Slogold Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Mine was a GOOD one, and wanted to give the a "SHOUT OUT". A "BIG THANKS" to GC Roseville, CA specifically to "Charles Dean" of Guitar Acc. Dept. He helped me get my dream guitar (68 Gibson LP Custom)for a really deep discounted price. Now this same guitar is listing $4199 which is way to much to what I paid for mine. Thanks Charles Roseville, CA Guitar Center Guitar Acc. Dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Arm Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I found a Epi Dot Deluxe Flametop for $299.99 while googling. I called Guitar Center and they could not find it, even though it was their ad, but honored it anyway. I thought that was great. Then I went to one in Portland the day after Christmas and found a Blackstar 5 watt amp head with 2 1x10 cabinets. They had just gotten it in on Christmas Eve. The salesperson spent a great deal of time with me and I ended up buying it. They only had one in boxes in the back and the floor model, so I felt lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyH Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I have found Guitar Center to be a good resource because of their broad selection and large inventory. I generally prefer my local shops for most things now, but GC has it's place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I have mixed feelings. I bought a bunch of stuff from them, but then they stopped negotiating prices for whatever reason. They did honor their website price, which was $50 less than their store price, on my last purchase (EZdrummer software). But after the deal that HOG in Rochester gave me on my Premium Plus ($900 less than GC!) I'm going to making more trips to Rochester for my major purchases... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Mine was a GOOD one' date=' and wanted to give the a "SHOUT OUT". A "BIG THANKS" to GC Roseville, CA specifically to "Charles Dean" of Guitar Acc. Dept. He helped me get my dream guitar (68 Gibson LP Custom)for a really deep discounted price. Now this same guitar is listing $4199 which is way to much to what I paid for mine. Thanks Charles Roseville, CA Guitar Center Guitar Acc. Dept. [img']http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg169/gem12_NEC/68%20Historic%20RI/P1040808.jpg[/img] OT here, but I've gotta say that's one of the most beautiful LPs I've ever seen. What is the neck profile? I might have to keep my eye out for one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbomb76 Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Overall I am not a huge fan of GC because I think that their evergrowing presence is partially responsible for the exponential inflation of the price of Gibsons (and other brands) over the past few short years since they are a "volume" dealer (definitely not a "quality" dealer...but Gibson suffers from this some nowadays too). Not to mention it killed a lot of my fave mom-n-pop shops in the area. Yes, yes, I know that the economy is bad and inflation is a factor, and that SOME materials costs have went up as a result (but SOME haven't, and have in fact lowered in cost over the years due to abundance and advances). But sudden, huge spikes in price are unforgiveable to me. Having worked for a guitar store in the 90's, I know what dealers pay for most everything, and I know the haggle swaypoints. GC doesn't haggle PERIOD on most things, and they don't have to because they're becoming a monopoly in most areas, which I think is crappy. If Guitar Center would at least be able to haggle for faces they see in the store all the time, repeat buyers and such, I would probably be as okay with them as I am walking into my local Wal Mart for Cokes, bread and the occasional Star Wars toy. But as such is not the case, they don't get more out of me than the occasional rolled eyes when I see the decreasing beveling of the '61 SG "reissues" (they kicked butt from 1999 to 2004...WHAT HAPPENED???) and the "only if they're on special" purchase of some guitar strings. Otherwise I have some privately-owned stores I steal deal with, thankfully. Another example of the woes (more regarding Gibson here in the first part), I bought my Angus signature SG back in late 2000 or early 2001 from a good out-of-state mom-n-pop dealer (which I am grateful still is around) for the comfortable sum of $1400.00 (about a hundred bucks more than the '61 RI at the time, the street price of which had only increased by about a hundred bucks in several years). Now you're looking at near-Historic/Custom price for the same guitar, and I've played a newer one recently & just can't see where the inflation goes. The newer stuff has such inconsistency, and there were so many fit & finish issues on the recent one that I couldn't understand how it got out of QC. Ask a GC employee ("specialist") what's up and they shrug their shoulders and move on to the pretty wife wanting strings for her husband's acoustic. The other big reason I dislike GC is because I've played many guitars in the store, but only 2 or 3 EVER have been set up worth a crap. Most are set with high action, poorly intonated and sit on the shelves for months and months. I've even offered to work weekends for them and just come in to do setups, and they took offense because they "have a guy for that". I told them they needed to fire him because he sucks. I may buy a guitar that I just experience love at first sight with because I know I can set it up pretty well on my own, but what's happening to some kid who's getting some unplayable guitar as a gift and gives up playing because it's "too hard" as a result of a bad setup? We used to take that sorta' thing seriously when I worked at a shop, and made sure everything was tuned and set up to impress. I guess though, when you're the ONLY store within 50 miles, you don't have to give a crap. That's sad to me as a player and as a guitar teacher who hears kids complain about such things. I don't know how many free setups I've done to keep some kid from quitting the guitar because of halfa$$ed (or NO-a$$ed) setups from GC. I'd like to see some pride in the products sold, personally. Sorry, I had to go there...lol H-Bomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basshole Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 i found Sacramento, CA to be a fair store, def not bad, not impressvly good. There is a couple guys in there who really know there guitar stuff, the other guys are good enough to get the guitar down off the wall and of course all the rocker chicks with black hair walking around smiling and asking if you need help with anything. there problem (or maybe the buyers problem) is i havent seen a diffrent guitar up yet in a while. its allways the same thing. they never seem to restock until they really really have too. i have gotten sweet deals from there i bought a USA Jazz Bass from there that usally cost $1000 for $800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 The Big Gc in New York City sucks the one near me is fun to just fool around with guitar,drums,basses i love how u can mess with the pedals and make the sickist sounds ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSG_Standard Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I've never bought anything but strings from GC, but those experiences weren't any worse than buying stuff from ANY other big box retail shop, and that's what GC is. They used to be my customer, I sold them network gear to tie all of their locations together and for point of sale, they have locations everywhere and they have a huge inventory and they will meet anybody else's advertised price...They don't pay their floor staff much money and they typically have high turnover in floor staff...Take them for what they are...if they suck too bad then they'll go out of business and somebody else will take their place...my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slogold Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 OT here' date=' but I've gotta say that's one of the most beautiful LPs I've ever seen. What is the neck profile? I might have to keep my eye out for one of those.[/quote'] If I am not mistaken, I think it has a 60's neck profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmartem Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I pretty much stopped buying from G.C. since they changed there pricing system.I was looking for a inexpensive acoustic guitar ,had done my research and was going to buy a Breedlove Atlas series guitar for about $600.When I went in to G.C.to see what there selection was like I noticed that they had a much more expensive model Breedlove for the same price as the one I was planing on purchasing.Brand new, no pickmarks on the pickguard and it wasn't on sale.Just a computer mistake.Having done my research I purchased it on the spot and saved $300 off the best internet price I could find.A few days later I got a 10 percent coupon from G.C.Took it to the store with my receipt and saved another $60 bucks.Some time it pays to deal wirh mindless conglomerates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I don't hate GC, but I do acknowledge their shortcomings. Just one example. I recently went with a friend to help him pick out a guitar to buy. Long story short, we checked out a beautiful cherry LP Custom with about a $3500 price tag. When we played it, we found that every note played above the 12th fret was dead! When we pointed it out to the employee he just shrugged and said something like "yeah, some of them come out of the factory with pretty bad set-ups". First, I find it hard to believe that Gibson let a Custom out of the factory with such a horrible setup. And even if it did arrive at CG like that, don't you think they should correct it before hanging a $3500 guitar up for sale? If you're informed before walking in and you know what you are looking for, then GC is fine. If you're looking for true advice from knowledgeable staff I think you should go elswhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPw/GT Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 guitar center in ohio... well at least Cincinnati and Columbus i can't totally recommend. But Columbus is getting a little better. They at least will let you near the gibsons now, vs pushing fender and bc rich on everyone who walks in. Still No Selection, and none of the gibson products even epiphone that i want do they carry. they had Masterbuilt Epi's when they came out, I bought one happy with it, but if they'd had the one I went in for i'd have been happier... But they have no clue about a Melody Maker, Joan Jett Model... Or if talking epiphone anything New and exciting they don't have it... I've had to buy everything online either through their site, or musicians friend which is their sister company... if i've gotten anything via them lately. Actually the selection in columbus just blows, and cincinatti is in a dead mall... Oh best gibson story for columbus. i bought a gibson les paul case... they gave me one with all the warranty information from a standard guitar they had up on the wall... i took the stuff for that guitar back to them... but really made me uneasy about buying items there. not that they have anything... still candy store. candy store... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Yeah, that's another thing. When my friend finally ended up buying a really nice 1957 VOS Goldtop, the case candy and reciept showed an entirely different serial number than the actuall one on the guitar. They just grabbed any random case from the back with whatever paperwork was in it. That could cause a real problem when you try to register with Gibson for the warranty. I had a similar incident when I purchased my amp from them. The serial number on the receipt didn't match the actual serial number on the amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameswithesg Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 i picked up my 61 reissue from one in denver, great guitar, noone f-ed with it, it was settup almost perfectly, they people there were ok, i got a hardcase with an unmatching serial #, but i really could care less about that, im never getting rid of my guitar each GC i go to is full of both idiots and helpfuls, cheesy guitars, and really nice ones they all are hit or misses really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJsvob Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Mine was a GOOD one' date=' and wanted to give the a "SHOUT OUT". A "BIG THANKS" to GC Roseville, CA specifically to "Charles Dean" of Guitar Acc. Dept. He helped me get my dream guitar (68 Gibson LP Custom)for a really deep discounted price. Now this same guitar is listing $4199 which is way to much to what I paid for mine. Thanks Charles Roseville, CA Guitar Center Guitar Acc. Dept. [img']http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg169/gem12_NEC/68%20Historic%20RI/P1040808.jpg[/img] It's my guitars twin! and I've found the GC in Aurora CO to have good people working there that are relatively helpful and knowledgeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 My funniest experience came at GC when I had 3 "sales" persons fighting over who was gonna get the commision just because each one chatted me up while I test drove a number of guitars. Guitars that I had to get off the wall myself and tune after finding an available amp similar to mine. They each walked past me and simply asked what I thought of "that baby"/ "that beauty"/ "that sweet axe" and oh yeah they all own that same one. I guess they have to mark their territory.lol. Needless to say it was a lively discussion when I decided to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin.guitar.. Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Great! i bought a VM for 750 wich is pretty good. Only thing is the employee was trying to tell me the studio and vm were exactly the same except the finish. i told him it had burstbuckers but he argued i figured i would just stop. Dont think a lot of those employees know what they are talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homz Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 It has been my experience that it all depends on who is working on that day when I go in. If it is one of the two people who has knowledge of how much money I have spent over the last three years then I get one type of service. If it is someone who isn't familiar with me and judges me on the basis of my unshaven face and Black Sabbath T shirt then I get another kind of treatment. I would have to say this type of profiling is not a very good business practice. Being a former sales manager I would give the over all approach low marks. If (in the past) any of my sales people behaved in such a profiling way I would have altered their training. As was said this is pretty typical of big chain stores. If I had a good Mom-N-Pop option in my proximity I would use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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