Guitar Center - your opinion?

smegolas

What do you guys think of Guitar Center and their website www.musiciansfriend.com ? Do you shop there? What do you like about it or not like about it? Do you think the company has a good future?

Thanks

partch

Guitar Center?? Musicians friend I basically get everything there. I think there future is bright!! I use them out of convienience mainly, price secondly, As it truly is an online World buying online is here to stay IMOP

iliace

I usually get stuff from either musician's friend or guitar center. I have an account set up with musician's friend so I can order stuff quickly. The guitar center is near my house, and I have a credit line with them. So it's about the convenience for me. Their prices are fine, if you go to GC and pay cash you can get somewhat better deals, especially if they don't have exactly what you're looking for. As far as future... I don't have any idea. If I had to guess, I'd imagine they'll be around for a while.

ednrg

\partch\ wrote:

Guitar Center?? Musicians friend I basically get everything there.

Figures :shock:

\partch\ wrote:

IMOP

Is that the pancake place?

shredd

Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure guitar center has it's own website, and M/F has IT'S own. I use M/F a LOT; good prices, all sorts of different gear and price points, good info and reviews from editors and users, and very favorable policies (returns, exchanges, etc).
As soon as they release the Jackon Dinky/Jennifer Aniston package, I'm having it OVERNIGHTed.

insideout

Shredd, sorry to be the one to break this to you, but I know from experience that MF's policy on returning used women is far from favorable. I guess once you have Jennifer in your hands, you'll just have to keep her .

I mostly use MF because TSB is affiliated and gets a kickback for every purchase - an easy way to support an independent site , but I also like Sweetwater because they will let you bargain on the phone sometimes.

shredd

\insideout\ wrote:

Shredd, sorry to be the one to break this to you, but I know from experience that MF's policy on returning used women is far from favorable. I guess once you have Jennifer in your hands, you'll just have to keep her

I could do worse...like buying 500K pots for a git'r rebuild, receiving standards instead of mini (so they wouldn't fit in the git'rs body), and couldn't return them. Argh.
SO, they gave you some trouble returning a used woman? That's what you get for buying from the \"clearance\" section. (\"used groupies, low mileage, lots of life left\"...)
Jennifer...I'm pretty sure I'd keep her. :twisted: Even if I did want to trade her in, I bet I could get 'wild to trade me his PRS CE-24 for her!!! (just don't tell MRS. 'wild...)

Manitou

I shop Musicians Friend, and Sweetwater, and occasionally eBay. There are some nice Music stores in nearby Traverse City, and I've bought lots of major purchases through them.

I bought my GNX4 from Sweetwater BTW...and felt they offered the best deal at the time.

My latest purchase was a 6-pack of Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks, which I ordered from Musicians Friend. They get the bulk of my online/catalog orders, especially now that my purchases are mostly simple...like those picks. With the price of fuel...let alone my time...it just makes more sense to bring this stuff right to my door....and at a discount price.

So...CALL NOW But...WAIT...there's more...if you call within the next 10 minutes...you will receive this scented Love letter from Katie Holmes, and not one but two!!! yes TWO photos of Katie for \"your eyes only.\".....don't miss out. Hurry...while supplies last. Operators are standing by.

ACWild

I have a love/hate thing with GC because the level of service and deals that you get solely rely on the salesman that you're dealing with. That said, I got some great deals there. Other times, I'd try to bargain with the guy over what's essentially a used guitar and his attitude is that I'm lucky that a lot of the accessories that are supposed to come with it are actually there. :evil:
MF will price match. They have a section to do that. They'll do that for up to 30 or 45 days after your purchase. I like them.
GC does have their own webstore too. MF and GC are related by their parent company but are separate entities.
You can e-mail Sweetwater and haggle. They're usually pretty good about it.
Bottom line is... Never pay retail prices! 8)

0Dannyboy

:evil: There a big corporation thats evil right? :oops: but I cant help but likem...I got my Variax for 150 bucks from these guys and after a bit of custom work it is truley one of the coolest guitars I have owned. Also my beloved \"Gibson SG Standard\" (insert harp sound and the fluttering wings of angels) was purchased there for a great price. Most everything I have is from them with the exclusion of sweetwater. I give them some busness as well as samedaymusic.com too. I like
\"Musicgoround\" for local used stuff too.

Tal Rules

Personally, I don't buy nothing from them but strings and Picks..
Never found a salesman that would deal on anything. (Maybe a free case or a strap..BFD..LOL)...

And I'm a guy that spent about 20K on gear in the last 2 years...

Musiicians Friend is tied in with GC somehow. I presume, to use for tax free stuff...

GC had Gross sales of about 2 billion last year, Yep that's with a B..
But have little to offer the community besides gear..
No lessons, setups, repairs..etc...

Worse off they have a very slim selection of big old fat body, hollow bodies, with Gibson on the head stock...

Used to deal pretty exclusively with Music 123 but they went belly up and sold to MF.. Although just like Mars, operating independently, but all dough going to the same pocket..

ACWild

\Tal Rules\ wrote:

And I'm a guy that spent about 20K on gear in the last 2 years...

That covers the L5. What about all of the other guitars you bought? :shock:

shredd

\ACWild\ wrote:

\Tal Rules\ wrote:

And I'm a guy that spent about 20K on gear in the last 2 years...

That covers the L5. What about all of the other guitars you bought? :shock:

It's a lob...he's going back, back, back...he SMASHES it!!!
Excellent 'wild!!!

insideout

Nice one AC 8) .

I'm not a huge fan of the big store coming in town and wiping out all the mom and pop stores. So, recently, I've been trying to support the local m&p store in town. I've bought about $800 worth of stuff from them in the last 6 months. I just asked them to order a $65 stomp for me, and the next day realized I made a mistake and called to ask them to cancel it. Their response was, it already shipped, they can't cancel it, and I can't get my money back because they don't allow returns/exchanges on special order stuff - NO EXCEPTIONS (yes, the jerk used that tone of voice with me). Okay, that would never happen at a GC, MF or any other big store. They take it back, no questions asked. I gave my support to a local store, and they thank me by saying \"sucks for you\". Hope they make that $800 stretch, because it's the last they ever get from me. I don't buy from stores with no return policy anymore - NO EXCEPTIONS

shredd

I'm with 'out. I would MUCH prefer to suppor tthe small/independant shop...with some exceptions, it's usually people trying to live the dream, ie make a living doing something they love. I'm happy to support that...but I WON'T support inferior service or having my b_tt greased just 'cuz they don't have the same kind of pull a mega-retailer has. Bottom line is, the customer is the one with the money, and selling stuff is how capitalism works. If you make it hard for me to spend my money (confidently), you're not going to get it. NO EXCEPTIONS.

ACWild

I'm lucky because I have the mega-stores, mom-and-pop shops, and everything in-between. If one store doesn't deal, I'm happy to tell them that I'll get it down the street. 8)
GC isn't written off in my book because I've scored some great deals there.