Guitar Center stories good and bad

[JohnDavisNYC]

they were blowing out 2" tape last week and i got 6 reels of Quantegy for $300... that was nice. $50 a reel is a nice happy price.

john

[wedge]

I have never set foot in a GC, but after reading these stories I am going to make a point of driving 40 minutes to the closest one to see what kind of trouble I can cause......

I have a friend who keeps annoying GC employees at bay (and they *are* annoying, with they're radio dj / car salesman voices) by saying whatever bizarre syllables that come to his brain at the moment...

Salesman: "May I interest you in a Tascam four-track"

My Friend; "Beat the daises with a batters box, eh?"

That type of weird, nonsensical reply keeps them away for good...

[DokorderFreq]

Today I feel like I scored the greatest deal at GC. I've been loosely eyeing the KRK RP6s for a spell just for their price advantage. Never heard one or any other brand for that matter although the Yamahas sure looked tempting! Anyways, I went to kick about at the local GC, learning that they were doing this "Guitar-A-Thon" promo thing (10% off a single item), and end up in pro audio last pass. I witness they have the RP6 'limited edition' (black cone) on sale at $170 ea. I think that's pretty good, but wonder if I can do better on line, so I pass them up. Do some homework & realize that the cheapest out there is $400/pair with free shipping, and that no one has given a bad review about these things. Figure that even with local sales tax I'd be ahead of the game. So with an hour to spare I bolt back down to GC and pick up a pair off the floor (only 6 units left from what had to have started out at 20 units). Get to the counter asking for the promo pricing. The counter boy says "Do you have the coupon?" I says "Well. . .I printed it out from the website & left it on the printer, can you still swing it?" He says "Sure, no problem . . I'm just going to ring it up as one pair rather than single units to make it easier". OK. Takes my GC card, punches in some numbers, and then says "OK, that'll be $305 for the pair, $322.70 with tax". "Cool!" says I. Sign the pad, take the receipt and a monitor under each arm & out the door I go, all the while saying to myself "That's not what the promo sign read!". I think the kid rang me up for RP5s which were $150 ea!! I feel like this was the deal of the year for me, for I doubt I could touch these at this price even if used!! Did I score well or what?!?

[A-Barr]

Today I feel like I scored the greatest deal at GC. I've been loosely eyeing the KRK RP6s for a spell just for their price advantage. Never heard one or any other brand for that matter although the Yamahas sure looked tempting! Anyways, I went to kick about at the local GC, learning that they were doing this "Guitar-A-Thon" promo thing (10% off a single item), and end up in pro audio last pass. I witness they have the RP6 'limited edition' (black cone) on sale at $170 ea. I think that's pretty good, but wonder if I can do better on line, so I pass them up. Do some homework & realize that the cheapest out there is $400/pair with free shipping, and that no one has given a bad review about these things. Figure that even with local sales tax I'd be ahead of the game. So with an hour to spare I bolt back down to GC and pick up a pair off the floor (only 6 units left from what had to have started out at 20 units). Get to the counter asking for the promo pricing. The counter boy says "Do you have the coupon?" I says "Well. . .I printed it out from the website & left it on the printer, can you still swing it?" He says "Sure, no problem . . I'm just going to ring it up as one pair rather than single units to make it easier". OK. Takes my GC card, punches in some numbers, and then says "OK, that'll be $305 for the pair, $322.70 with tax". "Cool!" says I. Sign the pad, take the receipt and a monitor under each arm & out the door I go, all the while saying to myself "That's not what the promo sign read!". I think the kid rang me up for RP5s which were $150 ea!! I feel like this was the deal of the year for me, for I doubt I could touch these at this price even if used!! Did I score well or what?!?

Nice. Reminds me of the veggie burger I bought at Lollapalooza 97 - handed the guy a 5 dollar bill for a 4 dollar burger and got 16 dollars back.

And those were nineties dollars too.

[DokorderFreq]

Here's one that chaps my ass:

I walk in, pick up an acoustic guitar, start playing. Dude walks up:

What's that?

What's what?

What's that you're playing?

I dunno I just made it up.

Really? Wow, it sounds like something.

LOL!!! Just reading this the first time!! I can see it as if it were me telling the story!

[DokorderFreq]

Nice. Reminds me of the veggie burger I bought at Lollapalooza 97 - handed the guy a 5 dollar bill for a 4 dollar burger and got 16 dollars back.

And those were nineties dollars too.

And gas was just $1.09 for 91 octane! Guess he went home with a light paycheck THAT week.

[Billiam]

I wrote that. And re-wrote it. Here's the final version:

Jesus and the Devil at Guitar Center

I?m at Guitar Center this afternoon to buy a new set of tubes and there in the accessories section, auditioning some type of super-mega-mondo-distortion pedal, sits a young man in dirty, pale blue denim jeans. He wears tan work boots and a black skull and crossbones T-shirt topped off with a fitted black baseball cap worn backwards, accessorized with a pair of Oakley-style reflective orange bug-eye lens sunglasses perched on his forehead like a second set of eyeballs.

He?s pale and thin and white like a basement ghost. His beard is clipped short and precisely shaved into pencil-thin lines along his jaw line. Dark blue tattoos of some mythical cross between a bat and a reptile crawl up his forearm and disappear into the sleeves of his T-shirt. He looks like the spawn of an unholy?and entirely impractical?marriage between Judas Priest and the Backstreet Boys.

A chrome chain around his neck seems heavy enough to weigh him down and he?s hunched like a question mark over a Washburn Dimebag Darrell signature model guitar?a bright white, devil-horned affair with dual humbuckers, gold hardware and a cheesy lightning bolt paint job. His hands are a blur on the fret board and his shredding becomes my background music as I wait my turn at the counter.

?Chng-chugga-chugga-chugga, chng-chugga-chugga-chugga, screee-screee-screee-chng-chugga-chugga-chugga-wahh-wahh-chng-chugga-chugga-wahh!?

I ask for a pair of EL34s. The accessories guy disappears into the stock room.

?Chng-chugga-chugga-chugga, chng-chugga-chugga-chugga, screee-screee-screee-chng-chugga-chugga-chugga-wahh-wahh-chng-chugga-chugga-wahh-wahh-screeee. Chung-chugga-chugga-chugga-wahh-wahh-wahh-wahh-chung-chugga-chugga-wahh-wahh-wahh!!?

I start looking around at the store?s remodel, and it?s a huge improvement. From every vantage point the sight lines are deep and inviting. To my twelve o?clock is a mind-boggling assortment of strings and slides and picks and cables and effects boxes and software. Pro Audio is at my nine and my three o?clock is the cute, skinny 20-something, vaguely gothic Guitar Center greeter chick. My four and five o?clock is guitars and amps galore: PRS, Gibson, Fender, Mesa Boogie, Marshall. Eye candy, everywhere. My six o?clock? Owned by the 20-something tattooed shredder boy. Completely owned.

?CHNG-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA, CHNG-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA, SCREEE-SCREEE-SCREEE-CHNG-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-WAHH-WAHH-CHNG-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-WAHHHHH-WAHH-SCREEEE-SCREEE!!?

I give up and turn 180 degrees to watch him. He?s practically head banging. I wait for him to sprout horns. Instead, he stops, mid-shred, looks at me with an evil grin and says, ?Dude?this pedal is RAD!?

Hold on a second, I think to myself. That pedal isn?t ?rad? at all. That pedal totally sucks.

Over the left shoulder of the reincarnation of Dimebag Darrell appears the accessories salesman, a guy who can exist only in the exact opposite universe of the one inhabited by tattooed shredder boy. This guy, I think to myself, is the un-shredder boy. He looks, in fact, just like Jesus, or at least like every artist?s rendering of Jesus I?ve ever seen. His hair is straight and clean and long and brown, his eyes are clear and bright and his face, even behind a full beard, is smooth and angelic and open. He looks me in the eye and says, ?Sorry to leave you here so long?with that. How about I pay the tax??

That, I think to myself, is exactly what Jesus would do.

[RefD]

anyone else get that postcard for GC's sale in November?

B&W picture of a right hand with the index finger severed.

"20% OFF ANY SINGLE ITEM"

great, this is like selling feminine hygiene products with a photo of a rape.

dumbasses.

[thecheat]

I Must have the greatest GC guy ever....

The trick is, to work with One guy. All the time, just one guy. All we have down here is GC and Sam Ash, Sam ash is worthless. it used to be a mars and it just, feels like there was an alien autopsy happening just before you came in.

Anywhoo, i have one guy i have brought a TON of business too and hes always been awesome. I bought a 16 channel Yamaha PM-1000 for 150 bucks, an SPL vitalizer for 60 bucks, two oktava MKL-2500's for 100 bucks. i have no complaints at all. He never questions what i want, if he doesnt know what it is he goes, "dude, what is that?" and i tell him. its great, i never pay retail, if you're ever in the Orlando Area ask for Rob Arthur at the GC in Winter Park.

Moral of the story? everyone should have a truly great gear pimp.

[Jeff White]

Moral of the story? everyone should have a truly great gear pimp.

I do, too. It's called the TOMB Buy/Sell/Trade.

Jeff

[curtiswyant]

Seems like you guys expect too much from the dear 'ol GC. The employees are worthless, but not any moreso than the losers at Home Depot or Wal-Mart.

[JGriffin]

Wal-Mart doesn't have a "Pro Audio" department.

Put another way: in addition to selling cheap guitars to beginners, GC also tries to position itself as a place where professional musicians and recordists can go to purchase professional-grade instruments and tools, and then provides substantially less-than-professional service.

[thecheat]

Moral of the story? everyone should have a truly great gear pimp.

I do, too. It's called the TOMB Buy/Sell/Trade.

Jeff

HAHAHA Amen to that brotha! Another mans trash eh? Lol

[MichaelAlan]

Step 1. Eat del taco (or equivalent local mexican food joint) like it's candy aaaaalll day.

Step 2. Before closing, enter guitar center store, avoid everyone and head straight for the crapper.

Step 3. Remove toilet tank lid.

Step 4. Stand on the toilet bowl lid (close the lid) and remove pants.

Step 5. Deposit gigantic raging deuce into the tank portion of the tiolet, wipe (or not), zip, replace lid. Do not flush. Play some guitars, then leave quietly (whistling if possible).

Poo-ey water will flood the bowl after every flush all the next day long, and if your lucky, some kid you hate with fruity hair will have to clean the tank...

Try it in the ladies room.


Mike

[TheGreeneSound]

i have dealt with gc a bunch i have an old friend that works there and he hooks me up, he also usually lets me purchase over the phone and will bring what i buy to my house so i dont have to deal with all the goons (thats service). anyway this is a funny gc story: one day i absolutely need to get a new heavy duty rack case as i have been doing a lot more location recording and need to carry more gear with me anyway my buddy is ringing me up and some random sales goon walks up to me and goes "whoa dude that is sick", at first i am like is this guy talking to me? he then says "yeah your going to have some fun with that" so at this point i am trying not to laugh in his face my buddy is starting to giggle a bit but he continues " yeah i wish i had the dough to make a major purchase like that" so finally i say "dude its a fucking empty box its not that exciting." at this point we are both laughing as the goon walks off. But what the fuck did he think just cause he came over and told me that what i am buying is sick i am going to suddenly decide to give him the sale instead of my friend?