Guitar Center store manager told me the SLO is 1 trick pony?

[billboogie]

I had a GC manager tell me that Kramer Guitars never made an EVH Frankenstien . When I brought back an old Guitar Player mag (I live less than amile away) with an ad showing EVH holding the guitar he told me he thought I was talking about another EVH guitar WHAT OTHER EVH GUITAR WOULD WE BE TALKING ABOUT! I dropped the mag on the floor and told him to read up . That really pissed me off

 

[boof]

now that I think of it I have a story of my own as well.
I had never played a Suhr before and well lets face it I can blame rig talk for getting me interested in them. I wasn't about to go out and buy one without having played some. There is one store in particular here in tokyo called lost boys that has a large number of Suhrs so I thought that would be the best place to go. All the guitars were locked up in cases not one on display. They have you pick the guitars you want from their web site. They said they only take them out if I am going to buy one of them. I told them I dont know if I will buy one of them unless I try one. 5 minutes of this mind expanding discussion went on and I finally said ok then I want to try this this this this this this this this this and this one and Ill buy one. I tried them all, said thanks and left while both me and the sales person muttered the usually gratuitous fuck you, asshole, cock, dick, cunt... back and forth at each other under our breaths.

Funny thing is After trying out all those Suhrs I was really impressed with 9111 a Bengal reverse head stock but after dealing with the store there was no way I was going to buy anything from them. When I got home I looked up 9111 and found that it was actually bought from Matts music. I looked up the serial numbers from all the guitars I tried (yes I wrote down all the numbers) and ALL of them were being sold as new guitars that the store had actually bought from various guitar stores in the US and had them shipped over. Something doesn't sit right with me about that. when you buy it and walk out of the store its no longer new, its used. only a few minutes used perhaps but never the less used.. Anyway I found that matts music also had 9112 that was the exact same specs as 9111. So I took the chance and in some part based on the responses about Suhrs quality from this site and bought it from Matts without ever having played it. In the end it played as good as 9111 that I played at lost boys, I saved over $1000 and that was after shipping, and I didn't have that bitter taste in my mouth that I had just given several thousand dollars to the idiots at lost boys.

 

[Spaceboy]

I recently drove across the country from Tennessee to California, stopping in various towns to browse music shops and Guitar Centers along the way. I've discovered that every GC you walk into are going to have the exact same merchandise, except for the used products, and it's all going to be outclassed on performance and price by the internet and small-time local shops. It's really not even worth the time to walk into a Guitar Center to deal with the employees and uninteresting gear. I'm glad we don't have one of these local to me, although we don't really have any music shops besides a bluegrass/gospel oriented store ran by some 80 y/o fellas who've probably never even heard of EVH.

 

[polaris20]

I worked at the Phoenix, AZ GC for a couple months until I found regular IT work. There were a couple really cool guys there that definitely played out, and really were there because they loved gear and loved talking about music. They were great to work with. Another guy in pro audio actually recorded bands and ran live sound, and really knew his shit.

The rest were a bunch of either two groups of people:

1. shitbags that were fired/rejected from Wal Mart or Best Buy, and
2. used car salesmen that were fired for being too sleazy.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Well if that one trick involves that Pony balancing on a high wire without a net, while juggling hot-rodded chainsaws at full throttle, while baking a souffle without if caving in, while singing harmoniously with Angels, then I guess it's a good one trick.

 

[Anonymous]

Well....I spent 25 years doing the music store thing and I gotta tell ya....Way more "WTF" type story's regarding the endless stream of idiot customers that walk through a music store entrance. Also as has been said...Your gonna have a hard time finding anyone in a music store especially a GC that knows what the hell they are talking about because...there is not enough profit margin in selling music gear to hire good people at a decent salary...Anyways..When I read some of these story's...I just gotta laugh.

 

[racer_j]

A few years ago I was at GC trying out a dual rec and it wasn't working for some reason and the ass t manager was going to change out the tubes to see if it fixed it. He brought over some EL84s. Maybe he was going to use them as pre-amp tubes.

I wanted to say something but thought this might be fun.


Jason

 

[putnut77]

Funny thing is After trying out all those Suhrs I was really impressed with 9111 a Bengal reverse head stock but after dealing with the store there was no way I was going to buy anything from them. When I got home I looked up 9111 and found that it was actually bought from Matts music. I looked up the serial numbers from all the guitars I tried (yes I wrote down all the numbers) and ALL of them were being sold as new guitars that the store had actually bought from various guitar stores in the US and had them shipped over. Something doesn't sit right with me about that. when you buy it and walk out of the store its no longer new, its used. only a few minutes used perhaps but never the less used.. Anyway I found that matts music also had 9112 that was the exact same specs as 9111. So I took the chance and in some part based on the responses about Suhrs quality from this site and bought it from Matts without ever having played it. In the end it played as good as 9111 that I played at lost boys, I saved over $1000 and that was after shipping, and I didn't have that bitter taste in my mouth that I had just given several thousand dollars to the idiots at lost boys.

Boof, the funny thing about your story is I was calling to buy THAT BENGAL SUHR 9112 from Matts Music, and they said they had just sold it....

 

[droptrd]

Had an employee offer my buddy $200 trade credit for his mint Carl Thompson bass My buddy went off on the guy.

 

[Shark Diver]

Well if that one trick involves that Pony balancing on a high wire without a net, while juggling hot-rodded chainsaws at full throttle, while baking a souffle without if caving in, while singing harmoniously with Angels, then I guess it's a good one trick.

This!

 

[Spaceboy]

Had an employee offer my buddy $200 trade credit for his mint Carl Thompson bass My buddy went off on the guy.

There was a point in time where I would've murdered a man for a Carl Thompson bass.

 

[stephen sawall]

The term vintage only means from a other earlier time or era ..... anything no matter what it is that is 20 years old is vintage, even if the term is not normally used this way. Some things it is much less than 10 years. Go look up the definition if you do not believe me.

As an English Major I hear ya. As a musician, Motley Crue is NOT classic rock...

On the classic rock stations here the stuff from the 90's on back. Basically anything ten years or more.
But I hear you, I think 50's, 60's, 70's myself.

 

[bravedude2]

wow !! the alex skolnick story goes to show it happens to every guy and the famous.

 

[droptrd]

Had an employee offer my buddy $200 trade credit for his mint Carl Thompson bass My buddy went off on the guy.

There was a point in time where I would've murdered a man for a Carl Thompson bass.

My buddy has 2 of them. Hes locked up for a while and Im sure hes gonna need to sell them off when he gets out

 

[Digital Jams]

I could see players making the SLO a one trick pony, hell I have seen guys make Herberts and ENGL SE's one trick ponies.

 

[Mudder]

The guy is right. The SLO is a one trick pony, at sounding awesome!

I really don't understand how, as a salesman trying to bond with a customer, you would ever consider talking down a guy's gear. If you came into my store and said your were rocking a Gorilla, I'd say something complimentary, then point you toward the good stuff.

 

[Strat+Marshall]

The term vintage only means from a other earlier time or era ..... anything no matter what it is that is 20 years old is vintage, even if the term is not normally used this way. Some things it is much less than 10 years. Go look up the definition if you do not believe me.

Vintage is a bastardized word in the guitar industry. It is really just a buzz word that has been redefined to suit retailers.

I think of 70s stuff and older as "vintage" in my head. To me, 50s and 60s electric guitars that were well made are true classics. The 70s stuff is vintage because it is from a different era and has its own thing going on. Vintage, to me doesn't really mean classic or of higher quality, but it does mean of another era and so old that it is back in fashion again which 70's guitars clearly are at this point.

Anyways, the whole 20 years thing was an after the fact addition to the meaning of the word. I know it won't be long before everyone excepts the old MIA charvels or the fender fullerton RIs as "vintage".

 

[FIREBALL]

The term vintage only means from a other earlier time or era ..... anything no matter what it is that is 20 years old is vintage, even if the term is not normally used this way. Some things it is much less than 10 years. Go look up the definition if you do not believe me.

Vintage is a bastardized word in the guitar industry. It is really just a buzz word that has been redefined to suit retailers.

I think of 70s stuff and older as "vintage" in my head. To me, 50s and 60s electric guitars that were well made are true classics. The 70s stuff is vintage because it is from a different era and has its own thing going on. Vintage, to me doesn't really mean classic or of higher quality, but it does mean of another era and so old that it is back in fashion again which 70's guitars clearly are at this point.

Anyways, the whole 20 years thing was an after the fact addition to the meaning of the word. I know it won't be long before everyone excepts the old MIA charvels or the fender fullerton RIs as "vintage".

i agree

 

[TheMagicEight]

The guy is right. The SLO is a one trick pony, at sounding awesome!

I really don't understand how, as a salesman trying to bond with a customer, you would ever consider talking down a guy's gear. If you came into my store and said your were rocking a Gorilla, I'd say something complimentary, then point you toward the good stuff.

I'd think it would be a lousy idea to take down any gear for that matter. A salesman's energy - IMO - is much better spent trying to find the good in a piece of gear, especially if it's something a customer is interested in. If it truly is a lousy piece of equipment, why not just focus on what makes something else so great?

 

[mentoneman]

Does anyone know what the guys who work at GC normally get paid?

metallica riffs doled out by 13 yrd olds.