Mash94 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 The Gibson representation was PATHETIC! 4 gibson is the whole thing! what is up with that??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Go look up some of Neo's rants on GC and their marketing. Cynical though they may be, they are by and large accurate descriptions of marketing tactics employed today by many companies. It isn't about what you want... it's about what they want to sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mash94 Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 It isn't about what you want... it's about what they want to sell. Great point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarEnZo12 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Great point And right now they are having a HUGE Strat sale so I think they want to market that. I refuse to buy from them, every LP I pickup there or for that matter every guitar I pick up there has something wrong with it. Thank God for local shops! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jomo Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I saw that, it was Fender crazy (I like Fender too). What I hate was every Fender guitar/amp in there said "Price too low to print". Really? Seriously? The price on this Fender guitar is too low to print? How is that possible? What a crock, it's crap like that, that gets on my nerves. They are becoming the Wal-mart of Guitar stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Martin Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I saw that' date=' it was Fender crazy (I like Fender too). What I hate was every Fender guitar/amp in there said "Price too low to print". Really? Seriously? The price on this Fender guitar is too low to print? How is that possible? What a crock, it's crap like that, that gets on my nerves. They are becoming the Wal-mart of Guitar stores. [/quote'] If they printed the LOW, LOW PRICE of that Mexican Strat, there might be a stampede in the store of 13 year olds trying to buy EVERY LAST ONE!!! OMG!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarEnZo12 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I saw that' date=' it was Fender crazy (I like Fender too). What I hate was every Fender guitar/amp in there said "Price too low to print". Really? Seriously? The price on this Fender guitar is too low to print? How is that possible? What a crock, it's crap like that, that gets on my nerves. They are becoming the Wal-mart of Guitar stores. [/quote'] Yeah, that pissed me off like no other. They do that as a crappy way to get you in the store and get you to buy it at a very small discount rate. Believe it or not there are alot of people who don't take it that seriously and don't do there research so they are victims when GuitarCenter decides to put a Sale sign up and just marks the MSRP up and takes the Guitar Center price down $50 so it seems like you're getting a good deal. Do your research everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mash94 Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 I saw that' date=' it was Fender crazy (I like Fender too). What I hate was every Fender guitar/amp in there said "Price too low to print". Really? Seriously? The price on this Fender guitar is too low to print? How is that possible? What a crock, it's crap like that, that gets on my nerves. They are becoming the Wal-mart of Guitar stores. [/quote'] amen brudda! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 They are becoming the Wal-mart of Guitar stores. I think you can officially state that in the paste tense, They have become the Wal-Mart of guitar stores. the mom and pops selling new Gibsons are almost gone and GC/Musiciansfriend/??? control even the production now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnstrom Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I think you can officially state that in the paste tense' date=' They have become the Wal-Mart of guitar stores. the mom and pops selling new Gibsons are almost gone and GC/Musiciansfriend/??? control even the production now. [/quote'] Tooo True. I hope it doesnt get to this. And all used guitars end up at pawn shops or eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjay777 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I was at one of our GC's recently, and there were maybe three nice Gibsons on the wall. The only problem was you needed a crane just to get one down. But hey, if you blinked you just might trip over a Squire strat sitting neatly in the middle of the aisle. The funny thing is, right across the parking lot there's a Best Buy store (one of the rare stores with name brand instruments) with five nice Gibsons at arm's reach. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I saw that' date=' it was Fender crazy (I like Fender too). What I hate was every Fender guitar/amp in there said "Price too low to print". Really? Seriously? The price on this Fender guitar is too low to print? How is that possible? What a crock, it's crap like that, that gets on my nerves. They are becoming the Wal-mart of Guitar stores. [/quote'] They have to write that because Fender doesn't allow GC to put a really low price in the catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FennRx Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I think you can officially state that in the paste tense' date=' They have become the Wal-Mart of guitar stores. the mom and pops selling new Gibsons are almost gone and GC/Musiciansfriend/??? control even the production now. [/quote'] i disagree. as much as i hate them (can you say white trash?), Walmart does have good prices on SOME things. GC has good prices on NOTHING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I like how every month "it's your last chance to get these kind of savings"....blah blah blah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvansickle Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Phht - Guitarget! Cute chick on the cover of the brochure though. Usually, only the door receipt checker looks that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 "Price too low to print". Really? Seriously? The price on this Fender guitar is too low to print? How is that possible? That is the ONLY true statement you will EVER see in their advertising. I'm not kidding' date=' so listen and learn. There's a little nugget in their franchise agreement that states they will honor the[b'] Minimum Advertised Price.[/b] Violate the MAP agreement and you can lose your franchise - some brands are much more picky than others. Some brands don't give you much room between MAP and Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) or "List." With them dictating your price ranges you can advertise, you are limited in options if you need to move merchandise. So a dealer can sell it to you for whatever they want once you come into the store and talk to them, and there's no public acknowledgement of a deal that would undercut all competitors. They can blow it out for twenty bucks if they want, but they won't even write that price on a business card. You buy it and walk out. Say Gibson has a Les Paul model called the X for example. The list price they publish on their website is $3000. In my experience, you can buy most Gibsons (and Brand F) for a third off list. That's a street price of $2000. Look at GC and any other store ads, then look at MF, Sweetwater, Music123, any online retailers. Notice the exact same guitar will have the exact same price in every one 90% of the time? They are stuck with that price. So the ad goes something like this; GIBSON LPX List $2,999.99 Blah, blah, blah w/factory hardcase.... Limited time offer, while they last! Get one before they are ALL GONE! Our price - ONLY $1,999.99 NOBODY can advertise a price lower than that. Gibson doesn't want a desperate retailer selling it for $1,000 for a number of reasons too complex for this example. Suffice it to say, it would kill the other dealers and cheapen the perceived value of the Gibson brand. Now, I walk into my favorite guitar shop and ask them why they don't advertise more. They have nothing to advertise. Why spend big bucks to advertise the exact same price as GC? All you can say is "We sell for the exact same price, but we're cooler than GC" or some sh!t like that. Not much help. So they treat people right for 32 years and word of mouth brings in the customers. Save the advertising money. Now, my dealer beats online warehouses on price every day, except I have to pay sales tax. So they sell me the guitar far enough below MAP to make up the difference in the tax. Same price as MF out the door.... They ALWAYS beat GC on price by about 10% because GC can't eat the sales tax and won't come down that far. Rare occasions people do okay there, but it is NOT the norm. Disagree with me all you want, but GC will fleece you. That's a FACT. If you can get a better deal than MAP at an online store, it's because it's a close-out and will no longer be stocked. Until they place another order with Gibson for another batch of the same damned guitar.... That's why people always ask in the forum "Is it true Gibson quit building the SG 61 or Les Paul Standard?" Yeah, that's the last of them from that ORDER! GC/MF will then decide if they want to sell them again, get a price from Gibson on a few hundred of them, and then agree to buy a certain number of them over the next two years or something like that. The lies and bullsh!t in their advertisements starts all over again. They HAVE BEEN the Wal-mart of Guitar stores for 15 years!!! You guys are just figuring that out? Okay, you teenagers don't know any different. What kills me is when I see people who have been playing for 15 years and still think GC is THE place to buy a guitar. I need to put this on my website www.neoconman.com so I don't have to type it all the time.... Edit; Done deal, here's another site of mine www.rattlesnakeroadhouse.com I just started up for music stuff. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbursted Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Hey Neo, I must commend you for your eloquence. As a retired Army Officer, I spent a career defending the rights of people to make choices and speak their mind. I am glad to see people exercise that right. I particularly liked your comments on crime. :-k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarEnZo12 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 That is the ONLY true statement you will EVER see in their advertising. I'm not kidding' date=' so listen and learn. There's a little nugget in their franchise agreement that states they will honor the[b'] Minimum Advertised Price.[/b] Violate the MAP agreement and you can lose your franchise - some brands are much more picky than others. Some brands don't give you much room between MAP and Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) or "List." With them dictating your price ranges you can advertise, you are limited in options if you need to move merchandise. So a dealer can sell it to you for whatever they want once you come into the store and talk to them, and there's no public acknowledgement of a deal that would undercut all competitors. They can blow it out for twenty bucks if they want, but they won't even write that price on a business card. You buy it and walk out. Say Gibson has a Les Paul model called the X for example. The list price they publish on their website is $3000. In my experience, you can buy most Gibsons (and Brand F) for a third off list. That's a street price of $2000. Look at GC and any other store ads, then look at MF, Sweetwater, Music123, any online retailers. Notice the exact same guitar will have the exact same price in every one 90% of the time? They are stuck with that price. So the ad goes something like this; GIBSON LPX List $2,999.99 Blah, blah, blah w/factory hardcase.... Limited time offer, while they last! Get one before they are ALL GONE! Our price - ONLY $1,999.99 NOBODY can advertise a price lower than that. Gibson doesn't want a desperate retailer selling it for $1,000 for a number of reasons too complex for this example. Suffice it to say, it would kill the other dealers and cheapen the perceived value of the Gibson brand. Now, I walk into my favorite guitar shop and ask them why they don't advertise more. They have nothing to advertise. Why spend big bucks to advertise the exact same price as GC? All you can say is "We sell for the exact same price, but we're cooler than GC" or some sh!t like that. Not much help. So they treat people right for 32 years and word of mouth brings in the customers. Save the advertising money. Now, my dealer beats online warehouses on price every day, except I have to pay sales tax. So they sell me the guitar far enough below MAP to make up the difference in the tax. Same price as MF out the door.... They ALWAYS beat GC on price by about 10% because GC can't eat the sales tax and won't come down that far. Rare occasions people do okay there, but it is NOT the norm. Disagree with me all you want, but GC will fleece you. That's a FACT. If you can get a better deal than MAP at an online store, it's because it's a close-out and will no longer be stocked. Until they place another order with Gibson for another batch of the same damned guitar.... That's why people always ask in the forum "Is it true Gibson quit building the SG 61 or Les Paul Standard?" Yeah, that's the last of them from that ORDER! GC/MF will then decide if they want to sell them again, get a price from Gibson on a few hundred of them, and then agree to buy a certain number of them over the next two years or something like that. The lies and bullsh!t in their advertisements starts all over again. They HAVE BEEN the Wal-mart of Guitar stores for 15 years!!! You guys are just figuring that out? Okay, you teenagers don't know any different. What kills me is when I see people who have been playing for 15 years and still think GC is THE place to buy a guitar. I need to put this on my website www.neoconman.com so I don't have to type it all the time.... Edit; Done deal, here's another site of mine www.rattlesnakeroadhouse.com I just started up for music stuff. Enjoy! Very interesting. I like the site btw. Have you read the book Liberal Fascism? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarEnZo12 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Hey Neo' date=' I must commend you for your eloquence. As a retired Army Officer, I spent a career defending the rights of people to make choices and speak their mind. I am glad to see people exercise that right. I particularly liked your comments on crime. :-k [/quote'] God bless you, thank you for your service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Thanks SB! I know enough to know you know a thing or two if you know what I mean.... :-) It's a work in progress, I'll have more time to devote to it this fall. Big plans, we'll see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Liberal Fascism? Not yet. You CAN judge that one by its cover - that "unique" mustache on a smiley face.... We probably better stay with guitar related stuff or these posts will disappear. Ask me how I know.... Send me all the PM's you want. Neo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naradien Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I hate GC. I was looking at the Dime dean from hell..basically, it was 900$, and the headstock was held to the fret board by string tension. What a ripoff.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 http://youtube.com/watch?v=m-0s3V4xAsA Nice Peter shares your sentiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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