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Guitar Center and New Basses

#21
I can't speak for every guitar center, but the ones that I've visited in my area have many basses that are kept in terrible condition. Bowed necks, Dead strings, scratches, dents,dirt, fingerprints, are common and they are almost always out of tune.
I won't buy anything from them.
I'm fortunate enough to have decent music shoppes accessible to me .
I hope the local guitar center fails so the smaller, decent shoppes in my area can thrive.
 
#22
I bought three electric basses, two electric guitars and an acoustic electric guitar online and they all showed up in their factory sealed boxes and were in perfect shape (no dents, dings, scratches, missing or broken parts). The one guitar that was setup by a small store in Washington State arrived with a bad volume pot. The store was great at correcting the problem. They shipped out a replacement model (of my choice) from several Gibson LP's of the same type and they paid all the shipping costs.

I was told by one of the local music stores that they don't carry any basses over $1000.00. I was inquiring about a MusicMan StingRay. Ordering online sometimes is the only way for people to get access to high end gear.
 
#23
In my opinion, this is common with any thats gonna be put out on the floor. It doesn't only happen to instruments. Wheter it be a computer, tv, furniture,etc. When something like a floor model is exposed to a mass amount of people, blemishes will occur.
 
#24
EBMan said:
Yesterday was new bass day at several of the Dallas area Guitar Centers. They received shipments from Fender. There is a lot of talk about how people abuse the basses at Guitar Center. From what I saw, the abuse starts the minute the GC employee unboxes the guitar. They were stacking brand new basses against each other leaning against a bass stand while they were attaching price tags. Wood and metal against wood creates damage. I went to another GC to look at a new Fender that they had just unboxed that day. It had a dent in the body, light scratches on the back of the body as well as a dent in the neck. And I think that that I may have been the first person to look at it because it was hanging up high. At yet a third CG a two day old one had multiple dents on the headstock.

I think that they are careless with them the moment they are unboxed.
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:eyebrow:I really like visiting Guitar Center,but 1 thing I've noticed at our location is they seem to raise the action of all the Basses pretty high. This keeps store playing time down to a minimum.People have difficulty fretting the instruments. This is also not good putting that much tension on those necks.
 
#27
Ok, will it be worth it for me to stop at my GC on President's Day? I'm told there's going to be a sale. I know it'll probably be too much for me to hope for though, since my GC seems to be the only one in the nation not caught up in the "EBMM Clearance" craze. If I know I could go get that Bongo HH they have, or that beat up ass SR5 that's been hanging forever for a cheap price, then I'll go. But does anyone know how these sales work? Just everything is on sale, or depends on the items?
 
#28
yeah i got phone and email reminders of that sale today haha. honestly unless theres something specific youre looking for, its not really worth it. for the most part, in those types of sales, they dont discount used/vintage equipment and like i said, if you arent in the market for something specific, what youre getting is just the stuff that they havent been able to sell since the last big sale.

that being said, i got my warwick for almost half off at a memorial day sale because it had been in the store for over a year with no takers, even after a small drop in price.
 
#30
Yeah but you can hustle guitar center like no other.
The sales people are so eager to get some commission, they will sell you stuff dirt cheap, and little nicks like this that most basses will get with in a week or two of playing can be used to lower the price even further.
 
#31
I think perhaps the worst thing that guitar center does:

Humidity negligence.

So many times, I'll grab a bass (or guitar) off the wall, and the fret ends will be sticking out. That's a sure sign that the store is DRY and the wood is shrinking... not good stuff at all.

I played a MM Stingray that had atrocious action the other day. It's a shame that the $200 squier was set up better than the ray.
 
#33
RandomEvent said:
will it be worth it for me to stop at my GC on President's Day?
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Get there early, I recommend getting there before the doors open. They often have some great deals on stuff you didn't even know you needed.

Last Memorial day my cousin puchased $3500 worth of gear (not MSRP) for $1100. As he was checking out people were offering to buy stuff off of his cart for 2,3, or 5 times what he paid.

Last Labor day I bought 3 Dean Metalman bass' for $150 total, a Z, a V and an ML. Great Christmas presents for the nephews. Once again, retail $597 for $150.

See you there.
 
#35
ksandvik said:
Yes. Which leads me to wonder why GC and similar places have the same prices on bass guitars than online stores, as well all know those basses are played a lot every day -- after a month they should really be considered used gear... --Kent
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Because price is not the only thing people want when they buy gear. GC also has a great return policy, and you can try before you buy. Plus, they will often do a setup and change strings if you don't like what's on there and you're serious about laying out some $. And, you can try the gear through several different amps, etc. There's always a flipside... if there weren't, GC would go out of business.
 
#36
CrashBang said:
Get there early, I recommend getting there before the doors open. They often have some great deals on stuff you didn't even know you needed.

Last Memorial day my cousin puchased $3500 worth of gear (not MSRP) for $1100. As he was checking out people were offering to buy stuff off of his cart for 2,3, or 5 times what he paid.

Last Labor day I bought 3 Dean Metalman bass' for $150 total, a Z, a V and an ML. Great Christmas presents for the nephews. Once again, retail $597 for $150.

See you there.
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Dammit, I volunteered to work 10 to 1 at work on Monday. Does GC really get bad on these types of sales days? If they do, I'll just ask them to take my name off of the list. Then again, knowing my luck, I'll miss out on time and half at work only to find that GC still has that clearance Bongo for 1399.98, like it's some sort of steal. Or that SR5 that's been on the rail for more than a year, all sorts of beat up for 1469.99.
 
#40
Coelho said:
Sam Ash is even worst... Seriously...
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I disagree. I recently.. well as in Summer, bought my Rickenbacker 4003 (yes it was IN STOCK) at Sam Ash and it was in MINT conditiion. They had it high up on the wall just for those who wanted to play it. I loved it so much I bought it. Prior to that, I've never had problems with Sam Ash, ever.

At guitar center, the last thing I bought was a cheap P-bass with missing knobs and bad setup to throw my fretless neck on just to have, and it ended up costing me over $100. (Though, I can't complain, it's a decent bass, and being in the electronics field, it was pathetically easy to fix.) It's a great bass also. I also bought my MIA Pbass from them. Also no complaints.)

All in all, it's what you're looking for when you go. You always have the option to try. (And I think that's the reason so many people compain, just b/c they're so "played"). I'd say, if you know what you're doing, try before you buy, if it's good take it, if not... who cares, there will always be another chance down the road....
 

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