Does Guitar Center set up their basses?

[Plain Old Barry]

Save money, learn to do it by your own. It's fun and you won't need to buy new basses.

Not to mention, with experience lots of people don't like the same setup. Some like lower than factory spec action, others prefer higher. A good tech will ask questions before doing the work, but most won't.

Knowing how to set up the instrument the way you REALLY want it is awesome. Not to mention having the ability to tweak after seasonal changes or trying different string sets is a whole lot cheaper if you don't have to drive to a shop and pay someone else.

 

[Gorn]

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 .

What happens if your hand slips and the sharp edge of tool scratches the bass?

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I was at my local guitar center a couple of months ago. I had time to kill so I played at least 15 basses. Of those 15, 3 were setup to some extent. 1 was a new Fender Bronco. This is a $200 short scale bass. (It was great and I did want it) The 2 others were a used Sire and a used Yamaha. Every other new bass was a disappointment. Every Fender was at least $800+. One of them was $1300ish and I could have ducked down and walked under the strings. There were Squiers which were not set up but they were all better than the Fenders or other more expensive brands. I asked a worker about the $1300ish Fender and he just said, "Yeah, that's the way they come from Fender". Isn't a store supposed to present the product at its best so that people want to buy it? When I was growing up, music stores set up the guitars and then put them out for sale. When I order from Sweetwater a $1300ish bass will be inspected and set up. So in the future, my "new bass" business will always go to Sweetwater. Do you think the basses are not set up because Guitar Center charges between $50 and $60 for a setup?

In my time working there, NO. There is a huge problem in my opinion. First, the stores are generally understaffed, almost to the point of skeleton crew. From there, everything else derives: Customer service, slow purchase, care for the instruments at a certain level, and not least- instrument setup. There are far too many instruments coming in, and going out for the number of employees that are there, to clean and keep presentable, let alone set up. There are lazy employees in every business, and is true at GC as it is anywhere else, but this is a MANPOWER problem not a motivation problem. In my opinion, until they have more manpower in general, EVERY Guitar Center store should have one person who's job and ONLY JOB is to set up and keep instruments in the most presentable order. Right now, it feels like big box superstore retail selling commodity consumer product, and the instrument care or presentation largely shows as much. There's no reason GC couldn't take a different approach of setting up, caring for and presenting the instruments in a way that makes the instruments and this love of music seem special... it just costs MONEY in terms of hiring and staffing. Even an extra employee or two could make a HUGE difference. The direction of GC for the last 10-15 years or more suggest they increasingly approach music and instruments as commodity product to be moved in volume- at the least cost. Toasters, inexpensive jeans, basses. Whatever.

I KNOW the basses are not set up because of the setup charges. It's not the business of GC stealing other business from ITSELF. It's a volume thing- nobody in moments of "free time" when they're not actively engaging with a customer or doing the never-ending corporate and administrative chores is taking care of the instruments- there's just not enough time, and there's too many instruments with nobody specifically tasked to do that job.

When I worked there, there was a doorperson. That was their job. Checking receipts and helping make sure there was no loss, theft. When the door person would go on lunch break, I'd step in, and I'd ask the sales people to give me three guitars at a time. It didn't matter which ones. I'd sit there and check in gear, check receipts or whatever as-needed. In the spare time, I'd clean off the guitars and tune them (I have seemingly never-ending relative pitch and don't need a tuner for get guitars pretty close to A-440 tuning), removing ALL fingerprints, and occasionally I'd find a repair issue. This went on for the duration. On a slow day, I'd clean and tune close to 20 guitars in that time at the front of the store. Nobody else did that, ever. The door area was not really conducive to instrument setups, but I dabbled in that just a little, stopping short of compromising the doorperson job I was there to primarily or singularly do.

Shop where you want. Guitar Center and Sweetwater are barely comparable. One is mostly a brick and mortal traditional retail thing that has a web presence. The other is a mostly online distributor with very little traditional retail space and NO national or regional network of stores. But they both sell some overlap of the same or very similar things. Shop and approach them, accordingly.

Good luck with it.

 

[Ostie]

You’re more likely to find a used bass in GC that has a decent setup, because it wasn’t done by GC. I was in my local GC the other day and I picked up a brand new P bass that was totally unplayable. Intonation way off and frets buzzing like a chainsaw. Seriously.

 

[Neck Diver]

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.

I was in audio sales and I don’t remember Circuit City, Federated, Best Buy or going back University Stereo or Pacific Stereo offering low prices. Maybe you could get a deal on an advertised item. I think it was selection since they had a large inventory. Same thing with Guitar Center. They have hundreds of guitars hanging on the walls. And even though they have about 80 guitars for every 5 basses they still have more basses than any other store in my metro area. Plus used selection is always changing.

Store in my area right of US 26 says they don’t usually discount because everything is set up. Yet when I go into the store I find basses with fret buzz etc. Do they set them up after purchase? By the way they have hundreds of guitars also and the bass area is one third the size it was before the pandemic.

Bass players aren’t that valuable them, or so it seems. Drum and keyboard departments aren’t any better than bass.

 

[gln1955]

One time, when I used to bother going to GC, there was a bass I was interested in that had strings sitting on the frets, totally unplayable. I told the sales person and they seemed very disinterested, but said it would be taken care of. I went back the next week, because I really wanted to try this bass, but it was in the same state. They lost a probably sale and my business going forward.

If you go into the GCs around here on a weekday morning or afternoon, there will be no customers and two or three sales guys standing sound talking. Anyone saying they don't have time to make their instruments at least playable is full of it.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Doing a full setup takes time and labor costs aren't cheap. There is also a cost to GC in lost sales due to poorly playing instruments. But they have the stats available on "days in store until sold" and are happy with those numbers currently. I've seen employees tweak a truss rod on instruments and really, that's all that is needed in most cases.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

One time, when I used to bother going to GC, there was a bass I was interested in that had strings sitting on the frets, totally unplayable. I told the sales person and they seemed very disinterested, but said it would be taken care of. I went back the next week, because I really wanted to try this bass, but it was in the same state. They lost a probably sale and my business going forward.

If you go into the GCs around here on a weekday morning or afternoon, there will be no customers and two or three sales guys standing sound talking. Anyone saying they don't have time to make their instruments at least playable is full of it.

Do you think really know how to setup guitars/basses? The percentage seems to be about 50/50 on TB and we're far more into gear than the average Guitar Center employee.

 

[SoCalJim]

They will turn a truss rod for you if you ask. Many times Ive tried a bass at GC only to find the neck having excessive relief. You can usually walk it over to somebody at a counter or service desk and ask for them to give the rod a twist. What’s good is, you’re also checking of the rod actually works.

I recently purchased a used Jazz Bass from GC online that was shipped to my local GC store. I asked the tech to test the truss rod for me to make sure it would turn. He said that to do anything, he’d have to charge me a for a setup. I left GC with the Jazz Bass and a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[gln1955]

Do you think really know how to setup guitars/basses? The percentage seems to be about 50/50 on TB and we're far more into gear than the average Guitar Center employee.

The mantra on TB is that it's not hard to learn to do your own setups. That's true. I don't think anyone expects perfection at GC, but it's not unreasonable to train them to turn a truss rod and saddle screws to make a bass playable. Triage the inventory and deal with the worst offenders.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

It depends on the GC. The Austin area stores end up hiring a fair number of working musicians, and at least some of the instruments get a minimal setup. Some may get more, I don't know. But most are at least acceptable.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

The mantra on TB is that it's not hard to learn to do your own setups. That's true. I don't think anyone expects perfection at GC, but it's not unreasonable to train them to turn a truss rod and saddle screws to make a bass playable. Triage the inventory and deal with the worst offenders.

It's not hard, but I think they're selling enough without doing anything more than pulling it out of the box to add more labor to their costs. I wish Target and most stores would hire someone to fold and re-fold clothing they have on the shelves, but they're selling enough to not worry about it.

 

[Rojd]

They unbox inventory and hang it on the wall as is.

They sure do

 

[rojo412]

I was there not long ago, selling off something to them for more than FBMKT would yield. I perused the inventory of basses, new and used, finding some of the absolute worst action I could imagine. And if you think it was only on the cheap stuff, it was actually far worse on USED $1700+ basses.
I kept sending the pics to @rogerbmiller and we laughed and laughed and laughed about it.

They don't give a shizz. It all eventually sells. They know it.

And to anyone who buys something there and the "tech" won't set it up or check for a broken rod? Take it home, find out for yourself, and if it's busted, just return it. Even if you break it at home, since they wouldn't test it, it's your word against theirs. And none of them check.

 

[Rojd]

I wouldn't trust any of the wannabe guitar hero yahoos there to set up anything.

 

[JenderBazzFass]

Everyone who owns a guitar or a bass should know how to do a basic setup, and these stores can't be expected to continually maintain hundreds of instruments.

We the consumer decided we wanted low prices over all else, so white glove service went out the window years ago.

I don't mind, personally. I expect to do adjustments continually on anything I purchase and you've got 30 to 45 days to trial anything you buy there, so there's no real risk.

 

[FretRiff]

it just costs MONEY in terms of hiring and staffing. Even an extra employee or two could make a HUGE difference. The direction of GC for the last 10-15 years or more suggest they increasingly approach music and instruments as commodity product to be moved in volume- at the least cost. Toasters, inexpensive jeans, basses. Whatever.

A video interview this month with the CEO of GC had him reacting to criticisms of the company. He basically said that they're reorienting to improve training and quality sales/service, but focusing on the "serious, passionate" musician, pretty much at the mid end and up of the musical instrument spectrum. As the interviewer Phillip McKnight noted, “Amazon is ineffective in every way at selling high-end guitars… because no one’s buying an $1,800 guitar on Amazon.” The CEO replied:

"On Amazon – when you think about what we can uniquely provide for the musician – low-end, cheap, toy-like instruments… that’s not where we’re gonna win, right? The premium product is where people are gonna take the time and care, and want to experience it, and that’s why that’s important to us. We are leaning into that really high-quality, premium product where experience matters. That’s where we can win against Amazon. It’s not in the low-end cheap stuff, right? We’ll have entry level [gear], but we’re just not going to compete with the factory direct-from-China stuff. It’s not a winnable space.”

Time will tell whether GC/MusiciansFriend can do this, of course, and whether this refocus is a successful strategy.

 

[J Wilson]

Guitar Center/Musicians Friend are aided in their lower prices as they generally aren't spending much time on an axe.

As others have pointed out, a truly pro setup by an experienced, qualified guitar tech is not cheap in that you're hiring a professional, just like a licensed plumber or electrician.

A pro job here in Nashville will run between a hundred and two-hundred bucks, and the guys we have here send artists and their guitars around the world.

You can learn to do this yourself, at least guitars in good shape that don't need fret or nut rework. Understanding and doing it yourself allows you to get it EXACTLY right for you. It's invaluable to me, and I save money as I only need a pro for real problems outside of my experience and skill.

 

[Norman Hunter]

There are other on line music stores that do an excellent setup on their instructions. I need to mention N Stuff Music | Pittsburgh, PA where I bought a Suhr Classic J Bass that perfectly setup with no additional charge. All that I did when I got the bass was put on strings that I customarily use. N Stuff Music is also a brick and mortar store in Pittsburgh, PA. I also bought a Fender Jazz Bass from Empire Music which is also in Pittsburgh that was ready to play upon arrival.

 

[hondo4life]

If I had a guitar store, I would want all of my display instruments to have perfect setups. That’s just how you should sell an instrument. But I do not have a guitar store.