That Guitar Center wave has broken locally.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

What if The Beatles never existed? Hmm, that could make for a good movie.

There's a current Sci-fi-spy TV series called "Counterpart." Two parallel worlds. Prince is only dead in one of those worlds, which makes his new album highly desirable contraband in the other one.

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

There's a current Sci-fi-spy TV series called "Counterpart." Two parallel worlds. Prince is only dead in one of those worlds, which makes his new album highly desirable contraband in the other one.

Yes, I'm familiar with it. My reference was to "Yesterday," which comes out this summer. In case you missed it, here's the trailer:



Apologies, but this thread began going to the dogs, yesterday.

(see what i did there?)

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

Yes, I'm familiar with it. My reference was to "Yesterday," which comes out this summer. In case you missed it, here's the trailer:



Apologies, but this thread began going to the dogs, yesterday.

(see what i did there?)

That looks like a fun movie

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

There's a current Sci-fi-spy TV series called "Counterpart." Two parallel worlds. Prince is only dead in one of those worlds, which makes his new album highly desirable contraband in the other one.

Brent, how ya been? Let's talk again soon.

Prince was a monster guitar player.

scott memmer

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

I have it on good authority that, due to the recent cold snap, the Amish have been stealing guitars from GC stores and busting them up for firewood. And their getaway drivers leave horse poop in the parking lot.

This brings up one of my favorite jokes:

Q: How do you recognize an Amish drive-by shooting?

Q: "Clippity clop...clippity clop...BANG BANG BANG...clippity clop...clippity clop...BANG BANG BANG..."

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by 619TF

Nope, privately held for sure.

GC is owned by Ares Management and Bain Capitol, a couple of hedge funds.

[Mycroft]

I havn't inside the downtown GC in years. Probably have been in one of the suburban stores sometime in the last couple of years, killing time betwen hearings.

I've been getting flyers for a new GC that is opening over near U-Dub. Which means that I'll have to be sure and patronize the local Trading Musician a bit more....

[Charmed Life Picks]

Although there are always a lot of negatives associated with mass merchants in every industry, they serve a vital function in moving tonnage for the vendors. This allows them to continue R&D etc. for new products and better pricing.

A necessary evil.

scott memmer

[SongwriterFan]

If they'd have put these locks on the guitars about 8 years ago, it would've saved me from buying LOTS of guitars there, I'm sure.

They started doing this in the DFW store a year or two ago.

[nightflight]

Guitar Center...

I live in a small-ish town, so there are no music stores except GC.

I made a mistake, early on, taking an old handmade classical guitar to have the tuners replaced. I brought the replacement tuners with me. I asked them if they could do it, and warned them about the value of the guitar. I emphasized if they were not comfortable doing it, they should say so. They said, "no problem".

Well, I ended up having to find a luthier some distance away and took the guitar there to have the work that GC did repaired.

Once, I went in to shop for a lighter weight case for my Olson. The salesperson grabbed the guitar from my hands, without asking. He looked inside and didn't see a label (Olson doesn't use labels), and shrugged it off it as a lesser instrument, and said he'd take it in the back and see what he had. I stopped him cold, took the guitar back, and told him he could bring any cases out for me to see. Needless to say, I didn't buy a case from them.

Any repairs, no matter how minor, are done by the luthier who is worth the drive. On occasion, he's even done repairs while I waited at the nearby coffee shop. His prices are more than reasonable, and he has a sweet dog that is often in his shop.

Anything I need, I mail order, including strings.

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Garyinboston

They must have had 10 Rickenbackers, who has 10?

Gary

I used to, but these days, I am down to just two special ones.

[jweave69]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

Yes, I'm familiar with it. My reference was to "Yesterday," which comes out this summer. In case you missed it, here's the trailer:



Apologies, but this thread began going to the dogs, yesterday.

(see what i did there?)

Off topic I know, but OMgosh! This looks like a great movie! Thanks for sharing!

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

GC is owned by Ares Management and Bain Capitol, a couple of hedge funds.

Interesting. But I think a hedge fund still ties them inderectly to the stock market. If GC failed, the hedge fund would suffer.

[chistrummer]

Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks

All good points raised. There's that old saying: "It only takes a few bad apples to spoil the whole bunch."

I understand GC's need to protect its inventory. Guitars don't have a ton of profit margin in them, and customers creating blems by mishandling and scratching or damaging them takes them down to pretty close to cost. I wish it weren't so, but this is where we're at these days.

Dang.

scott memmer

Are you suggesting that margins on guitars sales are not enough to allow people to try them?

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Monsoon1

Interesting. But I think a hedge fund still ties them inderectly to the stock market. If GC failed, the hedge fund would suffer.

Of course they would. But it does not tie them to the stock market, because their stock is not publically traded.