Guitar Stores Are Insane

Comments · 573

• TJ

  @TJPags8626 · 8 months ago (edited)

  I was at guitar center a few months ago and I was playing around with a $2000 EVH Frankie replica and I went to go hang it back on the wall when I was done and this kid (about 16-17 years old) asked if I was putting it back because he wanted to try it. I handed it to him and starting walking around again . I circled back a few minutes later and saw that same guitar, still plugged into whatever amp he was playing out of, just laying on the floor. Instead of standing up and hanging it back on the wall like a normal person, The kid just tossed a $2000 guitar right on the floor. Prime example of why I don’t buy that kind of stuff from guitar center. I can’t believe the level of disrespect out of these kids, and some adults aren’t much better.

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• BI

  @BizarrePudding · 8 months ago (edited)

  I was in a GC a couple of months ago when 3 dudes took down 2 guitars and a bass and plugged them all in ...They sat in a circle as the rhythm guitar player/singer started teaching the other 2 some tunes, calling out the changes as the 3 of them worked out their parts, the arrangements, etc...They had actually gone in to GC with the intention of having a full scale band rehearsal (minus the drummer) using GC's gear...Went on for at least 1/2 hour before a salesman finally caught on and broke things up...They put the gear away and left without buying anything... Classic

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• JO

  @johnh1353 · 8 months ago

  Rule of thumb in a music store, you don't want people to touch it, its on the top row or behind the counter

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• L.

  @l.j.mattingly4992 · 8 months ago

  Several years ago I was in a very nice guitar shop in Alabama and everything was on hangers behind the counter. They had nice D-28 on the wall and I asked to try it. &nbsp;The guy behind the counter looked at me and said, “Do you plan on buying it?”<br>I said, “I am not sure. I would like to try it.”<br>He said, “If you are ready to buy it, fine. Otherwise, no.”<br>I own a number of very nice guitars and I wasn’t a kid at the time. I was 50 years old. &nbsp;I had never experienced anything like that. &nbsp;<br>The place did go out of business a couple years later, which I really understood.

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• JI

  @jimcoop5663 · 8 months ago

  &quot; ...she had no idea.&quot; 😂😂😂 I&apos;m dyin ovah heeah laughing 😂😂😂

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• DA

  @davidcorsi4665 · 8 months ago

  Say what you will, kudos for GC &nbsp;for not making people feel guilty for, gasp, actually picking up a guitar and playing it.

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• VI

  @vinidajackal · 7 months ago (edited)

  Went into GC in 2020 in Winston Salem NC with zero intention of buying anything, walked out with a $2,000 Les Paul. &nbsp; Granted my first big guitar purchase in many years, but that&apos;s what I LOVE about GC is they let you try anything and don&apos;t hound you to death about intent to purchase. &nbsp; Went into one in PA 10 years ago while away on business trip - I LITERALLY used it to rehearse for an upcoming Journey tribute band gig that weekend. &nbsp; Played for 1 1/2 hours at low volume in the back, left with a used Line 6/Bogner combo amp, had to pack it and check on the plane home. &nbsp; Most people IMO are careful with the expensive guitars, been going there for over 30 years, bought a PRS in &apos;96 from a GC for over $3k in today&apos;s dollars. &nbsp; The open policy WORKS and drives customer loyalty.

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• BE

  @benniejohnson81 · 8 months ago

  It’s not just customers in GC. I’m in Florida and bought a used guitar online that was at a GC in Tulsa. I paid $900 for it. When it arrived I unboxed it and it was so grody. The strings looked and felt years old. The guitar had been modded in ways that weren’t disclosed, etc. <br>I received a follow-up call from a GC online associate. I told him that I was going to keep the guitar then listed my disappointments. Then I said, “you know, they could have at least wiped down the guitar.”

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• MA

  @MarsHalekGuitar · 8 months ago (edited)

  The big difference that you&apos;re missing is that at no other store, regardless of the price of the merchandise, do you not only pick out an item, plug it in to another item, but also proceed to make well over one hundred decibels of noise showcasing your talent or lack thereof for all the other customers to see and hear.<br><br>I do also remember when I first started going to guitar stores in the &apos;70s that I was very aware of the potential to scratch the brand new merchandise. This also made me wary of letting people try out my new guitars, even more so later on after someone almost destroyed the top of my Seagull &nbsp;acoustic in one quick go.

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• GU

  @guitarcheology · 8 months ago

  In the 90’s, I worked at a shop that specialized in vintage, but also sold new. Anything with north of $1500 was in an area you we had to escort the shopper to. We had lots of problems with people wearing chains and not being careful of the chains rubbing the guitars, and people stealing small parts like tremolo arms, knobs, tips, etc off the guitars. <br><br>We ended up having to do it with all acoustics as well during the unplugged boom. Usually because if buckles and chains damaging guitars. GC let anything go, and it was reflected in the condition of their display pieces.

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• AL

  @ALAN-WlLDER · 8 months ago

  Never buy a guitar off the rack without a discount. It&apos;s basically used gear.

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• SC

  @ScaerieTale · 8 months ago

  I laughed out loud because this made me realize, every single guitar store that used to be within 3 hours of me where the employees would make you feel like a criminal for even daring to try anything more expensive than the $75 laminate trash with the mile high action, have all gone out of business and all that&apos;s left is one &quot;Appointments only&quot; shop where they actually help you, and two GCs.

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