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Ugh, Guitar Center...

B

Barnabas

May 17, 2009
156
1
Atlanta
#1
That's right, another GC complaint story.
I got my bass back from the shop (fret dress)
My repair shop is right next to a GC, so I went in to see how she sounded.
I had to check my bass in, so the guy takes it out of the case, stares at the headstock (for about a minute) to get the serial, and puts it back in the case. Then he asks me...
"So is that a jazz or a precision?"
It says "Jazz Bass" in huge letters right next to the serial number. :crying:
I can't tell whats worse: the management or the employees. :rollno:
 
#2
Barnabas said:
That's right, another GC complaint story.
I got my bass back from the shop (fret dress)
My repair shop is right next to a GC, so I went in to see how she sounded.
I had to check my bass in, so the guy takes it out of the case, stares at the headstock (for about a minute) to get the serial, and puts it back in the case. Then he asks me...
"So is that a jazz or a precision?"
It says "Jazz Bass" in huge letters right next to the serial number. :crying:
I can't tell whats worse: the management or the employees. :rollno:
Click to expand...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
it's called guitar center for a reason. one of the TB'ers should start a Bass Center.
 
#5
Headless Llama said:
I will never understand how a company can have basses hanging on the wall and in the vault that are not tuned properly.
Click to expand...

There was this slick Vintage P ($3200) in the vault, but the tuners were completely locked.
I told an employee that it needed to be fixed when I was there a month ago. Today? Still no fix.
How do they expect to move a $3K+ item that you can't tune?
Unbeleiveable. :rollno:
 
#6
Do you really expect every guitar and bass at Guitar Center to be in tune? They're touched/played/tuned/retuned/detuned by hundreds of people every day. You can't possibly expect someone to sit down and tune several hundred guitars and basses every couple of hours. Do you?
 
#7
adamrobertt said:
You can't possibly expect someone to sit down and tune several hundred guitars and basses every couple of hours.
Click to expand...

It probably depends on the particualr store too. For the most part, the GC I go to isn't so bad about tunings. Of course, there's always the lemons in the bunch, but I haven't had any particularly bad experiences with it. For the OP's vault bass though, that's pretty awful that it still hasn't been fixed. I hope you have some pretty decent privately owned music stores around there that you can use as an alternative. For me, going to GC is like going to Walmart. I generally dislike the atmosphere, and would much rather support a local business, but there just aren't many alternatives.
 
#8
Barnabas said:
There was this slick Vintage P ($3200) in the vault, but the tuners were completely locked.
I told an employee that it needed to be fixed when I was there a month ago. Today? Still no fix.
How do they expect to move a $3K+ item that you can't tune?
Unbeleiveable. :rollno:
Click to expand...

I have been looking to try out a GK MB-2, and my local GC has one...but it's broken and has been for months. Despite me asking about it...
 
#9
i love GC!!! its like ToysRUs,... i feel excited when i get there. you can BS with strangers, freak ppl out with your amazing riffs, watch hot chics follow their androgenous BF's around like the blind leading the blind. rich kids bring their airhead parents in to buy the les paul custom with pearl inlay without even playing it! where else can you jam with ppl you can't even see?
 
#10
I was going to buy a used piece from yet another GC nowhere near me, thinking that the ones near me are band and it's just an isolated incident. I called to verify that it was still there (yes) and to give my info to buy it , resulting in:

A) the employee cutting me off mid-sentence to tell me he'd call me in five (he didn't)

B) me calling back to try again after he'd forgotten (two hours later) resulting in a 7 minute death hold and a "take the line off hold and hang up" manuever.

C) two more attempts resulting in a total of three more death holds and two more "hang ups"

I finally called the store manager to tell him why I'm not buying the piece. He offered to "take $10 off for my troubles"...gee, thanks. It almost seems like they're trying to sink the company on purpose...there is no other logical explanation. :eyebrow:
 
#11
You guys just don't know how good you have it.

There are THREE (3).THREE (3)....THREE!!!Music stores within a 130-150 mile radius from me.

Wow,and you guys are bitchin' about guitars/basses in stock,not being in tune & not being set-up properly.And,being played/thrashed by teens coming in after school.

Well,the service is GREAT at my local(??) stores.They DO NOT discriminate.ALL INSTRUMENTS,stay set-up.Perfectly!!

They keep ALL basses/guitars in tune.From the beginner basses:Series 10 & Rogue,and Hondo Basses.All the way up to their top-of-the-line basses:Squire,Peavey Grind Basses,in tune and set up.

Don't take it (Guitar Center) for granted,TB'rs.

Wanna trade locations for awhile,guys???

Huh,that's what I thought.
 
#13
I just had a Tobias renengade shipped to me from GC, just a thought but maybe let the buyer know that it has a some decal for a porn website on the back and has no strap buttons? I would have still bought it and it cleaned up nice. My biggest complaint of the Chicagoland Western Burb GC's is that there isn't really anything special. A few years ago it seemed like they always hard something maybe a used Status or Zon, A USA Lakland.... not so much now
Milbass come to Chicago we can go check out some Ritters
 
#14
Headless Llama said:
They don't tune the guitars either!
Click to expand...

I've heard guitar players that can't tune their guitars either. Plenty of 'em. It starts there with the player. There is one guitar section employee for what, 40-50 guitars, and each one of those guitars is touched a day by how many people? And we blame the employees for not having the guitar exactly in tune for whenever YOU come in the door?

Yeah, 9 times outta 10, the bass I pick up isn't tuned 100%, but come on, we are talking about tuning a guitar here...

Guitar Center has issues, but tuning? Really?
 
#16
davec said:
I just had a Tobias renengade shipped to me from GC, just a thought but maybe let the buyer know that it has a some decal for a porn website on the back and has no strap buttons? I would have still bought it and it cleaned up nice. My biggest complaint of the Chicagoland Western Burb GC's is that there isn't really anything special. A few years ago it seemed like they always hard something maybe a used Status or Zon, A USA Lakland.... not so much now
Milbass come to Chicago we can go check out some Ritters
Click to expand...

Dude,I would love to convince the ol' lady to take a vacation (to a nice,"bass-friendly town,perhaps??;)).(Ah hell.I just might leave her at home,tied up in the basement.)j/k!!:D
We went to Myrtle Beach this past summer.It was almost just as bad as W.V.At least I had the chance to play a U.S. Peavey Cirrus 6.
It's really,really sad that a man has to take his chances,and mail a load of cash to a dealer/seller on a bass that the buyer hasn't seen,played,or even heard,for that matter.NOT A GOOD FEELING.:rollno:
 
#17
Barnabas said:
That's right, another GC complaint story.
I got my bass back from the shop (fret dress)
My repair shop is right next to a GC, so I went in to see how she sounded.
I had to check my bass in, so the guy takes it out of the case, stares at the headstock (for about a minute) to get the serial, and puts it back in the case. Then he asks me...
"So is that a jazz or a precision?"
It says "Jazz Bass" in huge letters right next to the serial number. :crying:
I can't tell whats worse: the management or the employees. :rollno:
Click to expand...

Yep, trying out a bass amp one day, and brought my own bass in. The person at the door asked me what model it was, likely in part for confirmation of their guess, and secondly, because (and it is obvious) that the person was NOT a bass player. But that didn't mean they weren't a musician...

It was a fair question.
 
#19
I dont know if any of you guys been to the GC in hollywood but if you have you know the vintage section is heaven on earth. Tons of 50s and 60s jazz basses, 70s alembics, and even the first music man ever made. I actually work there, this gc rules. I can see why people can and will complain but give the dudes a break. Imagine how many less musicians their would be without GC.
 

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