I'm Sorry, Sir...I Don't Play Bass..

[nerkoids]

Wow. I don't know about the experiences of other Canadians on the board, but every music store I've come across in Montreal, Toronto, Sudbury Ontario, even Ottawa... they've got a guy who knows enough about basses to know how they work, what features they have, differences up and down the line, what they can order, where even some of the components have been sourced from, etc...

Granted, we don't have a huge behemoth like Guitar Center (the closest analogs we have are Long and McQuade and Archambault) but even our chain stores have a tendency to hire guys who know their stuff.

 

[radiator6]

a friend of mine is a foreman for a fairly large const. company. he laughs when people say "the guy at lowes said this will work" his reply is if the guy at lowes knew anything bout construction he wouldnt be workn at lowes. am guessing its the same with basses at gc

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

That's true most of the time. That doesn't bother more though.. I always do a research about a bass before I try it, and TB the first place look at.

 

[BrewsterRooster]

My experience is about the same, except for the rhetorical aspects. If I had a dollar for every time I'd heard, "Great bass, dude. I have one myself, and I love it!" ...

I got that line, literally, about 3 weeks ago at GC. I'd heard it from sales guys so many times over the years that I figured I'd just have a little bit of fun with this individual. So I very simply asked what he loved about it. To which he responded - no joke - "It just sounds nice and big. I'm actually a guitar player, but I have a studio and keep the bass around for that. I don't really know much about them."

Thanks, professor!

 

[DeliriumTremens]

I don't know about anyone else's experiences but I find it rather odd that just about any store that I go into that sells basses where I live ( including chains) know almost nothing about them.

Seems like all the employees everywhere play guitar..and will be happy to give you their opinions on these.

And it doesn't matter which employee you talk to....be it the old longtime "salts" or the new shredder hotshot.

But step into the bass department and they disappear in droves.

All kinds of basses hanging on up on the walls....but start trying to talk to anybody about them and they mumble a few generic responses and then it's quickly off to serve another customer.

Talking about shortscales is a waste of time also...they know not of which you speak.

They give the cursory nod to basses by stocking a few sets of longscale strings in standard gauge...aaaand that's it.

Even my luthier/tech, who is one of THE best around and does excellent work, seems miffed when we start talking basses.
He knows the wiring and set up like the back of his hand and is very good....guitars he could talk about all day...but basses not so much.

I have never yet been to a store that sells basses in this area and found a bassplayer working there.

What's your experience?

I work for a large retailer of guitars and basses and know both very well

 

[Herrick]

The benefit is not having someone at a music store rip you off since you know more about the product than they do.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I don't know about anyone else's experiences but I find it rather odd that just about any store that I go into that sells basses where I live ( including chains) know almost nothing about them.

Seems like all the employees everywhere play guitar..and will be happy to give you their opinions on these.

And it doesn't matter which employee you talk to....be it the old longtime "salts" or the new shredder hotshot.

But step into the bass department and they disappear in droves.

All kinds of basses hanging on up on the walls....but start trying to talk to anybody about them and they mumble a few generic responses and then it's quickly off to serve another customer.

Talking about shortscales is a waste of time also...they know not of which you speak.

They give the cursory nod to basses by stocking a few sets of longscale strings in standard gauge...aaaand that's it.

Even my luthier/tech, who is one of THE best around and does excellent work, seems miffed when we start talking basses.
He knows the wiring and set up like the back of his hand and is very good....guitars he could talk about all day...but basses not so much.

I have never yet been to a store that sells basses in this area and found a bassplayer working there.

What's your experience?

Well I could get a job at GC.
But it would still be highly questionable if they had a bass player working there.

 

[jthisdell]

I am in a smallish city in SW VA, 250,000 in metro area, very little basses or amps in the stores (no big box). Luckily there is a great shop about 45 min away in Rocket Music. The local scene is very bluegrassy so lots of $2,000 taylors and martins but few basses.

 

[Matthew Fisher]

My limited experience is that guitar store clerks and techs tend to be guitarists. I have a feeling that a lot more guitars are sold than basses, and that a lot of basses are bought by people who mainly play guitar.

Both the owner and the guitar tech at the vintage guitar shop tried to talk me out of having the pickups in my Fernandes Vertigo repotted. Their reasoning sounded suspiciously vintage-guitar-specific. Apparently they like microphonic pickups, unless they're causing unwanted feedback.

Old hippie vintage guitar dudes tend to have fixed ideas, even if they're friendly about it. So much for freeing your mind.

The much younger tech at GC understood exactly why pickups would need to be repotted, but by then I'd already done the work myself. It made a huge difference.

I'd love to go to a bass-only shop someday, but the nearest one seems to be two states away. I bought my current bass, strings, and amp online. They're nothing unusual, but no local shop had them in stock.

 

[BAG]

I'm pretty lucky that my nearest store (which is over two hours drive away mind you) has a really knowledgable bass salesman. He loves to talk basses and put me onto the best luthier i've come across...... although it did cost me a lot more than I expected.

IME, bass players tend to be smarter than most musicians. As such we tend to avoid such horrific jobs like selling guitars.

I think you'd also find that a much higher percentage of decent bass players are gigging regularly than decent guitar players too, so there's a lot more guitarists available to sell guitars on weekends.

 

[pcake]

my favorite sales guy, then assistant manager at first WLA and then HWD GC plays both bass and guitar and is very knowledgeable. the guy who sold me the black mikro at sam ash torrance is a bass player who's worked and toured on bass.

btw, a lot of the time i find that when the sales guys are guitar players selling guitars, they don't know anything, either - they just talk a lot to make the sale. i've heard guys selling acoustics as being all solid or solid top that i know for a fact are all laminate, for example.

 

[Hounddog409]

my bass playing buddy didn't even know what a C string was.. lol

C string? are you sure you're not secretly wishing you were a guitar player?

 

[6Bass101]

I wish the employees would disappear when I go to the bass section. I know more than them and don't want to be pitched to.

This video reminds me of the time I was at Lowe's with my son and couldn't find a particular item. My son asks me, "why don't you just ask one of the employees?" I told him that the employee probably wouldn't be much help and that it would be a waste of time. He gave me a confused look so I thought it was time for a life lesson. I asked the next employee I saw to direct me to where I could find the item I needed. The guy sends me right back to the aisle I just left and says, "if it's not there check...", both of these places I knew the item was not located. I thanked him and walked away. My son asked why I didn't tell the employee he was wrong. I told him it would have just taken more of my time. A few minutes later I found what I was looking for and my son said, " Wow dad, you were right. Why does that guy even work here?" I replied, "I don't know kid, but that's why I don't bother asking." I went on to tell him he should always do his research BEFORE going to buy.

 

[tattooSAM]

I believe many of folks on this forum would have the same experience as the OP. Bassists surely get treated as "second class" musicians.

I started with guitar, played it for years and I am better with 6 strings than most of the "guitarists" hammering out some way overplayed riff at 90db in the middle of GC.

I switched to bass 29 years ago because that is where my heart is.
It is strange to go to the big retail store and shop for basses. The same thing happens to me no matter which store I shop at. I usually start out looking for guitar deals for my daughter. Play a couple guitars (well). Usually have a sales assistant harass me about guitars or guitar amps. When I am done, I almost always ask for assistance for the basses (as the are hung at 15 feet). I typically get the look of "what's wrong with you?"

I even had a sales associate ask "why?" Very annoying.

I do love putting down my bass to show a guitarist the proper way to play a riff or chord.

 

[bassliner50]

My response is: I don't care. I know what I am after. Don't need help. (thank you)

 

[Blueinred]

And I've just learned something. Never knew that's what those were. I always wondered why they'd put a thumb rest on the bottom! Thanks!

Fender Precisions from 1951 (first year) and Jazz basses (first in 1960) both had the tug bar below the strings through mid-1973. They moved it above the strings (on both models) starting then. I guess they felt there were enough "thumbers" to keep it there until then. Something to watch for when checking out older P's and J's.

 

[JimmyM]

Maybe I might have cared if I were a beginner, but I'm not.

 

[Papazita]

A few years ago, i was commuting to school 3 days a week, an hour away from home. I often had 2+ hours between classes, so i would drive across town to the bigger guitar shops and browse.

Killing time between classes one day, I stopped in the local bigbox "Center." At the time, they had a pretty good bass selection. Now, not so much.
I pulled down a Warwick Std Corvette fretless, and suddenly I'm approached by the Duuuuuude guy.
"Suh bruh? I see yer scopin owt that wick, man! Noyyyce, right?"

(1,000 yard stare, searching for an easy escape) Yeah.

"Duuude chek it owt, duuude, all the warwick stuff is made, like, right here in the US, man. Ca-li-for-nyaaah!"

No, actually; they're made in Germany (it was true at the time).

"Riiight. Germany, Ca-Li-For-Nyaah!"

No, Germany, the country in Europe.

(Slow blink) "Huh. Ok ok i gotchu bruh. But chekk owt that RAWKin body wood, dude! Solid. Freaking. Ma-HAHG-A-NEE. Awesome, right?"

No, it's bubinga.

"MaHAHGanee."

Bubinga, and the neck is ovangkol, they're both African woods...

"AHT! Dude! You said it was from, like, Europa, not from African. Gotcha there, bro."

...and the fingerboard is ebony.

"Naw it's called fretboard. Trust me, bruh, I friggin work with guitars all day, ok? I know, ok?"

Normally, yes, fretboard, but this is a fretless bass, so, fingerboard.

"A fretwhat...what...DUDE! What the f###, man? What did you do to that neck? You're gonna have to pay for that bass, bruh, the frets are like all busted out of it!"

At this point, i was thankfully rescued by the one bass playing staffer who recognized me as a regular customer.
I never saw The Dude working there after that.

 

[Ant Illington]

I don't know about anyone else's experiences but I find it rather odd that just about any store that I go into that sells basses where I live ( including chains) know almost nothing about them.

Seems like all the employees everywhere play guitar..and will be happy to give you their opinions on these.

And it doesn't matter which employee you talk to....be it the old longtime "salts" or the new shredder hotshot.

But step into the bass department and they disappear in droves.

All kinds of basses hanging on up on the walls....but start trying to talk to anybody about them and they mumble a few generic responses and then it's quickly off to serve another customer.

Talking about shortscales is a waste of time also...they know not of which you speak.

They give the cursory nod to basses by stocking a few sets of longscale strings in standard gauge...aaaand that's it.

Even my luthier/tech, who is one of THE best around and does excellent work, seems miffed when we start talking basses.
He knows the wiring and set up like the back of his hand and is very good....guitars he could talk about all day...but basses not so much.

I have never yet been to a store that sells basses in this area and found a bassplayer working there.

What's your experience?

I agree.

Would you sell basses (edit, to try to not offend: (at Guitar Center)) for a, and I quote, "living?" Those would have to be some mighty expensive basses to pay the manufacturer and the sales person a living wage.

I think most bassists good enough to be bass authorities are either too busy making a living playing or building.... or they are too smart to be a bass sales person (edit: "at GC because anyone can plainly see that not enough basses move to provide an adequate living to an independent person who solely sells basses at GC"). "Good" guitarists are a dime a dozen and a lot of them might not be good enough at anything else other than to work at a guitar store for peanuts. Good in quotes cuz lots of good guitarists, well...

 

[MojoPenguin]

Most stores I've been in Europe did not have a regular Bass player as well. Best experience was at this store in Frankfurt where they have many many Basses, spoke English and had very good players/sellers - session.de. They even got their Youtube channel.