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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 12:07 pm
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Marky Forrest wrote:
I went to a GC tonight to try one out and they only had two of them and their only difference was color. They were HSS with maple fingerboards. I was hoping to try a Pau Ferro, but no such luck. I haven't been to a GC in a while but I noticed they had much less inventory than I remembered.

They are dying.
I last stepped foot in GC last spring and will not go back. Inventory was horrible, sales staff didn't give a crap about anything. They had BROKEN guitars on display... at first I thought Ibanez was doing a "relic" thing with their Artist series, but no... this body was literally beaten up and damaged.
They had a bunch of Squiers, only a few MiA (all up on top, out of reach). They may have had 5 actual Gibson models, the rest were Epiphone (and again, out of reach).
But oh... they had a full 20ft wall section of "Wylde" models that would have been more in place 25 years ago. Their entire Bass *and* used guitar section combined was a little smaller than the Wylde display.

Sam Ash is killing them. No... Their employees and management are killing them. Sam Ash is showing that there IS still a market for a local music store. My last 3 guitars were purchased from Sam Ash.

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:03 pm
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Well GAS took over and I pulled the trigger on a beautiful Fender Player Series Stratocaster Plus Top - Aged Cherry with Maple Fingerboard. I put pictures in NGD.

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:16 am
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CB91710 wrote:
Marky Forrest wrote:
I went to a GC tonight to try one out and they only had two of them and their only difference was color. They were HSS with maple fingerboards. I was hoping to try a Pau Ferro, but no such luck. I haven't been to a GC in a while but I noticed they had much less inventory than I remembered.

They are dying.
I last stepped foot in GC last spring and will not go back. Inventory was horrible, sales staff didn't give a crap about anything. They had BROKEN guitars on display... at first I thought Ibanez was doing a "relic" thing with their Artist series, but no... this body was literally beaten up and damaged.
They had a bunch of Squiers, only a few MiA (all up on top, out of reach). They may have had 5 actual Gibson models, the rest were Epiphone (and again, out of reach).
But oh... they had a full 20ft wall section of "Wylde" models that would have been more in place 25 years ago. Their entire Bass *and* used guitar section combined was a little smaller than the Wylde display.

Sam Ash is killing them. No... Their employees and management are killing them. Sam Ash is showing that there IS still a market for a local music store. My last 3 guitars were purchased from Sam Ash.


Guitar Center went into bankruptcy a couple of years ago.


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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:12 pm
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chromeface wrote:
CB91710 wrote:
Marky Forrest wrote:
I went to a GC tonight to try one out and they only had two of them and their only difference was color. They were HSS with maple fingerboards. I was hoping to try a Pau Ferro, but no such luck. I haven't been to a GC in a while but I noticed they had much less inventory than I remembered.

They are dying.
I last stepped foot in GC last spring and will not go back. Inventory was horrible, sales staff didn't give a crap about anything. They had BROKEN guitars on display... at first I thought Ibanez was doing a "relic" thing with their Artist series, but no... this body was literally beaten up and damaged.
They had a bunch of Squiers, only a few MiA (all up on top, out of reach). They may have had 5 actual Gibson models, the rest were Epiphone (and again, out of reach).
But oh... they had a full 20ft wall section of "Wylde" models that would have been more in place 25 years ago. Their entire Bass *and* used guitar section combined was a little smaller than the Wylde display.

Sam Ash is killing them. No... Their employees and management are killing them. Sam Ash is showing that there IS still a market for a local music store. My last 3 guitars were purchased from Sam Ash.


Guitar Center went into bankruptcy a couple of years ago.

I don't like seeing music shops go but GC really fell apart. I won't miss them.

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Marky

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 6:48 pm
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chromeface wrote:
CB91710 wrote:
Marky Forrest wrote:
I went to a GC tonight to try one out and they only had two of them and their only difference was color. They were HSS with maple fingerboards. I was hoping to try a Pau Ferro, but no such luck. I haven't been to a GC in a while but I noticed they had much less inventory than I remembered.
They are dying.
I last stepped foot in GC last spring and will not go back. Inventory was horrible, sales staff didn't give a crap about anything. They had BROKEN guitars on display... at first I thought Ibanez was doing a "relic" thing with their Artist series, but no... this body was literally beaten up and damaged.
They had a bunch of Squiers, only a few MiA (all up on top, out of reach). They may have had 5 actual Gibson models, the rest were Epiphone (and again, out of reach).
But oh... they had a full 20ft wall section of "Wylde" models that would have been more in place 25 years ago. Their entire Bass *and* used guitar section combined was a little smaller than the Wylde display.

Sam Ash is killing them. No... Their employees and management are killing them. Sam Ash is showing that there IS still a market for a local music store. My last 3 guitars were purchased from Sam Ash.
Guitar Center went into bankruptcy a couple of years ago.

Yep... I'm honestly surprised that they are still open... haven't even closed any stores in my area.
Analysts did not expect them to still be doing business by 3rd quarter this year.

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 3:28 am
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Marky Forrest wrote:
I don't like seeing music shops go but GC really fell apart. I won't miss them.

I wouldn't necessarily miss 'Guitar Center' either...but it will also affect Musicians Friend; so I absolutely will. They (Guitar Center) also own Woodwind & Brasswind, Music 123, and Lyons Music. So a LOT of jobs will be affected.


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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:53 am
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White Dog wrote:
Marky Forrest wrote:
I don't like seeing music shops go but GC really fell apart. I won't miss them.

I wouldn't necessarily miss 'Guitar Center' either...but it will also affect Musicians Friend; so I absolutely will. They (Guitar Center) also own Woodwind & Brasswind, Music 123, and Lyons Music. So a LOT of jobs will be affected.

Interesting, White Dog. I did some research and learned that GC acquired MF in 1999 along with American Music Group (2001), Music & Arts (2005), Woodwind and Brasswind (2007) and Music 123 (2007). In 2007, Guitar Center also merged with an affiliate of Bain Capital Partners. As a result of the merger, the company ceased to be publicly traded and became substantially owned by affiliates of Bain Capital. In 2014, Ares Capital Management became the majority stakeholder of the company and Darrell Webb was named Guitar Center's new CEO. With solid goals and an unrivaled in-store experience, Guitar Center's mission is to enable musicians worldwide to experience the joy that comes from playing an instrument, the greatest feeling on earth.

That all sounds very positive, so what the heck happened?

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Marky

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 2:14 pm
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Marky Forrest wrote:
With solid goals and an unrivaled in-store experience, Guitar Center's mission is to enable musicians worldwide to experience the joy that comes from playing an instrument, the greatest feeling on earth.

That all sounds very positive, so what the heck happened?

Over-capitalized. Too many stores resulting in too much stagnant inventory not generating revenue, which also results in the stores not having funding available to replenish stock on items that are in demand.
There are 5 Sam Ash stores in California south of Santa Barbara, 17 Guitar Center stores. There are 7 within 25 miles of my home... 2 Sam Ash. Guitar stores don't need to be spaced 5 miles apart... they are not Walmart, competition is not so strong that they need to be the nearest store to everyone. Price and customer service drives sales.

I can walk into a Sam Ash and play a variety of $2000+ Gibson or Fender products... At Guitar Center, they might have 2 or 3 examples in that range, and they are on the top of the rack and out of reach, with nobody to retrieve one for you. Glendora has broken guitars on display and no Marshall amplifiers.

Glendora Guitar Center has a 20ftx20ft wall dedicated to "Wylde" guitar models... 1985 called and wants its guitars back https://www.guitarcenter.com/Wylde-Audio/
The next 15x20 space covers ALL of their basses and used guitars. They have about 30x20 to 40x20 for Gibson and Fender... but most of it is Squier and low end Epiphone.

Sam Ash has a good sample of Fender and Gibson budget/student lines, but the bulk of their inventory is $1,000+

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 3:07 pm
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CB91710 wrote:
Marky Forrest wrote:
With solid goals and an unrivaled in-store experience, Guitar Center's mission is to enable musicians worldwide to experience the joy that comes from playing an instrument, the greatest feeling on earth.

That all sounds very positive, so what the heck happened?


I can walk into a Sam Ash and play a variety of $2000+ Gibson or Fender products... At Guitar Center, they might have 2 or 3 examples in that range, and they are on the top of the rack and out of reach, with nobody to retrieve one for you. Glendora has broken guitars on display and no Marshall amplifiers.

That was exactly my experience. All the higher end guitars were well out of reach and the sales people were too busy bs'ing with each other to help. Also, they only had two Player Series Strats, as I mentioned before, and their only difference was color. One of them was on the floor for 5 days and was all scratched up and dented. The other was on the floor for 1 day and already had a few scratches. I asked if they had any new ones that were still in the box and was told that these 2 are the only ones they had. How do they expect to sell those examples? I don't know, but I wouldn't buy one.

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Marky

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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 5:13 am
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Marky Forrest wrote:
they only had two Player Series Strats.....One of them was on the floor for 5 days and was all scratched up and dented. The other was on the floor for 1 day and already had a few scratches.
How is that I wonder? How do people walk into a store, grab an expensive item that doesn't belong to them, and just start damaging it? I don't get it.
I'd imagine there are MORE car shoppers than there are guitar shoppers...and when we take a car for a test drive, we don't bring it back to the lot all scratched up and dented; why do people seem to be so disrespectful and careless with beautiful instruments?
I wouldn't buy a guitar that some greasy chicken finger has kicked across the room either. I have bought a 'floor model' amp before because I really wanted the amp, and the people at Guitar Center "claimed" they had no more in storage---so I talked them down 25%, and took the one with a small dent in the Tolex on one side and had no box, and no manual.


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Post subject: Re: New Player Stratocasters
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:34 am
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White Dog wrote:
Marky Forrest wrote:
they only had two Player Series Strats.....One of them was on the floor for 5 days and was all scratched up and dented. The other was on the floor for 1 day and already had a few scratches.
How is that I wonder? How do people walk into a store, grab an expensive item that doesn't belong to them, and just start damaging it? I don't get it.
I'd imagine there are MORE car shoppers than there are guitar shoppers...and when we take a car for a test drive, we don't bring it back to the lot all scratched up and dented; why do people seem to be so disrespectful and careless with beautiful instruments?
I wouldn't buy a guitar that some greasy chicken finger has kicked across the room either. I have bought a 'floor model' amp before because I really wanted the amp, and the people at Guitar Center "claimed" they had no more in storage---so I talked them down 25%, and took the one with a small dent in the Tolex on one side and had no box, and no manual.

I was disappointed about their condition,too. I don't think a musician caused the damage because we usually have far more respect for the instrument, especially if it belongs to someone else. I think some parents brought their children with them and didn't supervise them. These guitars were on floor stands, out of view of the sales desk, and the damage looked like they were banged into shelves or whatever else was around. The sales staff didn't seem to care, either. No salesperson approached me, even though there were three of them and only two customers in the store. I had to go over to them, who were just talking to each other, when I couldn't find a Player on the wall. Bad parenting + uncaring sales staff = beat up demo guitars. At least that's how it appeared to me.

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