Does Guitar Center set up their basses?

[Brian Patterson]

To be fair, Sweetwater charged me $99 + new strings for a setup on a new Ibanez. It’s perfect, though.

At least they offer it - GC depends on outside contractors here, so a buy/setup day is not guaranteed.
I do my own - more of hassle letting someone else do it, and then tweak it myself afterwards.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

There is only one Guitar Center in my local area and every time I'm in there it's obvious they are understaffed. Sometimes I see only one or two employees and often times they are both away from the register doing whatever while two or three customers are waiting in line to check out. I've walked out more than once because I didn't want to wait and wait some more. Because of that, I don't expect them to setup every guitar that comes in. To do so would take at least one full time employee to keep up with setups on each guitar and bass that comes in. Doing so would add to the overhead costs multiplied by the number of GC stores. While I believe that would improve sales and customer service, I also believe the GC heads have determined that the return on inve$tment is not enough to justify hiring staff to keep up with in-stock setups.

 

[JimmyO]

Guitar Center is the closest guitar store to me, but the only gear I ever get there are things like picks or strings, and that’s only in a pinch. We are fortunate here in Rochester, NY to have places like House of Guitars and Andy Babiuk’s Fab Gear for any real purchases or service.

 

[Froski]

and most of the fretboard edges felt like sawblades but maybe that's on Fender's QC

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I've come to expect that any guitar or bass I buy new or used is going to need a setup. Somewhere, in the official Fender manual that comes with a new bass or guitar says that Fender does not perform a setup on basses or guitars before shipping and it that it should be up to the end-user to inspect the specs and make adjustments as needed. Their reasoning is that the setup will likely change as it goes through the transportation process and of course they are not going to mention the increase in labor costs that would have be passed down to the buyer.

 

[socknroll1]

Even good guitar shops with great reputations have this problem - good-quality basses hanging around that are unplayable due to bad setups. It's just a fact of life. If you really like the instrument besides the setup, ask them to make some quick adjustments. Otherwise, walk.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

if i remember correctly, at least 10-15 years ago there was a similar thread. setup not good enough and old strings. at some point a member chimed in, who was also GC employee at the time. he said something like they have few hundred instruments on the floor and exponentially more in the shop warehouse, and that it was unreasonable to expect them to do weekly setup and stings change.

Yeah, work sucks.

 

[sawzalot]

Learn to set up your own basses. Every bass I buy needs to be set up the way I want it, I’ve literally never bought an instrument that I didn’t immediately tweak the setup on. That said some stores still do this, but definitely not guitar center.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Seldom. It's not that they are hoping to "sell" a setup, the employees mostly don't care, don't know how, say they don't have time, and are selling to beginners who wouldn't know the instruments should have that done.

 

[DrBnz]

Going to GC is like shopping in the LOST and FOUND department. You better know what you're talking about when you go there. No, its not setup or even close to being in tune. Its been handled be thousands of people and likely been returned once or twice. Their prices are at the top of the scale, but they do have a good return policy. Typically I'll ask the in-house luthier to just check the neck before I buy it and he'll give me some assurances its straight, the truss rod works and by nature of doing that he'll likely do a quick setup. But no, he doesn't inspect and setup all guitars in the store.

 

[hondo4life]

At least they offer it - GC depends on outside contractors here, so a buy/setup day is not guaranteed.
I do my own - more of hassle letting someone else do it, and then tweak it myself afterwards.

I am normally the type to do everything myself. This was the first time that I ever paid for a setup, and I don’t regret it. The thing is that I actually trusted Sweetwater to do it right; I would not trust GC in the same way.

 

[hondo4life]

WHAT!!! Not covered in the 55 point inspection!!!!

I kid....I kid....

Not being able to handle the instrument prior to purchase, I asked for a certain setup with certain strings. I figured I’d treat myself, and they did good.

 

[GroovinOnFunk]

I am going to wear a Sweetwater T-shirt in there one day

And literally no one will care...

 

[Gorn]

Why would they? They're selling to the masses. Parents buying basses for kids and most of those basses are gonna end up collecting dust. They charge for set ups. They're not gonna invest that time in money when only a tiny percentage of their customers would actually care.

 

[JC BASS 91]

Considering that most music stores charge to do setups, I would find it very surprising that ANY of them would setup an instrument at all before putting it on the sales floor. If you find one that appears to be setup correctly, most likely it is a fluke of how it left the factory. Pretty sure most stores will take them out of the shipping box, maybe tune it, and then put it on the sales floor.

Last I checked, my favorite local place charges $75+cost of strings to do a basic setup.

 

[sikamikanico]

Makes me wonder if the typical advice we give to folks (particularly newbies) to “go out and play as many basses as you can” and “pick the one that feels and sounds best to you” is bad advice in practice

 

[jimmydean]

When looking to buy , I always bring some tools to do a setup . GC rarely has basses setup properly , strings are always a mile off the neck . I've only been questioned one or two times in a shop about this and I tell them that I am looking to buy and in a nice way for them to piss off .

 

[rockindocofages]

I could have ducked down and walked under the strings.

Checking the action on this GC bass

 

[higain617]

GC has one tech that does all setups...

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Customer service and attention to detail is what suffers when going big box vs small retailers. Not just guitars and basses, pretty much across the board.
The trade off for consumers?...price. Big box has bulk purchase advantages.
When I was in the "consumer electronics " biz,It was thus that all the mom and pop
stereo stores went "poof" when your Federated and Circuit city and Best buys came to town. We offered great customer service and expert advice. They offered a low price.
Guess who won.