Guitar Center To Start Pedal Modding?

[wavley]

If it's anything like their guitar repair services, it won't last.  I used to work at a Sam Ash that was right next to a GC, and they loved to flaunt their "professional" luthier. I worked on quite a few instruments fixing his "pro" setups.  Made some extra money doing it, but hated that this dude right next door was ripping people off so badly.

I can only speak for the luthier at the GC where I worked, but that guy was awesome.  He had been a luthier for 30 years and could fix danged near anything.  Also, he was a private contractor and didn't actually work for GC.

They got rid of him a little bit before they screwed me.

[DougH]

If it's anything like their guitar repair services, it won't last.  I used to work at a Sam Ash that was right next to a GC, and they loved to flaunt their "professional" luthier. I worked on quite a few instruments fixing his "pro" setups.  Made some extra money doing it, but hated that this dude right next door was ripping people off so badly.

That's pretty interesting. We have a pretty good guitar setup guy at our Sam Ash. Took my son's bass there. My guitar(s) need some work too so I think I'm going to take them to him. What I like is the guy is right there in the store and I talk to him face to face. The one time I got work done at a GC they subbed it out and it took forever and a day to get my guitar back. I complained and did end up getting a new Fishman preamp for free, so I haven't complained too loudly. But I won't go back either. The Sam Ash guy (and the store in general) is good, though.

[DougH]

If it's anything like their guitar repair services, it won't last.  I used to work at a Sam Ash that was right next to a GC, and they loved to flaunt their "professional" luthier. I worked on quite a few instruments fixing his "pro" setups.  Made some extra money doing it, but hated that this dude right next door was ripping people off so badly.

I can only speak for the luthier at the GC where I worked, but that guy was awesome.  He had been a luthier for 30 years and could fix danged near anything.  Also, he was a private contractor and didn't actually work for GC.

They got rid of him a little bit before they screwed me.

So much of the GC vs. Sam Ash stuff comes down to the individual store and manager. Where I live, it so happens that GC=bad and Sam Ash = good. But I have heard plenty of reports of it being the exact opposite in other places.

[wavley]

If it's anything like their guitar repair services, it won't last.  I used to work at a Sam Ash that was right next to a GC, and they loved to flaunt their "professional" luthier. I worked on quite a few instruments fixing his "pro" setups.  Made some extra money doing it, but hated that this dude right next door was ripping people off so badly.

I can only speak for the luthier at the GC where I worked, but that guy was awesome.  He had been a luthier for 30 years and could fix danged near anything.  Also, he was a private contractor and didn't actually work for GC.

They got rid of him a little bit before they screwed me.

So much of the GC vs. Sam Ash stuff comes down to the individual store and manager. Where I live, it so happens that GC=bad and Sam Ash = good. But I have heard plenty of reports of it being the exact opposite in other places.

Well, while there are certain individuals at GC that are truly awesome (remember, I worked at one  ) and I have a lot of friends that worked there (mostly because the one in my ex town basically hired the whole Mars staff) and having worked at Mars, Ash (they wouldn't assign me an employee number until January and it was November=I wasn't going to get my biggest commission check of the year so I went back to liquidating Mars), and GC.  There are HUGE cultural differences in the management and sales training.  In the beginning Mars had a bit of trouble because they were a little too idealistic about how to compensate a sales staff (larger hourly/no commission), but they ironed that out (larger hourly than any other, not a draw, but a smaller commission percentage=steadier paycheck with motivation to sell) .  The issue I had with commission at Ash I found out was a local manager over reaching and screwing up.  And GC=used car salesman training/brainwashing, they used to tell me "Drink the Kool Aid" to which I would respond "So you're seriously referencing a mass suicide at Jonestown to motivate me into thinking your way, that's a little sick" it was always met with a blank stare (maybe they shouldn't make drummers and bass players managers  ).  When I worked at the repair shop I made weekly deliveries to every GC and Sam Ash in the greater Tampa Bay and Orlando area and got to know the staffs very well and I have to say that quite nearly across the board the Ash folks were happier and nicer than GC, which I think says a lot about the culture of a company, the quality of employees you attract, and the service that you receive. I still have some great relationships with some GC folks and I still will deal with them on occasion, but I don't care for the company at all.

[Thecomedian]

"Drink the Kool Aid"

so 4 channers run GC, it makes so much sense now.

You can make an appointment or just walk in.

   Restring and instrument maintenance: Keep your stringed instrument freshly strung and playing its best with regular setups.
   Intonation, action, truss rod adjustment: Regular playing stress and environmental factors like heat and humidity can wreak havoc on your instrument, causing buzzing, high action, intonation issues and more. Bring your baby to GC Garage to undo the damage.
   Personalized setup upgrades and modifications: Got some particular personal preferences for your guitar or bass? Chances are we can make your dreams a reality. Come in for a free consultation.
   Wiring, and pickup install, electrical upgrades and customization: Love the feel of your instrument but craving a tone upgrade? From new pickups to expanded switching options, the sounds in your head await.
   Bone nut and compensated saddle replacements: Improve tone and/or intonation with these after-market upgrades.
   Fret dressing and fret replacement: All those chords and bends add up, and sooner or later your frets start to wear. Bring lightly worn frets back to life with a good dressing, or replace those long-suffering frets and enjoy a giant jump in playability.
   Hardware customization and cosmetic enhancements: Skull knobs? Hot rod flames? Give your guitar a visual style as unique as you are.
   Headstock and structural repair:
   Music can be a full-contact sport, especially for your guitar. Get those cracks and bruises expertly repaired and keep on rocking.

It's only a full contact sport if you are careless. I do like the bit about upgrades. You can actually get "resistor upgrades", presumably with a tightened +/-% range resistor. None of those things are anything new to GC, as far as buying different knobs or anything else. It sounds like they want to draw people to the store just to have the employees say "we'll order these pieces you picked out and put them on when we call you to come in".


http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-Guitar-Upgrade-Resistor-Metal-Carbon-Film-4-7K-1-4W-NTE-360740-i1388523.gc

ah, here's one of those "upgrades". I'm thinking it's going to be little more than a larger/smaller Ohm pot size in pedals, or treble bleed/bypassers soldered directly to pots.

[Paul Marossy]

Mars came to Las Vegas I think in the late 90s sometime, maybe early 2000s. They lasted a very short time. The main Guitar Center was only a few miles away. I went to Mars once and didn't like the place at all. First and last time I've been in a Mars store...

[wavley]

Mars came to Las Vegas I think in the late 90s sometime, maybe early 2000s. They lasted a very short time. The main Guitar Center was only a few miles away. I went to Mars once and didn't like the place at all. First and last time I've been in a Mars store...

Well, all stores are different, I really loved the one I worked in.  Of course in the early days there very quickly became a moral problem due to the no commission sales structure but I was happily working at an indie record store then, I came in after they fixed the compensation and everybody was nice to each other and happy.

[DougH]

Funny you mention Orlando. That's where I'm at and IMO the Sam Ash store is pretty decent whereas the closest GC is fair to middlin' (much depends on the dept- recording/sound is good, guitar not so good). FWIW, the Sam Ash used to be a Mars, and it was decent too.

[Paul Marossy]

Yeah, that's what I remember. Mars came to town and then it became Sam Ash. That's probably why it wasn't around very long. I don't go downtown very often, and it was some years ago now, couldn't remember all the details... 

[wavley]

Funny you mention Orlando. That's where I'm at and IMO the Sam Ash store is pretty decent whereas the closest GC is fair to middlin' (much depends on the dept- recording/sound is good, guitar not so good). FWIW, the Sam Ash used to be a Mars, and it was decent too.

You've got two GC's, if I remember correctly I liked Winter Park better than the one on Orange Blossom, but that may be just because it was my last stop in O-Town and it meant a drive from George's down I-Drive to GC... I-drive taints everything.

That's the Ash on Colonial right?  There's one on Lee too, those folks are pretty great, but I always liked the folks on Colonial best.

Of course I've been gone from FL for 6 years, things may have changed.

[EATyourGuitar]

I worked there once. it is a horrible company from the top down. Mitt Romney and bain purchased GC and guitar hero at the same time. the strategy was to sell guitar hero at guitar center with a vertically stacked guitar conglomerate. the second part was about cutting costs and hiding liability on paper so that bain could claim the company increased in value and profitability for the quick flip while the buyer gets stuck holding the bag with computers and servers from 1982. the computers were "green screen" right up till 2012 when they installed a very insecure wifi system to send your credit card numbers back to the main server. they did not actually upgrade infrastructure until it was clear the company was losing value and no buyer would dream of owning it at any price.

as for the myth that GC is required to buy x number of fender guitars, this is a myth. GC marketing department tells fender what the market trends are and they even go as far as designing fender products for fender. fender is just a yes man. guitar center cooked up this minimum buy in scam to keep smaller retailers out of the fender business through the bargaining power they have over fender. fender can either say no and go out of business or say yes and do the work of the big satan GC. GC even owes fender and every other retailer money. they have no cash to pay for the stuff they already have sitting in the stores.

musicians friend and guitar center main warehouse are the same. musicians friend phone and guitar center warehouse phone share staff. they share inventory too but they will earmark it for one or the other if it is a shortage or an exclusive brand not carried by both.

any manager that makes you risk your life for a little profit is trying to get his $15,000 yearly store manager bonus for hitting all sales and profit goals. they added a new goal that is based on having no almost no staff but somehow increasing workload. they do not allow employees to talk to customers who are not closing a sale within minutes. anyone who is a dick at any level in the GC food chain is a doing so because of intentional money hungry training that happens at all levels. I was fired for uncovering an accounting scam at the store level perpetrated by 15 year employees. one was a store manager and the other was an operations manger. the sales training manager was his secret gay lover so he was probably in on the whole thing as well. about the same time I was fired on 3 false charges, corporate made an angry phone call about a shit ton of physically missing inventory that magically does not sell for years but looks to be there in the computer. the district managers love scams like this because if all the store managers get a bonus, the district manager gets a bonus. if the scam is uncovered, nobody gets a bonus.

[Paul Marossy]

I applied online to try and get a job at Guitar Center about 3-1/2 years ago. Never heard from them, probably wasn't aggressive enough for them. Sounds like it would have been a waste of time anyways. I knew the store manager a little bit, but apparently a store can't just hire you, you have to go thru their system. Oh well, I'm sure it was for the best...

[DougH]

Funny you mention Orlando. That's where I'm at and IMO the Sam Ash store is pretty decent whereas the closest GC is fair to middlin' (much depends on the dept- recording/sound is good, guitar not so good). FWIW, the Sam Ash used to be a Mars, and it was decent too.

You've got two GC's, if I remember correctly I liked Winter Park better than the one on Orange Blossom, but that may be just because it was my last stop in O-Town and it meant a drive from George's down I-Drive to GC... I-drive taints everything.

That's the Ash on Colonial right?  There's one on Lee too, those folks are pretty great, but I always liked the folks on Colonial best.

Of course I've been gone from FL for 6 years, things may have changed.

Yeah, Sam Ash on Colonial and GC in winter park are the two stores I'm familiar with. Haven't been to the other two.

[J0K3RX]

I prefer Sam Ash over GC any day!! By the way, the big Best Buy stores now have a large music area inside... not all of them have it just the super stores..  not too bad! 

[garcho]

The sooner those big box stores go out of business, the better. Everyone talks about how awful workmanship is nowadays, and that has everything to do with how things are sold via Guitar Center et al. If that means Fender goes out of business, who cares? Leo Fender, who made quality products, left years ago. What's in a name besides letters? Let all of those dinosaurs die, I'm not scared.

[DougH]

The sooner those big box stores go out of business, the better. Everyone talks about how awful workmanship is nowadays, and that has everything to do with how things are sold via Guitar Center et al. If that means Fender goes out of business, who cares? Leo Fender, who made quality products, left years ago. What's in a name besides letters? Let all of those dinosaurs die, I'm not scared.

Consumers wanted big box stores, so big box stores is what we've got.

[Paul Marossy]

Oh how I hate consumerism and corporatism.

[EATyourGuitar]

I almost forgot the topic, guitar center uses a company called raritan bay to handle the hiring of raritan bay trained and certified guitar techs. one of my friends that was a GC employee went down to NJ where the owner gave him a place to sleep + food for one night while he was getting his certification. he then switched to guitar tech where he was paid as a consultant to make *drum roll please* LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE. raritan bay takes a piece of the pie and guitar center makes the profit for the parts that are used in the repair for full retail price. GC also takes a cut on the total repair bill. another guitar tech was fired for purchasing guitar parts at GC and selling them directly to the customer even though GC and raritan still got paid anyway. all regular GC employees are authorized to change strings but not on a floyd. there are 214 GC stores and raritan has all of them east of the Mississippi River on contract.

[DougH]

Oh how I hate consumerism and corporatism.

People don't care about quality and value in general, they just care about the bottom line- price. Customers these days order from "the right side of the menu".

So the market responded and gave customers what they wanted. Isn't this the premise of free market capitalism? Customers want something and the market responds?....

[wavley]

all regular GC employees are authorized to change strings but not on a floyd.

I worked in Tampa, there's no such thing as a guitar without a floyd there, we all changed strings on those there.  Of course, my accident happened in 2004 so I'm sure a lot has changed since then.

Talking about scams, we had a sales manager that got busted for re-rolling tickets to add his sales number in NY, then he got busted in Tampa, so they moved him to Ops (where he could touch ALL of the money and sales tickets).  I hear he finally got busted after they moved him to New Orleans and he got busted for some shifty stuff during the hurricane.

Geez, this place and hurricanes.  I was always told that Donny Rod made the decision to stay open because it was the only store in all of Florida that had a chance of opening that day because it was passing east of the store, of course... I lived east of the store.  I made it all of two blocks before I got t-boned by a lady running a 4 way stop while changing lanes in an intersection (because the interstate exit was on the other side of the intersection, so it widens, I was just sitting there at a full stop), going 60.  If it hadn't been so wet so that I slid sideways 50 yards I would be dead.  I was on my way to my parents house to take a shower because I didn't have any power.  Of course my girlfriend at the time also had to go work at the perfume counter of one of those stores in the mall, so GC isn't the only evil force in my story, we both needed showers to go to work.

Doug, I like George's a lot, there is one in Winter Park and one on I drive.

The problem with big box stores vs mom and pop stores is that I currently live in a town with no big box stores and I still can't buy a decent microphone or audio interface.  I grew up in Norfolk, VA and we had a couple of big box sized mom and pops and that was nice.  When I first moved to Tampa we had Thoroughbred, but Ash bought them to take over their mail order and Thoroughbred's stores became Ash store and Thoroughbred's mail order warehouse became samash.com.  A lot of the Thoroughbred folks ended up working at Mars, maybe that's why the Mars in my town was such a great place, it was also the #1 sales store in the chain.