Severe Dryness at Guitar Center

[mellowinman]

So I did something some people on here say they never do today. I drove a good ways to see my mom, and I had some time to kill near my girlfriend's house before she would get home, and I didn't want to drive all the way back to my house and waste gas, so I went to Guitar Center to play some instruments.
I spent some time in the acoustic room, as I am prone to do, and played some really lovely guitars. Mostly Gibsons and Taylors, to see if I could find anything among them that I liked better than my Martin D28 Retro, (which I did NOT.) I found one Martin 00028 EC Eric Clapton sig model that might have played just one tiny bit better than the D28, and I played a whole bunch of classical guitars, (and found that the Yamaha sounded and played the best, even though it was nowhere near the most expensive.)
So that was fun.
But then I got sad. REALLY sad.
I tried out a bunch of basses; nice American Made P-Basses; a couple of Squiers; a Gibson semi-hollow body; and others, and they all had one thing in common:
FRET SPROUT.
All I bought was a Y-Cord I needed, and when I was checking out, I told the guy at the register about the problem. I told him there was thousands and thousands of dollars worth of guitars getting serious fret sprout from the lack of humidity on the main floor, and mentioned that just a handful of house humidifiers, maybe about five, would save them. (they would, too.)
He said, "yeah, I hear ya man; that's really a bummer," and the expression on his face never changed.
I considered asking for the manager, or anyone who actually gives a crap, but then I figured, "nah."
But seriously. Some of those instruments are headed for being damaged beyond repair. I'm talking a wall of really nice basses, and some amazing guitars on the opposite wall. At least the acoustic room seems OK. They probably humidify that.
Why don't you spend a couple hundred bucks to protect thousands of dollars of instruments?
I think it's a valid question.

 

[petrus61]

I have a theory that involves not so much the instruments suffering from a lack of humidity at GC, but more from the fact that the major companies dump whatever utter crap examples they can on GC to sell since nobody is checking them before rack anyway and the noob buying the bass will figure his hands hurt because he sucks. It's just a theory, though. Of course that doesn't explain fret sprout in most cases, but whatever.

 

[5544]

A smart person would buy the damaged instruments at a discount, turn around and tell them to have them fixed under warranty.

 

[guy n. cognito]

When you consider that 1)fret sprout is quite easy to fix, 2) most privately owned electric instruments will spend their entire lives in unhumidified homes 3) it's a quite common occurrence and 4) the kid at GC making $8 an hour doesn't really care.......

 

[mdogs]

So this has been going on for 60+ years and now it has become a problem? Just another opportunity to bash Guitar Center for something that EVERY music store in the world does, nice work...

 

[guy n. cognito]

So this has been going on for 60+ years and now it has become a problem? Just another opportunity to bash Guitar Center for something that EVERY music store in the world does, nice work...

If you consider acoustic instruments, you could add a zero to that number of years. But these instruments are somehow ruined......

 

[Ajapses]

Who would have known?...when you suck the life out of a company the moisture goes, too.

 

[mdogs]

If you consider acoustic instruments, you could add a zero to that number of years. But these instruments are somehow ruined......

Well, I have actually seen humidified rooms for acoustic instruments so I was just going by solid bodies...

 

[mellowinman]

A smart person would buy the damaged instruments at a discount, turn around and tell them to have them fixed under warranty.

When you consider that 1)fret sprout is quite easy to fix, 2) most privately owned electric instruments will spend their entire lives in unhumidified homes 3) it's a quite common occurrence and 4) the kid at GC making $8 an hour doesn't really care.......

So this has been going on for 60+ years and now it has become a problem? Just another opportunity to bash Guitar Center for something that EVERY music store in the world does, nice work...

If you consider acoustic instruments, you could add a zero to that number of years. But these instruments are somehow ruined......

1. In the OP I clearly stated that the acoustic instruments are fine. They are probably keeping that room humidified.
2. Some of the nicer guitars and basses have bindings, and the neck shrinking and swelling can cause it to crack.
3. Fret sprout is a SYMPTOM of a larger problem: all the wood on the instrument is shrinking, and it can cause major finish problems.
4. My solution is simple, and wouldn't cost much. I'm just wondering if the only reason they don't care is that it is covered by insurance, or if it is because they just go ahead and sell the damaged instruments at the regular price.
5. I'm not picking on Guitar Center. That happens to be the store I went to. I will go to a local music store sometime soon, and see if they are having better luck.
6. A business model where you allow the majority of your stock to get damaged by lack of moisture, when there is a fairly simple solution, is a poor business model.
7. The kid making $8 an hour should care, or he should get a different job. Low wages aren't an excuse for poor performance. Customer service is a huge part of your job when you are in sales.

 

[guy n. cognito]

You missed my point on acoustic instruments, of course. In the hundreds, if not thousands of years that stringed instruments have been made out of wood, it was only in the last 100 or so that artificial humidification was possible. And yet.....those instruments survive........

These instruments aren't "damaged", they are in need of a simple fret clean up. And honestly, most knowledgeable people know if more a symptom of improperly dried wood by the manufacturer, combined with fretwork that probably should have been dressed with a bit more detail.

Fret sprout is outrageously common with modern instruments, and is more related to the different expansion and contraction of metal vs wood. I can't say I've been in too many MI stores that are running humidifiers for electric instruments. Most, however, will dress the frets at no charge.

I'm not sure what you expected from the clerk, other than some level of placation for your concerns.

 

[FourBanger]

I have a theory that involves not so much the instruments suffering from a lack of humidity at GC, but more from the fact that the major companies dump whatever utter crap examples they can on GC to sell since nobody is checking them before rack anyway and the noob buying the bass will figure his hands hurt because he sucks. It's just a theory, though. Of course that doesn't explain fret sprout in most cases, but whatever.

For the volume they sell that would mean much more crap than not comes from those guys.

It would also cost quite a bit in labor to cull instruments at the source just to send them to one place over another.

 

[aaronious]

When you consider that 1)fret sprout is quite easy to fix, 2) most privately owned electric instruments will spend their entire lives in unhumidified homes 3) it's a quite common occurrence and 4) the kid at GC making $8 an hour doesn't really care.......

Tell me more about this easy fix you speak of. Theres a bass at a local pawn shop that I really like but the frets are so sprouted its unplayable. I know I can get it dirty cheap but if it's gonna cost an arm and a leg to get it to play, it's not worth it.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Tell me more about this easy fix you speak of. Theres a bass at a local pawn shop that I really like but the frets are so sprouted its unplayable. I know I can get it dirty cheap but if it's gonna cost an arm and a leg to get it to play, it's not worth it.

Step 1: file the ends of the frets

 

[guy n. cognito]

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Most luthiers will do in for about $25......

 

[aaronious]

Step 1: file the ends of the frets

That's it, it's that easy. Because I watched a couple YouTube videos and it doesn't look that easy.

 

[guy n. cognito]

That's it, it's that easy. Because I watched a couple YouTube videos and it doesn't look that easy.

I bought one of those files years ago. I've used it dozens of times. I have no specific lutherie skills. It's really not hard. Something like this would cost a bit more, but make it almost fool proof:

G M I Fret End Beveling Flushing Files 35 Degrees and 90 Degrees Luthier Tool | eBay

 

[aaronious]

I bought one of those files years ago. I've used it dozens of times. I have no specific lutherie skills. It's really not hard. Something like this would cost a bit more, but make it almost fool proof:

G M I Fret End Beveling Flushing Files 35 Degrees and 90 Degrees Luthier Tool | eBay

Hmmm, interesting.... I may have to rethink some things

 

[guy n. cognito]

Hmmm, interesting.... I may have to rethink some things

Walking away from a guitar because of fret sprout makes as much sense as leaving your wife because she needs a haircut.......

 

[DwaynieAD]

Ohhh. You're one of them that knows a guy who knows a guy that knows that fender (or whomever) sells b-stock to the likes of GC, mf, amazon, etc....

Carry on with the fantasy.

 

[aaronious]

Walking away from a guitar because of fret sprout makes as much sense as leaving your wife because she needs a haircut.......

I don't really know how to respond to that, lol. I'm not married anyway. But I walked away for more reasons than that. Mostly cause I gotta sell off a few basses. Want to buy one?