guitar center

[marty h]

went yesterday to buy me a good martin acoustic.there were many and gibsons
and other brands.they ran from 2,200-999 bucks.i checked out the strat and teles also.i had the fever.been wanting a martin or guild for years.but,i find gc is too expensive on some models.almost all the new guitars in the acoustic room had dings or scratches.it,s a shame.the one i wanted sold for 1600 bucks with
dings.didn,t buy it.i bought a ten pack of d'addario 9-42 and a stripped set of
fender schaller tuners.one of them is stripped out.oh well shucks.

[Daddydex]

Here is where I bought my Martin 12 years ago:

http://www.nazarethmusic.com/products.html

Great people, great prices and no dings.

Dan

[NewOldStock]

I know some think they're ugly as hell, but at least try out a Mohogany series(15) Martin if you get a chance. I played what seemed like every Martin made a couple years ago and ended up purchasing a 00-15. Sweet sounds and reasonably priced for a Martin. Compared to a spruce top, you can get equal or more bass out of a smaller-sized Mohagony.



Wow, I see even these 15's jumped considerably in price lately. I paid $699 for mine new from a dealer back then. Now even MF is selling them for $949.

[David Barnett]

Originally Posted by marty h

went yesterday to buy me a good martin acoustic.there were many and gibsons
and other brands.they ran from 2,200-999 bucks.i checked out the strat and teles also.i had the fever.been wanting a martin or guild for years.but,i find gc is too expensive on some models.almost all the new guitars in the acoustic room had dings or scratches.it,s a shame.the one i wanted sold for 1600 bucks with
dings.didn,t buy it.i bought a ten pack of d'addario 9-42 and a stripped set of
fender schaller tuners.one of them is stripped out.oh well shucks.

Did you try negotiating with them on price? Usually GC will match price with other retailers, so if you find a price online, print it and take it with you to GC.

[tommym]

Bought my Martin from these guys.

http://www.maurysmusic.com/

They answered any questions I had, and you can also upgrade parts if you wish.

[Mark Davis]

Originally Posted by tommym

Bought my Martin from these guys.

http://www.maurysmusic.com/

They answered any questions I had, and you can also upgrade parts if you wish.

Thats where I got my Martin OM21 I love it play it everyday.

Maury did a perfect setup on it low action with zero buzzes plays so smooth. Its my #1 go to.

[studio1087]

Maury is a great guy.

Elderly is another great store....

www.elderly.com

I've bought two Martins from Elderly. Both Maury and Elderly charge less than the web prices when you call on the phone.

15's are beautiful. Simple perfect mahagony. I have a bone nut & saddle and a K&K Pure Western in mine. Love it.

[cook]

When it comes to Guitar Center, I think it's worthwhile to wait for their holiday sales, especially if you don't need it immediately. There is one coming up Monday for President's Day. They usually will have stuff marked down, and if not, I've found it easier to deal at those sales.

[imwjl]

I've always been offered lower prices and usually without asking at GC stores but got my Martins used with same or less scratches (one was truly mint) and saved hundreds whether it's the MAP price or the discounts offered by Maury's and others.

Craigslist and some phone and web shopping got my great Martins for 1/2 list. The mint 00-18V was even $500 less than what most sell it for new so I suggest trying to delay the gratification and looking at craigslists and shops within a reasonable drive from home.

I've played 15 and 16 series that were great, but used didn't bother me and I've never heard or played a 15 or 16 in the league of my 00-18V or HD where they can be had for same price as new 16 series.

IMO the 15s and Larrivees are of the best acoustic values out there.

Not that I know what any of this has to do with Strats.

[65flh5326]

Here is a little Mahogany Martin I bought in the late 70s for my wife. I bought it from a collector that bought it only for its case to use on a higher level model.
This 1923 Martin 2-17, I believe was their low priced entry model? Sweet little thing!
http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ecaster010.jpg

Thanks,
Don

[getbent]

I don't think I'd buy my martin at GC. In fact, I don't think I'd buy any guitar in GC that was over say 800.00. Anything in the price range you are talking about deserves a quality buying experience from a seller that understands truly what someone would want from a high quality guitar.

For low end walmart type guitar stuff and band stuff GC and MF do a great job... straight transaction... but for a quality good and a lifetime guitar.... it would be like buying your engagement ring at the jewelry counter at Walmart or Target or Mervyn's..... just not the right vibe.

[chabby]

Having had just incredible experiences at family run stores the last few days I will probably never buy a single thing from GC again unless absolutley forced to. I went there a couple nights ago and every guitar I grabbed was severely out of tune, not set up and just terrible. The cheapest guitar I touched was well over a grand and even thoise were just terrible to the point of "they couldve been absolute gems and you'd never have known it.

Nope - I hope not to darken their doors ever again. They represent just about everything bad that can happen in retail. Add to that they have the guts to check youe bags and make you feel like a criminal on the way out just to sweeten the whole experience as if to say "come back again soon" yeah, right.

[Hockey Rocker]

If you compared new guitars from GC with most five-year-old and younger guitars in "gently used" Ebay listings, I'd bet that the Ebay axes would be cleaner.

[boris bubbanov]

Here's the way I look at it. I like buying a sound guitar far enough under retail that I can bail out if it turns out not to suit me.

IMO every guitar bought at GC is in triage; every element of the guitar has to be examined, fixed as necessary, replaced as necessary to make it playable. I'm not talking about hunks of missing finish or loose frets, I'm just talking about guitars subject to abject indifference, where nothing can be taken for granted.

I sometimes wonder if the GC experience is such a repugnant experience for so many of the guitarists who know better, that a giant percentage of knowledgeable folks simply do not compete with me for GC guitars. Of those folks who do pass through this filter, and don't feel dirty walking in there, many fall right into the salesman's hands. Many lack the gumption to ask to see that guitar up on the top rung, and so it never comes down off that rung, until one day one of us comes in, goes right to it, tunes it, plays it, eyeballs it, and buys it for 40 cents on the dollar.

They say the stench is horrible in a gold or diamond mine, but if that's where the treasure lies, I go.

Bubban0v

I have no idea what a gold mine smells like, but it sounds good, right?

Hockey Rocker, what if the e-bay listed guitars were disproportionally GC guitars to begin with? I've always wondered about that.

[chabby]

If I could find a treasure there I'd suffer through it and used to cuz i thought their prices were the cheapest arounf by far - they aren't. I have found at least 2 places that blow them out of the water - especially on high end stuff and I'm talking thousands.

That's why I'm whining about them now, their MO is nothing new for them nor is my awareness of it any sudden revelation. It's just that now I have found that their one saving grace (being price) isn't even there anymore.

So hopefully it will stay that way cuz I'd much rather give my business to Mom & Pop anyway.

[Axis29]

I have had relatively good experiences at the GC's near me.

I'm like Boris... I wait until it's on clearance before I even look at it. Then I'll play the snot out of it and make sure it's gonna pass muster.

I've got a bud at one of the GC's near me who gives me accessories at cost and talks the guitar guys into giving me very good deals on stuff too.

The other GC near me, they've been very good to me. I picked up my Nashville Tele there on clearance. Now, it had a messed up ground, but in about twenty minutes it was good to go. It plays fantastically and has been my #1 for almost a year now.

Yesterday I went to check out a DRRI. They had one on the floor and there was a guy in the 'Loud Lounge'. The guitar guy let me crank that DRRI right in the middle of the store. There weren't a lot of people and he said he liked my blues better than the darn shredding he usually heard. Then when the loud room was available he smiled and carted the DRRI in there for me and set me up. He let me go off for as long as I wanted and as loud as I wanted and smiled at me when I told him as soon as my Mesa was sold I'd be buying one. He was really cool and actually rather knowledgeable.

Now, the other music stores in my area carry lotsa MIK crap student guitars. They make their money off of lessons. They know exactly zero about guitars... amps... strings... but they do know about violins, renting band instruments, etc.

I do tend to shop online if I can for most things (effects and such), cause I know the price is better, but when it comes to buying instruments, if I'm paying more than a hundred bucks, I gotta touch it and feel it to know it;s the one I'll bond with.

They ain't perfect, but they aren't evil either.


Oh and Boris, I'm 100% sure MOST of the guitars bought and sold on Ebay are from GC!!!!

[Hockey Rocker]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

They say the stench is horrible in a gold or diamond mine, but if that's where the treasure lies, I go.

Hockey Rocker, what if the e-bay listed guitars were disproportionally GC guitars to begin with? I've always wondered about that.

You make some good points, Boris, and I have purchased two guitars from GC in the past also. They have both been damaged and sold at a decent discount. One I cleaned up, after a year of play, and sold via Ebay myself. The used guitar that my buyer received was in MUCH better condition than the day I picked it up as a new scratch/dent in Totowa NJ's GC. First of all, when my buyer took it out of the case it didn't have dried snot on the fretboard. Plus it was set up with good strings, hardware secured, tweaked to my taste and polished to a shine. It did still have the original scratch that it came with from GC, but it was not repulsive. I got my six months of play and all my money back on a PRS SE that I enjoyed just fine.

Lately, and it may just be here in Totowa, the people have been very nice to deal with, but the guitars are in very bad shape. I visit the store when I'm driving home from Manhattan appointments, usually every two weeks or so. I do look for used guitars and those elusive bargains that may be hanging from the rafters. Unfortunately, the past few times have been sad. There were no Bajas, Classic 60s or Classic 50s Telecasters. They did have a couple of those FSR Ash MIM Standards, but they did have some type of dried human bodily fluid on them, buckle rash and were in a general state of neglect. If I was enamored I would've asked for a discount. I wasn't.

I went home and trolled the future image files of MF's Stupid Deal of the Day and saw the Reverse Headstock Strat. I woke early, 3:30 am in Jersey, on the day of the Strat, and was surprised to see the ($699 at Christmas, $599 a few minutes prior) guitar being offered for $399. I jumped on it.

It arrived a couple of days ago. The only film on the guitar was the plastic that covered the scratch plate and the only DNA was on the tuners in the form of fingerprints. Someone, whose initials were on the red Strat tag, actually made a nice effort to see that the guitar was presented to the customer, me, in a professional manner. Just like I do when I offer a guitar on Ebay.

I wish GC took the same care in presenting their guitars.

[boris bubbanov]

Something did occur to me.

I would give up my ability to navigate at Guitar Center forever, in a moment, if it meant I could play just five percent better than I have so far.

Saving money, and having saved money whilst buying additional guitars and amps does inspire me to practice more, practice well, it does seem to have preceded some more inspired sessions of playing, so I certainly see it as a net positive thing.

And when you buy cheap enough and have no excuse for holding back when tearing the guitar apart and learning how it is put together, you can come to assemble your own guitars from quality parts more proficiently.

[Colt W. Knight]

I've had just as many bad experiences in locally owned guitar stores as I have had with GC. Seems like those local stores Ive been too don't want to help you unless your prepared to throw 2 grand out for a new guitar after they tell you which one is the best. At least at guitar center I can experiment with all the different guitars and amps without someone looking at me with distain when I dont buy the 3grand Les paul.