Guitar Center - Ever happen to you?

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 23 Sep 2009 3:06 pm

Jim Cohen wrote:I think I'd rather have a root canal with no novacaine.

Here you go Jim: http://www.jokeroo.com/video/extreme/ni ... ntist.html

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 23 Sep 2009 4:11 pm

Yeah, I saw it. Still better than Guitar Center...

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 23 Sep 2009 7:03 pm

I'll make a deal with you, Jimbeaux. I'll go with you to Gtr. Ctr. and slap those young punks around to give you some peace. You come with me to my dentist, and slap him around if he hurts me.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 24 Sep 2009 1:25 am

root canal with no novacaine hurts, and you can't just jump up and run out out of the dentists office, but you can leave GC anytime you want and it is free.

Mark Lind-Hanson · Post by **Mark Lind-Hanson** » 24 Sep 2009 2:27 pm

Perhaps sensitivity to volume level is proportionate to testosterone level. The younger & more adolescent the player, the more there is, and so, the older one is, (with said levels decreasing with age over time) the more likely one is to yell
"turn down that racket!"
Just a theory.
"It's only hormones, Dad."

Duane Reese · Post by **Duane Reese** » 24 Sep 2009 4:51 pm

What I can't stand about GC is the persona of the typical sales associate (in addition to everything else)...

"Hey dude! Wuz up, bro? Like, it's totally gonna be $11.55 man... Alright! Thanks dude — rock on!"

I hate that environment in there. I hate going there. I always feel like running out, screaming.

Guy Cundell · Post by **Guy Cundell** » 25 Sep 2009 3:15 am

We have the same sort of thing here. It reminds me of a barnyard. The players often have their little "intimidation" licks which they play very loud and very fast. There's the triplet one and the even 16th and since the eighties there is the tapping one. It is an interesting phenomenon.

When I was at composer's school I had to get an avantgard thing together for some subject. I took a tape player down to our local GC equivalent and talked the sales guy into letting me hide it amongst the amps. I asked him if he would just turn it on when things really fired up which he did. As a result I handed in a twenty minute piece of sonic anarchy for my project and it was worth a credit, as I recall.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 25 Sep 2009 6:15 am

Sonic anarchy. I love that! The most perfect description of the modern music store ever! Not a bad band name, either.

Morgan Scoggins · Post by **Morgan Scoggins** » 25 Sep 2009 6:45 am

I have been to the local GC in Atlanta .The staff people are always busy chatting with their friends and the noise level is terrible. It just puts me out of the mood to buy anything.I did purchase an Epiphone electric guitar several years ago. The instrument had no case, so I ordered one and paid for it up front. Then everything went into slow motion. It took several weeks to get the case. Then they said I had not paid for it. It's a good thing I kept my receipt.

Josh Yenne · Post by **Josh Yenne** » 23 Jul 2013 1:52 pm

guitar center is evil

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 23 Jul 2013 2:48 pm

As a company, guitar center has a training problem. The people who work there generally (but not always) alternate between cluelessness, rudeness and apathy. Management doesn't have a plan in place to train employees about true customer service, the employees are angsting over who might get the commission on a sale and in truth, their target audience is not semi=pro or pro or even accomplished musicians.

They want to move lots and lots of $300 guitars and amps. sure, they stock some high-end and fine vintage gear but that's not their bread and butter or their target market. I go there as they're a necessary evil but I don't enjoy it.

Bobby Snell · Post by **Bobby Snell** » 23 Jul 2013 4:46 pm

Ack! Zombie thread!

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 23 Jul 2013 7:15 pm

As far as the noise level, imagine working there... no wonder they're apathetic!

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 24 Jul 2013 4:11 am

The worst time to go into a music shop is on a Saturday afternoon. On one side of the store will be a guy with a Strat plugged into a Fender amp trying to play 'blues' riffs like Stevie Ray Vaughan. On the other side of the store will be a guy with a pointy cornered Strat-like contraption with hot double coil pickups plugged into a Line 6 Spider amp with the mids scooped and gain up all the way and trying to play thrash metal rhythms like James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet of Metallica. The blues guy's guitar is in tune. The thrash metal guy's guitar is out of tune. Both are loud and make me want to run for the door whenever I hear them.

Mark Carlisle · Post by **Mark Carlisle** » 24 Jul 2013 1:20 pm

Maybe some fellow SoCal forumites who grew up around Hollywood in the 60's will remember when Guitar Center was on the Northwest corner of Sunset and Gardner "guitar row" as it's still called. That store seemed huge in those days and I recall being able to buy a L-5 for about $1200.00-nobody wanted those old archtops. Then we heard they were moving across the street and a block down-when that store opened everyone was awestruck by the sheer volume of stock. When they bought the old theater across the street and remodeled it that was just over the top. I still enjoy going to that store and visitng the vintage room downstairs. There is a loft opposite where the screen was that usually holds some Archtops and very few people go up there.There have been a couple of early Benedettos gathering dust up there for a few years-with the 30K price tags on them it's no wonder. I do avoid the weekends, though.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 24 Jul 2013 1:44 pm

Well,GC doesn't have much related to PSG,so I'd rather call up Del's shop or Bobbe Seymour about PSG stuff I need.GC used to be pretty good for hot deals,but they haven't been for 5-6 years now,so there's a distinct price advantage to getting six-string stuff online from Musicians' Friend,Sweetwater,or one of the other Internet retailers.The prices are the same,plus I don't have to burn gas and time or (for now) pay sales tax.

Besides that,the kind of young players making all that cacaphony at GC have no idea who Wayne and Garth were,so a sign saying "NO Stairway to Heaven" would be irrelevant.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 24 Jul 2013 2:20 pm

Dave Hopping wrote:Well,GC doesn't have much related to PSG,so I'd rather call up Del's shop or Bobbe Seymour about PSG stuff I need.

Where I live there are two Long and McQuade stores. L&M is the Canadian equivalent of Guitar Center. The larger of the two stores handles PSGs and accessories. They used to handle Carter, but now I think it's Mullen and GFI.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 24 Jul 2013 8:33 pm

@ Leslie-I remember Long & McQuade in Toronto from when I lived there in the early '60s.Does L&M now have some kind of corporate partnership with GC? I don't recall any of the GC's in Denver ever stocking new pedal steels.I'm not knocking GC-they cater to young rockers on a budget,so they have lots of budget-level instruments.I could be wrong,but I'm not expecting them to get a wall of new Franklin steels and another wall of new Milkman amps,or even a wall of new AVRI Jazzmasters.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 25 Jul 2013 8:02 pm

I don't think I've been to Guitar Center, but in 1998, I went to a little music store in Mauldin, SC called Phil's Music, and when I was there in 1998, they had a Sierra Artist pedal steel. I remember seeing it right when I first got into playing pedal steel. Phil's had a great selection of guitars-acoustic, electric, bass, and they've even had a few dobros, banjos, and mandolins, and they also carry drums. It's the kind of store where you don't hear guys turnin' guitars wide open and plyin' hard rock licks.

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 26 Jul 2013 2:56 am

Dave Hopping wrote:Does L&M now have some kind of corporate partnership with GC? I don't recall any of the GC's in Denver ever stocking new pedal steels.

No, L&M has nothing to do with GC. As far as I know only the one location in Saskatoon handles PSGs. The general manager has an interest in PSG and decided to stock them. I tried out one of the Mullen Steels in the store - a white RP D-10. The pedal action is much smoother than my Sho-Bud, but the guitar is just way too expensive for the amount and type of steel playing I do.

Jim Peter · Post by **Jim Peter** » 6 Aug 2013 7:06 am

Don't need Guitar Center, Elderly Instruments is just down the road. Now THAT's a music store. Great instruments, nice atmosphere and knowledgeable sales people.

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 6 Aug 2013 9:36 am

As far as the noise level, imagine working there... no wonder they're apathetic!

I worked in a privately owned music store in Fort Worth for a lot of years. As I got older I became a less tolerant of the 'kids' that came in, but my criteria was always this; Any 'performance' lasting over 10 mins or so went from an instrument/amp tryout to a 'concert'. That's when we pulled the plug...

Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 6 Aug 2013 7:07 pm

You guys ever ponder? The kids can thrash any instrument in the store. Now, you are paying new price for a used instrument.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 10 Aug 2013 1:29 am

Go to the NAMM Show sometime, it's like 20 Guitar Centers 8 hours a day for 4 days, don't forget your ear plugs.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 10 Aug 2013 7:47 am

There may be some relief in sight for all you Guitar Center naysayers. For over a year, financial analysts have been predicting that Guitar Center will ultimately file for bankruptcy. They are estimated to be in the red to the tune of over 1.5 billion dollars. Guitar Center has deep pockets, however. Along with sister companies Musician's Friend and Harmony Central, Guitar Center has been owned by Bain Capital since late 2007. Yes, that Bain Capital, whose business model has always been to pull whatever assets possible out of an acquisition, outsource the remainder, and sell off the dregs to the highest bidder.

Don't be fooled into thinking you're avoiding the evil Guitar Center by purchasing from Musician's Friend, because they are basically one and the same.

I remember visiting the original Guitar Center in Hollywood back in the eighties. Cool guitar store that specialized in used instruments. What a long, strange trip it's been...