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Mystery Shopper: MJ Guitars, Munich

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Mystery Shopper: MJ Guitars, Munich

The latest Guitar Jar Mystery Shopper finds us at MJ Guitars, Munich, Germany.

…this small, but quirky guitar shop will guarantee to keep you interested, if not for the memorabilia alone…

Matthias Jabs

Matthias Jabs

Munich (or Munchen as it’s known), is a lovely city; rich with grand architecture, huge beer gardens (think a couple of acres worth of garden!), brilliant shopping facilities, museums, stadiums, world famous brewery, you name it… it’s here.

After a spontaneous Google search, MJ Guitars appeared at the top of the search listings. This could be for a number of probable reasons;

  1. there’s hardly any guitar shops in Munich
  2. the website has some decent SEO, or
  3. the shop is famous as it’s owned and often frequented by legendary guitarist Matthias Jabs.

Matthias is a guitarist in the worldwide famous rock band, Scorpions. Having played with the Scorpions for well over 30 years, he’s somewhat of a cult figure in Germany.

MJ Guitars is situated within a short 10 minute train ride towards the outskirts of the city centre in a part of town that oozes with an “alternative” vibe. Expect to see trendy design agencies, quirky coffee shops, communal eateries, tattoo studios and the odd S&M shop thrown into the mix!

You will have to walk a short distance from the nearby station to the shop, but don’t let that put you off – enjoy the Munich vibe!

On entering the shop, you wouldn’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary with the usual guitar brand suspects on display (t-shirts, Fender standards, BOSS pedals, familiar branded guitar amps etc).

However, towards the back of the shop is a wide range of vintage and unusual guitars. Probing the store manager somewhat, he informed me that some of the “vintage” stock is in fact from Matthias’ private collection. Expect to see very old Les Paul’s, SG’s, Flying V’s and a whole mix of quirky Strat style guitars with interesting pickup layouts.

But that’s not all, off to the side of the store are two more rooms housing a range of acoustic guitars, bass guitars and mix of amplifiers. A small little Marshall Lead 12 from the ‘80s was nice to see – I own its twin model, the Reverb 12, so I’m often curious to see how much those little amps retail for these days.

Throughout the store there’s photos and memorabilia galore, celebrating Matthias’ long career, all of which helps to provide a “Hard Rock Café” vibe. One item that caught my eye was a rare Scorpion shaped guitar which looked like a work of art.

The store manager was very friendly. What’s pleasing to hear is apparently Matthias Jabs visits the store often. At the time of writing, Scorpions are on tour so I was quietly disappointed that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to ask Jabs himself about his many tour stories… mind you, what happens on tour, stays on tour…

Summary

I recommend Munich as a city to visit if you ever have the opportunity. It really is a great place and this small but quirky guitar shop will guarantee to keep you interested, if not for the memorabilia alone.

Expect to take a short train ride and walk to find the store (or just jump into a taxi), but Munich has so much to see along the way, it’s all part of the fun.

MJ Guitars is a cool shop with some very interesting items on display and for sale. If only the exchange rate was more in favour for the Pound!

Visit the MJ Guitars website for more details.

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About the author:

Sam is passionate about talking all things guitar related and started GuitarJar.co.uk to help encourage all guitarists in their guitar playing journey.

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