My Telecaster shopping experience today….

[Raymond]

I don’t know if you’ve seen the post from a Brazilian guy asking for advice regarding the purchase of a Fender Hw1 Telecaster in the No VA area. He’ll be between flights next Monday, so he’s got about 4 hrs to buy the guitar. Due to the short time window, we recommended going to Melodee Music, since it’s the closes to the airport, and to GC which is the second closest.

Since I’m enjoying some days off, I volunteered to go to the stores to see if they have a 3-tone sunburst Hw1, which is the guitar he wants. Thanks to us, he he.., he’ll try others, but I think he’s mind is pretty much made up already.

I went first to GC and they had one. It played terribly, and as I’ve mentioned in other posts, all the Teles in the stored were really crappy, from MIA’s to Squires. Disappointed, I went to Melodee Music. They had a couple of those guitars and they were great! I checked out most of the inventory and all the Teles were very good indeed. No cracks, all the hardware very well aligned, etc. Set up to me is always an issue since I’m very particular about that, so I didn’t compare that.

I talked to sales manager and he confirmed that they got those guitars in early Dec,. as GC (I didn’t tell him anything about my GC experience). As far as I could tell by our conversation, they don’t do anything special but to check the guitars for any obvious problems. I’d think that GC does something similar.

A lot of people in this board have claimed that GC gets the worst Fender stock, which I’ve never truly believed because to me it wouldn’t make sense. Why?, because GC must be one their biggest customers! In addition to that, they don’t sell cheaper than other Fender dealers since everyone matches the lowest price. Why would you send crap to a big customer?

I think that hard data speaks for itself… I’m about to believe that it’s true that GC carries the bad Fender stock… I’m trying to figure out why though. Like the good engineer I am, I’ll need more data though. I’ll got to other stores tomorrow.

In any case, I’m happy that our Brazilian friend has a chance to get his dream guitar. They played nicely and the craftsmanship was very good. I hope they don’t sell them during the weekend.

[nedray]

I've never been to Melodee. Ive got a day off tomorrow and think I'll check them out. Can you remind me where they are? Chantilly, right?

I don't know about the quality issue, but I know GC's stock gets mighty monotonous. In a Tele town like this, you'd think they'd bring in the occasional Custom Classic, or American Artist, or at least a Muddy Waters.

But I guess they know what they're doin'...

Right?

[The Ragman]

Is on Rt. 7 in Sterling, Va.: From Dulles Airport, go 5 miles north on Rt.28 to East on Route 7, to left at the second traffic light, second driveway on the right.

[Mark Davis]

Fender doesnt actually see a crappy made guitar and say hey let this one pass thru QC we will just send it to GC they dont care.

But thats the way it ends up.

Whatever the reason may be its the same at the Bakersfield GC every guitar on the floor has some kind of flaw or something that would keep me from buying it.

No guitars at GC are ever setup by a tech they just open the box and put it on the salesfloor without even looking at it for flaws. My guess is GC never sends one back unless the neck gets broken during shipping. There was a 52ri that had fallen off the wall a couple times the strap button was pushed way in and there were big chunks of the finish gone but it was right on the salesfloor ready to sell hahah.

[lobotomyactivist]

I think GC has more guitars coming to them that are going to be more abused, that's why they seem worse.

at Sam Ash I once dropped a Tele while reracking it (I felt so bad, too) from 6 feet up, down onto an amp. What'd they do? Check the guitar and amp for sctatches and then just reracked.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by nedray

I've never been to Melodee. Ive got a day off tomorrow and think I'll check them out. Can you remind me where they are? Chantilly, right?
Right?

There are actually two, one in Sterling and another one in Leesburg. I went ot one in Sterling. Ask for Rob and please don't buy any Hw1 3-tone sunburst Teles

Melodee Music
(703) 450-4667 46077 Lake Center Plz
Sterling, VA

Melodee Music
(703) 777-7602 320 E Market St
Leesburg, VA

[mike_levitt]

Originally Posted by Raymond

A lot of people in this board have claimed that GC gets the worst Fender stock, which I’ve never truly believed because to me it wouldn’t make sense. Why?, because GC must be one their biggest customers! In addition to that, they don’t sell cheaper than other Fender dealers since everyone matches the lowest price. Why would you send crap to a big customer?

I know why they send the crap to their biggest customer. In fact it's just not Fender. Go in the acoustic room and check out the pathetic excuses for Martins and Taylors they have there, then go to a real dealer, and see the difference. It's not all old strings and bad setups. How about cosmetic flaws? Sanded through inlays? Dings and dents? They all seem to end up at GC...

Why?

Because nobody is paying attention! It's simple. As a guitar maker, you know that the stuff you send to GC is going to sit in the box for months, then get pulled out and stuck on a wall, and hammered on by a bunch of kids - without a stop for a setup or tweaking on the way. Nobody is looking - so why send the good stuff?

Not to mention that they are probably paying less than your local independent store (volume discount, co-op money, bonuses, etc)

At my local independent store, everything that comes in immediately gets pulled out, inspected, setup and played. If there's a problem, they find it immediately. And send back the bad stuff.

So where would you send the crap? If I were Fender I would send it to GC.

I am sure they get some good stuff too, but I am convinced (especially concerning Martins...) that the dogs get sent to GC.

That's my theory - what's yours?

Mike

[nedray]

There are actually two, one in Sterling and another one in Leesburg. I went ot one in Sterling. Ask for Rob and please don't buy any Hw1 3-tone sunburst Teles

LOL--I wouldn't do that. Actually, I just want to see what they have. I could get juiced over a used, broke-in 52 RI, but those don't seem to turn up in stores. Only on E-bay, speaking of crappy guitars...

[harold h]

I think it is just because everyone beats on the guitars at GC so much. The guitars are shipped from Fender in a factory box and I dont think Fender is smart enough to send certain ones to certain places. They would have to code the boxes somehow while in the warehouse, which would be too labor intensive.

[ashtray]

On a recent trip to GC (to buy my Vox), I was surprised when I changed the pickup selector on the '52 RI Tele ($1,300 new) that the neck pickup had very little output and sounded very bassy. I shrugged it off, being GC and all. I looked at used amps the time before - broken off power switches or effects loop inputs, broken amps, very poor condition amps, etc. I was taken aback. Played one amp that looked fine but obviously had some issues with it. I wonder if people trade in broken amps b/c the salesguys don't bother to check them?

[lenny]

Originally Posted by ashtray

On a recent trip to GC (to buy my Vox), I was surprised when I changed the pickup selector on the '52 RI Tele ($1,300 new) that the neck pickup had very little output and sounded very bassy.

are you familiar with "vintage wiring"? the front position is considered unuseable to most, but it's "correct". middle position on the selector is front pickup
/shrug, anyway :)

[Mark Davis]

On the 52ri thats how they are wired stock the neck pickup is sent thru a cap for a bassy sound to emulate a bass guitar. Thats the way they did it in 52 so thats also how Fender makes the reissues. So that part wasnt GC fault they are all like that when new.

[ashtray]

Hey - it looks like I'm *NOT* familiar with the vintage wiring! Thanks for the correction. I thought it was weird. The middle position sounded good to me, so I was using that since i couldn't use the neck position. Guess I was using the right pickup after all!

That neck position though - very low output. I dunno - bassy yes, but you'd have to crank the volume. I guess there is an advantage to "modern" vs. "vintage" in a tele!

[kaibu49]

When I got my 2003 AS at GC over a year ago my experience was that the ones on the floor were pretty shaky....

After expressing discontentment with the ones I'd played the sales person said "let me see if I have any in the back" and fast forward a bit and I was taking a guitar home.

Point - maybe there is something to the "they get beat up on the floor" theory.

[timgreene]

Walk in and there is a 15 year old kid playing a 60's custom shop relic, on a hot rod deville. His little brother is telling him to make this or that sound, woosh, shunk, wang, whirl, bling bling etc. Of course he is sitting on the amp, and next to him is a 77 tele, and a 52 reissue, I want to check out.

I walk to the accoustic section, check out a few, thinking the kid will be gone, or run off. Have a conversation with one of the employees hiding from the bedlam in the electric guitar section.

Go back to the teles. The guy has his brother running around the store pulling different guitars, no not the red one go get the blue one. More loud effects a tricks, the guy could play. So i pick up the 77 tele, check it out, no input jack cup. Could'nt plug it in if you wanted?
Pick up the 52 reissue. Clerk asks if I want to check it out? Sure plugs me into a pro jr, tells me it is a tube amp, and wont play till tubes worm up, DOH. :evil:

So there I am trying to check out the guitar with a mini jimi hendrix wailing away, about two feet from me. No way I was going to be able to check out anything. The boys mother came in to check on them. She'd been shopping in the other stores. I left.

Point, I want the kid to check out the guitars, but if I managed the store I would have told the kid to cool it. Come back when we are empty. The kid is playing on a guitar marked at 2800.00 dollars, and is not buying anything. I had cash to spend, and kept it.

I

[JerryPro]

I'm pretty sure it was GC. It was huge and in a mall there. I'd never seen anything like it. When you entered the store they actually issued you a cord at the door. All these kids are running around with guitar cords around their necks and running from guitar amp combo to combo playing these things. It was simply a roar in there.

I noticed that it was like a two story in one, like any shopping center, and they had the nicer stuff higher on the wall. The nicer it was the higher the price the higher on the wall it was.

I was just looking anyway while waiting to go down to the cruise ship. Still, I didn't stay long.

[ashtray]

When I worked at a m&p guitar shop, I made up small index cards with the words printed: "Do not touch. Please ask for assistance." I put these on all the $400+ guitars (hey, it's a m&p store - those were the high priced ones!). That stopped a lot of the local kiddies from touching them. When they did, I had good reason to say "you're not allowed to play that guitar", without being too much of a butthead. For the more mature customers, they would actually ask before playing those guitars - which I would say "yeah go ahead" (if the less mature customer would stop to ask to play one, I would usually say yes too - seeing how they were polite and responsible enough to obey the sign). Either way, the guitars were handled with more care.

Now I'm not sure which I like better! When I walk into GC, it's usually after a long day of work. I'm in a shirt and tie. Even though they let almost anyone play/touch their guitars, I don't feel as bad picking up a $3,000 custom shop guitar - and I think they are more at ease too. But, I usually don't pick one up if I'm not interested in buying it. I show respect for their inventory.

What GC needs is a bunch of plexiglassed sound rooms with a couple amps in there, and room to bring another amp or two to try out. That way you're not upsetting everyone when you try out a guitar or an amp. When I bought my Vox I wanted to hear how it sounded. I played it soft for most of the time, only playing a note hear or there at any volume. The store was empty, and I still felt bad to play at any volume to disturb others. When 2 people are trying out gear at the same time, you can't hear the amp well enough - and that sucks. Stick me in a small room, I'd be happy with that! I think MARS used to have those.