Small town guitar stores

[VB]

Over the past 28 years I have been buying guitars I have found that yes alot of small town guitar stores have a very limited inventory.I have worked in a Vintage shop for the past few years and its a big wake up call. Inventory isn't cheap, running a store is a huge headache, and it's impossible to please everyone. You try to keep an inventory thats popular yet functional and service the communities needs and wants.

You buy into exclusive dealerships only to find out you just paid 16k in inventory and all the mail order companies don't have to abide by any territorial rules.
The big chain stores move into the closest town of a decent population and immediately start selling overpriced crap to uneducated consumers and wannabee musicians for what they believe is a "good deal" . The next day or week that "good deal" comes across my counter in an unplayable form as it was sold. The action looks more like an olympic high jump and the intonation is close if your playing a washtub or horn from "How the Grench Stole Christmas".
Since they didnt buy from us we cant just do 2-3 hours of work for free. Add $45.00 for a complete setup and intonation.
The frets are sharper than the barbed wire at Stalag 15. another 25 bucks to clean up that mess. That adds another $70 bucks to their so called " good deal" from the chain store.
Now they are $40 bucks or so higher than the Local mom and pop shop that includes a set up and intonation, free adjustments when needed, and customer service that goes farther than a piece of paper from the manufacturer.

When its an hour before your gig. and your amp shoots sparks like a welder on crack.... will the chain store loan you, or rent you an amp to get through the gig? Highly doubtful. They will hand you the address of the manufacturer if your lucky and tell you to ship it back to them. Its their problem, not the stores.

The biggest reason these mom and pop stores have such a limited inventory is because they arent walmart. If the client base would start patronizing these small stores you would see the price go down, the inventory more consumer freindly,
and more lines of equipment coming in. Most places if they dont have what you want, It's at the most a week away. sometimes less.
It's a vicious circle guys. I understand the I want it and I want it now. I suffer that too at times. But if its something you can wait a few days for. Its worth the extra few bucks. You will also find that once you build a relationship with most small stores the price goes down. The service goes up, and the staff dont change as often as the stop lights at the corner
PLEASE. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP.
Thanks
Keith
VGB

[bbkane]

a gibson is a gibson regardless of where you buy it

[bbkane]

Sam ash is a great music store. I would rather people buy their guitars from there for 20 percent less than small stores. There is nothing wrong with big companies. Its call specialization. Local guitar shops will most likely scale down to repair shops.

[gloveshoes]

You are correct Vintage Brat. The mindless pursuit of a bargain is destroying society. Its a race to the bottom folks. Enjoy your big discounts and plummeting wages suckers! -Ahhh, got that out of my system.
I've had bad experiences at Sam Ash and Guitar Center: atrocious customer service and poor stock, plus I do not appreciate being practically strip searched when ever I leave the store with my purchases! I know I'm painting this with broad strokes, but It's just the feeling these big places leave me with. [img]images/smilies/headscratch.gif[/img]

[wahwah]

I just wonder WHO is buying all this new stuff. I don't buy the guitar publications very often...I don't wanna read the tab for this or that player-I'll work it out myself and the ads take up 50% of the mag. BUT, I understand why they do. There are SO many manufacturers out there...'specially boutique amps. What gets me is that guitars DON'T wear out if looked after and refretted etc...they MAKE money if they are good collectable models. So who is buying the 1'000's of BC Rich, Ibanez, ESP etc when all this stuff is still out there? (if Mick Marrs, Paul Gilbert, Ritchie Sambora etc haven't used some of their filthy lucre to try and buy up EVERY pre 1963 strat!) Do you get my point here? There is SO much stuff flooding the market but the other stuff hasn't gone...guitars especially will last a lifetime!

As for the big store thing. I'd rather have the small local owner experience that I have where I can take stuff home and try it out with no obligation. [img]images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif[/img]

[VB]

As far as local shops being reduced to repair shops, thats another hit on the local economy. They wont scale down, they will cease to exist.I have no problems with specialization. thats what local stores are for. Sam Ash and the others are there for one thing. TAKE YOUR MONEY, Does Sam Ash know what strings you use? What picks you prefer? How you like your guitar set up? Their techs know one set up. Its like McDonalds, would you like fries with your set up? They train their people to do 2 things. Fill your hands and empty your wallet. They order guitars by the pallet.The guitar you may be buying was buried under 23 more guitars on top of them. They lay them down flat in the box and haybale them and shrink wrap them. They get them in, pull them out of the dented and dinged up box and slap them on the wall. If your lucky the guy making minimum wage thought to tune it with a tuner before he hung them up.
So next time you walk out of a chain store feeling like another face in the crowd, They have accomplished their goals.
If you remember the chain store MARS? That 20% cheaper you were getting 2nd class gear for is what put them under.
Most chain stores are like soup lines. Hand it out and get them gone, before they figure out its day old soup.

[stingx]

As a child I hung around the music store in the town I grew up in, Piero's Music, and also a few towns away where my best friend lived, Pastore's Music. Both places had the nicest, most knowledgeable owners. They were each more than happy to see us, listen to us in what we wanted and always took care of us. Both never charged us tax if we paid cash and they are still in business today. Pastore's was the larger of the two. They didn't carry cheap shit but at the time I started playing most guitars in the stores were still American made anyway. I used to drop in periodically to keep in touch just haven't had the time of late. There is no way a GC or a Sam Ash will give you the treatment that a dedicated, local mom and pop shop will. Now I give my business to Victor's House of Music in my town. I could go to Sam Ash or GC because they are both less than 2 miles away from Victor's but Victor's has something they lack, integrity. They own American Musical Supply (americanmusical.com) and are extremely nice people to deal with and want you to come back. They donut have to make their money selling x amount of guitars. They want return business. They have two excellent luthiers on staff, give lessons for every instrument imaginable and have weekly seminars - Brian Moore reps are there all the time giving shit out and showing you how to get the most out of their guitars.

[bbkane]

Sam Ash and the others are there for one thing. TAKE YOUR MONEY

yea, thats generally what buisnesses do
if they didnt take less money than mom and pop stores people wouldnt go.