Why does Guitar Center hate bass players? And freedom?

[Scootertrash]

Which to me is odd because of all the musicians and bands I've run across, it's always the bassists who has money and/or a more stable job than guitarists.

Now there's a statement I can agree with...!

 

[Infidelity]

..But I doubt that one person flashing money would make them bring more stuff over for him to try out...

Now I know why they ignored me 100% of the time! Great stuffs!

 

[pringlw]

Yep. You can guarantee that most of GC's business is to the thousands of kids who pick up guitar for a year or two. Those kids outnumber bass players by a long long margin. Which BTW is why good bass players can always find work.

 

[mpdd]

i am not going to complain about guitar center in pasadena, because they fill a niche, new markbass, new fender, new ibanez, new shecter, and new gk stuff are not available at the vintage places i go to regularly

 

[Adam Bomb]

Some of these responses make a tremendous amount of sense to me. If their advertising is purely a reflection of their bottom line (and, in a way, hopefully it is), then that's just good info and the way it is. Mayhap the GC I go to is unusually funkay.

Pringlw, you make a solid point there. I've been in a lot of bands for a guy who isn't very good. For this I am grateful. I'll get my bass porn online.

--Bomb

 

[Musiclogic]

Thank you OP for beinging such a seriously unnoticed deficiency to the attention of Talkbass, if you wish for a broader sample, thy the "Jemsite"...LMAO

 

[BassBob1]

I personally could care less about what's in a catalog. I'm actually surprised guitar center and the like are still sending them out when most people with enough disposable income to buy an instrument can afford and have internet access. Hence print such as catalogs is both a waste of there money and resources. That could explain why the catalog you mention is smaller. If i had to guess, before long catalogs will be a thing of the past. Pretty cool that there are a lot of bassist making there way through your local guitar center. That has not been my experience and that is just fine with me. I will gladly deal with more noodling guitar players than a bunch of bassists in the much smaller bass section when I am trying out stuff.

 

[kenfxj]

My semi-local (East Brunswick NJ) is very bass friendly. More guitars than basses, naturally, but a nice sized bass room plus basses by the pedals.

 

[P. Aaron]

This subject has been hashed out a number of times. GC, like many music store has its limits.

It's akin to asking why pop radio doesn't play more Yes, ELP, or King Crimson.

If you're looking for more exotic makers & gear, you're going to have to look elsewhere 'cause it doesn't make monetary sense for GC to stock stuff that has an expensive buy-in and long shelf life and a limited niche market.

That doesn't mean that exotic basses & gear aren't as good or any of that but, GC is in business to keep the lights on...any way they can.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

See, that would make sense to me, if they didn't sell basses and bass amps. But they do. They have a fine selection, IMO. But they don't advertise it?

Maybe bass players do more homework than guitards and are less affected by advertising? Maybe TB is doing their heavy lifting for them?

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--Bomb

Two hard-to-dispute facts:

• The average guitar has a lower price, and so moves faster;
• There exists far more guitar players than bassists, so you have a bigger potential customer base;

I have been to *one* GC that had a good bass selection in the past 10 years -- that was in Westwood, where the honchos work. Every other one mostly has Chinese made firewood with a smattering of EBMMs / MIA Fenders and the occasional Modulus or Pedulla (which are usually abused). The last bass I bought at GC was used and a good deal.

 

[Ubersheist]

Fine selection? Only if online. In my local GC, which I visit at least once every two weeks, they have always the same basses. Fender (Squier, MIM, MIA) takes half of the section, with only a couple of Am Std Ps and Js. Ibanez takes a quarter, with those narrow spacing SRs, then the other quarter is disputed by run-of-the-mill EBMMs (no Sterlings, only Stingrays and Sterling by MM) and Schecter, with one or two Moduluses. Really depressing.

You get Moduluses? Wow.... the GC near me, as well as the one that I just moved away from could all be described as having the above stock, plus one or two Warwicks, and a Beatle Bass or two. BO-RING! Even though I own one, I think that all those P-Bass copies are so incredibly dull and trite. I love Jazz basses, but I don't need to look at 10 of them. That's 95% of their stock - P-Bass or Jazzes and/or copies. BLAH.

I'm in the market for a hollow body or semi hollow short scale bass. It'll never show up in GC.

 

[kenfxj]

Guitar Center is what Guitar Center is. I don't quite understand why that upsets people.

It's almost like going to a Chevrolet dealership and complaining that they don't have any Mercedes or Lotuses or that there are too many people there shopping for cars.

 

[stratovani]

Recently I started a thread about GC and basses. I basically said that the problem I had with my local GC was that the basses were so much in need of just a very basic setup, most of the ones I tried were either very difficult to play, or in the case of a Fender MIM P-Bass, completely unplayable. I didn't really have a problem with their selection, since GC has a certain target clientele, much like Walmart caters to a certain clientele. I'm not saying that it's bad or anything like that, just that that's the way it is.

 

[Rebop]

Guitar Center is not a music store. This shouldn't surprise anyone. They do what they do and if you don't like it, don't shop there. I wish I had it as easy as you slab players. I can't even pick up a set of strings there if I need to in a pinch.

 

[Doctor Dirt]

I think their Nationwide USED dept. is a great place to find a good to great deal on a used bass. Just bought a P-Bass/USA/2008/ burst finished/maple board/ with emg's and heavy bridge for traditional stringing. They threw in the rectangular monster case (ridiculous) and a goofy strap, the shipping was 16.00 and deal was at 649.00 not bad at all. The manager was straight up with me and what he said was a reality when I held the piece in my hands. Honest young man and I thought the deal was very good. Doc

 

[PaulMacCnj]

It's a matter of economics. Like has been said, there are a lot more guitar players than bass players. So, GC has to cater to what keeps them in business; sales! I started going to GC (East Brunswick, NJ) in 2004. The inventory of basses was much better back then. The offerings were more diversified and included Spectors, Warwicks, etc. Now, it's mostly Fender (Squier), Schecter and Ibanez. Then again the overall inventory of all product lines is much less than it was 5-7 years ago. It's a sign of the crappy economy.

 

[sethlow3]

Supply and demand. I guarantee that they sell 10 times the amount of guitar gear and even keyboards more than basses, and come on...the store is called "GUITAR Center"...

If you want a bass only store, check Bass NW, bass central, or the low end. Name says it all...

 

[Staccato]

Limited bass/bass gear selection at best...

As one that has spent plenty in GC, and never returned anything (not one item), they take care of me. And, it's nice to hear, "hey, you haven't been in-for awhile" as one employee stated last weekend. I guarantee you-the employees in my local GC do not consider me a high maintenance customer...

 

[OnlyJerry]

Which to me is odd because of all the musicians and bands I've run across, it's always the bassists who has money and/or a more stable job than guitarists.

People with more money, are mostly more careful how they use them. That's probably how they ended up with the money ;>