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Guitar Center Used: Don't Buy Items

#181
Returning a Warwick 2002 Neck Thru Thumb 4 to Richmond, neck twisted on bass side, truss completely stripped and the nut is not removable by design, and the laminates are detaching throughout the body in a bad way. Funny thing, when talking to the manager of the Ohio store who sold it, in his "Berklee educated bass player" opinion it played great. It obviously plays weirdly for half of the fingerboard but notes come out awkwardly, once you get halfway up it completely bottoms out since the truss is loose/probably broken and all you get are metallic fret clanks....this probably wouldn't have happened if he was "Berkeley educated".
 
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#187
rogerbmiller said:
Why do they bother trading stuff like this in?! Or not putting it on the bench before they sell it?!
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I'm never surprised by that store anymore. Half the amps are busted. A third of the basses don't work. Even the cords they give you to plug in with are busted. Shameful.

I sold them an acoustc bass once. I only gave it to them cuz it woulda been a pain in the butt to sell here without a case. They never plugged it in. Didn't really play it for more than a few seconds. It happened to be in great shape because I take care of my instruments, but they don't know that.
 
#188
I have horror stories on top of horror stories. But I have also had great experiences. I am a collector of sorts, so I have bought enough to have a few really bad experiences anywhere. But it is really disheartening to read about how systemic these problems are. Even though they let you return stuff, you shouldn't have to have that disappointment. They should have more honest and thorough listings by a used specialist in each store, and they should make multiple high res pictures available for all to view rather than those pathetic frontal thumbnails.
 
#192
Gorn said:
I'm never surprised by that store anymore. Half the amps are busted. A third of the basses don't work. Even the cords they give you to plug in with are busted. Shameful.
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The last I heard, GCI was $1,300,000,000 in the hole. It shows in every store. Employee morale is in the toilet, everyone seems to expect to get the axe, no customers, nobody cares.

Seems like there ought to be a way to take advantage of this situation, but I haven't come up with one. Strangely, they're less inclined to cut a deal now than they were in the glory days.
 
#193
Just returned a beautiful Peavey Cirrus 5 Tiger Eye at the Columbus store. Broke my heart. One of the most beautiful basses I've seen, but the truss rod is acting funky. It turns and makes a small difference, but the amount of movement between it being maxed out in either direction is relatively short (maybe 2-3 full turns). The neck, as-is, cannot straighten out when strung up. I tuned it down to A standard, and that helped, but I couldn't get the action below 2mm at the 12th fret. I like it lower. It's totally playable the way it is, just isn't capable of the super low action that these are known for. I took it to a local tech who thinks the rod needs replaced, and talked to Steve @ Peavey who gave me some tips, all of which I tried, to no avail. It's priced well at around $700-$750, with case, so if you can live with it the way it is, it's a good deal. If not, stay away!
 
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#195
Recently returned a G&L L2000 to the Crestwood store in St. Louis. I had called into the store in Louisiana where I bought it from to inquire about its condition. They told me about the cosmetic condition and assured me that the electronics worked, the neck was straight, and so on. Also, said that the action was nice and low and it played really well. Of course, when I got it was unplayable, as the neck was severely bowed and the action had been lowered all the way...

Anyways, the real issue is that there is something wrong with the electronics. It kept making a distorted noise, particularly when I played chords or applied more force to a string. Put in a brand new battery, but that didn't fix the problem. Tried it through an audio interface with the same result.
 
#196
brumebat said:
Recently returned a G&L L2000 to the Crestwood store in St. Louis. I had called into the store in Louisiana where I bought it from to inquire about its condition. They told me about the cosmetic condition and assured me that the electronics worked, the neck was straight, and so on. Also, said that the action was nice and low and it played really well. Of course, when I got it was unplayable, as the neck was severely bowed and the action had been lowered all the way...

Anyways, the real issue is that there is something wrong with the electronics. It kept making a distorted noise, particularly when I played chords or applied more force to a string. Put in a brand new battery, but that didn't fix the problem. Tried it through an audio interface with the same result.
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Was actually thinking of hitting that store up soon! Might check it out, just for fun.
 
#199
Returned a 1981 G&L L-1000 Bass. Had a bad neck and a bump between the first fret and nut. Sadly this is typical for a lot of the Ebony board examples. Was a shame because it was a light one. :(

At the South Austin GC if anyone is interested for $499.
 

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