I've got an old Crate head. G130C XL with a seemingly rare Jackson 4x12 cab. losing my interest in it a lower volumes. But cranked will blow your balls off and is how it should be used. It's freaking powerful. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Randallflagg:
Unfortunately, Guitar Center had bought the rights to the brand and brought the Chinese version of Acoustic back and they threatened law suits if they didn't stop production immediately. Down the tubes it went :-)
Originally Posted by eDave:
Their products are fine and wide ranging. The employees suck. They just seem to hate me there.
Originally Posted by Randallflagg:
Never a truer word was written. :-)
My first job in California was working the guitar sales floor at the Berkeley Guitar Center. Back then, there were only about a dozen stores in the country, mostly concentrated in California and owned by Ray Scheer, who was a fantastic owner and manager. And unlike today, the salesmen on the floor were extremely knowledgeable and the pay was very, very good for the time. I became the Guitar Floor manager after about 4 weeks on the job and sold more than $20,000 dollars worth of guitars and amps per month, which put me in the Top 20 salesmen in the chain. The Sales Manager was earning $85k back in 1993 and the store manager was pulling down $150k per year. Those were good times.
Unfortunately, once Ray decided to sell Guitar Center in 1996, everything changed. Not only did they purchase Musician's Friend (and later, Music 123 among others), which increased their buying power 100 fold, they ran nearly every other guitar store out of business, not only in Hollywood but across the nation.
Today, Musician's Friend and Guitar Center have so much buying power that there's no longer an even playing field for other music stores and online businesses because they receive massive discounts that aren't offered to the Mom & Pop stores. They also hired dedicated employees to Google other online businesses, eBay, Reverb and Amazon for violating MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) then turn them into the manufacturers, with the sole purpose of completely eliminating their competition, which is nearly complete.
They've also been on the verge of bankruptcy multiple times but they've been bailed out by Private Equity firms. Today, the employees aren't any more knowledgeable than your standard Best Buy employee and their wages have been reduced drastically. And not only that but GC is carrying so much debt that they rarely stock any high end gear, whether it's recording gear, high end guitars, etc. because they just don't have the cash.
And finally, regardless of what your salesman tells you, there's a massive amount of wiggle room on pricing. Guitar Center refers to this as Ad Pack, which supposedly went towards advertising, which is absolutely absurd. So, every single item's bottom price actually included an additional 15% of Gross Profit (which was referred to as GiP), so even when you think you're getting a good deal, in reality, you're not.
So for an example, guitars are generally a 50% markup, so a $700 dollar guitar cost the retailer $350 plus freight (Fender charges freight to all of their dealers, regardless of whether or not their products are being sent down the street or all the way to Maine). But since GC has such a massive amount of buying power, they're only paying $250 dollars for that $700 dollar guitar and in many cases, far less. So when you're told "Oh, sorry dude, the lowest I can go on this $700 dollar guitar is $599", just keep in mind that GC is still making a massive amount for each sale, while simultaneously reporting on any and all retailers that would offer a below MAP sale, which they can do, but rat out any other retailer that tries to do the same.
I stopped ordering from or visiting any Guitar Center back in 2004, which is when the last of the guitar shops on Guitar Row (in between Gardener and Martel on Sunset) went out of business because they couldn't compete with GC's buying power. [Reply]
Bob Marley and the Wailers Live at The Roxy is my all time favorite live album. It has my favorite version of Trenchtown Rock on it.
Pasadena Live @ The Whiskey - You’ve probably never heard of them and who knows if you’ll give it a listen, but it’s straight Fire from beginning to end. Starts with
And ends with
Matisyahu Live at Stubb’s Vol 2 - great album and this version of Time of Your Song is just incredible
Morgan Heritage - Another Rockaz Momemt - sound quality, and the energy are awesome on this one.
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
My first job in California was working the guitar sales floor at the Berkeley Guitar Center. Back then, there were only about a dozen stores in the country, mostly concentrated in California and owned by Ray Scheer, who was a fantastic owner and manager. And unlike today, the salesmen on the floor were extremely knowledgeable and the pay was very, very good for the time. I became the Guitar Floor manager after about 4 weeks on the job and sold more than $20,000 dollars worth of guitars and amps per month, which put me in the Top 20 salesmen in the chain. The Sales Manager was earning $85k back in 1993 and the store manager was pulling down $150k per year. Those were good times.
Unfortunately, once Ray decided to sell Guitar Center in 1996, everything changed. Not only did they purchase Musician's Friend (and later, Music 123 among others), which increased their buying power 100 fold, they ran nearly every other guitar store out of business, not only in Hollywood but across the nation.
Today, Musician's Friend and Guitar Center have so much buying power that there's no longer an even playing field for other music stores and online businesses because they receive massive discounts that aren't offered to the Mom & Pop stores. They also hired dedicated employees to Google other online businesses, eBay, Reverb and Amazon for violating MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) then turn them into the manufacturers, with the sole purpose of completely eliminating their competition, which is nearly complete.
They've also been on the verge of bankruptcy multiple times but they've been bailed out by Private Equity firms. Today, the employees aren't any more knowledgeable than your standard Best Buy employee and their wages have been reduced drastically. And not only that but GC is carrying so much debt that they rarely stock any high end gear, whether it's recording gear, high end guitars, etc. because they just don't have the cash.
And finally, regardless of what your salesman tells you, there's a massive amount of wiggle room on pricing. Guitar Center refers to this as Ad Pack, which supposedly went towards advertising, which is absolutely absurd. So, every single item's bottom price actually included an additional 15% of Gross Profit (which was referred to as GiP), so even when you think you're getting a good deal, in reality, you're not.
So for an example, guitars are generally a 50% markup, so a $700 dollar guitar cost the retailer $350 plus freight (Fender charges freight to all of their dealers, regardless of whether or not their products are being sent down the street or all the way to Maine). But since GC has such a massive amount of buying power, they're only paying $250 dollars for that $700 dollar guitar and in many cases, far less. So when you're told "Oh, sorry dude, the lowest I can go on this $700 dollar guitar is $599", just keep in mind that GC is still making a massive amount for each sale, while simultaneously reporting on any and all retailers that would offer a below MAP sale, which they can do, but rat out any other retailer that tries to do the same.
I stopped ordering from or visiting any Guitar Center back in 2004, which is when the last of the guitar shops on Guitar Row (in between Gardener and Martel on Sunset) went out of business because they couldn't compete with GC's buying power.
I know that GC was on the verge of going under until they sold out to Mitt Romney's group. However, I am surprised that they didn't kill it off and walk away....
I have seen numerous Mom and Pop stores go under primarily due to GC. Damned shame. [Reply]
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds: Live at Luther College was always a good one growing up to listen to while I was studying, just two great guitarists playing for a crowd and had alot of great songs on it. If you haven't seen Foo Fighters live, their live shows are so damn good so pick a live album with them. Oh and Tool, Dany Carey live is ridiculous. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
My first job in California was working the guitar sales floor at the Berkeley Guitar Center. Back then, there were only about a dozen stores in the country, mostly concentrated in California and owned by Ray Scheer, who was a fantastic owner and manager. And unlike today, the salesmen on the floor were extremely knowledgeable and the pay was very, very good for the time. I became the Guitar Floor manager after about 4 weeks on the job and sold more than $20,000 dollars worth of guitars and amps per month, which put me in the Top 20 salesmen in the chain. The Sales Manager was earning $85k back in 1993 and the store manager was pulling down $150k per year. Those were good times.
Unfortunately, once Ray decided to sell Guitar Center in 1996, everything changed. Not only did they purchase Musician's Friend (and later, Music 123 among others), which increased their buying power 100 fold, they ran nearly every other guitar store out of business, not only in Hollywood but across the nation.
Today, Musician's Friend and Guitar Center have so much buying power that there's no longer an even playing field for other music stores and online businesses because they receive massive discounts that aren't offered to the Mom & Pop stores. They also hired dedicated employees to Google other online businesses, eBay, Reverb and Amazon for violating MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) then turn them into the manufacturers, with the sole purpose of completely eliminating their competition, which is nearly complete.
They've also been on the verge of bankruptcy multiple times but they've been bailed out by Private Equity firms. Today, the employees aren't any more knowledgeable than your standard Best Buy employee and their wages have been reduced drastically. And not only that but GC is carrying so much debt that they rarely stock any high end gear, whether it's recording gear, high end guitars, etc. because they just don't have the cash.
And finally, regardless of what your salesman tells you, there's a massive amount of wiggle room on pricing. Guitar Center refers to this as Ad Pack, which supposedly went towards advertising, which is absolutely absurd. So, every single item's bottom price actually included an additional 15% of Gross Profit (which was referred to as GiP), so even when you think you're getting a good deal, in reality, you're not.
So for an example, guitars are generally a 50% markup, so a $700 dollar guitar cost the retailer $350 plus freight (Fender charges freight to all of their dealers, regardless of whether or not their products are being sent down the street or all the way to Maine). But since GC has such a massive amount of buying power, they're only paying $250 dollars for that $700 dollar guitar and in many cases, far less. So when you're told "Oh, sorry dude, the lowest I can go on this $700 dollar guitar is $599", just keep in mind that GC is still making a massive amount for each sale, while simultaneously reporting on any and all retailers that would offer a below MAP sale, which they can do, but rat out any other retailer that tries to do the same.
I stopped ordering from or visiting any Guitar Center back in 2004, which is when the last of the guitar shops on Guitar Row (in between Gardener and Martel on Sunset) went out of business because they couldn't compete with GC's buying power.
Originally Posted by :
Guitar Center’ is hosting a ’sellers only’ music instrument/gear ‘open hours’ session where they will purchase musicians used musical instruments for upwards of 60-80% below market value. Now normally, i’d say…hey; if you’re willing to sell for that - or have to…go for it. BUT Guitar Center’s wall street terra firma capital backed suits have dreamed up this immoral and predatory purchasing session 5 months into worldwide shut downs of public events that have caused musicians to go ‘gig-less’ for the majority of the year thus far. Further, as the U.S. continues to grapple with the COVID19 virus and its economic tolls - some cities believe live music won’t return fully until 2021.
So picture this; you’re a musician….you’re broke from the previous 5 months….and all you have left are your tools of the trade……you’re also hungry.
See where I’m going with this?
The long failing corporate owned Guitar Center chain of music stores has been disintegrating for a decade in the face of the changing music industry and the collapse of music as a past time for many of the up-and-coming generation. Guitar Center has continuously been downgraded to junk credit ratings by major firms which followed with huge reorganizations, layoffs, a decreasing store experience for the consumer and practices like forcing American manufacturers like Fender to distance themselves from America’s largest music instrument retailer.
Guitar Center’s newest stunt is another in a long line of pathetic approaches that terra firma capital organizations engage in that ultimately destroy their own industry for the sake of profits in the moment. Make no mistake, soaking every dime from musicians during the worst crisis for the music world since The Great Depression - separating them from their tools of trade during a time of duress only serves to harm the health of the music industry in the long run. Removing musicians long term ability to work for the sake of short term corporate profits while having enough bailout and investment group cash on hand to weather the storm while banking on the economy returning and reselling musicians used gear at proper market value…..is a predatory practice that cannot be condoned by any musician or music fan….hell, it shouldn’t be condoned by economists either.
Now, what i’m going to say will elicit cries of ‘but what about the employees of Guitar Center???’ but bear with me here;
this is more of a PSA so that you are aware of how Guitar Center’s suits REALLY think of musicians; we don’t matter…and we never have….and we never will.
I’m not a fan of cancel culture….but do yourself and all musicians a favor and purchase direct from the manufacturer, small music stores struggling to remain in business (you can find many of these on ‘Reverb.com’ (note; this company just increased sellers fees by 5%….which is also pretty vile….but at least its a portal for small business) ….or even Sweetwater.com.
Avoid giving these Mitt Romney looking Ayn Rand loving Terra Firma American Psychos the ability to claim profits on the backs of out of work musicians and allow them to collapse into the ground where they should have been over a decade ago. As for their employees? They’ve been waiting for the hammer to drop for years…let the free market rise a music instrument retailer that cares about the health of its own industry. Oh and since most of the employees are musicians any way, consider hiring them to play music for you - they’ll be happier doing that anyways and they’ll probably make more than they do at Guitar Center.
I remember back when Pearl Jam was on top of the world. They did a live concert that was broadcast on the Point in St Louis. It was live from the Fox in Atlanta. I recorded that in cassette tape, and listened to it so many times it broke. [Reply]
Originally Posted by lewdog:
Live on Two Legs, Pearl Jam.
Speaking of which, Eddie Vedder played the Innings Festival last year and he was great. Brought a bunch of instruments from our museum and used them. Very talkative and was giving everyone shit for smoking so much pot. [Reply]
Originally Posted by eDave:
Speaking of which, Eddie Vedder played the Innings Festival last year and he was great. Brought a bunch of instruments from our museum and used them. Very talkative and was giving everyone shit for smoking so much pot.
I think you told me about that! Mad jealous of course. He seems like a likable dude so I’m always glad to hear those stories. [Reply]
