I have never had anyone tell me not to play anything. Actually my experience has been the opposite. I must look like an easy mark or something because people are always trying to shove things at me. Even places I have never been before.
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Told Not to Use a Pick in a Store?
- Thread starter Nevitz
- Start date
If the store doesn't want me to play with a pick on their instruments, I can understand. Just like how they can understand why I won't be purchasing from them anymore. I once had a store try to do something similar to this, left a bad taste in my mouth.
Their prices were also terrible. Tried buying a Ric off of the same store once, 2012 used model with strings popping out of the nut: 1900$ FIRM....ha! I told the guy about the store down the street that had brand new ones for 1700$, dumbfounded he managed to spout some BS about how they weren't a Ric retailer so the prices would be higher.
Some music stores just make me sick.
Their prices were also terrible. Tried buying a Ric off of the same store once, 2012 used model with strings popping out of the nut: 1900$ FIRM....ha! I told the guy about the store down the street that had brand new ones for 1700$, dumbfounded he managed to spout some BS about how they weren't a Ric retailer so the prices would be higher.
Some music stores just make me sick.
This thread and a lot of the responses make me LOL. Why did we need to resurrect it?
I have personally seen cats with huge belt buckles, wallet chains and multiple metal bracelets come into a small store in a town I used to live in and trash an instrument before the sales guy could even get to them.
Get a grip people. That store is taking care of its inventory so that you MIGHT want to buy something.
Yeah right, you're going to walk in and look for that newly tagged instrument with the new price that someone has already trashed because the sales guy lets anyone do whatever they want with the instrument, so now that's "the One." Don't think so.
Why don't you try to actually get to know the sales people, or at least some of them. That helps. Just sayin'.
I have personally seen cats with huge belt buckles, wallet chains and multiple metal bracelets come into a small store in a town I used to live in and trash an instrument before the sales guy could even get to them.
Get a grip people. That store is taking care of its inventory so that you MIGHT want to buy something.
Yeah right, you're going to walk in and look for that newly tagged instrument with the new price that someone has already trashed because the sales guy lets anyone do whatever they want with the instrument, so now that's "the One." Don't think so.
Why don't you try to actually get to know the sales people, or at least some of them. That helps. Just sayin'.
It's entirely reasonable to walk into a shop and try a bass and play it how you are going to play it. This quite obviously does not extend to causing damage by scratching or banging it with your hands or belt buckles etc. That's common sense.
If my local bass shop told me not to use a pick I'd laugh at them so loud it damaged their ears and tell them they had just lost my money and that I was going to go to another shop down the road to spend it.
If my local bass shop told me not to use a pick I'd laugh at them so loud it damaged their ears and tell them they had just lost my money and that I was going to go to another shop down the road to spend it.
Fat Steve
The poodle bites, the poodle chews it.
All these replies asking if he was going to actually buy the bass are cracking me up. None of you have ever walked in to a GC or a local shop to try out a bass, knowing that you can't buy it that day but may in the future? You've never thought to yourself "I may not be able to afford this today, but that Rick looks cool. I wonder how it sounds and feels. Should I start saving up for it? I'll play it first and see" or something of that variant? Or should not having the money to make a purchase immediately prevent someone from trying it out?
There's quite a few disingenuous boy scouts in here.
There's quite a few disingenuous boy scouts in here.
Anything a pick can do to a bass as far as scratching it up, well..couldn't it do the same thing to a guitar? But they don't tell the guitar players "Nah, you can't use a pick, it'll damage it". Because you're expected to play guitar with a pick. They'll straight up give you a pick to use unsolicited a lot of times.
There's still a certain segment of bassists who think playing with a pick somehow makes you a less competent bass player. And the thing about a music store not wanting you to use a pick on their basses reflects this bias more than it does any real or perceived chance of hurting the instrument.
That said, I've never had anyone tell me not to use a pick on a store bass. And if they did, I'd also probably laugh at them and spend my money elsewhere.
There's still a certain segment of bassists who think playing with a pick somehow makes you a less competent bass player. And the thing about a music store not wanting you to use a pick on their basses reflects this bias more than it does any real or perceived chance of hurting the instrument.
That said, I've never had anyone tell me not to use a pick on a store bass. And if they did, I'd also probably laugh at them and spend my money elsewhere.
If someone told me to not use a pick in the store, I'd say OK and then proceed to find out just how loud the SVT and 810 really are when maxed out.
Actually, I went to a local music store to buy a guitar amp and I asked if they had a pick that I could use. They said that I could buy one for .75 cents. I had $500 in my pocket and I was ready to walk out of there with a new guitar amp but after that I just walked out. They lost a $400-$500 sale over a guitar pick. Went to a music store in Illinois and they were happy to let me use a pick and they got my money.
- May 16, 2009
- 625
- 743
- Disclosures
- Former Manager, Bass San Diego
If you play with a pick, you should demo with a pick. Store owners/managers/employees can easily get on edge, because they get so much traffic playing more than buying that they worry about the sale they lose out on because the picky guy wants the thing mint.
It isn't totally rational, as the instrument is made to be played with a pick, but it doesn't come from a miserly or mean-spirited place. As Fat Steve and others have said, it's common sense not to damage these things.
So yeah, if you play with a pick, you should demo with one. I had a customer the other day demo a Fodera and mention that he usually played with a pick (but it concerned him that he might damage the bass, so he hadn't asked to try one), so I put some blue tape under the G string and handed him a pick.
It isn't totally rational, as the instrument is made to be played with a pick, but it doesn't come from a miserly or mean-spirited place. As Fat Steve and others have said, it's common sense not to damage these things.
So yeah, if you play with a pick, you should demo with one. I had a customer the other day demo a Fodera and mention that he usually played with a pick (but it concerned him that he might damage the bass, so he hadn't asked to try one), so I put some blue tape under the G string and handed him a pick.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
An idiot with a pick can damage a bass in a couple of minutes.
One time I was in a GC and the sales people thought I was going to damage their cheap little bass amps by playing through them. I did not buy anything that day.
I have seen more people abusing basses by slapping rather than using a pick. Any idiot can damage a bass regardless of how they play, but I don't think the pick has anything to do with it. All of my basses look almost like the day I bought them.
I don't think ive ever had a positive experience in a music shop ever.
No offense to those on this board who are reasonable human beings (who work at said shops), but ive had plenty a nightmare situation to the point that I will go out of my way to never step foot in one again.
I find the employees are usually condescending and act like the customer is always wrong.
Thank god for online shops, and being capable of doing my own setups.
No offense to those on this board who are reasonable human beings (who work at said shops), but ive had plenty a nightmare situation to the point that I will go out of my way to never step foot in one again.
I find the employees are usually condescending and act like the customer is always wrong.
Thank god for online shops, and being capable of doing my own setups.
Stopped in to GC a while back-
they wanted 'new' prices for basses that were
gouged thru the finish from slap/poppers' fingernails,
and I've seen lots for sale that were ruined from belt buckle gouges and dents and overly aggressive pick players.
They'd never get my money for gouged-out, scraped-up stuff,
not even at a discount.
I don't think the market is big enough for all those 'road'-worn instruments.
Some 'players' just don't respect what they've not yet made their own.
they wanted 'new' prices for basses that were
gouged thru the finish from slap/poppers' fingernails,
and I've seen lots for sale that were ruined from belt buckle gouges and dents and overly aggressive pick players.
They'd never get my money for gouged-out, scraped-up stuff,
not even at a discount.
I don't think the market is big enough for all those 'road'-worn instruments.
Some 'players' just don't respect what they've not yet made their own.
Problem is that its harder for a store to enforce the 'Pottery Barn' rule than it is to mark down damaged stock. If you damage an instrument and decide you don't want to buy it then it's usually more trouble going to small claims court than just knocking off $100.
I don't blame stores for protecting their stock. If someone in a store thinks you're being too hard on an instrument then you probably. If you own it you can be as hard as you like on it.
I don't blame stores for protecting their stock. If someone in a store thinks you're being too hard on an instrument then you probably. If you own it you can be as hard as you like on it.
Do you test drive a new car and smoke a cigar in it? Same thing. Makes perfect sense for them to not want you to use a pick on a new bass. They are in the business of selling NEW instruments, not ones that are scratched up. Perhaps you would like it if someone came over to your house and used a pick on your bass and scratched it up. If you buy it, then by all means use a pick.
