Hi everybody, I will be going from Sweden to India in febuary 2011 and wants to know if there are any good guitar or other instrument stores in Trivandrum and Coimbatore? We are going to more parts of south India but these 2 Citys do I know we are going to. (my wife was born in Coimbatore so she wants to wisit it again, she was only 2 years old when she left India). I wonder if there are better prices in india for brands like Fender then in Europe? any shops that sell used instruments? is there any Indian brands of guitars and basses that are not to expensive but sounds and feels good to play? are traditional Indian instruments expensive? like a Sitar or some other instrument that you could rekomend?
You cant find real fenders in either cities. And even if you find them, it will definitely be more expensive than in Europe. And there aren't any Indian brands that are worth it. There are few guys who build good guitar, but you would have to place orders well in advance. As for ethnic instrument, sitar would be really expensive and you wouldn't find them so easily in south India. Its more of a north Indian instrument. In trivandrum, you could go to sangeeth mahal musicals.
hej dahlberg, välkommen! if swedish prices are anything like german prices, yes, i'm afraid that imported instruments will be a lot more expensive in india. i would recommend shopping closer to home - you could go the mail-order way with both thomann (https://www.thomann.de/se/index.html?sid=e75afd8a12382b403a7d556baad3091c) as well as music store köln (https://www.musicstore.de/en_EN/SEK/WelcomePage). i know europe is ridiculously expensive as well, and sweden is probably more expensive than germany with 6% higher VAT... BUT: you can usually find instruments made in europe at better prices and presenting better value for money. also, there is a crippling lack of variety of quality instruments available in india as a whole - you will generally find cheap production instruments (squier, LTD, epiphone, yamaha's budget range, "own brand" chinese guitars) in every store, with one high quality instrument in bad shape in the corner. in trivandrum and coimbatore, this will probably be harder. i see no point of buying an imported instrument here, because it will be at least as expensive as it would be in sweden. e.g. a fender american standard stratocaster costs about 200 EUR more in india than in sweden (including VAT!!!). about used instruments: you will most likely not find a store selling these. the only people i know selling used instruments in bombay do it as a pastime - no store, no bills, and no real commitment as such to it. finally, i think you'll find some REALLY interesting instruments in south india. just go to a music store and take a look around there. percussion instruments in particular are rather fascinating down south. go ahead and browse, you'll enjoy it varsågod! off topic: i'm always fascinated with the scandinavian ability to write and speak better english in general as compared to other european countries. germans speaking english, more often than not, ended in hilarity. germans writing english can end in absolute disaster.
ok, thanks for your replys. i have bought a guitar and a bass from thomann, and just put an order for a bass from dv247.com in england. I guess I´m not going to find any guitars in india that are cheaper, but traditional instruments could be just as fun.
welcome to Coimbatore, India. hope u r having a great time here.. there is a music shop in the place called Poo Market near Archana Darsana Theatre. its Old one and good.
