I wasn't beyond telling people to sell their stuff on ebay if I knew it would help me close a big deal.
If you want to know what GC will give you for a piece of gear, look up what it retailed for brand new; you'll get 25% of it.
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Bass + Guitar Center =
- Thread starter Sonicfrog
- Start date
I wasn't beyond telling people to sell their stuff on ebay if I knew it would help me close a big deal.
If you want to know what GC will give you for a piece of gear, look up what it retailed for brand new; you'll get 25% of it.
With all of the carping about GC, I would like to point out that I enjoy going there because I remember the "good ol' days." For you older players out there, I am sure you remember going into most music stores in the 60's and the only way you could try out a guitar was to ask and then the salesperson first had to make sure that none of your clothing, ie belt buckles, zippers, buttons, was going to scratch the guitar and then he would stand over you the whole time. I even remember a shop in downtown Chicago that unless you had the cash in your pocket to buy it, you couldn't try it. I think that is why I knew a lot of players that went through many years of playing inferior instruments because they didn't know any better. They never got the chance to play a lot of other basses like you can at GC. I like to be able to see a bass on CL, TB or ebay that I think I might like and them go over to GC and try out a new one. GC has is faults but for me it's like a candy store where I can go eat my fill and not have to pay anything.
What I hate about the two GC's I go in here in Metro Detroit, is that their bass inventory is silly. There might be one 5 string on the wall, and it won't be a Fender, which I really want to try a P5. There is another one, about 80 miles away, and I popped in there because I was on that side of town, and they had two nice Stingray 5's on the wall, which I wanted to try out. Got them both down, and they were completely unplayable do to the action being pretty much on the fretboard. I left in disgust, and let I let them know how useless they were on my way out.
I hate Guitar Center, I went in there to buy 5 string strings, they had one pack, I ended up buying them to try them out, that day i started disliking guitar center and ernie ball strings. But it doesn't bother me because the Sam Ash is closer anyway. Sam Ash stores are wonderful in my experience, still there is the occasional idiot who turns the amp up all the way. I don't mind when they slap as long as they do it at reasonable volume, they have to remember other people are there too.
I've got 5 GC stores in a 120 mile radius of my house, and they vary greatly in their usefulness. Evansville, IN and STL/Crestwood are both really good, STL/Bridgeton and Terre Haute, IN are both hit 'n miss, and Fairview Heights, IL is really annoying. So, I generally browse the used selection online and then go play whatever looks interesting.
My one major beef concerning all locations is their refusal to set up used instruments. Generally speaking, about half of their used basses are unplayable-rusty strings, neck bow, strings totally fretting out, covered in dust & finger goo, etc. How can you make an informed decision on an instrument (at regular/maket price also) without being able to actually play the damn thing? They wouldn't need to do a full setup-just dust it off, straighten the neck, and maybe put on a basic set of strings. Maybe this is why some of their used stuff sits there for 6 + months?
My one major beef concerning all locations is their refusal to set up used instruments. Generally speaking, about half of their used basses are unplayable-rusty strings, neck bow, strings totally fretting out, covered in dust & finger goo, etc. How can you make an informed decision on an instrument (at regular/maket price also) without being able to actually play the damn thing? They wouldn't need to do a full setup-just dust it off, straighten the neck, and maybe put on a basic set of strings. Maybe this is why some of their used stuff sits there for 6 + months?
I would argue that they should do a full setup and cleaning. They pay next to nothing when you trade in and jack up the resell price to clear a profit. Spend the 15 minutes it takes one of their experienced techs to do a setup and cleaning with Dunlop 65. It would seem to encourage a faster rate of resell.
I've always gotten reasonably good to excellent service from the two GC's I go to (Danvers and Natick, MA). The Boston location, being much busier, is a bit tougher to take. I haven't been there in years, even though its only 15 minutes or so from my house.
As for the story about the lowball offer on the girl's Strat, this of course isn't limited to GC. Several years ago, after a neck and shoulder injury, I sold off almost all my stuff. I went to a Daddy's Junky Music (RIP) to try and sell my AS Telecaster. They offered me $100, and refused to go a nickel higher. And this offer was unashamedly made to a person who knew what he was selling. I kept it, of course, and sold it later thru a classified ad for 5 times as much. Still regret it, though.
I think my favorite shop is a local, Performance Music in Woburn. They have a good selection, knowledgeable staff, and their prices are in line with the big boys. I give them my business whenever I can, especially for cables, strings, and the like.
As for the story about the lowball offer on the girl's Strat, this of course isn't limited to GC. Several years ago, after a neck and shoulder injury, I sold off almost all my stuff. I went to a Daddy's Junky Music (RIP) to try and sell my AS Telecaster. They offered me $100, and refused to go a nickel higher. And this offer was unashamedly made to a person who knew what he was selling. I kept it, of course, and sold it later thru a classified ad for 5 times as much. Still regret it, though.
I think my favorite shop is a local, Performance Music in Woburn. They have a good selection, knowledgeable staff, and their prices are in line with the big boys. I give them my business whenever I can, especially for cables, strings, and the like.
bryan gibson said:
Yeah the Crestwood MO store is usually pretty good. The Bridgeton store is a joke. Fairview Heights IL is ok.
Feel free to hate GC, in maybe five years such stores are not available any longer for testing any kind of instrument as online sales will become the standard. Then you could post here complaining that there are no places where to test bass guitars.
I live in NZ, but while we don't have a GC, we have a few other shops like the Rockshop, Musicworks and Music Planet.
Musicworks is (IMO) the bottom of the heap, I got my first bass there, but it is a very limited range, and I have only ever been in once. The Rockshop is quite good, although, they have the same guitards and incapable salesmen, although I think it's not quite as bad. (they tried to give me a set up for $120 (nz), when I can get one from a local guy for about $20.) I haven't been into Music planet, but the range looks good from the window.
I absolutely love a small shop called Alistair's Music though. They only do acoustic stuff (mandolins, double bass, violin, guitar, ukelele, the occasional bass guitar), but are wonderful people, very helpful and cheap for setups/strings etc.
But overall service seems to be very good here in new zealand.
Musicworks is (IMO) the bottom of the heap, I got my first bass there, but it is a very limited range, and I have only ever been in once. The Rockshop is quite good, although, they have the same guitards and incapable salesmen, although I think it's not quite as bad. (they tried to give me a set up for $120 (nz), when I can get one from a local guy for about $20.) I haven't been into Music planet, but the range looks good from the window.
I absolutely love a small shop called Alistair's Music though. They only do acoustic stuff (mandolins, double bass, violin, guitar, ukelele, the occasional bass guitar), but are wonderful people, very helpful and cheap for setups/strings etc.
But overall service seems to be very good here in new zealand.
And yet despite the success of internet sales, big box music stores flourish and thrive, along with small shops. Were you also of the opinion that VHS tape would kill the movie theater? Or that cassette tapes would cause wonton and untold music piracy and bankrupt the industry?
Successful businesses adapt. GC adapted. They are on the internet AND brick'n'mortar. They know they both feed each other.
Well said. There are still, and always will be, enough musicians who refuse to buy instruments sight unseen, dropping large sums of money on something before ensuring that they like the feel and tone of it, that it will necessitate retail stores to serve as showrooms.
I think the vastly improved C&C technology has made buying an instrument less risky. Also, a lot of the big box stores have return policies. A must have when buying online.
Sadly this may become a reality.
The Bass Centre in London no longer has a physical shop it is online only. Bear in mind that this was the only bass shop in London for a long time. When it was out in Wapping it was even on the "knowledge" for London cabbies. (That meant it was one of the locations that a black cab driver had to know in order to pass his test.)
Basically the problem they found was that people would come in and try stuff and then buy online from Thomann in Germany. I was genuinely shocked at the passing of the Bass Centre and I try to support the few dedicated bass stores we have in the UK, like Bass Direct and The Gallery.
Same here. Chuck's is close, but yet far enough away to become a twice a year trip. Also it always seems like they have all the cool stuff in the basement or in the warehouse while the gear on display rarely changes. I mean *rarely*, like mostly the same stuff that's been there for 5-10 years, with some occasional new additions. I've also had times where if you're not buying a Ken Smith it almost seems like it's not worth the salesperson's time. That's not everyone there, but it has happened and kinda turned me off. Tim Fizer is a good guy there, if he's still there. It's been awhile.
Jive Sound is also relatively close, but with the limited hours I really need to plan ahead and I rarely have time to make the journey. Actually, I've only made it there once. Stupid GPS made it into a really, really long trip.
So while Guitar Center isn't perfect, it's close, it's convenient, it gets new gear fairly frequently and the staff, all of them, treat me very well.
Borders is gone... I doubt Barnes&Nobles will be around for a long time. Silicon Valley here in the Bay Area had a a couple of book stores around every corner in 1988. Now there are very, very few ones.
I also have a hard time renting VHS tapes, heck here's Blockbuster nowadays?
Amazon releasing an app where you could scan the price tag and do a quick comparison/shop from Amazon is another dagger. Handy, though!
Dude, don't EVEN get me started on Amazon. A prior employer of mine supplied product to Amazon (giant clustermuck of epic proportions). Long story short I will NEVER purchase anything from Amazon, period.
Borders is gone because of their own poor decision making. They outsourced their internet sales to Amazon. Um...duh? They didn't pursue a branded eReader. Borders made all the classic mistakes of a company stuck in the past. They were selling buggy whips when people started using gas engines.
I have 7 in about 60 miles or so (Millbury, Natick, N.Attleboro, Danvers, Nashua, Warwick and Boston) and they're mostly miss, very few hits. Most of the stores are pretty small for a major chain and have very limited bass selections, the exception being Boston and sometimes Warwick or Natick if you try them at the right time. Boston usually has a decent variety of instruments, gets the new stuff in when it's available, has a bigger amp selection, etc etc, but Natick has been getting better the last few times I went in there.
That said, the instruments I want to try are never set up well. I finally found a big al 5 to try at natick a few weeks ago, and the neck had a nice bow. It was at least playable, but certainly not great. Last week I was at the Boston store with my band mates and played the new Krist Novoselic bass. Same story but much higher action. Still. We're talking about $1400 and $1900 instruments in barely playable condition.
Not to mention the people. The Boston guitar center is right down the street from Berklee so you get the ever present self-declared virtuoso who has to sit and wank at full volume so you know they're good. In the bass room it's usually a rotation of a walking jazz line, a few slap lines, and a bass arrangement of a classical piece. It's pretty funny actually.
