You want me to prove that this isn't as significant of an issue as you claim? So....prove a negative?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Severe Dryness at Guitar Center
- Thread starter mellowinman
- Start date
You want me to prove that this isn't as significant of an issue as you claim? So....prove a negative?
Dude!
In your previous post, you said there was "evidence to the contrary!" Mr. Goal-Post Mover, you did NOT score 3 points!
I take offense to the fact that they label it fret sprout....the frets aren't sprouting, the wood is shrinking. Why blame it on the frets??
pablomigraine
Commercial User
Former GC Store Manager / GO Team / DM here.
This is a perpetual problem in the main room (not the Acoustic room). GC Leases the vast majority of the real estate housing their stores. Some spaces have greater challenges in this regard than others, but the Real Estate Team's buildout (what they give to general contractors building the new stores & revamping the old ones) has always failed to address this issue.
Nearly all GC locations have central, forced air heat, many with no humidification. **In many cases the HVAC system for the store is the property and responsibility of the Landlord, not GC, and GC installs as system for the Acoustic Room alone**Some more astute Store Managers are willing to sacrifice part of their annual operating budget towards store-bought humidifiers, but it takes about a dozen of these to have much effect on these huge rooms.
In many cases the Store Managers are well aware of this problem, and how it affects sales & profitability, but have few options when it comes to correcting the issue. The standard operating procedure in most cases is; if any particular item gets very bad.... or a customer is interested in that item, it goes in the acoustic room for a few days in hopes that will correct the issue, which it often does. When it doesn't often GC will attempt to send the unit back to the manufacturer for a credit and call it unacceptable merchandise.... same as shipping damage. Claims like this were at the root of the beef which eventually caused the split between GC and Mesa Boogie.
My Advice to ANYONE purchasing an instrument from GC:
Every GC has a GC Garage Tech. Some of these folks are very talented, some not so much, but even the least of them qualified to handle a problem like this. Every GC has a humidity-controlled Acoustic Room. Ask that your instrument get a full setup and a few days in the Acoustic room free of charge. They will NOT say no, as long as you pay for the instrument, or put a serious deposit on it.
***Edit
This is a perpetual problem in the main room (not the Acoustic room). GC Leases the vast majority of the real estate housing their stores. Some spaces have greater challenges in this regard than others, but the Real Estate Team's buildout (what they give to general contractors building the new stores & revamping the old ones) has always failed to address this issue.
Nearly all GC locations have central, forced air heat, many with no humidification. **In many cases the HVAC system for the store is the property and responsibility of the Landlord, not GC, and GC installs as system for the Acoustic Room alone**Some more astute Store Managers are willing to sacrifice part of their annual operating budget towards store-bought humidifiers, but it takes about a dozen of these to have much effect on these huge rooms.
In many cases the Store Managers are well aware of this problem, and how it affects sales & profitability, but have few options when it comes to correcting the issue. The standard operating procedure in most cases is; if any particular item gets very bad.... or a customer is interested in that item, it goes in the acoustic room for a few days in hopes that will correct the issue, which it often does. When it doesn't often GC will attempt to send the unit back to the manufacturer for a credit and call it unacceptable merchandise.... same as shipping damage. Claims like this were at the root of the beef which eventually caused the split between GC and Mesa Boogie.
My Advice to ANYONE purchasing an instrument from GC:
Every GC has a GC Garage Tech. Some of these folks are very talented, some not so much, but even the least of them qualified to handle a problem like this. Every GC has a humidity-controlled Acoustic Room. Ask that your instrument get a full setup and a few days in the Acoustic room free of charge. They will NOT say no, as long as you pay for the instrument, or put a serious deposit on it.
***Edit
Last edited:
The humidity was very well controlled back when I worked at GC ('00-'05). With the way the company has treated employees since the Bain era, I'm sure most of them these days couldn't care less if the entire inventory of the chain was ruined. It's hard to get excited about fret spout on unsold guitars when you can't even come close to making ends meet.
While I'd advise that this is unnecessary, you should have the fret ends addressed before you rehumidify the bass.
As well they should. A bass that experiences significant damage simply from cold weather wasn't properly dried in setup, and is actually defective.......
As an architect it is hard to fathom the construction of any space in cold climates that uses
gas fired forced air to heat but does not have an in-line humidifier- this is not a very high spec...
But seems that if you file the frets in the winter, and then summer comes, the frets will be short
due to the neck returning to its original size...
Give the OP some credit for at least bringing up the humidity issue- who the heck cares about GC?
gas fired forced air to heat but does not have an in-line humidifier- this is not a very high spec...
But seems that if you file the frets in the winter, and then summer comes, the frets will be short
due to the neck returning to its original size...
Give the OP some credit for at least bringing up the humidity issue- who the heck cares about GC?
I ordered a Fender American P bass from GC and when I opened it it had fret sprout (pretty bad). I thought maybe I should send it back or maybe I could just buy a file and fix it myself. Well after about 3 or 4 weeks of contemplating what I should do it was gone. It fixed itself and has played great ever since.
Ummmm....the contraction is in fractions of an inch......fractions. The frets aren't "short" come summer.........
Yeah...actually you did.
That evidence I believe you were referring to is simply the fact that despite the lack of humidification in most GC showrooms, the one and only widespread problem is minor fret sprout. If there really was a problem we'd all have heard the horror stories by now, many times over. This very thread is a testament to the fact that people love to complain about GC and if there ever was an epidemic of instruments damaged from being kept in their low humidity environment, we'd have to start a separate forum section for it.
Where I said that you'd be "hard pressed?" Technically i was pointing to a lack of evidence for mellows point, not inferring I had evidence of that negative.
Went into a GC about a month ago. Picked up a P Bass, the knobs fell off. Picked the knobs up to hand them to the staff and turned around to find that they had scattered. I didn't care to chase them around. So, I put the knobs back on and forgot about it.
I'm guessing it has to do with, among other things, the poopy arbitration contract GC is trying to shove down their throats.
I'm guessing it has to do with, among other things, the poopy arbitration contract GC is trying to shove down their throats.
