Superbowl ads - Miller High Life - Bizarre Guitar

[NeoConMan]

It varies wildly.

There's a few 70's Les Pauls in there now - nice pieces, but nothing super collectible.

77 100 watt Marshall JMP with a later A cab.

Fender Bassman combo.

 

It just depends on what people are bringing in, his vintage stuff usually moves pretty quick.

[vourot]

Well done Neo. I would say you took "D" to task. Man, I really wish we had a shop like Bizarre where I live. What a treat that would be.

[guitarmandp]

They haven't done a big order with Gibson in a couple of years because they get plenty to sell with their Re-auth.Bob stocks what he can sell' date=' not what's trendy, and his latest order is trickling in weekly.

His mix of Epi/Gibson has not changed appreciably in 8 years I know of.[/quote']

 

In my opinion this is the wrong approach. Of course I'm no expert but in my opinion they should try to sell different stuff than you can find at any guitar center.

 

I just think it's amazing that in a market as big as Phoenix, there's no guitar store where you can find the Bloomfield Les Paul or the Jeff Beck Oxblood.

 

Failure?

What sort of business were YOU running in 1976?

 

I'm sure they were succesful for many years and have no way of knowing if they are still successful.

 

If they are successful right now in 2010 and had good years in 2009 and 2008' date=' I think they still left a lot of money on the table and could have been a lot more successful.

 

I know the employees at that store very well. The employees that work at that store, could have a lot more money in their pockets if they kept up with the times. Now you did say that they were planning a website. That's great news, but they should have done this years ago.

 

 

 

Yep, maybe you're right...

Only without the 30 Return Policy, the credit schemes that will quadruple the price of the guitar,

the "relicking" all the GC stock receives from the kiddies who steal the knobs....

You know the difference - you've ably demonstrated so, yet you're spouting off sh!t like this?

Would YOU spend $50,000 at Guitar Center? Really?

Come on.....

 

Where did I ever say Guitar Center is great?

 

 

Probably GC' date=' dontcha think?

Is the highest volume dealer what you're looking for, or the best prices on flawlessly kept NEW gear?

I think we both know the answer to that one.[/quote']

 

Where did I ever say that GC has the best prices on gear?

 

Another news flash - Wildwood and Rainbow are much smaller volume dealers than Bizarre.

So' date=' which way do you wanna run with that one?[/quote']

 

This is complete bull. Rainbow is a Gibson super dealer, and is one of the few dealers in the country that is aloud to advertise Gibsons on their website. Rainbow has 15 employees. I would be willing to bet that even though Bizarre has more Les Pauls than Rainbow, Rainbow sold more Les Pauls i the past 6 months than Bizarre Guitars.

 

 

Explain to me' date=' please, ANY advantage buying from GC would have over Bizarre.

Aside from the Gibson exclusives they get until the market is saturated, I can't think of one.[/quote']

 

Where did I say that Guitar Center is a better place to buy from than Bizarre? I've spent a lot more money at Bizarre Guitars over the past couple of years than I have at Guitar Center. I only buy from Guitar Center when I absolutely have to.

 

So' date=' you're saying Bob gets no repeat business?

Really? [/quote']

 

If he is, they aren't buying Les Pauls because I've seen the same Les Pauls sit on the wall for years.

 

And if he gets no new business because Guitar Center is so much better....

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

Yeah' date=' right.....

That's funny.[/quote']

 

I don't really understand your comment here. Whether you like or dislike Guitar Center, I don't even think the staff of Bizarre Guitars would argue that Guitar Center has taken $X from their business.

 

 

That's a nice store too - I've never bought from them - but better how?

 

Better condition? Nope.

 

More variety with 1/10 the guitars? Nope.

 

The reason they don't have nearly as many guitars is because their stuff sells. They just sold 3 R0's in last week' date=' and they sold 3 Jimmy Pages. Like I said, I bet they've sold more Les Pauls than Bizarre has even though they have less in stock.

 

 

Yep, lies.

Since you say that you bought $50,000 worth of guitars from Bob, you know many of his high-end pieces

never go on the wall.

Word of mouth and return customers ensure that somebody knows when a cool piece is coming from Gibson.

Money is placed to hold it, and it goes home as soon as it shows up.

You should KNOW that, eh?

 

A $6,500 Jimmy Page Custom Authentic was never on the wall? A $7,500 Brazilian R9 was never on the wall? I probably bought over a dozen guitars form them in 07 and 08 but they just weren't getting any new Gibsons in anymore. I started going to Rainbow, because they were getting in the new stuff.

 

I mean' date=' you're a super smart guy and you want everybody to believe you are, eh?

Helps to be honest, truthful, and stick to the facts then....

 

If you do that, I'll have no problem with YOU.

Be cool, "D"

[/quote']

 

I think you own a Gun store if I remember correctly. I don't remember any hard feelings during our conversations. In fact I remember us getting along pretty well. I played your 12 string SG, which I might have bought eventually had you not have bought it. But oddball stuff like the 12 string SG i

[NeoConMan]

No hard feelings at all.

But to join a forum for the sole purpose of whipping out yer d!ck and pissing all over a successful business?

Right here in front of God and the World Wide Web?

 

In what world would that be cool?

 

You're the one making numerous GC comparisons, I was simply responding to your..... logic.

Sensible?

Nope.

 

Then you fail to read my post fully and start quoting from it with all the transparency of a DC bureaucrat...

 

 

 

You have the money to spend on gear as you wish, good.

You're free to make decisions as you wish, good.

I do the same, be it guitars, guns, trucks, motorcycles.

But I don't m@therfxck somebody in public unless they really have it coming.

 

I'm the first person to scream yell, and jump up and down to fling sh!t at Guitar Center.

I do it to warn customers who may not notice their tricks.

 

Bizarre employs no such tricks, thus, Bob deserves no such SH!T flung at him in this forum.

Furthermore, those guys have been in my home and our spouses know each other too.

Your assertion of name-calling is bogus, unless you count Bob's teasing.

I know he can be a bit heavy handed - I've been accused of the same.

So, you gave him $50,000 and he called you a ***?

 

Hmmmm.....

 

 

None of the others would do anything like that unprovoked - and they would lose their job if they did.

I'd bet money on it.

[Silverbursted]

That is very cool for Bob. And like Neo said, the guitars shown doesn't even scratch the surface.

[guitarmandp]

No hard feelings at all.

But to join a forum for the sole purpose of whipping out yer d!ck and pissing all over a successful business?

Right here in front of God and the World Wide Web?

 

Actually this was my first post but I have been a long time lurker and have read the forum and been a guest for a long time. But when I saw this post and read the forum it was too hard not to get involved in the discussion.

 

But I don't m@therfxck somebody in public unless they really have it coming.

 

Bizarre employs no such tricks' date=' thus, Bob deserves no such SH!T flung at him in this forum.

Furthermore, those guys have been in my home and our spouses know each other too.

Your assertion of name-calling is bogus, unless you count Bob's teasing.

I know he can be a bit heavy handed - I've been accused of the same.

So, you gave him $50,000 and he called you a ***?.[/quote']

 

Bob never called me a ***. Bob always treated me first class. It was one of the employees and the last few times I was there he spent 30 minutes talking down to me and then as I went out to my car he apologized.

 

I don't need to be talked down to. That was kind of the straw that broke the camels back for me.

 

It's not 1989 anymore where there's only one place to buy Gibsons or Fenders. There are other options these days.

[Silverbursted]

This is getting spirited.

[renin74]

well i buy a lot of stuff from them and they do seem to get a lot of new stuff, otherwise I wouldn't be buying there either. I just bought a new white EDS 1275 from them and a cool used 54 les paul reissue. I had ordered a 59 50th anniversary lemonburst from them last year. It never came in and BOB promptly apologized and returned my money. HE then got me a new 58 lemonburst at a smoking price, better than any other dealer save for perhaps Centre city music in San Diego. He treats me pretty good and will stock things he know will sell, because he is in the business of selling. It would be cool if he stocked more of the unique things, but he knows that it probably won't sell quick.

he has a lot of custom shop stuff.

I think their employee may have pissed you off, hence you know no longer buy from there, that is understandable, but that is a great store with a good selection of Gibsons. His prices are generally lower than his competitors and he will usually get me out at the price on the tag and eat the tax for me, so I have no complaints and I will continue to go there and recommend his store to people who like Gibbys, fenders, prs, taylors, etc

BTW Neoconman, we need to meet up there for lunch with silverbursted sometime...

Patruno has opened up his own repair shop at Harmony Music...

[NeoConMan]

Yep!

I talked with him the other day.

 

Told him I'll find something wrong with one of my guitars so he can work on it!

(Irony is, he worked on all my guitars and there's nothing wrong with ANY of them...)

 

Maybe I'll take my humbucker Strat to him, got a sticky selector.

 

 

 

I love Bob's line - "Hello millions of people."

[renin74]

bought the JP #2 today! HE got me out with tax on the price of the tag! he is awesome. I may be on channel 12 news since they interviewed me before they interviewed BOB! Said good things about him. check it out, I am psyched, this is an awesome guitar. so many tonal variations,

[guitarmandp]

He treats me pretty good and will stock things he know will sell' date=' because he is in the business of selling. It would be cool if he stocked more of the unique things, but he knows that it probably won't sell quick. [/quote']

 

Are the guitars that he has in stock right now selling quick? I was there 4 years ago when they got a huge shipment of Gibsons. I remember they got a 57 goldtop with a red back. That guitar was still there the last time I was there. They haven't sold that red back in 4 years, yet they sold the Jimmy Page #2 in a couple of months. That should tell them something.

 

Bob is a huge Jimmy Page fan so Bizarre will carry any new Jimmy Page model (Although they didn't carry the Jimmy Page Custom that came out a few years back). They won't carry any of the other limited signature models like the Slash, or the Billy Gibbons, or the Bloomfield. I disagree with you when you say that that stuff doesn't sell. Find me a dealer that has a brand new Billy Gibbons VOS model in stock.

 

I'm surprised it took Bob until February to sell the JP #2. Harvey sold 5 of them before he even had the chance to put them on the floor. He sent out some emails and they were sold.

 

I'm not saying they should turn their back on Epiphone and only sell high end Gibsons but I think they should concentrate on trying to be different than Guitar Center, and by different I don't mean undercutting them by 10%.

 

Rainbow Guitars carries Epiphone and Squier and some of the low end Fenders, so they should definitely carry them but Rainbow carries a bunch of unique boutique stuff and that stuff brings a lot of traffic into the store.

 

Now maybe the Superbowl commercial has increased business and sales are through the roof. I don't know.

 

They do undercut GC by 10%, but the problem is that most people assume that because GC is a big chain with tremendous buying power, that they are going to get the best price at GC so I'm not really sure that undercutting GC by 10% is the answer. I think the answer is carrying a lot of cool stuff that you aren't likely to find at GC.