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Is your guitar center like this?

#41
I always feel like I am not welcome in our GC cause I don't dress the part of a rock star. It is definitely full of "scenesters" who are more worried about impressing each other with their scene cred than helping me out. Everybody looks like Mick Mars, or "emo-boy"... there is one guy in the AV dept who is usually cool, but he usually won't come out from behind the counter to help with anything. He is real cool if you come up to him.

then, I get past that and find absolutely nothing worth trying out. If I do find a decent bass, the amp selection is pretty lame...

If I do try to play a bass, one of the scenesters will hover over me telling me why I should looking for a 5-er instead of a 4 (4's are so beginner dude...I never play less than a 5), or an Ibanez instead of a Fender...

as mentioned by others, I only go into GC to get strings in an emergency cause I know they will usually have what I use, but even then, it is a 20 or 30 minute ordeal of standing at the counter while the sales people are texting their buds about whatever scenesters text about.

The other thing I fell is sort of weird about ours is they have a guy who confronts you when you walk in and out to make sure you aren't stealing stuff. while I totally understand the need for that, it always seems like they are not very personable and are judgmental. I call them the GC TSA.

Thank god for our small local guys who are still in buisness around here!
 
#42
I will agree with just about everything I have read on this one so far. Coming from a great place for musicians and gear (Nashville, TN) with a lot of great stores to buy from to a small town in Indiana that has a couple small shops close by and a Guitar Center. I know at the local GC there are a couple really talented and knowledgable employees, but the rest are clueless hacks who can barely play (but try to look like rock stars). I usually will look at the used section, but any major purchases I will make a 2 hour drive to Chicago and hit up Bass Club Chicago.
 
#43
GIBrat51 said:
There are 2 GCs here in Vegas. I almost never go to either of them, because;
1. Odds are 50-50 that, between them, there won't be a lefty anything. If there is, it will be a Squire p-bass.
2. I'm tired of having to explain to a pimply teenager with studs and things all over them that bass strings are different from guitar strings; then finding out that they don't have what I want, anyway.
So, I usually go to Cowtown Guitars, or Sam Ash.
Click to expand...

it sucks that you guys "took" Cowtown Guitars from us ;) Damned Las Vegas weather and lifestyle. That used to be the best place in C-bus to get anything that was electric with strings. Chatfield is a cool guy and so knowledgeable...
 
#46
My GC usually has a decent selection, but they recently moved the bass section to the hallway in the back of the store. Now you really can't try out an instrument without constantly moving for someone trying to walk through. I guess used guitar gear sells better than bass gear.

Honestly, I've owned or tried everything at Guitar Center that interests me. I mostly go now to see if they have something out of the ordinary in the used section. Sometimes you can find great deals.
 
#47
There are I think 3 Guitar Centers in the Denver area and 1 in Ft. Collins. The one in Ft. Collins is small but the employees are all friendly. My only knock on them is sometimes some of the gear is not in great shape i.e. old strings, dead batteries, bad set up but that is only on some gear not all.

In Denver, the store on Colorado Blvd. is horrible. Rude employees and the gear is always in bad shape. I won't ever go to them again. Now the Guitar Center in Englewood is awesome. In fact I just ordered a Music Man Game Changer guitar from them for Christmas. The salesman I deal with is Mattie and he has always been a great guy to deal with.
 
#48
I have 2 GC's in my area and the reason the basses and desirable guitars are up high is rampant theft. At one store here a woman put a less paul up her dress. The setups are non-existent because they want you to pay for the set-up after the purchase. The staff is generally incompetent, a couple of nights ago a guy had a 15 % coupon and wanted to buy a bass and the salesman walked away on him. I went and got the newly promoted manager and made sure the guy was taken care of but wow. The kid who walked off is usually up your wazoo bothering you trying to sale, go figure...
 
#53
The Guitar Center by my house use to do price matching on strings, which was great. But then one day I walk in there and the guy is like, "Yes we price match with them, but now we add a surcharge for the amount of money you would of had to spend for shipping." So then he picks the most expensive shipping option and then lo and behold the price is pretty much GC's price.
I told him, "What about the amount of gas I just spent to come to your f****** store?" Then I walked out on his ignorant ass.
All I can say is one must be desparate to buy strings from GC at their prices...
 
#54
basslifter said:
They usually have one of the best selections and best prices in my city. We got killed on both before they hit town.
Click to expand...
I remember having to pay list for everything. Thing is, we didn't know any different and it didn't matter.

basslifter said:
They keep everyone else honest, so to speak.
Click to expand...
Actually, it's more along the lines of keeping them barely profitable--or unable to profit at all. They're getting rid of the competition.
 
#55
The GC nearest me (Atlantic City) has a pretty nice selection of guitars, mid-range up to higher-end stuff. Basses, maybe a 1/4 as much by volume. Seems to be a trend that they don't stock much (if any) high-end stuff. Don't have a problem with that in itself, BUT, I was looking at an Epiphone Toby IV Deluxe right before the holidays. Nice bass for the price & I was interested if not for me, then for one of my nephews. Problem was, being a floor model, it was filthy, pots loose, couple of little dings,etc. Asked if they had another one (they didn't), so I asked if they could do any better on the price & they wouldn't budge. I actually said, "You're sh_ _ _ing me, right? You expect me to pay exactly what I'd pay online, including shipping and I'd get an instrument that hadn't been beat up for this banged up, essentially "used" bass?" I was told, "the price is the price, I can't come down any further that we already have"...which was not at all - they wanted the same retail price I'd seen everywhere I'd seen the bass. Told my nephews to put whatever they were checking out back & we drove 2 1/2 hours up to Sam Ash in Edison. THEY were happy to work with us and I dropped a nice chunk of cash on 3 guitars, a bass & 2 amps in just under an hour. I don't get alienating the people who have your livliehood in their wallet, but as Sam Ash proved, not all the big-chain stores operate the same.
 
#56
My take on Guitar Center is that you need to have realistic expectations of the store before you cast judgment. As others have noted, GC is not a boutique shop. It caters mainly to hobbyists, teenagers and old farts like me who have more disposable cash than talent. It makes a minuscule profit from engaging in volume sales of mostly inexpensive instruments.

If you walk into GC with a mind to haggle down the price on some $200 Squier, chances are you'll have a lousy experience. On the other hand, the GC experience is night-and-day different when you are shopping for items in the $600+ range. The sales staff will treat you well, and work out a fair price if you act nicely. I sometimes feel a little dopey going in there on my way home from work while I'm still in a suit, but no one there gives me grief about it. I'm at the point where I feel like the more time I spend at the GC getting to know the staff and being respectful of the merchandise, the more the staff is willing to go the extra mile for me...just like everything else in real life (go figure).
 
#58
I always stay away from BIG music stores and Wal Marts. I have my favorites and one is a family owned and operated store in Folsom: Nicholson Music; Father and son are expert luthiers and they sell sheet music. Also own the coffee house next door (Music Cafe) that allows local musicians to play and features bass clinics by Dale Titus. I dig this store.
 

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