My father, who's read the Wall street Journal daily since before I was born, says that GC/Musician's Friend, Gibson and Fender are all carrying terrifying, enormous amounts of debt. So, no, I don't think GC is doing all that well.
We don't have any Guitar Center stores here in Alaska, where I live, but I usually swing by the one in the Johnson County, Kansas suburbs of Kansas City when I make my annual visit to my hometown to see my father. In years past, that GC has had a robust inventory of the full model lines of Martin, Gibson and Taylor.
This trip there weren't any high end models by anybody, and just a sprinkling of mostly lowball Martins. They had a couple of Taylors and a couple of Gibson acoustics, but their acoustic guitar inventory was dominated by Seagulls and Asian-made instruments.
Now, I was there in late October. Maybe what I saw was just the lull before the Christmas season inventory arrived, but I don't think so - I always visit my Dad in October, and there has always been much more stock on hand at the GC than there was this trip.
So, yes, I think GC is in trouble.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller
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