Lol that bass has been there a while.]...... I haven't been in a couple of weeks, last time I was there they had 3 USA Musicman basses. They do always have a lot of Squiers....
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Went into Guitar Center, Wow
- Thread starter stuntbass77
- Start date
Lol that bass has been there a while.]...... I haven't been in a couple of weeks, last time I was there they had 3 USA Musicman basses. They do always have a lot of Squiers....
Having gone to Hollywood GC over so many years (same here), do you share my memory that 2007 - 2009 was some kind of crazy golden age for Precision basses in their vintage room? Rics too, for that matter... It was virtually a ' vintage showroom' downstairs. Last time I was there, the vintage stock was a shadow of that epoch. Wonder what happened?
My local is GC Sherman Oaks was in the midst of an aisle-widening last time I was there. They were featuring Gibson stock; I marveled how crummy their new six strings looked. The bronze age is indeed upon us!
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But demand likewise evaporated to such a marked degree that the merchant wasn't inspired to restock?
Norm's Rare Guitars in LA always manages continually source new vintage stock so as to maintain their customer/client base.
Presumably vintage and high end proved an overall loser for GC to the extent that they killed profitable outlets such as Hollywood along with the dead specialty rooms most elsewhere.
In any case, that Hollywood room was for a short while a total candy store, shoulda woulda coulda lurked there more often.
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Heck, I that was back when GC was still *decent* - and that store had a great used gear store right across the street (Freedom Guitar) - Alas...
Yes, I was in there 2 months ago after not being in there for about 18 years, that place is crammed! And Jay is such a nice guy (I don't remember him that way from 18 years ago, although I am different thankfully so maybe that's why!).
There was someone there paying for their child's first set of lessons and first guitar and if Jay had talked in that way to me at 10 years old or so I would have been very encouraged.
Haji
Supporting Member
Freedom really was a great shop. There were several good ones back then. The good old days...
I feel bad for the Mom and Pops, Fender puts TONS of pressure on them to sell quotas, minimum purchases are like $5000, etc. I know a guy that had to let his FMIC contract go bad because he couldn't sell the stuff they were making him buy, and they were pressuring him to make another purchase and double the last one...they're kinda thugs!
Haji
Supporting Member
Heard the same from my local shop. They didn't mind telling Fender to pound sand, though. It wasn't in their best interests to keep the account. It really hasn't hurt them.
Jay also has a more boutique inventory, I bought my first 2 stingray 5's from him. They use to take your picture with the new bass you bought
You know it's bad when you can recognize someone local by coordinating GC inventories.
Vancouver's L&M Terminal Ave. has a lot of expensive and boutique basses in stock, ranging from MIA Fenders to a few Rickenbackers to AVRIs to really expensive non-Fenders. They have a section for Squiers and a section for Ibanezes, Musicmans, and others. It's crazy. All those amazing basses I want but can't have/don't need.
Let's not even talk about their guitar section.
Let's not even talk about their guitar section.
GC in south austin sucks too. Budget basses is all they carry, one MarkBass head and a mb200, then little combos..boo..
Maybe people realized that buying guitars / basses from GC is dumb. How they can call those instruments new is beyond me.
That remodel is terrible IMO. They somehow shrunk the store.
Why carry all that inventory when a large chunk of their sales are internet?
Well, let's see, I have 5 (five) Guitar Center stores within about a 1 hour drive of me. It's kind of silly. I only ever go to one, and I go there maybe once every 4-6 months.
Last time I was there, just two weekends ago, I ventured into the bass section. I guess you could call it that. There were about 2 dozen basses in total and a smattering of amps. There was one other person in that section doing some slap bass licks. I looked at a couple of basses... the import Ernie Balls, a couple of Squires and a handful of low to mid range Ibanez. Nothing seemed terribly amiss - some could use setups or new strings, but all were playable.
I walked into the used section... 99% guitars. There was a cool 8 string bass of unknown make. I played it for a good 10 minutes just for giggles.
I'm glad I have a bass-centric store nearby, and another small shop that has some pretty nice mid to high end bass gear as well. GC is not a place I think about or go to when I'm gear shopping. I usually only end up in there when I need something like a cable, and I don't have time to make my own.
Last time I was there, just two weekends ago, I ventured into the bass section. I guess you could call it that. There were about 2 dozen basses in total and a smattering of amps. There was one other person in that section doing some slap bass licks. I looked at a couple of basses... the import Ernie Balls, a couple of Squires and a handful of low to mid range Ibanez. Nothing seemed terribly amiss - some could use setups or new strings, but all were playable.
I walked into the used section... 99% guitars. There was a cool 8 string bass of unknown make. I played it for a good 10 minutes just for giggles.
I'm glad I have a bass-centric store nearby, and another small shop that has some pretty nice mid to high end bass gear as well. GC is not a place I think about or go to when I'm gear shopping. I usually only end up in there when I need something like a cable, and I don't have time to make my own.
