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Going Shopping #5: Amp Guitars Chris from Amp Guitars in Macclesfield talks to Outsideleft

Going Shopping #5: Amp Guitars

Chris from Amp Guitars in Macclesfield talks to Outsideleft

by Ancient Champion, Columnist
first published: October, 2024

approximate reading time: minutes

I only buy and sell used / vintage & player grade vintage guitars... Chris Insley, Amp Guitars

Chris the owner of Amp Guitars, MacclesfieldThere’s something very, very wonderful about the one room indie guitar shop. They’re found in towns and cities, somewhere beyond Main street; the best of them are kept alive on wits and love, workers in slippers and tea for the regulars who may or may not be customers. They're wearing their vibe… like they’ve been setting out their stall on the same hand woven Moroccan rugs they threw down in the 70s. 

One of the top ten recognisable rock’n’roll brands in the world, Fender, is said to generate over 30% of its revenues from the rockin’ praise music scene, producing a mind-boggling array of new Telecaster/Stratocaster/Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars each year, one or two for every church or home, model line-ups iterations machined around the globe, pristinely, without their soul. That’s for the players to imbue. That’s always been so. You’ll know when they begin to get right, about 20 years later when a bit of the lacquer has rubbed off. That’s when they’re gonna show up as players in your local indie guitar shop, full of magic. By then, maybe they’ll’ve had a hit or two written on them…

Chris Insley’s Amp Guitars is one of those great indie guitar stores. Located in Macclesfield, Cheshire. The walls are literally adorned with precious treasures. AMP logoVintage, renowned and obscure and still renowned, all player grade ageing guitars. Great wood that you won’t mind too much if you bashed into a door jam while on your way to your jam. Here’s a secret about vintage classic player grade guitars, you can take them to your shows in a gig bag. They’ll be okay and your back and shoulders will thank for it you too. 

Between unearthing the gems, Chris talked to us about the reality of vintage guitar retail now… 

OUTSIDELEFT: Lets just begin with talking about what AMP Guitars is all about. When I look at the guitars you feature on your website online there’s anyone with even a slight interest in guitars and the past 70 years of music will understand you’ve assembled a lot of droolworthy guitars and amps in your shop.  All apologies to people now envisaging hordes hanging round the shop window drooling…
CHRIS INSLEY:
I opened 11 years ago on June 1st 2013. Having been a musician with the normal dreams of becoming a famous rock star and all that from when I joined my first gigging band in 1991 in late teens, we used to go to our local shop Dougies Music in Northwich and buy what we could afford, cheap Satellite, Kay or Hondo guitars. You inevitably buy guitars that look like the ones your peers used but Gibsons and Fenders being so far out of reach you just accepted that and as long as it looked cool we were happy. Intonation? What is that!?

The branding came within reach years later for me. When I joined a band from Atlanta 20 odd years ago for a few years I’d pick up the odd guitar, use it and sell it when it became surplus or needed the money. Still an active musician and songwriter I pretty much buy guitars for me but they’re ultimately for the shop of course. I buy what I like. Guitars do have songs in them absolutely.

OL: How did you get into guitars, were you from a musical family… Where does it come from, how did that evolve into being a store owner?
CI:
From a very early age, 6 or 7 so (late 70’s) I had the AC/DC thing going on, then Adam ant…probably some bay city rollers. My mum & dad had a Frankie valley album that had a photo of the bassist on the back with this sunburst fender. Christmas my brother got his first Kay electric and the year later, I wanted a bass. The shop in Northwich, Ghorst & Oaks, sold washing machines and guitars. I’d press my nose against the window at these red, blue, sunburst guitars, all Kay most likely but the colours were just magical. These things were literally dream machines. On buying the bass one Xmas (I’m told), the shop assistant asked mum how old I was and said that I’d never reach the lower frets so I got a brown Kay 6 string instead.

I couldn’t tune it so it didn’t get much play. After learning Wipe Out by a friend’s brother, by the time I got it home it’d be out of tune and put it down from frustration. I tell everyone now, just learn to tune the guitar and get used to the sound of each string. It’d be so much easier for me back then.

OL: Because we are and think our readers should maintain the heritage of the classic 70's Starfucker, Pam Des Barres type of thing, do you have or have had a guitar through your shop that has been used on, if not a hit record, at least a cult classic… or as seen on tv?
CI:
I’ve been in contact with many famous guitars over the years but haven’t really had many if any in to sell on. Famous guitars still usually stay with their owners. They tend to have lots of revenue in them and become extremely valuable.

OL: For the life of me I don’t know how niche businesses keep it together. There’s a lot of media near you and does that have an impact, there must be a demand for the time correct piece from tv production co's, or rentals… Recently the Stephen Knight TV show set in the cradle of the UK ska movement, This Town, generally a very horrible misbegotten show, - the equipment at least was curated by The LIttle Guitar shop - this sort of cultural anthropology ensures some mid-level intern doesn’t get fired...
CI:
know the wonderful Frank at Frailers in Runcorn has hired out to some Beatles productions. That’s important to get it right. I remember watching a Hendrix film with Andre 2000 playing his part, which he did well, but the film was dreadful. Obviously without the backing of Fender, they were using strats with pointy head stocks and Gibson Les Paul Studios which didn’t even come out til around ‘83. The market of viewers would’ve been 99% muso based, so it was a bit amusing and naff to see that.

That aside, being Niché in that I only buy and sell used / vintage & player grade vintage guitars is how I’ve always bought.

I mostly never know what’s coming in other than guitars I’ve sourced to come in.

I mostly never know what’s coming in other than guitars I’ve sourced to come in. Nothing gets the feeling of seeing someone carrying a tweed case over the road...

Chris, owner amp guitarsOL: Do you feel any pressure from the concept of a guitar shop being an essential something in your community. An Aladdin’s Cave for sure, a magical place, but also a place where kids can dream… When I was a kid, going into the back room of the local hippie music shop, where they mainly had Ovations, but kept a handful of affordable electric guitars… One of the first guitars I owned was a Hondo version of a Les Paul Jr. Like all of the guitars I've owned, I wish I still had that one now.  But you know, in my small home town, the record store and the guitar shop meant everything…  And you have a record shop next door, you could probably get an English Heritage grant for being a centre of culture.
CI:
Most pieces I buy, because I love them, like old 60’s Vox, old Marshall half stacks, but no one really uses them now. They’re big, heavy, loud, expensive and don’t fit in most cars. But it is THE sound. You take some financial risk as you’re holding investment on the shop floor for a while but they do sell. You want to see a pile of AC30’s when you walk into a shop, a chequer board cab, big silver face twins, Rickenbackers, gretsch, 70’s Fenders and Norlin Gibsons.

Yes it’s lightly fair and amusing to say we’re doing something for contribution to the heritage of vintage gear.

OL: When is Amp Guitars open, where do I find you, where could I park or what bus number would I take…
CI:
I’m open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm with just a Sunday closed. Whaley Hayes car park is right over the road with a few free hour parking bays down the road on chestergate.

OL: Finally what about the one that got away… Have you ever sold anything you really wish you’d kept?
CI:
I have been fortunate to buy a few guitars, amps and pedals from stock yes. There’s another in now which I’ve had in before and is a wonderful ‘68 Gibson CS LP Custom that I’m trying resist. I’ve got to see, play and sell some incredible guitars over 11 years.


Essential Information
AMP GUITARS
1A Chester Road
Macclesfield
SK11 8DG
Telephone: 01625 433 033
ampguitars.com

Directions on foot: walk down Chestergate from the centre of town. It takes just a couple of minutes.

HOURS:
Monday 10am – 4pm
Tuesday 10am – 4pm
Wednesday 10am – 4pm
Thursday 10am – 4pm
Friday 10am – 4pm
Saturday 10am – 4pm
Sunday CLOSED

Ancient Champion
Columnist

Ancient Champion writes for OUTSIDELEFT while relentlessly recording and releasing instrumental easy listening music for difficult people. The Champ is working on Public Transport, a new short story collection that takes up where 2021's Six Stories About Motoring Nowhere (Disco City Books) left off. It should be ready in time for the summer holidays. More info at AncientChampion.com


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