RETAIL :: Guitar Center Reviews

Review local and chain retail stores.

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Al Quandt
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RETAIL :: Guitar Center Reviews

Post by Al Quandt »

Post experiences and Reviews here.

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Last edited by Al Quandt on Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Thakid2u »

I think this place has been abused enough on other threads..so I will make it short. I would go in here if you need a good ego boost. If you are feeling like you dont know anything about the gear you play, GO IN HERE. You will feel like Albert when you leave.

Of course the guitars wont be setup good, understandable. Of course you will get how many salesman up your rectal cavity, before you hit the counter. What I dont get is why they seem to only know about 1 genre of music. I asked one of the guys about a SSU6120. He looked at me if I was talking Mongolian. He didnt know what kind of guitar it was to begin with. OK, It's a Gretsch. "Well that's what I thought"...Nice try! It's Brian Setzers sign. model. "Who's that?"....LMAO Atleast he asked. Then when I asked to play it, "Sure, No problem". FInally, a step in the right direction. He gets the one next to the SSU. Ok, wrong one. He gets the right one down and I play it a min. He vanishes and comes back with a cord. OK. He plugs it into a marshall lead. LOL....Whooooooaaaaa, what are you doing. He persist on telling me that it wont feedback... LMAO. OK, buddy, get ready to mute it. Of course as soon as it turns on SQUELLLLLLLLLLLL. (I know I could have moved about 30 ft away, but what's the fun in that, plus there isnt enough room for that.) He finally just tells me, "Plug it into whatever you want and me know if you need anything". That's the first thing he did right.

After about 2 mins of playing through a Fender, I switch over to a Vox they had sitting there. Another salesman comes up..."Nice guitar, ya looking to trade it in?" I tell him that it's one from the wall and then he tells that it would sound good through the Marshall Lead, (the one that it was plugged into already.) I just told him he could put it back and I was leaving. The neck didnt feel good anyways and there were a couple of dings on the headstock and the back of the neck. Im assuming from trying to hang it up.

I dont think anyone could really give a fair review on this place. You cant get past the poor customer service. I think if they had better people there it would be good. The prices are mostly fair, the gear is there, if not they can get it.

It comes down to poor Salesman/women.
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Post by Oliver's Army »

When I sold audio everyday people would come in and yank my chain. They would want to hear every box in the room and ask asinine questions about every knob and dial in the building to trip me up. And when I did slip, they relished in it and glowed in their opportunity to correct me.

They typically never bought a thing.
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Post by DJSpot »

A place to buy DJ gear in this town? score!
I dont mind the place, I've spent over $1000 there in the past two weeks and will prolly spend more. As a DJ your limited to getting gear from Gig, Sweetwater or GC. Its the easiest place to stop off, grab extra stylus or headphones and go. Staff has been cool, I got a KILLER deal on some stuff and Im a happy customer.

I WOULDNT buy a guitar or bass from there though....theres just too many better options in town to bother with a chain store.
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Post by bwohlgemuth »

I WOULDNT buy a guitar or bass from there though....theres just too many better options in town to bother with a chain store.
I would

Bought an Epi 335 from there, found out it did not get well with my sound and brought it back for a PRS knock-off. Pretty easy to deal with and they didn't go nuts when I wanted them to leave me alone.
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Post by Massage...Bored »

I have to say, I reluctantly made a sweet deal there recently. Albeit, I'm pretty sure they got d*cked in the end so that I am happy about. A friend of mine let me trade in my rig (Mesa Dual Rectifier and Cabinet) for a '65 Gibson L-GO Acoustic (I fell in love!) and a '59 Reissue Fender Bassman amplifier. My new tone is more satisfying than it used to be. I'm running the Big Muff and the new Metal Muff through it and I couldn't be happier.

That all being said and working out to the best advantage, I still recommend B-Sharp for service and guitar selection (some kick ass Fenders and Gibby's).
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Post by The_Dude »

It's all about the Big Muff!
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Post by Shaggydoo »

Drummer from Pheen (dan?) took good care of me recently on a wireless setup. I would go back.

People are always going to complain about something. And in this case, there are worse things to fret over..........

Find your gear, find the best deal, and just play.
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Post by Silencio »

Most of my purchases are pro audio, so I like GC (although I did buy a guitar there last November)... they carry stuff I need.

For example, I dropped by during the last hour of the Labor Day sale and grabbed one of their last two copies of NI Komplete - a collection of all 13 software synths, samplers and effects processors from Native Instruments - for a stupid low price, so far below standard street price that I couldn't say no. An awesome score, likely to keep me busy learning til early '07.

The key to shopping GC is knowing what you want. You want to hang out and get your butt rubbed and throw model numbers back and forth with the counter guy all day? It's a lousy place for that. You want to walk in and walk out 5 minutes later with the Frontier Designs Tranzport you need right now, today at the mail order price? It's a real good place for that.
Al Quandt
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Post by Al Quandt »

Silencio wrote: The key to shopping GC is knowing what you want. You want to hang out and get your butt rubbed and throw model numbers back and forth with the counter guy all day? It's a lousy place for that. You want to walk in and walk out 5 minutes later with the Frontier Designs Tranzport you need right now, today at the mail order price? It's a real good place for that.
Sorta true. When I was working in Pro Audio, you could come to me and talk shop about any keyboard or any recording equipment behind the counter.

And when Morrison was there you could talk shop about everything in pro audio except the keyboards.

I am not quite sure what they are doing there now with out him and I. Not saying that I was the sh*t but at the time I was definatly the only one in the store that new about digital pianos and synths.

But it is DEFINATLY, like you said a good place to just run in and get what you want fast if you already know what you are getting.
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Post by Austin_Taunt »

I absolutely love this place...I've spent ALOT on guitar and pro audio gear and they always hook me up with a deal. I can usually can get them lower than mail order prices. As far as the service I am sad that Nick Theime left for his own store in Cincy, he knew alot but as a good musician should...I always research into what I want to buy. Just tell them to leave you alone and be your own help. But I don't like people either. Local stores do know more about the gear but that doesn't save me money.
Al Quandt
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Post by Al Quandt »

Thats cool Nick got another store. If you talk to him tell him Al said hi.
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Post by bassplayer92 »

i havent had a problem there but i agree wit the salesman/woman being up ur butt as soon as u get in

and about buying a bass or guitar i bought my ibanez gsr 200 from there and havent had any problems and they even hooked me up wit a deal so i would say im a satisfied customer
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Post by DJSpot »

John is pro-audio is the sh*t. Theres also the manager back there...short black hair, hes also a good guy. Those two are the reason I still go there after morrison left!
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Post by shattered existence »

I don't like Guitar Center. But I gotta admit that they do have a good selection of sh*t and pretty decent prices. I'm all for local business though and if I can get it some where else then I will. But sometimes I have to go there to find what I'm looking for. Here's what I hate about this store.

1. It's a franchise

2. You cannot buy anything here without giving them you're name, number, and address so they can store it in their computer and keep track of everything you've ever bought from them and send you junk mail. You can however, give them a false name. But if you do this then you have to pay in cash. If you go with the false name then I would recomend John Doe, because they already have a bunch of John Doe's in the computer and you don't have to make up an address.

3. After going to the cash register and pay the cashier you have to get stopped to let another person search your bag and compare it with whats on the receipt before leaving the store.
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