# Experience with Twelfth Fret guitar shop?



## Archeonn (Sep 8, 2021)

I'm sure people here have bought from or been to Twelfth Fret in Toronto. Their website is pretty old-school and only has 2 photos per guitar. I inquired about a guitar that costs several thousand dollars, and they still quoted $150 or so for shipping within Canada. Most shops at that price will do free shipping. What's the deal with them, do they negotiate prices in your experience?


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## Choo5440 (Oct 24, 2020)

I haven't purchased a guitar from them, but have gone there for a lot of service/work on my guitars. is it straight shipping with that cost, or with insurance?

and for negotiation, it can depend - but if it's a consignment item, they probably won't move much on it.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

If its consignment then its up to the person who owns the item whether or not the price moves - not the shop. Also a consignment item usually isnt under free shipping, just new products.


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## David Graves (Apr 5, 2017)

Am I reading it correctly. You're willing to spend 7k on a guitar. But not $150 to get it to you safely? Seems reasonable.lol


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## Archeonn (Sep 8, 2021)

David Graves said:


> Am I reading it correctly. You're willing to spend 7k on a guitar. But not $150 to get it to you safely? Seems reasonable.lol


Lol well it's not quite 7k, but I'm trying to convince myself it's a good deal!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Archeonn said:


> I'm trying to convince myself it's a good deal!


Need any help with that?


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## David Graves (Apr 5, 2017)

Archeonn said:


> Lol well it's not quite 7k, but I'm trying to convince myself it's a good deal!


Ok, now it makes more sense.lol


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Nothing but stellar service from The 12th Fret.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

The 12th fret is literally my favorite vendor on the planet. I personally have never had a bad experience there. To be honest I have never had any experience there, but if there is anything I can do to help someone make the choice to buy more guitars and be happy I am willing to lie all about it


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## blueshores_guy (Apr 8, 2007)

I've been fortunate enough to have had good experiences with that shop. As someone above pointed out, if you offer less than the posted sell price on a consignment item, they will happily check with the consigner to see if your offer is acceptable. For two of the three consignment guitars I've bought there, my offer was accepted. Kinda depends on how long it's been sitting there. On the third one, there was no wiggle room whatsoever in the price, but it was within reason so I bought it. For that one, a fairly high-end Taylor acoustic, the shop changed the strings and adjusted the action to my liking at no charge. 

The worst thing about the 12th Fret for me is the three hour drive to get there, but where I choose to live is hardly their fault. 
Just checked their website.....in-store shopping by appointment only, so that's a huge improvement over trying to deal with them remotely throughout the covid years.


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## JeffCC (Oct 18, 2021)

I’ve found them to be quite good. I’ve had some service done and it was well done. I’ve bought two guitars there and although they were not negotiable on the price, I found it fair. Both had only been there a short time. The only issue is taxes but sometimes I will consider the taxes as payment for knowing that they are not trying to rip me off like sometimes happens on Kijiji. They have a 48 hour no-nonsense return policy which I have used once. Not sure how that works with shipping. I trust them enough to buy from them again.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I’ve told the story here before that The Fret would make a special effort for a disabled friend. Parcels were always marked for the courier with “customer disabled, give him time to get to the door” or words to that affect. Larger orders were broken into smaller packages that my friend could handle. Special considerations during emails and phone calls too, as my friend’s health declined. When he died, I notified the store (I looked after the estate), concerned that there might be an outstanding order. Both Grant and Dave send lovely emails in tribute to my friend, to be shared with his friends and family. He had been a regular in person customer when he lived in Toronto, a friend of the store, and had remained a good customer when he moved to Goderich, but the kindness extended by the store always stuck with me.


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## PBGas (Jan 14, 2017)

I had a very lousy experience there. Will never go back. 
My experience is probably unique as others have had good success with that store.


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## Tom T (May 3, 2016)

I bought an acoustic there a few years ago and had it shipped to Vancouver. Great experience all around.


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## Buzz (May 15, 2008)

I bought a brand new item, and they delayed shipping a few weeks. A heat wave came in and might have been the cause of a few issues with the guitar. They woudnt do anything about it.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

And I'll add to this, shipping is NOT cheap anymore. Canada Post recently added a surcharge for "over sized" items. Spoiler, guitars qualify. Plus, insurance runs $2.25 for every $100 coverage. That's $22.50 per $1000 or $90 for a $4000 guitar, for example. I'm sure they get a better deal as a commercial client, but still.


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## pspguitar (Jan 21, 2021)

I had a great experience with two purchases. Both acoustics were used and in excellent condition. There was a miscommunication about one of the guitars and they shipped the wrong one to me.... quickly sent back and I got the one I actually wanted plus a free to shirt....they covered the return shipping as the error was theirs.


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## Parabola (Oct 22, 2021)

2manyGuitars said:


> And I'll add to this, shipping is NOT cheap anymore. Canada Post recently added a surcharge for "over sized" items. Spoiler, guitars qualify. Plus, insurance runs $2.25 for every $100 coverage. That's $22.50 per $1000 or $90 for a $4000 guitar, for example. I'm sure they get a better deal as a commercial client, but still.


I have a business account, you don get much of a discount unless you are making thousands of shipments a year. They have some useful business support services though.


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## pspguitar (Jan 21, 2021)

Parabola said:


> I have a business account, you don get much of a discount unless you are making thousands of shipments a year. They have some useful business support services though.


I spent over $12k with Canada Post last year. My discount is very limited. I contact them asking for more, they told me to raise the price of what I sell...lol...shipping an envelope with tracking to Quebec from BC is $24, within BC it's about 15, and Ontario is about $18-19.

Guitars I pay about 100-160 across Canada based on insurance value


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## all thumbs (Feb 21, 2018)

Over the course of the past two years I've purchased a Peterson Strobe Tuner, lap steel,and an amplifier. 

The service was excellent everytime.
The shipping was a fair price considering how well the items were packaged for shipment to B.C., and how quickly they arrived.


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## jdto (Sep 30, 2015)

I’ve always had great experiences with them and have purchased a few different guitars there. Before COVID, I’d probably be in there once a month or so, checking out guitars and picking up strings or something. I get my setups mostly from them now, as I like their work. They are busy, so it takes some time, but it’s worth it for me when a guitar needs fret or nut work that I can’t do. I also have sold a consignment with them and it was very easy.


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## hfisher3380 (Mar 5, 2006)

Had a few guitars set up there - excellent work but long wait. Also brought a guitar with a problem there once and they quickly diagnosed a busted truss rod and charged me nothing.

Bought a Larrivee acoustic there once - was happy with it.

Overall I’ve been happy with the place and would trust them with my business.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Everything's good until you need work done on the 13th fret. They're totally out of their league at that point.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I got a new Martin HD35 Custom Shop from them in about 2017 for $3,500 tax included.

Try doing that these days; no one wants to move on price because stock is low.


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## DavidChandross (10 mo ago)

The shopping by appointment only is annoying. All other stores are back to normal. This kind of thing is a business killer. Would keep me away for sure.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

PBGas said:


> I had a very lousy experience there. Will never go back.
> My experience is probably unique as others have had good success with that store.


One bad experience would not make me boycott a business. Depending on how they handle it, within reason. This is the problem with bad reviews. A lot of people aren't reasonable towards businesses to provide an equitable solution.


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## PBGas (Jan 14, 2017)

guitarman2 said:


> One bad experience would not make me boycott a business. Depending on how they handle it, within reason. This is the problem with bad reviews. A lot of people aren't reasonable towards businesses to provide an equitable solution.


Fair enough. Your opinion. I've had work done there before which was ok in terms of what they did, hence why I went back to get some more work done. Not my first time. I perhaps should have mentioned that. There was a lot more to this that I care not to rehash. 

As I said, my experience was probably unique. Others have done just fine.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Purchased 3 guitars from them over the years and shipped to Calgary. Always happy with the deals.


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## Archeonn (Sep 8, 2021)

Well, I sent them an email asking for more information on the guitar I was interested in. Sent it a week ago, and a follow up 2 days ago with no reply. Are they usually like this?


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## DavidChandross (10 mo ago)

Archeonn said:


> Well, I sent them an email asking for more information on the guitar I was interested in. Sent it a week ago, and a follow up 2 days ago with no reply. Are they usually like this?


Yes. Their customer service is kinda weird. They should work on that. But if you visit, its a guitar players paradise. But now you cannot even go in the shop. But the best source by far to get some variety and good quality used not so easy to find guitars like used larrivees etc.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

I was looking at their acoustics for some years and just bought a great one.
Brian was the only on to anwer my emails.
*Answers came faster if I filled the file attached to the instrument.*
I guess the guy is alone in the store or so these days...
The acoustic I bought was on consignment and I could not negociate the price.
The guitar was shipped UNINSURED which caused some stress to me since a delivery issue happened with the local delivery service. In fact, Brian tried to ship faster using an alternative service to Canada Post, but this resulted in a local issue he could not be responsible for in any way.
Anyway, the guitar was correctly described concerning its actual state and the price was a good deal.


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## PTO (12 mo ago)

I used to go often when I lived close by and always enjoyed being in the store. Setups and consultations were great although there is often a wait (which in a way is a vote of confidence).

I bought one guitar there and they did a price drop without me asking. Perhaps just to incentivize the deal if it had been there a while.

I’ve always found the website difficult to unusable, so have never gone down the road or ordering for shipment.

Individual cases can vary but in all it’s a very reputable store so I wouldn’t worry about that aspect of it in advance.


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## Blamecanada312 (8 mo ago)

They have been top shelf when i dealt with them. Even on minor purchases.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Getting there is a problem now. They are in the east end and I'm in the west end. There was an elevated expressway which crossed the river and dumped you out near enough to the 12th fret and then there were some tight little roads to navigate but tolerable. Now the expressway has been knocked down because driving in toronto is a sin. Moreover, capacity on the main arterial roads in the city has been reduced by the addition of bike lanes and outdoor cafes which cafes are in what used to be a lane of traffic; so you have some boulevardier kinda cracker sitting at a table in the gutter pecking on his laptop surrounded by idling cars which ain't going nowhere. There are also some streets which are closed on the weekends so that a few people can walk around on them, scratch their arses and do yoga etc. L&M Bloor was 15 minutes from where I live if traffic was moderate to light; now it's impossible to get to because Bloor St. is one lane each way due to cafes and bike lanes. It's less headache for me to drive to Cosmo which is 40 minutes all highway and there's parking when I get there. The city can do what the hell it wants, not my pig not my farm, but the access restrictions to limit vehicle traffic are bad for business.


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## elburnando (11 mo ago)

I recently brought a guitar to them for a bit of minor work and a setup. Price was fair, and the "repair" work they did was good. However, the setup was pretty unsatisfactory. I'm actually wondering if they did it at all. After they worked on it, the neck had a serious upbow, and the strings were a mile high. I'm pretty certain it was like that when I brought it in. I did it myself after, so it's not like the truss rod was maxed or not working. For a 5 week wait, I was pretty unimpressed with that part of the service. I'd still go back, but I'd make sure to tell them how I want it.


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## Fred Gifford (Sep 2, 2019)

the Draconian COVID Policy in place while everyone else has reverted somewhat back to normal is a huge PIA . I don't quite understand their reasoning while qualified Medical professionals have lifted restrictions 12th Fret just doesn't seem to accept that the overall situation has improved so for that reason I shop elsewhere now.


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

Yup. Make an appointment to come see our crap = no thanks.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

BlueRocker said:


> Yup. Make an appointment to come see our crap = no thanks.


see our _expensive _crap


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

I suspect their policies have something to do with the state of health of their employees or their employees' families.

The medical community is practically screaming uncle right now.

When I was there 15 years ago I parked, got a transit pass and went all over town on the subway, it was right near that. Of course, I was wasn't bringing a guitar with me.


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## elburnando (11 mo ago)

Fred Gifford said:


> the Draconian COVID Policy in place while everyone else has reverted somewhat back to normal is a huge PIA . I don't quite understand their reasoning while qualified Medical professionals have lifted restrictions 12th Fret just doesn't seem to accept that the overall situation has improved so for that reason I shop elsewhere now.


Seems to me that they only want serious buyers in there. I can understand that, but being the only customer in a shop with 4 employees is kind of off-putting to me. Although, so was making the 1hour drive each way, twice, and waiting over a month only to be disappointed with their work.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Is there anywhere else in the GTA that does warranty work on Martins ?


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Wardo said:


> Is there anywhere else in the GTA that does warranty work on Martins ?


Ask Martin?


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