I was commenting on the following post.
So that's why I said, That's your bass, you own it, so I can respect that. In a music store, not so much, etc.
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.
Told Not to Use a Pick in a Store?
- Thread starter Nevitz
- Start date
I was commenting on the following post.
So that's why I said, That's your bass, you own it, so I can respect that. In a music store, not so much, etc.
When I worked at Thoroughbred Music, we'd go in the back and get them whatever model they were about to buy, regardless of how much of the product was moving at the time or not, and we moved a good deal of product. The key is making sure you keep your inventory stocked and if we didn't have it in stock, we'd call up one of the other 2 stores and get it for them.
Obviously the one on the wall is there to be sold, but unless the customer wanted that specific guitar/bass, (which was rare) it remained on the wall. When it did sell, we'd put a new one out and repeat the process over again. Sometimes the one on the wall would take a a bit beating and we'd have to drop the price, but since you worked in music retail, you know as well as I do, that the store would still make a profit on it, albeit a minimal one. If yours didn't do that, then I'd be hard pressed to believe that it wasn't sold at cost, so they at least break even.
The way to use a pick without scratching the bass is to play from the wrist, not the elbow. To play fast, clean, and good, you want the smallest hand motion possible to get the sound you want. A real hard dig-in with a pick should come from a fast, strong, small twist of the wrist; not a windmill from the elbow.
The wood is so far away from the strings I can't imagine how anyone would play so big that the pick would come anywhere near the body.
For me ceiling fans are a much bigger hazard
I don't think anyone is denying that proper pick use won't harm a guitar or bass. These aren't the people we're talking about. It would take us decades to "relic" an instrument the way others can do in a couple of years.
picking with a bass doesn't harm anything you just get a different sound, personally I don't like picking but thats just because I find it gives a floppy sound and a little weak, fingers give a full strong sound, but it's up to you that's just my opinion
Handyman said:
No of course not. I'd say most players play with enough finess.
Abusing a bass in a store is like doing a burnout in a dealerships' car. And there has to be truth to that because I see damaged basses hanging in the big chain stores all the time.
Of course that does not mean the OP was abusing a bass...not at all. Like I said in my two posts ago, it happened to me too, and I can respect the store owners decision without taking any offense.
But some of us are simply trying to convey what we do see happen as I do like to check out gear at places like GC, I sit and observe with every visit to the store there is always at least someone I spot abusing, banging, or accidentally smacking an axe into an amp.
remember those stone agate picks and the thin brass or metal picks from the 80's ? those would tear it up !
I think it's totally rational, i mean, I specifically pick only with my beater bass and it's all scratched because of it. There's kind of a dip in the pickup from me scratching my pick there so many times.
You might be careful with a pick, but they don't want to risk it.
On the other hand, guitarists use picks in music stores, so...
You might be careful with a pick, but they don't want to risk it.
On the other hand, guitarists use picks in music stores, so...
Well, the instrument he demo'd the rig with was pretty similar to the one he actually owns if his profile info is accurate...They're there to read, it's not creepy.
No - but it does makes since because if you scratch the pick guard with a pick they would have to sell it as used although since it was a demo the price should already be reduced somewhat.
No, but I was in Avenue Guitars (Edmonton) with my father once (it's quite congested in there with all the guitars, basses and amps). My dad had picked up a bass to play (he's in his fifties, and he's been playing bass since he was 16, and he's got about 30 years of professional playing under his belt), so he just grabbed one and went to jam.
This young guy who works there comes and tells him when he puts it back "just so you know for the future, ask one of us to grab the bass for you instead of grabbing it yourself". My dad's response? "yeah, thanks buddy. I've been playing bass since before you were born" and left the store.
This young guy who works there comes and tells him when he puts it back "just so you know for the future, ask one of us to grab the bass for you instead of grabbing it yourself". My dad's response? "yeah, thanks buddy. I've been playing bass since before you were born" and left the store.
This reminds me of an incident at a local too me then shop back in the 90s. Some guy is trying out rather expensive Martin guitar, and asks the salesman if he can go back into the managers office to get away from the showroom noise. The salesman obliges.
Several minutes later there's then horrible "thwack, clang, crack" noise. The dude decided to hold the guitar up in the air to look inside the sound hole in better light, and stuck it into the running office ceiling fan. Oops...
Don't know who ended up eating the cost, but it was one of the more exiting music shop trips I've been on.
Moral of the story: ceiling fans are more dangerous than picks.
You're not wrong!
You've just reminded me of the opening party we held in Stockholm for a bar I set up, called the Betty Fjord Clinic. We had an outrageously cute barmaid in a little nurse's outfit, and the other two of us were wearing surgeon's scrubs, with comedy name-tags (mine was unprintable, wish I could share it here). The bar was packed with A-listers, Mick Jagger was a guest of the adjoining sister restaurant also opening that night, everyone drunk and dancing, etc.
One of the investors picked up the 'nurse' by the waist and lifted her in the air, and the metal ceiling fan took a big slash out of her arm, spraying the crowd with blood. They thought it was part of the entertainment, a little bit of theater to liven things up...
You should have seen the confused looks on the faces of the Paramedics when they arrived, seeing a 'surgeon' in scrubs outside the club, holding closed the wound of a blood-splattered nurse in a miniskirt...
Demo is demo. I say keep new models off the sales floor. If someone comes in asking for one, bring it to them and let them goof on it for a while. Why put a new model on the floor assuming that someone isn't going to come up and start playing it?
It's a tough call for a small store without a lot of stock, but I think they went too far in this case, especially if he's sitting there near you while you demo it.
Anyway, there is no right or wrong, just the store's decision and the customer's decision whether to continue shopping there.
Anyway, there is no right or wrong, just the store's decision and the customer's decision whether to continue shopping there.
Ohoho..ahah... heh.. heehe... haheehh... ouch my liver...
Well, stores can be picky about pick use for a variety of reasons, pick one...
Never happened to me, I don't use a pick most of the time. However, this is a perfectly reasonable policy, although he may have been tactless in his request and/or wording, which makes it tough to want to go along with it. Nobody can stock "demo" models for all the instruments they sell. There are simply too many makes, models, and variations thereof. I live near Elderly, sort of, and do all my shopping there. They stock over 1,800 different instruments, many of which are worth upwards of $5,000, and as high as [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] (no, not a typo). Is it reasonable to expect them to stock a $5,000 instrument for demo and keep a new one in a box when they may only sell one or two per year? No. They keep one of everything out on the floor, and keep back stock of the cheap instruments and the big sellers (Fender MIM Standard, for instance). Either way, what you play is what you buy, unless you specifically ask for a new-in-box instrument. This is one of the best guitar stores in the country, and they can't maintain a "demo" inventory. Think about it... if you purchase a "new" instrument, would you want it all scratched up, or would you want it to be new? I'd rather it be new, personally, so I wouldn't want someone else playing my bass with a pick, nor slapping and popping on it. I don't abuse my instruments, and would expect the same courtesy from others. Remember, too, they own these instruments, so they have the right to decide how they are handled. If you let someone else try your instrument, would you want it treated with respect, or scratched with a pick, banged into an amp, pushed into a ceiling fan, and pulled up by the strings? Show the store (owner) the same courtesy you would show a friend loaning you their instrument.
