New Martin HD-28 at Guitar Center with 7 Inch Crack!

[Tube Sound]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

I have heard (on good authority - a GC employee ) that they take instruments like that and smash them and put them into their dumpster. To them, it's not worth the money and time to get them repaired to resell.

Smashing a Martin HD-28. Mind blowing, if accurate. I would like to know how Martin would react to this type of business practice. I can't see how this helps your financial statement when you are near or in bankruptcy. Lots of ways to deal with this without the dumpster.

[JRB]

As a former GC repair guy, I call bull on the dumpster story. Just not true.

[Boozehound]

Originally Posted by JRB

As a former GC repair guy, I call bull on the dumpster story. Just not true.

Yeah. That sound pretty much impossible. At a minimum you would think they would drop the price way down and sell as damaged.

The Sam Ash by me has a Hummingbird with a couple of top cracks that they are trying to sell. Unfortunately for them the repair job is terrible so it’s been there for years.

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by JRB

As a former GC repair guy, I call bull on the dumpster story. Just not true.

I hope that is the reality, but the source is a current employee, and it may vary from store to store, possibly.

To add to this, there was a guy on another forum that bought a bass that had a minor issue so he returned it to the store, then a day or so later decided he wanted that bass and would take care of the problem, himself. When he went back the sales guy told him it was smashed and tossed, even showed it to the buyer.

Not a great way to do business, but IIRC, the employee morale was pretty gone so they didn't really care. Sad, but I believe he wasn't BS'ing about that; he seemed pretty upset about the whole situation.

[Pdubs76]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

I have heard (on good authority - a GC employee ) that they take instruments like that and smash them and put them into their dumpster. To them, it's not worth the money and time to get them repaired to resell.

Really.

I’d imagine one of the staff members would snag it before they’d toss it. I know I certainly would.

[richpjr]

Originally Posted by Boozehound

Yeah. That sound pretty much impossible. At a minimum you would think they would drop the price way down and sell as damaged.

The Sam Ash by me has a Hummingbird with a couple of top cracks that they are trying to sell. Unfortunately for them the repair job is terrible so it’s been there for years.

I have never worked at a GC before, but when I was in college I worked at a large chain hardware store and we regularly destroyed returned or damaged products - even on quite expensive stuff.

[kathyson]

Originally Posted by aeisen93

I was at Guitar Center today and wanted to try a Martin HD-28. The sales guy handed me the guitar and then he said “wow this guitar has a huge crack in the top”. The crack was about 7 inches long!

So I said I’ll try the guitar just to see if I like the tone... Well the action was so low that the guitar was literally not playable. Since the strings were so low, it was impossible to play any notes anywhere on it.

The sales guy took the guitar out of the acoustic room and brought it somewhere else. Do you think they will fix the crack and action and then try to sell it as new? I can’t imagine that but who knows.

Anyway I guess I’ll have to try the HD-28 somewhere else!

Lack of proper humidity.

[aeisen93]

Originally Posted by kathyson

Lack of proper humidity.

What's ironic is there is a sign on the door to the acoustic room that says to keep door closed to maintain proper humidity level.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by aeisen93

What's ironic is there is a sign on the door to the acoustic room that says to keep door closed to maintain proper humidity level.

I guess that keeping the door closed is necessary but not sufficient.

The critical step, which is not keeping the door closed, is ensuring that the humidifier is running properly and with a sufficient supply of water.

[Scott O]

Instead of smashing the damaged guitars maybe they should give them a viking funeral.

[frankmcr]

Once Martin sells a guitar to GC they don't care how it ends up, and GC - like every other business - has an allowance for damaged/unsaleable goods built into their budget.

[Brucebubs]

Only 7, that's a good one.

[otis66]

Originally Posted by aeisen93

I was at Guitar Center today and wanted to try a Martin HD-28. The sales guy handed me the guitar and then he said “wow this guitar has a huge crack in the top”. The crack was about 7 inches long!

So I said I’ll try the guitar just to see if I like the tone... Well the action was so low that the guitar was literally not playable. Since the strings were so low, it was impossible to play any notes anywhere on it.

The sales guy took the guitar out of the acoustic room and brought it somewhere else. Do you think they will fix the crack and action and then try to sell it as new? I can’t imagine that but who knows.

Anyway I guess I’ll have to try the HD-28 somewhere else!

Go back to night and take the guitar from the dumpster. Pay to have it repaired.

[otis66]

I was in a guitar center a few years ago. Someone knocked a entire wall of guitars down. It was a nightmare. What a god awful noise.
Lucky no one got hurt.
The next day they had a big sale.😆

[aeisen93]

Originally Posted by otis66

Go back to night and take the guitar from the dumpster. Pay to have it repaired.

I should do that! If I do, I'll definitely post a NGD thread haha!!