[Naren]

I went to a guitar store on the way back from work today and I asked one of the dudes working there if I could try out the new RGA7. He said "okay" and asked me what amp I wanted to play it on. I just said, "I dunno. Something high gain." Of course, for some bizarre reason, he interpreted this as "Marshall" - which is not what I think of when I think "high gain." And this is a pretty common thing too. It's almost like all the guitarists working at guitar stores never even use gain. So, the dude tunes the guitar and I get on it and he's only half-assedly tuned the strings, so I spend the next couple minutes retuning his fuck-up. And on the crunch channel, even with the gain turned up as high as it goes, it's still barely even "low gain." So, I'm done with that guitar and he says, "Wasn't there another guitar you wanted to try?" And I said, "Yeah, the RGD 7 over there" and he does the same thing. So I didn't even bother trying to fix the tuning and I just unplugged the guitar and put the price tag stuff back on it for him to get back with a kinda surprised look on his face.

This happens quite often when I go to guitar shops, but I can't even tell whether the RGA7 or RGD7 were good guitars or not because of tuning bullshit and no understanding of what the term "high gain" means. And, no, the cleans didn't sound that good either. I know this isn't an overall problem with Marshalls, because I use Marshalls at practice a lot and I get great cleans and crazy violent psychotic gain.

I can say, however, that the RGA7 had a very very nice fretboard with wonderful action and nice playability. As for sound, I'd have to have it perfectly in tune and played through a decent amp to even guess what it sounds like. :rant:

 

[aysakh]

There must be some unwritten rule that you have to be completely incompetent to work at a music store. The manager for the band I'm in went to buy bass amp yesterday, and came back with line6 spider 3 guitar amp. It wasn't her fault, she doesn't have a clue about gear; it was the guy at the store that sold her the guitar amp instead of a bass amp.

 

[79]

When did Guitar Center start opening up stores in Japan?

 

[Naren]

When did Guitar Center start opening up stores in Japan?

:lol: Okay. Well, it wasn't Guitar Center level. Yet. :lol:

 

[Drew]

Am I the only one who expected this to be a rap/Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" mashup? :lol:

 

[79]

Am I the only one who expected this to be a rap/Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" mashup? :lol:

I can confirm Eric looks nothing like Mick Jagger. However it's doubtful he gets as much tail.

:lol:

 

[Naren]

I can confirm Eric looks nothing like Mick Jagger. However it's doubtful he gets as much tail.

:lol:

It's doubtful anyone gets as much tail. :lol:

 

[noodles]

Sadly, you are experiencing the results of the death of small music stores. I never got this from little places--just the opposite, they would pull that guitar off the wall, tune it up, and plug you into the best amp in the store. They'd even run off and get you a pick. Oh, and the bar was always in the trem, the locknut was cranked down, and if the instrument was not in tune, their was plenty of range on the fine tuners to fix it. Those were stores that cared.

These big chains pay their employees like Walmart. Consequently, you get high school and college students, and burn-outs. They just don't give a fuck. Really, I couldn't be bothered to care, either, at the wages those guys make. Plus, the policy of "grab whatever you want off the wall and plug it in" virtually guarantees that parts will be missing, instruments will be wildly out of tune, and damage will occur to them. So, if you want to actually try something nice, you have to go find one of don't-give-a-fuck's to stop smoking a cigarette long enough to pull out a ladder and drag it off the wall.

The mistake you made was asking for "I dunno, something high gain". You should have asked for an amp by name, and a tuner while you were at it. You have to tell these rejects exactly what you want, since the whole concept of an educated salesman goes right out the window.

 

[79]

Sadly, you are experiencing the results of the death of small music stores. I never got this from little places--just the opposite, they would pull that guitar off the wall, tune it up, and plug you into the best amp in the store. They'd even run off and get you a pick. Oh, and the bar was always in the trem, the locknut was cranked down, and if the instrument was not in tune, their was plenty of range on the fine tuners to fix it. Those were stores that cared.

These big chains pay their employees like Walmart. Consequently, you get high school and college students, and burn-outs. They just don't give a fuck. Really, I couldn't be bothered to care, either, at the wages those guys make. Plus, the policy of "grab whatever you want off the wall and plug it in" virtually guarantees that parts will be missing, instruments will be wildly out of tune, and damage will occur to them. So, if you want to actually try something nice, you have to go find one of don't-give-a-fuck's to stop smoking a cigarette long enough to pull out a ladder and drag it off the wall.

The mistake you made was asking for "I dunno, something high gain". You should have asked for an amp by name, and a tuner while you were at it. You have to tell these rejects exactly what you want, since the whole concept of an educated salesman goes right out the window.

As someone who briefly worked at GC until I found a normal gig, and someone who is good friends with a music store owner, I completely agree.

My buddy's store is just as you describe the small business owner. He gets the guitar off of the wall, asks which amp you'd like to try it through (and knows the difference between gain styles), makes sure it's in tune, grabs the bar if it's not already there, and pulls up a stool for you.

He then leaves you alone for awhile so you don't feel pressure, but stays within earshot so if you have questions you can ask.

Contrast that with my time at GC, where profit margin and how many customers you can cycle through are your primary concerns. Really, I could have been selling washers and dryers, and the skillset wouldn't have changed.

I got all the midi guitar stuff dumped on me, simply because the other people didn't even understand that at all.

 

[noodles]

Contrast that with my time at GC, where profit margin and how many customers you can cycle through are your primary concerns. Really, I could have been selling washers and dryers, and the skillset wouldn't have changed.

You just touched on the part of the business model that really drives this behavior. Guitar Center makes their money selling the 20% of guitars that 80% of the people will want. Lots of low and mid-range instruments go out the door there. The expensive PRS and Gibson stuff on the walls just draw people in the door. The small stores that have managed to survive cater more to the high end market.

There is a store in this area that I dig called Classic Axe. He probably has as many PRS guitars on the wall as he Guitar Center near my office. The difference is those guitars are constantly changing, since he has a good reputation in the local PRS community. Most of his business comes from repeat customers and word of mouth. He also carries Rickenbacker, Hamer, and Heritage. His entry level stuff is G&L Tribute and Dean, although he also carries the USA G&L and Dean lines. He dropped Schecter after 20 years, simply because they tried to tell him that he had to sell x many imports if he wanted to continue selling the USA customs.

 

[Kagami]

well to give the person a fair enough chance a lot of people call what we metalheads would call low-to-no gain as high gain :lol:

 

[Reverend 7 Strings of Hate]

The reason i go to smaller music stores is for the extra attention to details and actually giving a shit about their rep, but sadly as dave mentioned, most of the smaller places really deal in lower to mid range shit and not much high end stuff other that the few gibbys and prs's that collect dust

 

[79]

You just touched on the part of the business model that really drives this behavior. Guitar Center makes their money selling the 20% of guitars that 80% of the people will want. Lots of low and mid-range instruments go out the door there. The expensive PRS and Gibson stuff on the walls just draw people in the door. The small stores that have managed to survive cater more to the high end market.

There is a store in this area that I dig called Classic Axe. He probably has as many PRS guitars on the wall as he Guitar Center near my office. The difference is those guitars are constantly changing, since he has a good reputation in the local PRS community. Most of his business comes from repeat customers and word of mouth. He also carries Rickenbacker, Hamer, and Heritage. His entry level stuff is G&L Tribute and Dean, although he also carries the USA G&L and Dean lines. He dropped Schecter after 20 years, simply because they tried to tell him that he had to sell x many imports if he wanted to continue selling the USA customs.

That's almost exactly what my friend carries. G&L (both USA and import), Hamer, PRS, Jackson (including the USA stuff in stock), Schecter, Orange, Rivera, and some bass stuff that's higher line than what you'd find at GC.

The funny thing was when Best Buy opened some of its music stores. People were skeptical. But my response was "how is this different than walking into GC? The experience at BB is as good or better, because they're not on commission. If I can stop to get strings/picks and also get a CD while I am at it, all the better".

 

[Kagami]

BB needs to have reward zone coupons for guitars lol

 

[stealthtastic]

I really feel you on that "something high gain?" remark and then getting plugged into something that barely has any gain at all/something you didnt ask for. I asked someone at my Long and Mquade a few month ago if they had any recommendations for an amp for death metal, preferably with tubes..and the fucker suggested a line 6 spider III, so I left.

 

[Stitch]

Totally get you on everything being said in this thread, but I have a list longer then my leg of assumptions I hated dealing with when serving customers who gave me an attitude for my age. We don't all not give a fuck, and when i left Scayles (at 19 years old) I ran the guitar section, and when i left Guitar Guitar I had the 2nd best sales figures and a reputation from telesales that meant most of my sales were from repeat customers. I've made £10k in a day and sold countless custom and one-offs to customers who knew me well and trusted my opinions on products, and it was frustrating being at loggerheads with someone who would instantly dismiss me as a moron who only knew about "Slipknot" and "nu-metal".

 

[Naren]

I really feel you on that "something high gain?" remark and then getting plugged into something that barely has any gain at all/something you didnt ask for. I asked someone at my Long and Mquade a few month ago if they had any recommendations for an amp for death metal, preferably with tubes..and the fucker suggested a line 6 spider III, so I left.

:agreed: It just blows my mind.

"So... this is high gain, huh? ... Seriously, now... :squint: High gain...? Uhm, okay... :nuts:"

 

[Drew]

Totally get you on everything being said in this thread, but I have a list longer then my leg of assumptions I hated dealing with when serving customers who gave me an attitude for my age. We don't all not give a fuck, and when i left Scayles (at 19 years old) I ran the guitar section, and when i left Guitar Guitar I had the 2nd best sales figures and a reputation from telesales that meant most of my sales were from repeat customers. I've made £10k in a day and sold countless custom and one-offs to customers who knew me well and trusted my opinions on products, and it was frustrating being at loggerheads with someone who would instantly dismiss me as a moron who only knew about "Slipknot" and "nu-metal".

To be fair, usually you can tell within a minute or so if the guy you're chatting with has the first clue what he's talking about.

I mean, it doesn't surprise me at all you got dismissed as a moron who only knew about "Slipnot" and "nu-metal." :fawk:

:wub:

 

[79]

Totally get you on everything being said in this thread, but I have a list longer then my leg of assumptions I hated dealing with when serving customers who gave me an attitude for my age. We don't all not give a fuck, and when i left Scayles (at 19 years old) I ran the guitar section, and when i left Guitar Guitar I had the 2nd best sales figures and a reputation from telesales that meant most of my sales were from repeat customers. I've made £10k in a day and sold countless custom and one-offs to customers who knew me well and trusted my opinions on products, and it was frustrating being at loggerheads with someone who would instantly dismiss me as a moron who only knew about "Slipknot" and "nu-metal".

Having been to GC's across the US as well as working there, I would have to say you're the exception, not the norm.

And you do look like a moron who only knows about nu metal. :rofl: j/k, don't hit me sir.

 

[Rick]

I used to only go to GC to try out equipment.

Now I only go to buy picks. And cables.