In defense of G.C

[Fire-Starter]

I must say, that there are reasons to bash Guitar Center at times, but this time will not be one of them.

I have been to the store many times to see knobs missing, switches looses etc. I have also noticed several contributing factor to the above as well.

1: These Idiots who come into the store, pull out the bass and the first thing I usually here is someone doing their slap solo that sounds like I actually went to one this weekend where they had a Dean upright 5 string bass. The kids were actually trying to slap on it.

2: People who unplug/plug the bass in with the volume turned up and generating a loud pop, they stop, do it again a few min later when trying out a different bass. I actually had a amp next to me just start to pop as if someone was on the inside kicking on the woofer. No doubt in my mind it had probably been abused.

3: I won't get started on the ones who forget to cover their belt buckles before trying out a bass that still belongs to the store and is to be sold as new, or was before the buckle scratched it.


Having said the above, G.C may have some Quality Control issues, but there is no doubt that much of it is caused by reckless punks who come into the store to do their latest Wooten, Miller, Lee, flea impressions without ANY respect for the instrument or the store that owns it.

The only way to really fix this is to have a dedicated employee that does nothing but constantly repairs the guitars/basses on a daily basis, or get a room with demo equipment only for those 18 and under people who don't really know what the heck they are doing and let them stay in there, And yes, I know its not all 18 and under, some are foolish adults as well, the same applies.

[troy2003]

You must have been to the Edina one?I was in there a few days ago-seen that upright.I couldn't agree more--some people think it's a big copany,they can afford it".Treat gear with no respect,just wank on it.Ticks me off too-I feel like asking them would you treat your buddies gear like that?I have had great experiences at GC-especially the Edina one,salesmen aren't pushy and have a decent amount of gear

[fenderhutz]

Customers or not, if GC would afford enough staffing to give customers the right attention they would be plugging that amp in for them and stopping that kind of abuse.

[Son of Sanford]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Customers or not, if GC would afford enough staffing to give customers the right attention they would be plugging that amp in for them and stopping that kind of abuse.

+1 Where I grew up we had a big mom and pop shop. They'd let you try anything in there, but THEY hooked it up and kept the test run at a reasonable level and time duration. They didn't hover over us, but we were always aware they were close. None of their instruments were beat up.

[steve21]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Customers or not, if GC would afford enough staffing to give customers the right attention they would be plugging that amp in for them and stopping that kind of abuse.

I don't care how much staffing GC gets, I don't want a salesman holding my hand plugging in an amp for me. The customer should be educated enough not to unplug something with a lotta wattage running through it like it's nothing.

[fenderhutz]

Originally Posted by steve21

I don't care how much staffing GC gets, I don't want a salesman holding my hand plugging in an amp for me. The customer should be educated enough not to unplug something with a lotta wattage running through it like it's nothing.

Untrue, a 16 year buying his first bass will want to hook up the loudest SVT rig in the building, and will not know that you can't/shouldn't do while on without on standby.

Now imagine that happening a couple dozen times a week. That's an amp I want.

[Fire-Starter]

Originally Posted by troy2003

You must have been to the Edina one?I was in there a few days ago-seen that upright.I couldn't agree more--some people think it's a big copany,they can afford it".Treat gear with no respect,just wank on it.Ticks me off too-I feel like asking them would you treat your buddies gear like that?I have had great experiences at GC-especially the Edina one,salesmen aren't pushy and have a decent amount of gear

Yup, thats the one, and plus one on everything else you said regarding that store and the sales people.

Nice to meet a fellow Tb'er from here!

[jon118]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Untrue, a 16 year buying his first bass will want to hook up the loudest SVT rig in the building, and will not know that you can't/shouldn't do while on without on standby.

Actually when I was trying out basses for the first time I wanted the smallest combo that no one was using. Actually everyone was using the Markbass rig they had set up, which of course was the biggest rig in the bass section.

And as luck would have it this was the exact day someone came in to pick up the same model combo amp that I was using, and of course the one they had for him had a blown speaker, so they walk up right as I'm getting ready to try the floor model out, and the guy asks me to go ahead and play something to test this one out for him. So my choosing the small amp that no one could hear didn't pay off, because that was the exact amp that this guy wanted to listen too. Fortunately I didn't have to really play anything since a few notes were all it too to realize that this one had a blown speaker as well.

The GC employee concluded it was probably because someone had plugged an active bass into it .

[peaveyuser]

Originally Posted by steve21

I don't care how much staffing GC gets, I don't want a salesman holding my hand plugging in an amp for me. The customer should be educated enough not to unplug something with a lotta wattage running through it like it's nothing.

you can't have both, sorry but there are no "In GC tutorials" to show customers how to treat gear. Over here we don't have GC and they watch you, maybe not too much but they do, coincidently ever piece of gear I try has been stellar. I prefer it when its controlled after all its there property until someone buys.

[Fire-Starter]

Originally Posted by peaveyuser

you can't have both, sorry but there are no "In GC tutorials" to show customers how to treat gear. Over here we don't have GC and they watch you, maybe not too much but they do, coincidently ever piece of gear I try has been stellar. I prefer it when its controlled after all its there property until someone buys.

Agreed, plus I know we don't like the "If you don't plan to buy it, don't play it" vibe some stores give off. Having said that, there has to be a balance to protect the in stock instruments from the street banger who only wants to come in and practice his chops without any regards for the instruments. I know G.C can control some of this themselves, and maintain proper set up on the basses. There is NO EXCUSE for a customer to get a bass off the wall and the strings are 1/2 inch off the fret board

The other factors such as the youngsters who are in between Hanna Montana and Zack and Cody T.V breaks or the "I never got my shot at being a true rock star over 40 male" who come in to simply make noise, detune the instruments, breaks switches/knobs etc..make it very frustrating for actual Musicians who want to come in and try a quality instrument.

Oh well.

[rarisgod]

I've seen some basses in there where one string is WAY off the fretboard, and the others are set at a normal height. Who screws with the action like that?!

I've also seen countless Warwick Corvette Fretless basses with roundwound strings on them. I don't know if this is only Guitar Center, as I haven't seen them anywhere else, but why does this happen? The employees that actually know this is wrong are the ones that raise my confidence in the store, whereas the employees who question why this is a problem just worry me. I mean I know you can have roundwounds on a fretless, but when you're putting it in the store, you don't do that. Mostly because nobody takes care when playing the basses in-store.

[jimc]

An employee at my local GC told me that it's a common occurrence for a minivan to roll up and drop the kids off for a couple hours while the parents shop or whatever.

When your music store is the next step up from the McDonalds play area you're going to have problems. I don't know what the answer is, there's too many 'customers' for the staff to adequately police.

[steve21]

Originally Posted by rarisgod

I've seen some basses in there where one string is WAY off the fretboard, and the others are set at a normal height. Who screws with the action like that?!

I've also seen countless Warwick Corvette Fretless basses with roundwound strings on them. I don't know if this is only Guitar Center, as I haven't seen them anywhere else, but why does this happen? The employees that actually know this is wrong are the ones that raise my confidence in the store, whereas the employees who question why this is a problem just worry me. I mean I know you can have roundwounds on a fretless, but when you're putting it in the store, you don't do that. Mostly because nobody takes care when playing the basses in-store.

I'm pretty sure that's how they come. Ebony's a tough wood. It can handle it.

[rarisgod]

Originally Posted by steve21

I'm pretty sure that's how they come. Ebony's a tough wood. It can handle it.

Well I'm talking more cosmetic value than anything, and I've seen scratches on basses, pretty severe I might add. And if you look at them, you can easily tell it's from the roundwounds. Just check one out at a GC if you ever get a chance.

Isn't the neck made with Ovangkol? I may be mixed up :S

[Bassbasixx]

My feelings on GC they shouldn't even let 8 and 10 year olds pick up a instrument with out some supervision and there parent there just to thrash on and crank up amps so loud you can't even hear anything else. Also I don't how many times I have picked up something and it turns out to be broken or a complete Bee hive and some dumb kid salesmen say oh that's how it is supposed to sound. I think it would be a big improvement for them if they had a tec guy to at least do some simple set up and adjustments on instruments before they even put them out on the floor many a bass I tried to play there was not even playable, and as far as I am concerned a bass that has scratches or chips, buckle rash,it is no longer a new bass it is used and price should reflect that. I would not even shop there if there was some other choice close to me. And don't ever pay retail there period.That said I have seen similar at Sam Ash as well. where I am at I'm surrounded by GC 3 within 15- 35 mins of each other. If I can't get the price I want to pay I will drive to the farther one where I have a friend and he will always give me a great deal.

[Phantopeth]

Originally Posted by rarisgod

Well I'm talking more cosmetic value than anything, and I've seen scratches on basses, pretty severe I might add. And if you look at them, you can easily tell it's from the roundwounds. Just check one out at a GC if you ever get a chance.

Isn't the neck made with Ovangkol? I may be mixed up :S

Even with ebony, the fingerboard will wind up having visible strips where the roundwounds have bitten into the wood. Cosmetic for sure, who would want to buy that "new"?

+1 on this entire thread. I think it would be a fun job to be hired as a "floor manager," where your only responsibility was to make sure that the gear being tested was being treated properly:

- If you heard a loud pop, you went over and instructed the person how to correctly plug/unplug an instrument, and did it yourself if need be, without taking no for an answer. 2nd offense they're told if they do it again they're done, 3rd offense... they're done.

- If people are being slap-jackasses with the mains on 10, you turn the volume down (that goes for Eddie Van Halen in the guitar area, too). You can even go so far as to tell people to remove their belts (I was told to do so by an employee at an independantly owned shop in Maine at one point when I was in high school. I was young and dumb, but listened).

- You'd also be there to break up impromptu private lessons some guy has decided to give to impressionables on the floor, to inflate his ego. In the end I kept my mouth shut and minded my own business, but I saw this happenening not too long ago in Sam Ash and just kind of chuckled to myself due to the crap this guy was telling these two 16 year old kids, but didn't actually become concerned until he told them that no real bass player plays with a pick, "if you want to play with a pick, pick up a guitar."

- Also *very important* swift slaps to the back of the head are allowed to enforce rules if necessary.

Question: what would the legal ramifications be if a Guitar Center employee removed the van-load of kids from the store while their parents went shopping? Yea, there's a moral issue there, I'm only curious about the legal consequences...

[mjolnir]

Originally Posted by Phantopeth

Question: what would the legal ramifications be if a Guitar Center employee removed the van-load of kids from the store while their parents went shopping? Yea, there's a moral issue there, I'm only curious about the legal consequences...

I would imagine there are none. GC is not registered as a day care center, nor do any of the employees enter into any sort of legal agreement to babysit anyone's children. If any GC employees feel the need to remove the kids from the store because of overly disruptive behavior or some other offense, I would imagine they would be perfectly justified in doing so and the parents wouldn't be able to do jack about it.

[chadds]

I've seen a grown man playing bass through a Twin Reverb (open back). The bathrooms at Rockville Md. store have needed a plumber for about 5 years. Two of the fixtures have filthy paper signs in them saying, "out of order". They also haven't been cleaned in that time. A prominent business magazine said that it is GC's policy for the employees to clean the bathrooms.
YMMV.