I HATE GUITAR STORES!

[madbassplaya]

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for the rant, but I am pretty pissed right now and TB is a great place to get insight from you other guys.

So here's the deal. I was wanting to try some new strings on my Stingray 5. I just bought some DR Black Beauties and love everything about the strings except the tone of them in the mix. It's that "coated" sound that I think i'm not liking. So I wanted to get some DR Nickel Low Riders. The local guy is a DR dealer, however, he doesn't stock DR bass strings and said that for him to order me some strings it would cost 60 bucks a set for DRs. I asked him what else he had and he has Fender, SIT, and Dunlops, but he charges $30.00 a set for them and won't price match the online companies or other competitors.

I called a music store near my hometown and they said that they had the DR Nickel Low Riders. Since I am needing them for tomorrow, I figured I would go home for the night, see my folks, and me and my dad could run to the music store together in the morning. Well, we left out early this morning and went to the music store. I got there and started looking around and I couldn't find any Nickel low riders. I asked the sales rep that I talked to yesterday if they had any in the back. He said what they had on display is what they have in stock. So he started looking through all the sets. He then said "hmm...I don't guess we have any. I guess I just saw the Stainless and thought they were nickel. We've got these Peavey Cirrus strings for a 5 string and they are great." I told him I didn't want those strings and that I was pretty mad because I drove two hours to get these strings and I needed them for tomorrow. The reason I called was to not waiste my time and that's exactly what had happened.

I then realized there was another small guitar shop nearby and they might have some strings. Well, I was wrong. They had Slinky's and Rotosounds. They charged 45.00 for a set of slinky's and said they could knock 10% off of them.

Why don't these stores realize that they are losing money to online stores who stock the brands people want and sell them at a competetive price? I try to support the local business around here...but this is getting rediculous! They stock cheap strings and charge top dollar for them.

[lmfreeman9]

The internet is the cause. Because you can buy strings cheaply online, more people (like me) buy their stuff on line and the stores can longer stock as many strings.

So you have to buy or trade for some extra strings and stay one step ahead.

The TB classifieds are a great place to buy or trade strings.

[CrispyDelicious]

Suply and demand. I went to one of the biggest music stores in Toronto for DR nickel lo-riders for my 6er, and I'm STILL waiting on them. Ordered over a month ago.

It's probably cheaper for them to lose a little $ to online companies, than to stock strings they just don't sell often.

[earthlypunk]

The local music stores around here suck.
I went to buy some bass strings and one store was charging $70.00 for Ernie Ball's.

If I want to buy some decent strings (or anything) I have to drive an hour or two. Unfortunately, even then, one of the better stores is Guitar Center

[Jojoe972]

I use the stores to test stuff out, and then purchase someting similar on-line.

[madbassplaya]

the thing is, the DR strings did sell when the local guy would stock them.

however, he can make more money on SITs because he has less in them, but they don't sell well. So really, he isn't making more money. he's had the same stock of SITs for about 6 months.

People will pay more for DR strings in my town than paying top dollar for SITs.

[MonkeyBass]

Small stores have less profit margin on their inventory since they have a smaller customer base.

Think about it, you're a shop owner, you can buy Slinkys, Dean Markley, Fender, or Rotosound. The Fenders and Slinkys are the cheapest for the dealer to buy. Most people could care less about actual tone so they buy the cheapest strings (like the Slinkys and Fenders). Therefore the dealer will stock up on the strings with the most profit margin in order to stay in business. Very rarely will someone come in and actually want a set of strings that costs more than $30.00. So why stock those strings and tie up inventory dollars when the cheapies keep the lights on?

Buying in bulk, even for a guitar store, saves money for the dealer. So the profit margin for a small store is significantly less than for a bigger store on the high-end strings.

An internet company sells to the country... A small guitar store sells to your town. Less people to sell to = less profit margin for the dealer.

Do the math.

If you want to support the local economy (which I certainly hope you do) then suck it up and order the strings you want from your local guy and pay the extra couple of bucks. Otherwise the whole country will turn into Guitar Center (Ugh). Plus, if you build a relationship with your local guy he may cut you a better deal than any internet company could ever give you.

Something to think about.

[Mike Shevlin]

www.juststrings.com will solve your string problems ~ as long as you don't need them that night. Guitar shops should be thanking the Heavens right now that every piece of wood is different.

[irishryno]

I'm really lucky I guess. The store i do most of my demos and business at carry the strings i play regularly. If they don't, they will order what I want. But staying ahead is the key. I keep 4 sets of strings. And I replinish them when i get down to 2 sets. I also date them so I use the oldest first. Not sure if this helps but I'm OCD, so I sleep better....after checking the door locks 8 times, the oven 3 times, and the dog at least twice.

[NicJimBass]

I'll chime in here.

We have 2 local stores, the same ones we've had for 10 years or so. I honestly don't know how they stay in business. Every time I go into one of these places (once a year at best) they seem to have the same inventory, and of course, the same high prices. I'm not a business man, so what I say next may be stupid, but it makes sense to me to sell a bunch of merch that has a small profit margin than to sit on something that won't sell for a year just to make a bit more money of that item. Sell strings and things for a bit more than you bought them for, and sell alot of them, as the price is right, not hold out for the one person who's willing to pay twice as much for strings that have been sitting on the shelf for 5 years. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Anymore, I'll buy online or go to GC as I know I'll get what I want at a fair price.

[madbassplaya]

Originally Posted by MonkeyBass

Small stores have less profit margin on their inventory since they have a smaller customer base.

Think about it, you're a shop owner, you can buy Slinkys, Dean Markley, Fender, or Rotosound. The Fenders and Slinkys are the cheapest for the dealer to buy. Most people could care less about actual tone so they buy the cheapest strings (like the Slinkys and Fenders). Therefore the dealer will stock up on the strings with the most profit margin in order to stay in business. Very rarely will someone come in and actually want a set of strings that costs more than $30.00. So why stock those strings and tie up inventory dollars when the cheapies keep the lights on?

Buying in bulk, even for a guitar store, saves money for the dealer. So the profit margin for a small store is significantly less than for a bigger store on the high-end strings.

An internet company sells to the country... A small guitar store sells to your town. Less people to sell to = less profit margin for the dealer.

Do the math.

If you want to support the local economy (which I certainly hope you do) then suck it up and order the strings you want from your local guy and pay the extra couple of bucks. Otherwise the whole country will turn into Guitar Center (Ugh). Plus, if you build a relationship with your local guy he may cut you a better deal than any internet company could ever give you.

Something to think about.

I understand your math. And yes, I would like to support the local guy, however, I will not pay 10 bucks more for strings locally than I could get online.

The perfect bass is located in La and I have ordered from them with great results.

Also, I have built a relationship with the local guy. I am constantly getting him food when he can't leave the store, etc...

If he would come off his strings 5 bucks that would help. I'm not paying 30 bucks plus tax for strings that cost 18 dollars elsewhere.

The music store that is 30 minutes away sells strings at a competitive price. 24.75 for Slinkys. If I used Slinky's I would buy from them every time.

[irishryno]

So what strings did you wind up with?

[fowlerclone]

you drove 2 hours to get strings?

[madbassplaya]

Originally Posted by irishryno

So what strings did you wind up with?

I didn't buy any...

It was already a waist of time, so I didn't want to waist money on strings that I wouldn't have on my bass that long.

[madbassplaya]

Originally Posted by fowlerclone

you drove 2 hours to get strings?

i went home to see the family too.

that's an hour away from where i live. then another hour to get to the music store.

[fleabee]

I wouldn't even travel 2 hrs to get "sexy time" let alone strings-kudos for the effort

[fleabee]

ps love the Carl avatar

[capnsandwich]

+1 to www.juststrings.com

I also get my strings from Sadowsky since there's no local dealers anywhere that I know of that sell them. Buying online is the best way to ensure that you get what you want for the best price as long as you know what you want. Guitar Center hasn't seen a dollar from me since I went with Sadowsky strings. I still have a $20 gift card that I've had since April and I have no idea what to buy with it.

[hbarcat]

Originally Posted by madbassplaya

I understand your math. And yes, I would like to support the local guy, however, I will not pay 10 bucks more for strings locally than I could get online.

Yes, you would and you said so in your original post. You needed the strings for a show and you couldn't wait for them to be shipped to you so you bought them from a brick and mortar store and paid full price for them.

And that is the answer to your question "Why do they charge so much for strings?" It's because they know that most bass players who are budget conscious order their strings online and buy more than one set to stock up and they've resigned themselves to the fact they have lost those people as string purchasers.

Therefore, the stores are selling their strings to those players who are not budget conscious because they are either buying on a whim or else they desperately need a set so they can play a gig that night. Either way, they don't care about an extra ten bucks.

The economics of retail stores isn't intuitive but it makes sense once you understand how it works. Such stores need to be competitive with expensive items so a mom and pop music shop will sell a bass amp for only a few percent over its dealer cost so as to remain competitive with the online stores and big chain stores. And if profit margins are low on big ticket items they need to make up for it with the small stuff. Hence, strings are marked up %100 and what costs them $15 they sell to the desperate string buyer for $30.

I got to know my local music shop owner and ordered boxes of strings since I buy at least ten sets a year. He depends on repeat customers like me to keep his shop open so he cuts me a break on the price. I get strings from a local guy at a price that is somewhere between online discount price and full store price and he knows that when he orders a case of strings they aren't going to be sitting on a shelf collecting dust because no one has bought them.

[paganjack]

wow i have never had any sort of problem like this ever? is minneapolis that hip? i live a few blocks away from a sweet guitar shop, and they stock most of the strings i like (DRs, d'addarios, rotos, etc)- if there's something they don't have there is guitar center 10 minutes away...as well as a variety of other small shops. i have never seen slinky's for more than like $25 or whatever.

just...wow. you blew my mind. i have been taking all this for granted.