Buy Guitar Strings Direct at Ernie Ball Online Store August 29
Ernie Ball has just launched an Online Store, offering all of their guitar strings, instrument care products, effects pedals, and other Ernie Ball accessories for sale direct to the public.
They state that they are “working with our valued dealer base,” which kind of sounds like products might ship from dealers. I’m not sure how else dealers might be involved, but this is just my hunch. They do say that product will only ship to US customers, although they are working on international shipping.
The store is laid out nicely and overall looks pretty good. The only downside is that much of the pricing appears to be higher than other online retailers. Manufacturer-direct sales is a hot button issue in the music industry, so it’s probably their strategy to offer these items for sale online, but at a price that won’t piss of Musician’s Friend and other online retailers.
Here are a few examples of Ernie Ball Online Store pricing vs. Musician’s Friend:
Super Slinky Nickel Wound .009-.042 (P02223)
Ernie Ball Online Store - $5.50
Musician’s Friend - $3.79
VP Jr 250K Volume Pedal
Ernie Ball Online Store - $100.00
Musician’s Friend - $99.99
2″ Poly Strap
Ernie Ball Online Store - $5.00
Musician’s Friend - $3.99
The other downside to buying direct is that there does not appear to be any free shipping deals, which you can often get with other webstores.
Beth Z Nov 16
I just picked up some strings here: BuyGuitarStrings.com
…best prices I’d found.