So what can you buy at Guitar Center?

[Mor Paul]

I got my first bass at GC, before I knew anything. The rep just finished setting a guy up with a 200w Acoustic head with a 610 Ampeg cab. Today, that would have tipped me off.

Anyways I took the cheapo bass home and the nut cracked, so I took it back to the store. They offered to fix it for $40. I paid it, leaving my bass and gig bag there per instructions.

When I came back for it, the nut had splinters coming off of it, the case was missing and it had two dents in the back. I raised hell as they swore I didn't leave my case and now my guitar was damaged, until they offered to buy it from me as a used piece for $200 less than what I'd paid for it a week or so ago. I just took it home and sold it on Craigslist for $100 more than what they offered.

That would have been the end with GC, but I had a chance for some revenge. MusiciansFriend had a typo on their website, listing a new Warwick Corvette Standard 5 for $400. I printed it off, took it to the store and told them to match the price. The manager said the website was a mistake and they weren't about to lose money on the deal. Same manager that f'd me on the previous occasion.

One of my friends showed up to buy strings and I showed him the ad and suddenly he wanted a Corvette too.. ..and Mr. Manager, in interest of damage control, shooed me out the door with a $400 Corvette.

Never did like that bass, so I sold it on Craigslist again for more than I paid for it. But I felt vindicated.

The funny thing about this is that Guitar Center owns Musicians Friend.

Guitar Center owns Musicians Friend??? That is weird cause GC price matched a price for me off of MF.com. I've also noticed that like 6 other sites have the same inventory as MF. Musician.com, Music123.com, Brass and String.com, and some others. I guess they want to make it appear that there is competition, but it is a monopoly.

Standard Oil did it for years.

Someone call Teddy Roosevelt.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

As much as I am not a fan of GC, I still shop there out of convenience, and I don't think they are a monopoly simply because being the biggest game in town (by far) doesn't mean they are the only game.  I do live outside a major metropolitan area that has so many GCs, that when one says, "I was at GC," the question that follows is, "Which one?"  MarkO, Luke, and DougR6 probably go to a different one than me, and I go to a different one than my bandmates.  But there are other music stores between here and there that are brand name dealers.  BTW, it's one of the big 2 manufacturers (Fender or Gibson) that requires their dealers to carry the entire inventory of that make, and pay for the inventory at cost in cash, not on consignment like is usually the case.  In this case, it would seem only a big store chain could be a dealer.  And with Mesa, their stuff isn't available at a discount....anywhere.  MSRP is the price you pay, which makes the dealer's profit, not cost, smaller.  A Mesa dealership doesn't not enjoy the fruits of the ridiculous markup, so it costs them more to carry Mesa stuff.  As Mully can tell you, regardless of what they (Mesa) have in their catalog, it is left up to the distributor to carry it and you can not get stuff from another dealer if there is one close to you.  That being said, I've only seen 2 places that do Mesa by mail order.

 

[Superbeast520]

Im not much for Guitar Center but I use  Musicians friend and places like that to do research on products Im curious about before I buy, that and keeping up to date on new models of existing stuff...but mostly I use them for strings and accessories.....I like recieving their catalogues in the mail for eye candy and planning future buys....but Guitar Center seems to be about the most generic of the bunch so I kinda stear clear of them.......seems everything I want isn't on sale anyway, or if it is I don't have the funds at that time to buy, so not much use for the Big Guitar Center Sale....lol.... :laughing7:

 

[Soylent]

As much as I am not a fan of GC, I still shop there out of convenience, and I don't think they are a monopoly simply because being the biggest game in town (by far) doesn't mean they are the only game.  I do live outside a major metropolitan area that has so many GCs, that when one says, "I was at GC," the question that follows is, "Which one?"  MarkO, Luke, and DougR6 probably go to a different one than me, and I go to a different one than my bandmates.  But there are other music stores between here and there that are brand name dealers.  BTW, it's one of the big 2 manufacturers (Fender or Gibson) that requires their dealers to carry the entire inventory of that make, and pay for the inventory at cost in cash, not on consignment like is usually the case.  In this case, it would seem only a big store chain could be a dealer.  And with Mesa, their stuff isn't available at a discount....anywhere.  MSRP is the price you pay, which makes the dealer's profit, not cost, smaller.  A Mesa dealership doesn't not enjoy the fruits of the ridiculous markup, so it costs them more to carry Mesa stuff.  As Mully can tell you, regardless of what they (Mesa) have in their catalog, it is left up to the distributor to carry it and you can not get stuff from another dealer if there is one close to you.  That being said, I've only seen 2 places that do Mesa by mail order.

Which one indeed. I actually live in dallas now.. and the one off 75 and mockingbird is about walking distance from my house.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Which one indeed. I actually live in dallas now.. and the one off 75 and mockingbird is about walking distance from my house.  :icon_thumright:

I used to live over that way.  My wife used to work in the building at 75 and Caruth Haven.

 

[Justinginn]

When you live overseas, Guitar Center/Musiciansfriend are the best music stores in the world because everything there is 1/2 the price it is here. So we order stuff and then bribe people to bring us our gear back with candy.  :icon_jokercolor: We usually don't get a chance to play stuff before buying it.

 

[soma]

hey guys, i was googling around, searching for a non-Guitar Center guitar shop here in dallas, and i stumbled upon this thread...

so i see that there are a lot of people from dallas here, and i was wondering if you guys could help me find some good guitar shops in the dallas area, because for some reason i've had trouble finding some. I live in Plano, btw. i'd appreciate any help at all. thanks.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Which one indeed. I actually live in dallas now.. and the one off 75 and mockingbird is about walking distance from my house.  :icon_thumright:

Are you in The Village now?