Gear shopping (in person) in today's world

[Scantron08]

I've been frustrated over the last few years by a common experience I have when doing any gear shopping in person at stores in my town (or almost any town, actually).

The problem is that I find myself - having only done about 30 minutes or so of online research - knowing way more than the sales staff about the products I'm shopping for, and I find that really annoying. And I'm not an expert gear-head by any stretch of the imagination, either - just an average part-time local amateur hack (my band plays about 2x per month) with a wife, a mortgage, a child, and a 9-to-5 desk gig to keep the lights on. I have a handful of axes and pedals and really only two amps that matter.

Despite my amateur-musician status, I like to be somewhat of an educated shopper - any purchase usually represents at least a few weeks worth of savings. Typically, I'm looking at a handful of competing products and trying to choose between them. So if I'm looking at delay pedals for example, or loopers, say (my last two pedal purchases over the past few years), I will scour a few world wide web resources such as online retailers, the manufacturer webpages, gear reviews, video demos, and several online fora like this one (note the dorky but proper Latin plural of "forum"). I also usually call or email a knowledgeable friend or two. Then, my thinking goes, I am ready with some basic knowledge to go to the store and *really* start learning about the details of each product with the true experts, the sales staff. What I'm hoping to get is someone saying, "yeah, i heard that about these pedals, too, but the truth is so-and-so," or "this particular function works really well/poorly," or at a minimum, "I have had a lot of customers tell me good/bad things about these after using them."

However, what I'm actually discovering is that I almost always know volumes more about each product than the the dudes who are actually selling the stuff, and purportedly knowledgeable about it all, and making their livelihood off of doing so. That really bothers me for several reasons: first, it seems to defeat the purpose of going to a brick-and-mortar store to try and either shop local or just avoid the interwebs, and second, what are these people doing all day? If I worked in music gear retail and had the world's most up-to-date gear at my fingertips delivered every week, I think I'd be playing with the stuff to learn it so that I could better sell it (or just to have fun as a bonus of the job). I'd certainly be able to discuss the bare minimums. But I can never seem to get some really basic questions answered like, "what's the difference between this one and that one," or "what's the difference between this current version and the last one released a few years ago?"

Even the small, local shops aren't the best about this, but Guitar Spinner here is the absolute worst. Those dudes know NOTHING here.

When I was growing up, you went to music stores to learn about different pedals or guitars or amps or whatever, try out several with help/coaching from a salesman, and then decide based on that whole experience. Salesmen really seemed to know their stuff back then. Nowadays the internet helps us all be a bit more educated on the front end (or all of us except those who are in gear retail for a living, apparently), but still nothing beats hands-on demoing of the products themselves. I don't think this excuses the sales staff from knowing their products, though - if anything, they should know even *more* now, because it's so easy for the average hack to think he knows it all. Am I being unrealistic?

Apologies for the length of this and the tone, if it seems I'm flying off the handle.

[RedDirt]

This is a topic that could take up pages of discussion, but I think that the bottom line is that in the old days, music stores were staffed by players, and that is just not the case anymore.

Besides that, there are 100X as many products now, and margins are so thin that most stores cannot afford to hire pro help or train anybody.


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[Scantron08]

Great points - still a shame, though. Was a lot more fun in stores in those pre-interweb days.

[thinlinetele22]

I think there are still the True Blue music shops out there. They certainly won't be any major chain. I came across a shop in Santa Monica that was very small and I'm pretty certain the guy lived in there, but he really knew his stuff and he had some amazing vintage arch top guitars. Guitar Connection on Rose in Santa Monica for any one in the area:)

[Paul in Colorado]

All we had was Guitar Player magazine and any information we could gleen from other players and the dudes in the stores.

It's easy to be well informed about a piece of gear that you're interested in and harder to know a lot about everything. Everytime I go to the Gear Page I'm amazed at how many cult/boutique pedal makers there are these days. (Yet no one has come up with a new kind of effect since the chorus pedal was invented...)

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by Scantron08

I almost always know volumes more about each product than the the dudes who are actually selling the stuff, and purportedly knowledgeable about it all, and making their livelihood off of doing so.

That's why I work in computers: whenever I would ask a question, it turned out I knew more than the person I was talking to.

As for the gear, and the guys in stores -- I don't try to learn from them. 30 years ago, we researched purchases like crazy, because you couldn't return anything. You left the store with it, you better like it real well or plan to sell it.

Now, we can try the gear out at home, or with the band, and see how it really works. In real life. Which is way more important than anything we ever learned in a music store, or in Guitar Player, or on the internet.

[Hack On Wheels]

If you're lucky, a bit of searching will still find someone very knowledgeable in a local shop. I'm lucky to have someone locally who has a wealth of experience; I still know more about the tech specs than he does, but his experience makes his advice very valuable.

Keep yourself informed and if you are lucky you will find someone to have an educated discussion with. Don't get your hopes up too much though; that is the sad reality in just about any hobby I've gotten into.

[TeleTim911]

I think the problem is with the amount of items available. If you go to the grocery store, would you expect the clerk to know every single can of food and how it's made? Music stores anymore are like super markets of merchandise...there are just so many choices (and IMO often TOO many).

Let's talk pedals. How many pedals are there being made at this time? How many makers put out different models of the same type pedal...say OD pedals. I mean it's really hard to keep up. What was hot last year is discontinued this year and a half dozen new models took it's place.

I just think it would be asking a bit much for someone to keep up. You admit yourself you do a bit of research on one product...now multiply that by about 100 or however many pedals...and add in guitars, amps, cables, straps, picks....am I making sense?

Nothing wrong with being an informed buyer, you've got that heads up, and you should be....it's your dollar. But I seriously doubt you can find one person that knows every single thing about every piece of musical equipment made.

[refin]

"I've always wanted to work in a music store...that would be WAY cool!!"

Well kid,you got yer wish....

I've worked some big music stores in the past,but we NEVER had 100+ types of pedals....but anyway,if that is your department,learn your product.Simple as that.
There ain't 100 different overdrive pedal sounds--it's Clonesville.Hook up the ones that are popular and let the customer decide.If they are players,THEY'LL hear the difference for their touch---if not,they'll buy anything you push.

[jjkrause84]

Originally Posted by TeleTim911

Nothing wrong with being an informed buyer, you've got that heads up, and you should be....it's your dollar. But I seriously doubt you can find one person that knows every single thing about every piece of musical equipment made.

It's not about knowing "everything"...it's about knowing ANYTHING! Last time I went to a guitar store I genuinely thought the staff had been brain damaged. I couldn't get anything resembling intelligent speech out of them and they had NO CLUE about ANYTHING that they showed me and my buddy (who later went back and bought a pointy guitar plus a Dual Terror and cab).

I don't expect perfect expertise but at least SOME knowledge would be a little nice.

[GigsbyBoyUK]

Music stores tend to pay very little and hire young people. People who get paid little tend not to put in out-of-hours time researching products. Young people ditto.

As a 40-something I don't think it's surprising that I know more about the Fender range that most 19 year olds, even if it should in theory be their job to know.

However it is frustrating and if I owned a music store I would see staff training and product familiarisation as my no.1 priority.

As for getting music store staff to give me their opinion on gear, I've never wanted that as it's all too subjective. Hey, some people even like PRS guitars.

[rangercaster]

it's not only music stores, it's just about any store ... if you do minimal research on a product, you know a lot more than the salesperson ... cars, appliances, electronics , computers ... brick and mortar stores will cease to exist eventually ...

[Tidepoolbay]

You know, I find the same thing. I do my homework and most if not all the tim eI do not need help from the staff.
That is way I do most of my shopping on line these days. Most of the stores just do not have a knowledgeable staff.

[chrisgblues]

There are exceptions, but for the most part the staff in these music stores don't have any incentive to learn a lot about gear when they are just buying time until their next career. It generally doesn't pay well. Again there are exceptions, but the general trend is low pay and low incentive. Which is not a lot different from just about any other service industry unfortunately. Things is changin...

JMHO. YMMV.

[CnB77]

Originally Posted by Scantron08

several online fora like this one (note the dorky but proper Latin plural of "forum"

I don't really want to be that guy, but I feel a duty to respond whenever false eloquence rears its head. People do this all the time and it gives me a giant headache. We are not speaking Latin, we are speaking English. The appropriate English pluralization is "forums." You would only use "fora" if you were referring to the structures in ancient Rome, or the ruins that can be found today. Again, I apologize, but you were asking for it.


But yes, I agree with you otherwise. Now I just shop online after handling the product in person and politely declining their offers to help.