Worst Guitar Store Experience Ever

[Don W]

I take bi-weekly lessons here in Mass at the Music Emporium (check out their website (themusicemporium.com). This is one of the best guitar shops on the East coast. There are guitars... Martins and Taylors and Coliings everywhere on stands and on the wall as well as a lot of individual makers guitars in the 6K-10K range also available to try without asking. There is always someone available to help and they understand that people sometimes just want to try a high end guitar for fun and comparison. They have a glassed in cabinet behind the counter that is full of the really valuable 20K+ instruments that of course require supervision with staff. One day Tony McMannus came in and picked up a guitar and gave us an impromptu half hour concert. All of the staff are performing artists as well as their instructors. This place truly has customer service refined to an art form. If a string broke, they would be embarrassed and would immediately change the string saying..."so sorry".

[RP]

Originally Posted by Don W

I take bi-weekly lessons here in Mass at the Music Emporium (check out their website (themusicemporium.com). This is one of the best guitar shops on the East coast. There are guitars... Martins and Taylors and Coliings everywhere on stands and on the wall as well as a lot of individual makers guitars in the 6K-10K range also available to try without asking. There is always someone available to help and they understand that people sometimes just want to try a high end guitar for fun and comparison. They have a glassed in cabinet behind the counter that is full of the really valuable 20K+ instruments that of course require supervision with staff. One day Tony McMannus came in and picked up a guitar and gave us an impromptu half hour concert. All of the staff are performing artists as well as their instructors. This place truly has customer service refined to an art form. If a string broke, they would be embarrassed and would immediately change the string saying..."so sorry".

I guess they don't sell any children's clothing either. My point is, the store that the OP visited sounds more like a hobbyist's attempt to buy/sell his own guitars than a legit Martin dealer. The kiddie clothes are undoubtedly what keep the lights and heat on while his partial commitment to display/sell guitars probably allows him certain tax benefits for his musical interests....

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Pickcity

...I miss the old days. I remember old George Luther at Rhythm City in Atlanta. He was an eccentric, to be sure...

I remember a shop we go to in my early years of playing (early '70s). The owner was very nice old guy, and let us kids use a room with amps in it to just spend time jamming in. He was a really fine guitarist himself, but he was playing that "old kind of music", not the rock music we were doing.

A bit later on he moved his shop to another place that, again, we'd go to to jam and talk with him, but he would do weird things like come over to us with wire cutters and cut one of our guitar cords (his inventory, actually), then hand us another one, for just one example. I lost track of the owner over the years until I heard one day that he had died. That is when it really struck me who he was. His name was Bill DeArango.

Originally Posted by Twelvefret

...As for the pick, my son allowed his high school buddies to play the Arnold 12 fret for 5 minutes and I have three pick marks across the top. I did get upset because I know he was proud of that guitar and just wanted to show it to his friends, but the point it, picks can do damage in the wrong hands.

I have two friends that I will not let get near my guitars if they are wielding a pick.

Originally Posted by bjewell

A guitar shop located in Tiburon CA, one of the wealthiest towns in the USA, especially the guy that works there. If you don't stink of money, they want nothing to do with you. Lots of nice guitars though.

Whoa, you must have gotten to them after a nasty customer had just left, or something. Not my experience, at all (read my post about my time there, above).

[JSanta]

When I was younger (and broke) 12-15 years ago, I would visit The Great House of Guitars here in Rochester and I would be treated pretty much like crap. I went with a friend's dad while they were buying a mixing console and they treated him like a god. I learned a lot about life in that moment (or at least I felt like I did).

I haven't been back there to try out a guitar in years (admittedly I moved away for more than a decade), but them not even letting try something, and being visibly bothered has stuck with me.

[llew]

I've experienced this sort of thing as well. Shop owners who are very protective of their stock. There's a fine line I suppose. And then there are those who try to qualify you to see if you're really interested in purchasing a guitar or just killing time trying different ones? Having a decent guitar store where you live is a luxury I don't have. So as awkward as it might be from time to time I'd prefer to be scrutinized while trying a guitar in person than ordering online every time and paying the round trip shipping if it doesn't work out? But there are pros and cons to both.
As far as the OP's experience goes with that small shop owner...most any situation can be handled tactfully. There is a huge difference between "reacting" and "responding". It's a shame he chose the former?

[Guitars+gems]

Ok, I can see both sides. There are the people who love to go and sample guitars, without intention to buy, and being across from a hotel the shop owner may get a lot of players who just want to get in some play time 'cause they don't have their guitars with them.

So, okay, he was trying to do a little sussing out to see if the OP was a serious prospect. But I bet that the most successful sales people, whether it's guitars or cars or whatever, are those who treat everyone who walks in as a prospective buyer. The job is to sell and the goal is to make sales, so why not try with everyone who wants to try out a guitar? Why be lazy about it? What else are you doing that you can't afford to waste some time trying to do your job? Sure, if you have more than one customer vying for your attention you'd have to be a bit more discerning. Doesn't sound like it was the case here.

Why not put some plastic over the pickguards if you're that concerned about pick scratches? I mean really, not everyone plays finger style. And if you're across from a hotel, stock some travel guitars.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by Guitars+gems

...
Why not put some plastic over the pickguards if you're that concerned about pick scratches? ....

That was my first thought, as well. Why not put a removable temporary pickguard over things?

[fazool]

Originally Posted by fazool

...
Best music store experience I ever had was a small shop called Twin Village Music (give them your business if you're ever in Western New York). They cater mostly to school bands but they took such fantastic care of us when we upgraded to a $2K instrument for our daughter - I've never experienced anything like it.
....

Went back there today to get some supplies for our daughter. Was pleasantly surprised to see a cool old Gibson hanging on the wall. Then I accidentally noticed the rack of strings and saw that they carry my favorite spec (11-52 elixir nano's) which GC stopped carrying in my nearby store. Yay new local source. And a nice excuse to go shopping there and give them my business too.

[gfa]

Originally Posted by bjewell

A guitar shop located in Tiburon CA, one of the wealthiest towns in the USA, especially the guy that works there. If you don't stink of money, they want nothing to do with you. Lots of nice guitars though.

I had a very positive experience there. Was there looking for a specific RK model. I spent a long time in the store, tried a bunch of guitars, bought the inexpensive RK, was treated quite nicely, and had a marvelous time.

More generally, I can sympathize with owners who are legitimately concerned about protecting their inventory. But, there's are ways to do that nicely. No reason to be a jerk about it.

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

Maybe we should have an AGF Badge...
Flash it as we walk in the shop

Excellent idea. How about a membership card?

Every time we go into a store we could flash our card and boldly say "I'm from the AGF!". That would smarten them up and give us a bit of respect.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by guitar george

Excellent idea. How about a membership card?

Every time we go into a store we could flash our card and boldly say "I'm from the AGF!". That would smarten them up and give us a bit of respect.

... or a secret AGF handshake?

[aknow]

I was in the market for a Martin and our only local store had a good supply. I had previously met the owner and asked him if he had any I could sample, and he readily showed me where I could play in his seriously overcrowded store. 5 minutes later a woman approached and ripped the guitar out of my hands simultaneously knocking down 2 other new acoustics. Then she verbally lashes out at me: "That was your fault!!" It turns out, she was the owner's wife, but never bothered to ask him, nor post any signs like "Do Not Touch w/o Permission" I told her to get off her meds, or on some and that I would never ever patronize her lousy store, and 20 years later, I still haven't. I've enjoyed many visits to guitar stores, and that one was a first, and last.

[Mystery123]

At least he didn't say, "You break it, you buy it".

[Twelvefret]

Originally Posted by Guitars+gems

Why not put some plastic over the pickguards if you're that concerned about pick scratches? I mean really, not everyone plays finger style. And if you're across from a hotel, stock some travel guitars.

Surly you know that a pick guard does not protect the top? Uncut forth finger nails can do a lot of damage. Thrashers don't limit their damage to the small pick guard area.

BTW, who wants to buy a new car, guitar, of anything else that's been tried out by dozens of tire kickers? Come on guys. Be honest. If had wanted a used product I would have looked for one.

[aknow]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I had a bad experience at a shop in Myrtle Beach, SC. They had some decent guitars, and I sat down to play a 12 string. I don't remember the brand, but the guitar was around $800. Now, my late father in law was with me. He was probably 50 at the time, I was in my early 20s. He picked up a Martin X series of some sort.

The sales guy walks over to me and asks if I can read the sign, "Please ask for assistance." I look at my father in law and he looks at me and smiles. I reply, "Does that go for everyone or just me?" He then asked me to put the guitar down. I put the guitar down and then my father in law (being the absolute smart butt he was) hands me a Martin dread and asked the sales guy if we could play.

The sales guy agrees to let us play and we busted out our version of "I'll Fly Away." In this song, I rip out some crazy flat picking and we actually create some "shop buzz." Back in the day, we traveled a bit and played southern gospel in local churches.

The sales guy says, "Hey that was pretty good" and asked if I liked the guitar. I replied, "I do, but I'm going to take my business to someone who doesn't have to hear me play in order to trust me with a guitar."

The caveat is that I truly do believe that shops need to be careful who they let bang around on guitars. I have a local shop where you honestly can't find a guitar that doesn't have scratches and dents, and they want top dollar for them. The key is to keep expensive guitars out of reach or behind a counter.

I like your post. The biz model should be, if you can afford to own a store, you can afford to donate 30-50 mid to lower level guitars for anyone's perusal, and keep the expensive stuff under wraps for more careful customers. And if you lose 50% of those perusal guitars value over time, that's one of the costs of doing biz.