Silverbursted Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Had a guy at work express an interest in my Custom LP. I've know the guy for a couple of years and from the way he was always talking about guitars, I figured he knew his way around a really good guitar. First, don't get the idea that he messed my baby up or anything, he didn't and he can play, so I let him take her home for a test drive on his own set-up. I figured, surely, once he played a Les Paul, he'd be hooked. To my surprise, when I came into work the next day, my Custom was there waiting for me. :D So I asked what he thought. And this is the best part. He said he couldn't get a sound he liked. I had to say WTF, how can you NOT get a good sound from a $3,000 Les Paul Custom??? So I asked him what he was playing through. And with a straight face, he says a Crate V5. I nearly fell over. So you think a crappy little amp has nothing to do with the quality of sound? So I told him instead of buying a better guitar, he should invest in a descent amp. Just goes to show, a crap guitar can sound great through a great amp, but a great guitar will sound like crap through crap amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 He said he couldn't get a sound he liked. $3' date='000 Les Paul Custom Crate V5. [/quote'] Wow.... I got nothing to add here.... Wow. Okay, moving along. Sorry SB!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 The first rule of sales is, the objection is always price. Everything else is a excuse. I would bet a dollar to a doughnut his wife heard the price and went through the roof. So he is now playing a $99.00 Epiphone LP through a cheap-o amp. Try the five times close on him; Ask him five times why he didn't buy it, 1. Is it the color? You don't like the color, right? 2. Was it too heavy? 3. Was it the sound? Really what was wrong with the sound. (do this while it's plugged into your amp) 4. Is it me? Are you nervous about buying from a co-worker? 5. It's the price right? It's too much guitar for you! Now you have challenged his ego, and he either has to crawl into a hole or pony up the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackie Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 It's too much guitar for you!Now you have challenged his ego' date=' and he either has to crawl into a hole or pony up the money.[/quote'] Ha.......that's good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 One of the coldest but most effective sales tricks is to tell the client right up front, "You probably can't afford this"! This works well with type A personalities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Bullseye Jaxson! My old neighbor kinda reminds me of this, and when I met him I realized how deaf some people are. When he moved in across the road I walked over to be neighborly. He has dirtbikes, me too. So over the course of a few weeks we hit upon guitars, turns out he has a bit of a collection. Really? Wow. Me too!!! So I walk into to his toy room upstairs and see everything displayed nicely on the walls, at least a dozen guitars. None of them worth $500. All kinds of cheapo imports, copies of different American models and some goofy sh!t I never heard of. Coupla cheap BC Rich guitars in the usual styles and eye-assaulting colors with junk FR copy trems. Now, to his credit the guy can play. He's not gonna sink a bunch of money into a single guitar and he has no qualms about tearing into one to make repairs or improvements. He even built a body for a Strat neck, made a decent guitar out of that in his garage. His amp? I don't even remember, but his pedalboard was twice as big. Solid state cheapie with a dozen pedals in front of it. The variety of sounds available was impressive, but it still sounded like a transistor AM pocket radio from 1970. We walked over to my place and I tried to be as humble and contrite as possible. He saw the Fender and Marshall amps and mentioned that I had killer taste in amps. I know. :-) Opened up the first cabinet and the harp music with angels singing began..... "Holy cow......" Then I showed him the second cabinet. At least he knows good gear when he sees it, but he's clueless about tone. A little later I was trying to convert him to tubes, I sent my Fender Blues Jr. home with him and told him to just plug straight in and play - and listen..... Couple weeks later I go over and he has the same pedal board plugged into the tube amp. Grinning, he starts tap-dancing on all the effects pedals to show me what he discovered. Sounds exactly the same - AM transistor radio. Jeez.... Needless to say we remain friends but never play together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 $3' date='000 Les Paul Custom[/quote']I guess this settles it, eh? You're gonna have to keep that beautiful Custom and become a collector.... :D/ I'm telling you, you're gonna regret some of the guitars you've sold already! Stop before it's too late!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Plains Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Amp aside, it's possible that he just isn't a Les Paul guy. Maybe the guy's been playing Teles & Strats all his life. Just saying... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Amp aside' date=' it's possible that he just isn't a Les Paul guy. Maybe the guy's been playing Teles & Strats all his life. Just saying...[/quote'] This could be true Are Nine. I played a Kramer through the 80's (I know, I know) and a Strat through the 90's. When I finally started gassin for a Les Paul (ie. financially sound/kids moving out) I stuggled with the neck. My fret hand and fingers struggled and my playing sucked. Go back to the strat and everything was sweet. The difference in guitars was something I had to adjust to but it is possible and I feel helped me become a better player. If I gave up after one day I would be missing out on some great guitars. cookie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwness Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Last 2 times I so ZZTop Billy was using Crate amps. The first time he had the V50 about 8 of them and they sounded great. The last time he had a Stack setup and again sounded great. I don't think it was the guitar or the amp. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max2343 Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 So Did you Offer him the Chance to Play your Baby on your Amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbursted Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 Amp aside' date=' it's possible that he just isn't a Les Paul guy. Maybe the guy's been playing Teles & Strats all his life. Just saying...[/quote'] If they were only that nice. The 2 that I saw, I did not recognize the brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbursted Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 I'm thinking Jaxson nailed it. He wants a nice guitar, but Household 6 probably fell out of her chair when she heard the price. I guess when the sum total of ALL of your current gear is still about 10% of a single item, I can understand. He probably should have built her up first, bought a $500 amp, then a $1,000 Studio, then drop the bomb for a Custom or Historic. Oh well, I think I have convinced him to buy a better amp. I think even Jimmy Page would be challenged to sound good through that amp. Sorry Sir Jimmy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbursted Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 I guess this settles it' date=' eh? You're gonna have to keep that beautiful Custom and become a collector.... :)/ I'm telling you, you're gonna regret some of the guitars you've sold already! [b']Stop before it's too late!!!![/b] Yep, I'm keeping her. Just not going to give it away. Momma was satisfied that I made the attempt (YEA!!!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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