guitar center quality

[stefanfan]

what the ****? i went to guitar center today..the first 6 basses i picked up wouldnt even play through the amp{dead batteries i assume}....then i went on to the passive basses and of of 6 fenders i play 3 of the pots didnt work...those basses were over $3,000 ...are you ****ing kidding me? how in the world do they stay in business let alone charge prices like that....sorry had to vent

[fcoda]

Which GC ?

[hyperlitem]

do not judge one store by its chain, or one salesman by its entire sales staff. The guitar center where i live takes pretty good care of its basses, it even has a carl thompson in there from time to time.

[daofktr]

btdt...i've seen quality shift within the same store, different visit.
i guess it all depends on who works (or manages) there.

[Time Divider]

Both StingRays I played at GC recently had the frets popping out of the neck. WAY too dry in that place for long-term storage of guitars.

[stefanfan]

the worst one i went to was in east brunswick new jersey

[embellisher]

There are some good Guitar Centers, and some bad ones.

Most of the instruments on the floor at your average GC should be sold as used, due to abuse and neglect.

Moved to Miscellaneous.

[fretlessrock]

If it wasn't for Sam Ash in New Haven, CT I would rate the instruments at the Manchester GC some of the least cared for that I have seen. The approach that I infer from their customer service and the way they maintain their instruments is that they aim to provide "As Is" condition instruments, but at full price. A 1300 dollar EB Bongo might be in tune if they wanted to sell it... you might be able to get a tuner from a staff guy without waiting 15 minutes. But, sadly, no.

Just remember: they are the brick and mortar front end for Musician's Friend. Nuff Said.

[bertbassplayer]

You gotta give them some slack its hard to keep 100+ guitars and basses in tune, esp when you have stupid teenagers (not saying anything bad about teenagers, just stupid ones) that come in and just beat the suckers to hell and back. Yeah at one time that bass might have been in tune and setup nicely... I think that's why a lot of times the $200-300 basses are more in tune and setup than the $3000 basses. Every time I seem to go into guitar center to look at something or just pickup an emergency set of strings, I always tend to see someone with a $1,000+ Warwick or Musicman just wacking away at it.

[stefanfan]

if youre gonna have instuments in extremely poor condition then at least sell it at a fair price...the prices at gc are a total joke..i would cringe if i actually saw someone buy at high end guitar from there knowing what i saw and the condition....its not coincidence..from what i hear alot of music places could care less about their product

[embellisher]

Originally Posted by stefanfan

if youre gonna have instuments in extremely poor condition then at least sell it at a fair price...the prices at gc are a total joke..i would cringe if i actually saw someone buy at high end guitar from there knowing what i saw and the condition....its not coincidence..from what i hear alot of music places could care less about their product

Have you ever tried negotiating? I once bought a Pedulla Rapture at a GC for nearly 50% off of the ticket price by negotiating.

[Alexander]

Same here. I negotiated for the light wear/tear my MIA Jazz came with (most came out with a good cleaning and Mike Lull setup I wanted to get done anyway). Fortunately, it had only been in a few weeks and was hanging quite high - out of reach for most without someone helping to get it down.

It is a shame how many rigs I've played there that wouldn't work for one reason or another. Buyer beware.

[NOLA Bass]

Originally Posted by fretlessrock

If it wasn't for Sam Ash in New Haven, CT I would rate the instruments at the Manchester GC some of the least cared for that I have seen. The approach that I infer from their customer service and the way they maintain their instruments is that they aim to provide "As Is" condition instruments, but at full price. A 1300 dollar EB Bongo might be in tune if they wanted to sell it... you might be able to get a tuner from a staff guy without waiting 15 minutes. But, sadly, no.

Just remember: they are the brick and mortar front end for Musician's Friend. Nuff Said.

Just an FYI, Musician's Friend was bought out by the much larger Guitar Center. The 8 MF retail locations were converted to GC's. The purchase was made to give GC the catalog business. I was a manager at MF (Bass Dept) and GC once we were bought out. I can tell you that MF was a better store. We had a quality luthier on staff for both repairs and set ups on anything that needed it. GC immediately eliminated that position. We also had staff that knew their departments. GC has a revolving door of employees, and like to move their staff from dept. to dept. IF you go to a Guitar Center, don't expect knowledgeable staff in every dept. and all instruments set up. They are unpacked and hung up. Simple as that.

[Dan Molina]

I'm disgusted when I go to GC and see the way people treat the instruments. I see people slapping on fretless', finding basses with missing knob, dead batteries, amps with all EQ setting crankeded up to 11, finding crust on the instruments. I went into GC on Thursday to try out some GK heads. I picked up a MIA Jazz and discover the neck had huge blotches of black ink on it's once beautiful maple neck.

In my opinion though this is mostly the fault of the customers. Some people just don't have any consideration.

[Wademeister63]

I can't blame the customers at GC. I know they do abuse the instruments, but if you have a place and invite people to ruin your stuff you should expect that they will do so. They let it happen.
If you're seeing people abusing the instuments on a short visit, how much do you think the sales guys see while they're there? Do they do anything about it? Clean anything? Tune anything? I don't think so...

[Simball]

I've noticed that some gear at GC is in almost used condition. I got lucky 'cause the stingray I got there didn't have one fingerprint on it-but I still put it under a microscope before I bought it. I've wondered if they are dealing with a lot of blems and seconds with issues and then trying to pass them off as first rate new stuff. Buyer beware I guess.

[mikewho]

Don't you usually not buy the floor model, and they give you a new one in a box?

[Arikash]

Yes, when I went there(Burnsville MN, or somewhere around there I think) the guy took 20$ off of my ibanez GSR200 cuz it was the floor model(200->180), and even played it to make sure that it was ok. As far as I can tell, it is.

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by bertbassplayer

You gotta give them some slack its hard to keep 100+ guitars and basses in tune, esp when you have stupid teenagers (not saying anything bad about teenagers, just stupid ones) that come in and just beat the suckers to hell and back. Yeah at one time that bass might have been in tune and setup nicely... I think that's why a lot of times the $200-300 basses are more in tune and setup than the $3000 basses. Every time I seem to go into guitar center to look at something or just pickup an emergency set of strings, I always tend to see someone with a $1,000+ Warwick or Musicman just wacking away at it.

Originally Posted by Wademeister63

They let it happen.
If you're seeing people abusing the instuments on a short visit, how much do you think the sales guys see while they're there? Do they do anything about it? Clean anything? Tune anything?

Wademaeister's right, the staff should be making sure the instruments are cleaned up and set up well, rather than sitting around shooting the breeze.

Originally Posted by mikewho

Don't you usually not buy the floor model, and they give you a new one in a box?

If I were to drop a whole load of money on an instrument- I want the one I've seen, the one I've played. The quality and identity of instruments is from instrument to instrument. If you're dropping a ****load of cash and getting one "just like in the picture" or "just like this one" you should know exactly what you're getting.

Amps are different. They too have different characters, but two instruments made side by side can have different feels.

[rogerbmiller]

The "Guitar Center" is aptly named. They sell guitars primarily. Theur bass section is a disgrace.