for solid state combo amps, tube amps, and stacks. I make it out there about once a month and will literally spend the entire day in there. It is only about a half an hour from where I live.

To answer your question Philly Q. the internet store is the department store. Its just that they have an online shop as well. They keep it very well updated as well. Normally, if it is listed on the website, than they have it in the shop.

[AndyR]

Wow - that's a bummer when it happens that way round :(

The only guitar I'm danger of that happening is my Gibson Explorer. We went out looking for Epi Korinas. When we found one (two actually), there was this gorgeous dark cherry thing next to it. Missus thought it was prettier (so did I), it was "in budget" but almost three times more expensive. Tried it, loved it, bought it, went through the honeymoon, the falling-out-of-lust, the learnt-to-love-it, etc... and now we're very happy :lol:

Never did try those Korinas though... and I daren't touch one (or a Tokai Explorer), just in case :lol:

[AndyR]

:lol:

Thomann is massive music store! You can spend a day just wandering around. Their guitar department is outstanding and even better, you can try out nearly every piece of equipment that they have listed on their website. They have separate sound proof rooms for solid state combo amps, tube amps, and stacks. I make it out there about once a month and will literally spend the entire day in there. It is only about a half an hour from where I live.

To answer your question Philly Q. the internet store is the department store. Its just that they have an online shop as well. They keep it very well updated as well. Normally, if it is listed on the website, than they have it in the shop.

I can hear Philly checking his holiday dates, passport, getting the map out to find this place... :lol:

We could do a BKP outing!! (Count me out though :lol:)

[kellar]

 :D

Oddly enough, the majority of the gentlemen that work in the guitar department are English.

Strangely, if you ever want to make it out there, you better bring a map with. The place is literally about 30 minutes out into the middle of nowhere. An enormous music store located in the middle of a town of about 5,000. Very odd. If the store were to close, than the entire town would go with it!

[dave_mc]

sorry to hear that :(

[Philly Q]

I can hear Philly checking his holiday dates, passport, getting the map out to find this place... :lol:

 :lol:  Yeah, Germany might be nice for a holiday, not too hot either!


Thomann sounds like an impressive place! 

I've ordered from their site many times and never been disappointed.  And it's one of the few places I'd order an out-of-stock item, confident that they would actually get it fairly quickly.

It must be nice to go there and try-before-you-buy, though!  :)

[hunter]

On the other hand it's real far (Nürnberg) unless you're in Munich anyways.

I am always more oriented towards Cologne (Beyer's Music, Musicstore) as it's 2h from Brussels, but the shops aren't so nice.
One shop I will visit soon is Realguitars Leverkusen (close to Cologne). They got great stuff on their site www.realguitars.de

In the end the deals for what I'm looking at (Charvel, Tyler, Suhr, PRS, Gibson Custom) are in UK always better, which is why I consider to go to UK soon to have a few days of Guitar Shoppa tour over there, visiting all the nice outlets ...

[dave_mc]

:lol:  Yeah, Germany might be nice for a holiday, not too hot either!

it gets pretty hot inland, i think. continental climate and all that guff. certainly down in bavaria. to be fair, that might be "hot compared to ireland", but still...

[Philly Q]

:lol:  Yeah, Germany might be nice for a holiday, not too hot either!

it gets pretty hot inland, i think. continental climate and all that guff. certainly down in bavaria. to be fair, that might be "hot compared to ireland", but still...

Gotta be better than the Mediterranean though!  I would go to Greenland but they probably don't have any guitar shops (or hotels...)

[d1dsj]

Ref the O.P, that sucks that you like the other guitar more :(

How long have you had it? Won't they accept it back if only a short period of time? Hope they will do something to help you out.

[kellar]

Ref the O.P, that sucks that you like the other guitar more :(

How long have you had it? Won't they accept it back if only a short period of time? Hope they will do something to help you out.

Unfortunately, I didn't buy it from them. I bought it last year from the states. Forgot to post it in the original thread,  but I had to sell it at the beginning of the new year to pay off some lingering bills I had in the states. It didn't bother me too much at the time as I never really got attached to the guitar. That is, until I walked into Thomann the other day and picked up the guitar that I should have bought. I even would've had enough left over to pay off those bills. :(

It just goes to show you that you should try everything out before you purchase. I remember really wanting the 400 because of the Tobacco Burst finish that wasn't available on the Eclipse. The 400 that I tried at the time wasn't too hot. If I would have had a chance to try out the one that I tried the other day, than I would've bought it on the spot. That is a seriously nice guitar for that price range.

[kellar]

:lol:  Yeah, Germany might be nice for a holiday, not too hot either!

it gets pretty hot inland, i think. continental climate and all that guff. certainly down in bavaria. to be fair, that might be "hot compared to ireland", but still...

Gotta be better than the Mediterranean though!  I would go to Greenland but they probably don't have any guitar shops (or hotels...)

Nah, it's not hot here. Humid is a better word for it. Rarely does it get above 30 degrees. Summers can actually be quite pleasant, from May-September I would say. Other than that, you better bring your umbrella.