Frye's Electronics...

[Paul Marossy]

sucks for parts! I finally went to the local Frye's, it's been open for like a year and I have never been there. Their selection for components is pitiful. RadioShack actually has a far better selection for the kinds of parts that one would use for DIY guitar FX building. They didn't even have 1/4" jacks or hardly even toggle switches. No pushbutton switches, at all.

What a waste of a lunch hour. Very disappointing.  :evil:

Just an FYI for anyone who cares to know...

[Ry]

Interesting, the Fry's near me has a very large selection of parts and enclosures.  They aren't cheap, but if I need a few resistors to finish a project, they always have what I need...aisles and aisles of it.  You may have a smaller one than the two in the Phoenix area.

[ExpAnonColin]

Anyone know aabout the one in Palo Alto?

-Colin

[Paul Marossy]

Mine's in Las Vegas. "Electronics" stores here are mainly for things to entertain people. They did have some cool enclosures, though. They had some with a slant front, but the way the two halves joined together made it impractical for FX circuits, at least how I like to build them. I think the one here is about 100,000 sq ft.

[toneman]

Hi Stompers,
Fry's also in Sacramento here, is large on DIY parts.
A bit on the hi$ side if U compare to a local "surplus"
store called HSC(Halted Specialties Corp).
Both stores started in the Bay Area.
Fry's, i think, started in San Jose.
HSC has a store in Santa Rosa and 1 in Santa Clara(main).
Fry's store here used 2 B "Uncredible Universe" ,
a RadioShack spinoff that lasted only about 2-3yrs.
Fry's came in and has got practically every electronic
appliance U can imagine.
MayB your store just hasn't got it 2gether(?)
Fry's here has a huge assortment of the hi-priced
NTE line of stuff.  Last thing is got there was Dark-T-shirt Xfer.
4 resistors, i go 2 HSC.
keepastompin
tone

[Jason M.]

Maybe they haven't fully stocked that department yet, 'cause the one near me is a great place for 2W metal film resistors and 5W power resistors for amp building/modding.

They also have Hammond enclosures when I need a quick fix...

DO NOT BUY POTS FROM FRYE'S!!!!

They carry the Philmore(?) brand of pots which are total crap.
Yeah, they'll tempt you with audio taper 16mm pots that look like Alpha pots, but don't do it!

[Paul Marossy]

Well, if I wanted resistors, I would be happy, if I ignored the pricing. The one here sucks for everything else.

I used to know a guy from the bay area that talked about Fryes. Yeah, "they have everything", he said. Oh well.

Oh yeah, and those $6.95 NTE pots. They look pretty nice. Some place in Canada makes them. Seem kind of pricey to me, though.

[ErikMiller]

From my observations, there are differences from Fry's to Fry's as far as what they carry and how well it's stocked.

Some of it seems to depend on the heritage: i.e. is it a former Non-credible Universe, an older Fry's or a newer Fry's.

My closest one, in Fremont, is kind of iffy. They carry NTE and Philmore (yes, just about every Philmore pot I've used has died, and I've never killed an Alpha) components, but the restocking is spotty.

Oddly, they have GREAT prices on breadboards, about 75% of the best prices I've seen on the www. I also obtained sodium persulphate etchant.

They're great for electronics assembly tools, soldering irons and tips. Hands-down the best prices on blank CD-R's.

I learned years ago not to try to apply logic to figuring out why Fry's does or does not carry certain items. Just wastes brain power.

Best to just think of them as you would a harmlessly demented homeless person who sells found things from a shopping cart. Sometimes you get a heck of a deal, sometimes they ask way too much for a piece of junk, and you never know what is going to turn up.

This metaphor also works when trying to make a return or get advice from the staff.

[Axmanjr]

Yeah, I wasnt impressed with Fry's here in Vegas either!  Not aonly was it impossible to find the transistors that I wanted (unless I did the research before hand), but the prices were kinda high!  But your right Paul- the enclosures were pretty nifty.  

I thing that I noticed about Radio Shack is that if you've been to one of them, then you've been to all of them.  They all carry exactly the same parts- which is cool- but sometimes it seems limited.

Oh yeah, also- both stores' footswitch selections do suck!

[Peter Snowberg]

Remember that Fry's caters to PC builders and digital prototypers. The pedal/audio electronics area is NOT their specialty. I've dropped thousands of dollars in that store (3 San Jose locations as they moved and Palo Alto) over the years, but it's been pretty digital buying. If you need a rail of 74HCT574s or a CD burner, it's a great place.

I've watched the inventory shift over the last 15 years and it's not pretty.

Take care,
-Peter

[Lonehdrider]

The one I go to in Phoenix (baseline rd) is ok, has some holes in the inventory, but has a good selection of NTE parts. The resistors are in quite a few more values than I can find at RS. I bought a few of they're bulk res. in the same value for quite a bit cheaper than RS by far. They have the Hammond boxes and such, no switches or jacks and I've only gotten a few pots there. They have a line of pots that I'm not sure if they're gold plated or what, but they're nearly 20.00 a piece, not sure of the company, blue housing and very expensive. The ones I bought were of course the cheaper ones and I didn't have to cut off 3' of shaft like on the RS ones (which to be fair were actually not to bad, they're alpha's).

Regards,

Lone

[Sic]

Ry, where in phx do ya live?

Personally i don't like Fry's here... waay too expensive... i got ONE Led for 1.00 there, when i can get 100 for 1.50 at Circuitspecialists.com

the convienence is nice... i guess they have to make up for keeping everything in stock... they have some really nice computer deals up sometimes... thats where i bought my mainboard and processor...


frys-electronics-ads.com

[Sic]

i live in Avondale AZ btw. just in case you two were wondering

[Ry]

I live in north Central Phoenix, close to the 51 and Paradise Valley.  I go to the Fry's on Thunderbird and I-17 because it is directly on my way home from work.

I agree that the pots there are terrible and they don't have any footswitches, but those are things I tend to buy in bulk.  When I need a strange value cap or power resistor for an amp repair, they have what I need.

I had no idea there was more than one other diy guy in the Phx. area (Sweetfinger from Ampage works at Musician's Discount in Mesa).  This is cool!

Ry

[Paul Marossy]

All of your observations are duly noted.

Oh, I forgot to mention that their selection of electrolytic caps sucks, too! They don't even have knobs, either.

axmanjr- I still think that Sandy's (now Kiesub) is the best place in Vegas to go for parts. It's not too far from Frye's, Highland and Oakey area.

I guess I'm just going to have to make the shift to 100% on-line parts ordering, in bulk. It's really frustrating not being able to get little parts. If I wanted a computer or a big screen TV, no problem. But, if I want a lousy 470uF/50V cap, I have to search the city over.  :evil:

Sorry, it's just one of those kind of days...

[Adam Shame]

Both Fry's near me (Southern California) have tons and tons of NTE parts (even Ge transistors).  They have a bunch of Hammond boxes for a decent price (1590BB went for like 8 bucks).

Two things to remember:

- Never EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER  buy an opened box item from Fry's

- And know what the hell you are looking for before going in there.  The people who work there are mentally incapacitated.

And Peter Snowberg's right on... the place is good if you need a Dual format DVD burner for $79.

[uncle boko]

Sounds like you have the same problems I have in Maplins in Croydon, England - guaranteed to have 1 part in 10 requested. I stayed in Scotsdale a few years back, at the Hospitality Suites. We have a musician friend living in Phoenix called Bill Zorn, a dynamo banjo player, and he showed us around a bit. We drove up I17 and beyond to Grand Canyon, found Route 66 and stuff - great holiday, but we tend to go to South America now - friendlier imigration!

[travissk]

The Palo Alto one is ok; I'm really close and have been meaning to go pick up one of their AMD motherboard+CPU combos but haven't been able to find the time. As far as I've been able to tell, it's not a place I'd frequent for electronic components... they do have lots of cool stuff in general though

In short, it's not a wonderful place for common parts, but possibly good in a fix. I haven't had the chance to price their metal enclosures, but I doubt it's extremely competitive.

[Paul Marossy]

It seems to me that places that even sell electronic components do it as a courtesy, and it's something that no one pays attention to. Not to mention the sales staff doesn't know a resistor from a toggle switch.

For example, in the electrolytic capacitors section, at least half of the things that they offered (which was very, very limited) were out of stock.

Well, at least now I know where not to go. You people that can actually get stuff from Fry's should consider yourselves very fortunate.

End of tirade.  

[sfr]

I thing that I noticed about Radio Shack is that if you've been to one of them, then you've been to all of them.  They all carry exactly the same parts- which is cool- but sometimes it seems limited.

the interesting thing is, in my area, there are like 4 RS stores, (serving a rather small population - I mean, this is Vermont) and the parts selection is rather varied.  I end up going to different stores when I'm hunting for one thing I desperately need to finish a project.  One in particular, in my small hometown, still has an aweful lot of components - all older, you tell as well, by the "vintage" RS packaging - i guess the owner guy did a lot more component business than most RS', and he bought a whole lot of stock before they started cutting back on that stuff - although it seems like he may be stocking some non-RS parts as well now -  it's very slowly starting to dwindle down now, as he runs out of stock, but it's interesting - I've even found some LED/LDR doohickeys that are listed everywhere as being non-production at this point.  The guys that work at this shop are quite the uh, "characters" as well - I'm sort of thinking that's what happens when you get too much solder fume.