The Self Righteous... And guitar center
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Posted on Jul 09, 2007 01:56 pm
Lexalotacus
Mamma Jamma
Member Since: May 20, 2007
Ok so I have two points of views on this topic...
(dont get all mad dB) lol
One:
Guitar Center sucks because the people there dont really give a crap, they lack the necesary knowledge, and they are in love with themselves because they work there.
Two:
People who think they are above the rest of us musicians by not shopping at guitar center are really just self righteous retards. Just because you like the smell of your own burps doesnt mean you're a better musician. I've gotten some sweet killer deals from GC before.
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Jul 09, 2007 02:09 pm OK, now I am pissed! (not really)
I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle, as your painting is done with a broad brush. Our local Guitar Center I haven't been to in ages, but, before this new-fangled internets thing I would be there a lot...there were a lot of jerks that thought they got the job cuz they know everything about everything...when in fact they got it cuz they could get them for a cheap price.
That being said, I have met a couple guys (that typically wind up managers, or get hired as such) that really love their job, their art and are very good at what they do and will gladly share the knowledge. They are not the majority, but they do exist.
As far as GC bashers, I join in cuz it's fun, but really, I don't have much against them...any more than I have against any store that has a "once in a lifetime [insert color] tag sale" every damned weekend...but there are people that are "gear snobs" that will only shop at boutique stores or whatever...
I have never been like that, I like pluging in, turning up the gain and just rockin out. I personally don't get anal retentive about stuff...what is funny though, most musicians I know pretend to be crazy picky about tone but in actuality have horrible sound or sound like I do, just rock out...there are really only a very few exceptions to theat rule to me that actually do have exceptional tone and know exactly how they got it.
Noize2u is one of those exception dudes...
Jul 09, 2007 02:14 pm Yeah, Im a tone junky as well. My favorite combination right now that I cant afford is the new fender super-sonic 112 and a SG standard cranked way up.... omg Im totally in love with the tone...
Jul 09, 2007 02:22 pm I find tone's I like and tone's I don't...one of my "tone junky" friends has a Marshall JCM900 (or something like that) that he loves, and I think is the worst sounding POS I have every heard...I just don't get it I guess...but that same guy has a little Vox that he got just cuz it's smaller and easier to move and whatnot, and it sounds awesome.
I am not too hard to please though, I like my TonePort models with a little tweaking and my lil smokie amp...I'm easy...to spend 1000% more time and money to gain a 5% better tone to me just seems stupid...that's my business brain working there, a simple case of ROI.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Jul 09, 2007 02:53 pm heh, it's become a case of OCD vs ROI
I've had a few off-the-path occurrences at GC, but also at local shops, where the owner/worker is way off base, and is unwilling to hear someone else's POV.
It can be found anywhere, and often is.
Take love where you can find it: To each his Tone.
I think I'm with dB here, I use modeling often, but I also have a Am strat & a 67 super reverb, so I can go both ways =).
My drummer buddy often says: who cares about digital vs analog? who in listening land can tell the difference, when listening on their cheap car speakers, or wally-world home setup, ipud, etc.
Whatever works.
Jul 09, 2007 04:25 pm i bash 'em for two main reasons...
1. from an ideaoligical point of view, i generally don't like the 'super-megavolume type stores such as GC, walmart and the like....i view them as bullies in an already cut-throat market. bottom line, high volume, and shareholder profits are what they are about. i simply choose not to give them my money (but i do go there and play/abuse their equipment without a shread of guilt. ยง=oP
2. my parents own a local music store and have to compete DIRECTLY with GC (along with the 20+ other music stores in the 1 hour radius of the store). people shop there because of the personal relationships they estabolish with my parents, me, a dog we keep in there, the teachers, and also because of the location. they understand we cannot match the prices of GC because we actually pay more for the same product. so naturally, our price is higher. sure we get the occasional customer that WILL drive 30 mins to save 4 dollars on drumsticks or something, but hey, whatever.
TallChapAnswer:On a good day, lipstick.Member
Since: Jun 24, 2004
Jul 09, 2007 07:10 pm I guess I'm a bit of a "user" on that front too... I do occasionally buy from GC, when the price is right and it suits me. I would not, on the other hand, ask many of their associates for the time of day, let alone the pros/cons of a certain piece of equipment. So I'll go to the boutique stores (where I do buy stuff too) for my advice. As WYD said, it's the relationships...
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Jul 10, 2007 09:53 am Having worked there I can not bash nore recomend. It is a fart store, just like wallfart, kfart, officefart, puterfart etc.etc.etc. All training I received was simply manufacturer rep driven and therefore all hype, no substanance. Everything revolves around "Take" or porfit margin on a product. Although they have a tiny hourly wage the sales people are in truth on comission only. It is not wage + comission. It is you better sell enough in comission to meet or exceed your wage. Huge emphisis is put on creating an environment to create 'buying frenzies'. Products displayed everywhere, a lot of noise, confusion at all times. All of the contemporary emotional attachement marketing techniques are pushed heavly. Every shift has three times the staff than can survive and the store manager keeps a two foot pile of resumes at all times. It is 100% bottom line price driven.
Yes I purchase there. I won't say I shop there. I shop at HRC, manufacturer's sites, at gigs where I hear other equipment. My performing is all about bottom line pricing too. I make little and I can spend little. I don't pretend to like it, but I can not deny it exists.
Jul 10, 2007 10:01 am Quote:
My performing is all about bottom line pricing too. I don't pretend to like it, but I can not deny it exists.
I think that is the key that most people forget...every one and every thing is bottom line driven, be it a person, a non-profit org, a business or anything...everybody has a bottom line to watch, those that don't perish, or, in America, taxpayers cover your stupid *** if you don't watch your bottom line.
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Jul 10, 2007 10:10 am Amen dB! You can't save the world if your starving to death yourself.
Jul 10, 2007 11:19 am I will never go to GC again. I buy most everything online, or else I go to Brickhouse Music in River Falls, WI...locally owned and operated. They'll match most prices, and they know what the heck they're selling.
To be honest, if I ever have a question about music gear, or what to buy or what to look for, I will post a question here at HRC first and I'll get everything I need to know within 24 hours or less.
Then I go and make an informed purchase and I haven't been burned yet!
Jul 17, 2007 11:07 am I currently work for GC. And none of you know **** about GC. I guarantee at the location I work at just one of us know more about gear than all of you combined. And any one that had a bad experience there was just because you wanted something that was totally out of the question. I know your kind people come in all day if I buy this drum kit I get all the cymbals free right. No you don't, DW does't make cymbals so why should I give you $1000 in cymbals for free. And everyone asks can I get a deal on this $5 clearance item. NO its on clerance(which is at the stores cost). And I hear alot of why don't you carry anything good? Look around ******* see the $25,000 EVH Frankenstein replica, or how the GC exclusive $30,000 Neil Peart DW drum kit. SO for all those bellyachers out there, shut the **** up. Stop asking us for free stuff, and to return books, and dvds, you know we can't return those due to federal copyright laws. And don't come in and ******* play Sweet Child of Mine, Iron Man, Stairway to Heaven, or anything Metallica. Everyone comes in sites down and plays those over and over and no one hardly ever sounds good.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Jul 17, 2007 11:57 am What a welcome addition to the thread.
Glad you're aboard, GC. Can't wait to read more of your insights.
Jul 17, 2007 12:04 pm Quote:
I guarantee at the location I work at just one of us know more about gear than all of you combined.
HA!
i don't trust any GC gaurentee's
i'm you're huckleberry...
Jul 17, 2007 12:09 pm ...and there is the exact reason I'll never shop there...such great people skills.
Quote:
And don't come in and censoreding play Sweet Child of Mine, Iron Man, Stairway to Heaven, or anything Metallica. Everyone comes in sites down and plays those over and over and no one hardly ever sounds good.
After a while of managing a music store myself, I can agree with that sentiment, however, I also remember the days I was just learning and thought it was cool to know those tunes...I guess nobody at his store was ever there, they were just born knowing everything.
Quote:
I guarantee at the location I work at just one of us know more about gear than all of you combined. And any one that had a bad experience there was just because you wanted something that was totally out of the question.
Pretty big assumption to make on people you know nothing about...
Jul 17, 2007 12:27 pm Something causes me to believe that anyone with enough wherewithal to amass $30,000 in extra money would probably also be too bright to blow it on a Neil Peart drum kit. Is that for real? If so, get used to looking at it on the showroom floor - it's gonna be there awhile.
Jul 17, 2007 12:48 pm I realize dB Master that everyone does learn at one point, however the ones that are learning you know. I am talking of the ones that are in the twenties and thirties saying they've played for 10+ years and still play these songs everytime they come in. And to Herb Utsmelz the Neil Peart kit only had 30 made dor the R30 tour. We sold two out of our store, one three months before the release, and the other off the floor(which had been the 9 days when it sold). Also to whosyourdaddy00 I do not guarantee anything I can not fulfill. My customers get taken care of as bet as I can. And if I tell them I'll give them something with there purchase or guarantee anything I stand behind it weather its a drumhead, or a cymbal, I do everything in power to guarantee their satisfaction. I would do the same for anyone here as long as it wasn't something out of the question like buying a Pearl Forum kit and trying to get hardware that cost $200, and a Cymbal pack that cost $230, thrown in on a $399 drumkit. I did not mean to directly attack anyone with my prior comment, but everyone thats gone to another GC and then to mine they tell us were diff from all the others because we do care(unlike the hollywood store). I just was upset because were not all bad but we get a bad rep due to just one person.
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Jul 17, 2007 12:50 pm Never been to GC but if gcemployee5150 is typical of the staff there I see no reason to ever go there.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jul 17, 2007 12:55 pm how about the time my friend tried to buy a pair of headphones from GC, got home and realised the headphones had already been opened and then realised they didn't work in one ear. Then when he tried to return them, the wise GC employee refused to take them back (on exchange), until my friend nearly climbed over the counter to knock his *** out, at which point the squirrely GC employee (and they're almost all squirrely from my experience) jumped, made the exchange, and then put the bad pair back up on the ******* shelf!!!
what did db say about most of the employees being hired because they think they know everything about everything?
Jul 17, 2007 12:59 pm Quote:
And to Herb Utsmelz the Neil Peart kit only had 30 made dor the R30 tour. We sold two out of our store, one three months before the release, and the other off the floor(which had been the 9 days when it sold).
I stand corrected. I guess the idiot parents of idiot rich kids are somewhat richer and more idiotic than they used to be. I'm not really surprised.
Jul 17, 2007 01:16 pm In all fairness, from my experience, the dude, while being pretty condescending, is speaking some truth. I ran a music store for a bit and the dudes like "Cymbal pack that cost $230, thrown in on a $399 drumkit." does happen, and we actually had a playlist memorized for people...like if a guy played song "a", the next song would be "b" it was so predictable and humorous we had fun with it.
Some of that is true...and granted, some stores are different, GC is a chain, there will be good bad and otherwise, however, whether his is good or not, I know very few people, outside of high school and middle school kids that don't know any better, that will shop at such places.
Most areas have some underground guitar shops that have way more unique and cool instruments and a personal relationship.
Besides that, I still laugh at stores that have a "Musicians, this weekend only get 90% off of everything with a purple ****** tag" crap every god damned weekend...just give me the best price you can any time and knock off the stupid *** gimmicks.
Jul 17, 2007 01:20 pm I've always been careful to never shop at music stores that have a sign outside including the words "Band Instruments"...
Jul 17, 2007 04:43 pm it's not you i can't stand, it's your company...
www.gearslutz.com/board/s...tar-center.html
and i doubt they'd back you up as much as you're backin' them up.
but ya better get over to the slutz and start defending GC over there too...
quick gear man, to the gear mobile.
Jul 17, 2007 05:03 pm people at GC are always nice and helpful to me. but here's one thing that kind of bothers me: they all seem to be extroverts, and it seems to be company policy to hire extroverts exclusively. discrimination!
i applied once and got called into an interview. didn't go. i can't be 'on' 24/7. i'm a little more low key than the peeps who seem to work at GC.
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Jul 17, 2007 05:45 pm maybe try applying at Sam Ash... they only hire introverts... I've spent an hour in the 'pro audio' department and never saw an employee.
granted... when Hauer Music was open I once had all the employees scream and run into the back room...
Jul 17, 2007 05:47 pm haha true about sam ash. that's so dead on.
Jul 17, 2007 05:47 pm lol how did you do that?
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Jul 17, 2007 05:51 pm The employees at Hauer were 'striking' ... I walked in though the door... someone yelled 'OH MY GOD A CUSTOMER!!!' and everyone made a mad dash into the backroom... about 30 minutes later the store manager came out so I could checkout... they were closed a month later...
Jul 17, 2007 05:56 pm pfft hahahaha
Jul 17, 2007 05:56 pm HAHA! that would really mess with my head, especially if i burned one before gooin' to the music (toy) store.
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Jul 17, 2007 09:01 pm I wonder what happens when walters walks into GC...
Jul 17, 2007 09:06 pm yeppers, wyd, though that's some funny a$$ stuff. as to guitar center, i shop there cause they've put every underground store in baltimore under-unless you all know of one around here....please! i could go to a couple of stores, but they're all for band instruments and stuff and while i'll go there for clarinet stuff, not so good for guitar or "pro" audio. gc employees are funny. a couple of weeks ago me and my buddy jess walked into the "pro" audio section cause i needed a set of 1/4 inch to rca cables. 4 store employees were there to help in succession in like 5 minutes......is it really so strange for 2 girls to walk into the "pro" audio section that we need 4 salesboys? so that's my answer....if you want service at guitar center, make sure you have two decent looking chicks with you, they'll be on you like white on rice. they're better than mars...those people really thought they knew it all......but guitar center put them out of business about 3-4 years ago. so at least they do something right.
peace.
jen
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jul 18, 2007 05:56 pm WYD, that **** is 15 pages long. I got through about 4 of them before my eyes were watering to much to continue.
GCemployee5150. I do bash the GC store here in MN for one reason only, all the employee's with the exception of a couple of the Pro Audio guys who number one in each of the two stores up here really do not know beans at all. I will not speak however on the other stores as I am sure the LA store requires a more educated sales person on their floor. In fact my son will defend that store as he has never had any trouble or been fed a line of crap.
But I will say the store up here were not like that in the 80's and early 90's. Most all were educated and knew there stuff. Sure there were a couple guitar dept. guys who cared only about sitting around and shredding. Or selling that big amp to the next sucker that walked in with a wad of cash.
And I will also state blatantly that there were several that I had long term relationships with that treated me exceptionally well. Things like if a certain piece of gear came to the store and they knew wanted or needed it I would get a phone call telling me to get my *** up there and get it. They would even go so far as to set it in the back so it would not get snatched up.
But sadly those days are gone now, at least here.
I now depend on a friend who owns a couple of music stores who can get me just about anything I need. And as far as cables and the like, I build my own so no need to go to another store for that.
In the end here at these store up here it is all bottom line, not about serving the customer but selling whatever and up selling whenever you can.
But indeed, I would come visit your store to check it out if I were ever in the neighborhood.
