Guitar Center Going out of Business ?

[freeballinusa]

FUCK Guitar Center! [...] Long story short, they were $29.99, and to my surprise, GC was charging me $54! [...]

You Americans are funny. Even $54 for a 10-pack is a steal. I easily pay $12 for one set of strings if I buy them locally, I don't remember even having seen 10-packs here.

I predict that if chains like GC would go out of business, you are going to pay more for strings, cables, stands and other accessories.

We're not silly, we just pay less for some things and more for other things. To paint with a broad brush, your government charges higher taxes on all imports so they can provide services to you that our government doesn't provide to us. Thus, your goods cost you more to buy. But we pay out the ass for health care and medication.

I'll limit myself to one response so as not to start a political debate, But my inhaler costs $2.00 in Ukraine and $28.00 in US Doctor at Mayo clinic confirmed the codes, Same device..... They charge us what they think they can take....... it is not an "actual" economy/cost it is an opportunistic approach at $28 or $2 it is a "steal" when you can not breathe but do not sanction them by pretending they are not gouching if our economy was even better -- they would ask $50 for these things but as it stands the make $ asking $2

 

[duodecim]

We're not silly, we just pay less for some things and more for other things. To paint with a broad brush, your government charges higher taxes on all imports so they can provide services to you that our government doesn't provide to us. Thus, your goods cost you more to buy. But we pay out the ass for health care and medication.

Hence my point, complaining about the price of gear and guitar strings in the USA is rather silly. It's not going to be cheaper elsewhere. And I'm pretty sure it won't get cheaper if Guitar Center would file for bankruptcy.

It will be interesting to see what happens to gear, audio, computer and other consumer technology companies, which ones make it through and which ones will disappear or get swallowed up by a competitor.

 

[Greg Riley]

There is a huge difference in all the GC's out there. The Nashville store out classes the rest. I've been in alot. It's like the operate more independent (a good friend mine runs the Platinium Room). They also get first dibs on Gibsons, naturally with location (family connection to). There location by Blackbird Studios also plays a huge role. I think every guy that worked there had a Jim Root owned guitar, when Stone Sour recorded at Blackbird. He did alot of trading..lol. They will flat out tell you, not try to rob you on a trade. They are all musicians..its not a Bestbuy like other locations. All PRS Tremonti's are hand signed..theres a reason for that (friend connection). They carry Friedman's in the Platinium Room (they have a BE-100 and a Dirty Shirley in stock), and they stock Splawns. They also carry and stock local 3rd Power amps and all Bogner models. They also stock more Tom Andersons then all GC's. Brad Whitford traded in a 98' 54' Goldtop with P-90's for a Chambered R8 (very common). They listed the guitar for $2499. They didn't put, this guitar was sniffed by Brad Whitford..there for it's $5K. My friend bought a used R-9, that belonged to one of the guitarist for Avril Livgne. It was refinished by Tom Murphy. He got it for like $2700. The Sam Ash is garbage in Nashville. They will flat out insult you on a trade. The Nashville GC strives to be a pro level shop compared to the other GC's I've been in. They also have knowledge and care...their musicians. Maybe GC Corp. will downsize. But I think, the Nashville location is a model to them staying alive.

 

[MikeDV]

"Rolling Stone and great writing aren't usually used in the same sentence" - really?

I guess the light inside the bubble isn't so good....

 

[marvcus]

"Rolling Stone and great writing aren't usually used in the same sentence" - really?

I guess the light inside the bubble isn't so good....

Rolling Stone is an "east coast" rag and hasn't been relevant in years. But back to GC....

 

[stephen sawall]

There is a huge difference in all the GC's out there. The Nashville store out classes the rest. I've been in alot.

Agreed .... I have been in several around the country & there is huge differences. A other thing I do if I go in any shop is look for someone that actually knows what they are doing & remember who they are. This is true of pretty much all retail... not just music stores. Finding people that do not know what they are doing is easy to do all over world. We are all guilty of this at times....

 

[moltenmetalburn]

So Mitt Romney killed fender and gibson, nice.

Lmfao

 

[hellaboogie]

G.C. has went way down as far as I'm concerned, the sales people are a joke, I was checking out an amp with an OD pedal and the guy had no idea what it was or how it functions in relation to using it to further shaping the amps sound. It used to be that the sales or floor people actually knew something about the products they sell.

 

[garey77]

G.C. has went way down as far as I'm concerned, the sales people are a joke, I was checking out an amp with an OD pedal and the guy had no idea what it was or how it functions in relation to using it to further shaping the amps sound. It used to be that the sales or floor people actually knew something about the products they sell.

Yeah, when I worked there, some 8-10 years ago, the product trainings were much better, and more exhaustive. The product reps were pretty knowledgeable and liked their jobs. I will admit that at that point, I had no real knowledge of all the interesting things in the world of smaller instrument/amp builders, though. That culture is pretty one-sided as are most large retail machines. The store that I used to work at now is pretty hard to go into and stand longer than the time it takes to grab a pack of strings... kinda sad really. There are still a few folks there that were there when I was there, and they look tired and a little broken.

 

[theonetruematt]

I agree with the whole marketing to beginners thing but that's partially a symptom of the entire guitar industry. Everyone's trying too hard to push imports and charging ridiculous prices for cheap guitars (ESP/LTD just puts a bunch of extra abalone binding on them and suddenly an LTD is worth $1k?).

The whole price match wars (get a quote at GC, bring it down the road to Sam Ash and vice versa) is way out of hand. And aside from the "List Price" which isn't a real number, I don't think GC is really inflating the prices because they're definitely killing their own profit with some of the insane deals you can get. I know 'cause you can get the same deals at Sam Ash and I've seen how little profit is left. And the whole commission system is pretty messed up 'cause you do get sales guys with (in addition to minimal guitar knowledge) no customer service skills, so they end up throwing a fit every time someone uses a coupon and it hurts their commission. I've worked with some guys like that at Sam Ash as well, but at least they knew a thing or two about guitars.

 

[Valtyr]

I like the local GC but it is by no means the only music store I frequent. I'd miss them if they were gone but I'd be fine.

There's a local chain I hit first for a couple reasons....

1 It is located closer.
2 They allow consignment. I don't bother trading things in at GC.
3 They often have more interesting used gear than GC, probably because they offer better trade and consignment than GC.

 

[squank]

"Rolling Stone and great writing aren't usually used in the same sentence" - really?

I guess the light inside the bubble isn't so good....

I have no idea WTF your comment is supposed to mean.

I asked you who wrote it for a reason - specifically because I know there are one or two good writers on their staff (Matt Taibbi comes to mind). The rest are pretty much low rent.

 

[Anonymous]

It's simple really....everybody is getting what they are paying for whether it be the doofus sales rep, The shoddy inventory's, etc,etc...ya reap what ya sow.

 

[Inearthed]

Here in the Northwest, there was a small music store chain called American Music.

I believe the Fremont & Bellevue stores are still open. I also prefer them to GC....

I think only the Fremont store is still around. I haven't been there in many years but when I went there they were amazing in comparison to GC. Things were actually taken care of and the gear was actually in tune / set up appropriately.

 

[glpg80]

Ill be the one person here to stand out on a limb - i enjoy my local GC. The only one i have is roughly 180 miles round trip. The staff is knowledgable about the products/gibson/etc, the techs are friendly and also knowledgeable, they stock all of the new high end/high demand gear (7 strings, 8 strings, high end EB reserves, etc) and overall the management is on the floor helping customers when they can.

I have nothing against GC - at least the branch i know and used. Hell i just went there last week before finals to get out of the house for a while and it was a great relief. If anything Sam-Ash was the one that was more of a pain in the ass to deal with that same day.

 

[stephen sawall]

Here in the Northwest, there was a small music store chain called American Music.

I believe the Fremont & Bellevue stores are still open. I also prefer them to GC....

I think only the Fremont store is still around. I haven't been there in many years but when I went there they were amazing in comparison to GC. Things were actually taken care of and the gear was actually in tune / set up appropriately.

The shop in Bellevue is about a mile from my fathers place ..... I was there in the last few months. A friend of mine was at the Fremont store in the last few weeks.

 

[ctoddrun]

[
I have no idea WTF your comment is supposed to mean.

I asked you who wrote it for a reason - specifically because I know there are one or two good writers on their staff (Matt Taibbi comes to mind). The rest are pretty much low rent.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... l-20120829

I was a bit buzzed when I posted that reference the other day. Forgot to include the link!

 

[squank]

[
I have no idea WTF your comment is supposed to mean.

I asked you who wrote it for a reason - specifically because I know there are one or two good writers on their staff (Matt Taibbi comes to mind). The rest are pretty much low rent.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... l-20120829

I was a bit buzzed when I posted that reference the other day. Forgot to include the link!

Cool, man! Thanks for posting the link. I thought I recognized Taibbi's work.

And just to be clear, I agree with most of Taibbi's points on the list you posted the other day. It's just that I always like to point out the gov't collusion in Big Business that makes so many of these terrible things they do possible.

 

[dpeterson]

well i hope not, because then there would be nothing here in southern ohio I picked up a well loved 90's rg550 bone stock on the cheap last weekend.

 

[Hail Satin]

So Mitt Romney killed fender and gibson, nice.

Lmfao

Thanks man! That laugh made my day.

Having worked for a company that sold to g/c. I hope that they don't fail as they
will bring down much more than just themselves...