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I'm officially boycotting Guitar Center

4. Sam Ash, and Cowtown Guitars, are much closer to home; almost everyone who works there is a guitar/bass player, and they do occasionally have a lefty or two. And they usually have what I need, or will try very hard to get it quick-as-a-bunny, if they don't. And they call me when it comes in.

I've seen that dude from Cowtown Guitars on Pawn Stars from time to time, some of his "expert" opinions leave me scratching my head sometimes.... Is that just TV editing that makes him seem that way?
 
Brother That show like most t.v. now days sucks.
Here is a News Flash...
THAT SH!T AIN"T REAL.

You aren't telling me anything I don't know, there is nothing real about reality TV ;)

I just happened to catch the episode where a dude had a Strat that supposedly owned by Jimi Hendrix, and his expert opinion on it was just laughable. I was wondering if he was really that was piss poor TV editing, or if he really doesn't know his stuff any better than that.
 
Well, for what it's worth; Spirit of Ox- boycott away to your heart's content. While it may make you happy, I don't think your local GC will care; if they did, you wouldn't have those problems. There are 2 GC's here in Las Vegas; I almost never go to either of them, because:
1. They're too far away (although one is close to the local Fry's Electronics, and I go there a lot);
2. They never have anything left-handed, except an occasional Squire starter kit (and I'm not about to swap my Alembic for one of those);
3. I really don't think I should have to explain to a music store employee that; a) a Bass guitar is not the same as a "real" guitar, and; b) not only are the strings different from a "real" guitar, they also come in different lengths, too. And anyway, whatever I want, they never have; and
4. Sam Ash, and Cowtown Guitars, are much closer to home; almost everyone who works there is a guitar/bass player, and they do occasionally have a lefty or two. And they usually have what I need, or will try very hard to get it quick-as-a-bunny, if they don't. And they call me when it comes in.

That said, I did go to the GC in South Bend, Indiana, this summer, and it was a totally different experience from the ones here. Nice, knowledgeable people (musicians. too!) and even a lefty or 2 to mess with. So, just the luck of the draw, I guess. Oh, before I forget; one of the GC's here has Pin Cushion Chick's twin brother working the door (at least, I think it's a guy...). :)

Just as an aside I used to work at the Fry's there in Vegas and if you guys think GC is bad that's hands down the most bass-akward screwed up company I've ever had the displeasure of working for. I was never to glad to be fired in my life when they let me go. Just a complete disaster from the top down.

Also a few scenes on Pawn Stars were debunked online. There was one where a guy claimed he was in Toto and Triumph (full disclosure I know him and his wife and he's a good guy) and wanted to sell his old trusty black Les Paul. Well it was found out that Cowtown had it for sale on its website, he also worked at Cowtown at the time and the "expert" owns Cowtown. Also there was another scene where they traded a guy another Les Paul for some merch he brought in and that guitar was also on the Cowtown website.

This isn't a slight on Cowtown they seem like good guys just showing how "reality TV" is often anything but.
 
It wasn't the model he claimed it to be but still a nice old LP. That guy Jessie is their go to guitar "expert" I'm surprised he doesn't have his own spinoff show like American Restoration and Counting Cars. Found the thread on another board:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
I do believe this is correct.
But I am almost positive most come shipped to them without a case.
I have a few friends whom work there and have seen them taking shipments off the trucks and opening the boxes without seeing any cases.
Maybe it has something to do with bulk buying/price points?
In the old days, the American guitars came in with cases and they would "explode" them in the warehouse...one sku for the guitar, and another one for the case. The salesmen were trained to tell customers that "the case is extra." LOL
 
I wonder if there is a forum out there for people to bash Joanne's craft stores or perhaps Home Depot bash-a-thon. I get it Guitar Center is the big evil corporation everyone seems to want to hate. Oddly out of all my Guitar Center experiences, never has it been half as bad as so many paint here. I have been in over 20 different guitar centers in over 10 states. I just don't get the hate machine. We need a meter on the main page that displays how many GC hate threads there are.
 
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I wonder if there is a forum out there for people to bash Joanne's craft stores or perhaps Home Depot bash-a-thon. I get it Guitar Center is the big evil corporation everyone seems to want to hate. Oddly out of all my Guitar Center experiences, never has it been half as bad as so many paint here. I have been in over 20 different guitar centers in over 10 states. I just don't get the hate machine. We need a meter on the main page that displays how many GC hate threads there are.

Well I have asked the same thing MANY times during the course of this thread. Why so much hate for guitard center? and yet none for Sam Ash or music 123 or ANY others.NO ONE chimed in with an intelligent answer, instead they chose to avoid that entirely while leaping to G.C.'s defense.

Well the reason is clearly that while you certainly can't please all of the people all of the time, G.C has a unique talent at pi$$ing OFF a lot of the people a lot of the time. While their competition ... not so much. The Einstein defense model for this has been "well, uh, then, uh, Why are they doing so good?". While here in REAL WORLD, they are NOT doing so good.
 
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Here in Roanoke VA (MSA population 300,000), we do not have any of the big stores. No Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc. Three small local stores that have a very, very small selection of bass stuff. I call it a bass desert. I end up buying alot of stuff on-line which is very scary. I'd like to get a more pro-quality amp but there are none to be found locally.
 
Here in Roanoke VA (MSA population 300,000), we do not have any of the big stores. No Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc. Three small local stores that have a very, very small selection of bass stuff. I call it a bass desert. I end up buying alot of stuff on-line which is very scary. I'd like to get a more pro-quality amp but there are none to be found locally.
Kelleys Music on Brambelton is GONE ???
 
I actually like my local Guitar Center. The only reason I've ever had issues with them is because they made my favorite work in pro audio! GRRRRRRRR...now the new ones just aren't that good. Sucks.

I've bought basses there like 4 times. One brand new, 3 used. Bought pedals, amps, strings...etc. Sure I could probably get a better deal if I shopped online somewhere. But not always. I bought a Dingwall AB1 from GC for stupid cheap and they even knocked the price down and gave me free shipping. So that's pretty damn good customer service IMO.

I've been to ones with bad customer service, cough Orlando, cough. :) But overall I've been happy buying from them. I wish my local store had more of a selection though.
 
Well I have asked the same thing MANY times during the course of this thread. Why so much hate for guitard center? and yet none for Sam Ash or music 123 or ANY others.NO ONE chimed in with an intelligent answer, instead they chose to avoid that entirely while leaping to G.C.'s defense.

Well the reason is clearly that while you certainly can't please all of the people all of the time, G.C has a unique talent at pi$$ing OFF a lot of the people a lot of the time. While their competition ... not so much. The Einstein defense model for this has been "well, uh, then, uh, Why are they doing so good?". While here in REAL WORLD, they are NOT doing so good.
I usually buy all my gear through American Musical. I have yet to have an issue with them that wasn't resolved. I had an issue quite recently too. About 2 weeks ago I ordered an Ibanez SR1405. It arrived very quickly. 2 days with standard shipping. However when I received it, the Ibanez seals on the box had been broken. Meaning, it had already been opened. I have ordered from American Musical dozens of times and they NEVER open their gear. The headstock tags were all removed as well. Upon further inspection I found that one of the knobs was very gritty/dirty feeling. I made a phonecall to AMS. They emailed me a shipping label to return it and they put a new one in overnighted. 2nd one, flawless. I couldn't be happier. $1250. If I bought it from GC(which they didn't have in stock and according to some people on here that means they don't carry it) I would have paid $1250, plus $115 tax(9.2% here). It would not have come with a bag. They would have made me pay for it. They would have at the very least attempted to upsell me on additional warranties and other crap. Not dealing with that crap is a relief. I am an AMS Customer for life.
 
Well I have asked the same thing MANY times during the course of this thread. Why so much hate for guitard center? and yet none for Sam Ash or music 123 or ANY others.NO ONE chimed in with an intelligent answer, instead they chose to avoid that entirely while leaping to G.C.'s defense.

Well the reason is clearly that while you certainly can't please all of the people all of the time, G.C has a unique talent at pi$$ing OFF a lot of the people a lot of the time. While their competition ... not so much. The Einstein defense model for this has been "well, uh, then, uh, Why are they doing so good?". While here in REAL WORLD, they are NOT doing so good.

After a bit of poking around since Bain Capital took them over in 2012 they have been on a downhill slide into obscurity. The number is staggering, 1.5 Billion in debt. It's odd, because every time I am there, never has there been a shortage of business. With that amount of debt and performance in the S&P/market it only seems inevitable the doors can't stay open forever. It seems the interest alone is swallowing the company whole.
I am surprised they have anymore companies signing on to sell, in fear they might not ever be paid.
 
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I usually buy all my gear through American Musical. I have yet to have an issue with them that wasn't resolved. I had an issue quite recently too. About 2 weeks ago I ordered an Ibanez SR1405. It arrived very quickly. 2 days with standard shipping. However when I received it, the Ibanez seals on the box had been broken. Meaning, it had already been opened. I have ordered from American Musical dozens of times and they NEVER open their gear. The headstock tags were all removed as well. Upon further inspection I found that one of the knobs was very gritty/dirty feeling. I made a phonecall to AMS. They emailed me a shipping label to return it and they put a new one in overnighted. 2nd one, flawless. I couldn't be happier. $1250. If I bought it from GC(which they didn't have in stock and according to some people on here that means they don't carry it) I would have paid $1250, plus $115 tax(9.2% here). It would not have come with a bag. They would have made me pay for it. They would have at the very least attempted to upsell me on additional warranties and other crap. Not dealing with that crap is a relief. I am an AMS Customer for life.

My Breedlove acoustic came with its factory rigid soft case. I don't know if this practice of trying to charge extra for the case is on a store to store basis, but I haven't had this situation.
 

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