The Joys of Visiting a Local Retailer ...

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

As much as I like saving money, and snagging the cool deal from a reputable on-line retailer, there is no substitute for actually seeing the object of our guitar lust, in the flesh ...er maybe cellulose ...

I just returned from a visit to my "neighborhood" Guitar Center to see an PRS SE Hollowbody II in the the flesh ! They actually had one in each color, the Tri Color Burst (my Fav) and Charcoal. They also had Standards in both colors, and the Tobacco, is a real beauty ...

In playing them, the "mission" was to make sure of the feel & fit of the "wide-fat" neck profile. Like my visit to their competitor Sam Ash, I came away with the thinking that "Yeah, this will work". Not as good a fit for me as the S2 Mc Carty Thinline (Pattern Thin) ... but not the baseball bat I was afraid of initially. Seeing them in person, solidified my initial impressions that the Tri Color is my first choice . This particular guitar had an acceptable amount of "flame" and if armed ($$$ in hand) it would be sitting in the box "acclimating " to its new environment. But I have to wait ...

Anyway, seeing the Tobacco for the first time, was a revelation. It is simply beautiful, and this one showed plenty of grain pattern. A barely flamed Hollowbody II would take a back seat to this guy. The Charcoal was a pretty too. Pictures do not do it justice, but I'm still biased to the "brown tones" ...

They also had another surprise. S2's hangin' on the wall !!!

Even The Candy Water guys do not show these guys in stock, but GC had them in the Green & the Blue. Mine is mahogany, got to see that wood grain, But the Blue & Green look waay better than the pics I have seen on line. Just goes to show 'ya that you really have not "seen" them, until you see them.

To comply with State and Federal statutes prohibiting my public play, I brought along my own Brand F Micro Ponycar amp and headphones, so I was statutorily compliant and cool . But there were others shamelessly bangin' away , that the Law has not caught up with... yet ! I think if I owned a store... I would almost require its use !

Anyway, I had a lot of fun, and even left with a Rage Against the Machine LP. I didn't know about Tom Morello, until Fender did the thing on him and his signature guitar. Glad to cop on vinyl

All this to say, that although one should expect to pay more at the brick & mortar joint... it is truly worth it to be able to make a informed decision based on actual experience. The one time I did buy "blind" (my S2 Mc Carty) worked out well for me. But you cannot always be sure that it will work out. And all this shipping & returning stuff has to be costly in the end to both the merchant and maybe even the customer. So if the brick & mortar guy is not too far off, reasonably covering his added expenses of inventory & sales staff ... I'm glad to have that option ...

And it was a lot of fun, just to get out

 

[dmatthews]

I enjoy giving my money to locals if I can.

 

[SinSir]

Agreed! The joys of local..

 

[Herr Squid]

Agreed! The joys of local..

Uh. Jelly. I don't think there's anything like that within 1000 miles from me.

 

[Broseph]

We can discuss the disrespect for Tom Morello later. And don't knock the mustang micro amp. I have one and have finally got around to working it out. My only knock was lack of manual that came with it. Requires me to find it online on how to work it so it took me a while. Works great when I wanna play late at night.

If you're adamant on flames/grains being right, then always try to check out the top and back and of the guitars in person, and if not, get the detailed pics. I would avoid the websites that use standard pics.

 

[Wakester]

My local Guitar shops don't carry much in terms of PRSi, One guy has a used McCarty that seems overpriced for the condition, the other didn't have anything. There are 4 Guitar Centers within 100 miles of me that do not have any PRSi, not that I would buy from them anyway. Ish Guitars is a 3 hour trip, but worth it if I am buying new.

 

[veinbuster]

The store within walking distance of my house has a bunch of Fiore in (they did a web cast with Mark last week). If they could let people in the store, I would be trying them out alongside maple and Rosewood Silver Sky - But no retail for another couple weeks here.

Slightly farther away are a couple of JW and a Paul’s 85 as yet unclaimed.

 

[Aahzz]

I'd love a local store with a good selection of PRS!!! If I drive 40 minutes to the Cincinnati Guitar Center, they usually have a couple, and Sam Ash is right around the corner from them and they usually have one or two, but never much variety from either. There's a GC closer to me that has SEs and very occasionally an S2 or CE, but not likely. If I want a good selection across the various lines I can be at Willcutt an a bit over an hour, but they're still curbside only, and have been for a while.

 

[El Fenix]

Living in Dallas we are pretty spoiled for choice with guitar dealers.

Guitar Maverick and ToneShop are my local favorites.

 

[CandidPicker]

Connecticut has only several higher end PRS retailers (Brian's Guitars) and the many higher end shops that existed prior to 2005 have mostly folded, or downgraded their stock to S2s or SEs.

GC was mostly responsible for this. What used to be Ron's Guitars of Groton, CT (a high end retailer in their own right) experienced the big box phenomena of being squeezed out of the market because GC had located one of the outlets in New London, and all but taken over the music market there.

Since 2015-2018, the music scene has turned toward more affordable entry-level instruments, and most of the PRS core Instruments in stock at GC are used or demo models. GC has since filed for bankruptcy, and although they remain open for business, they no longer conduct business on the same level they once did when they were a viable business.

There are only several PRS core retailers remaining in Connecticut where you can visit and hand-sample their stock. I lament the days when the music scene was thriving during the 1995-2005 era, and today is all but a former shell of itself.

Connecticut would welcome some enterprising businessmen who could see the void that GC has left and make things right again for CT musicians. Not so as to compete with Brian's Guitars, but just spread the playing field throughout Connecticut so we might not need drive to more densely populated areas we're unfamiliar with.

Artist havens like Collinsville, Norfolk, New Hartford, Plainfield in the northwest and northeast would welcome music stores that could offer high end instruments. Heck, if Brian's Guitars would divest itself and open some sister stores in these regions, I'd wager they'd be more well-received than the big box stores that put most Mom & Pop retailers out to pasture some years ago...

 

[Alnus Rubra]

My nearest is Guitar Guitar in Glasgow. About 70 miles away and we’re still on lockdown!

This is where my gift guitar came from.

They have a fine selection of new and used.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

Please do not mistake my post as an "endorsement" for Guitar Center. I have only bought one used instrument from them, and had to return it due to some damage on the guitar, that was not immediately noticeable. They were cool about the return though. I bought my very first, from a small shop in Columbus, Ahia (actually its Ohio but if you live there ... ) : A place called Lang Music on Hamilton Ave. Nice store, but that was some time ago ...

What I was trying to say is that in this age of on-line internet commerce, its still hard to beat the opportunity to actually visit and fondle the axe prior to purchase ! And we as customers., should recognize the added costs of this method of doing business ...

No disrespect to Morello intended. I just kinda dissed any guitar guy that came on the scene after the Mega Dudes of the 60's and early 70's . As a result, I missed a lot !

Manual for the Micro PonyCar ? Heck I printed it from the site (was checking for firmware updates). But I just push the little buttons and dig what the little trucker does !

I did not realize how tuff Mark Knopfler was ...until I started studying the instrument !

Hendrix is my god, but if I could steal either his or Jimi' s ability / technique ? Knopfler all day long. I figure with his chops you could cover anybody else ...

 

[jxe]

Connecticut has only several higher end PRS retailers (Brian's Guitars) and the many higher end shops that existed prior to 2005 have mostly folded, or downgraded their stock to S2s or SEs.

GC was mostly responsible for this. What used to be Ron's Guitars of Groton, CT (a high end retailer in their own right) experienced the big box phenomena of being squeezed out of the market because GC had located one of the outlets in New London, and all but taken over the music market there.

Since 2015-2018, the music scene has turned toward more affordable entry-level instruments, and most of the PRS core Instruments in stock at GC are used or demo models. GC has since filed for bankruptcy, and although they remain open for business, they no longer conduct business on the same level they once did when they were a viable business.

There are only several PRS core retailers remaining in Connecticut where you can visit and hand-sample their stock. I lament the days when the music scene was thriving during the 1995-2005 era, and today is all but a former shell of itself.

Connecticut would welcome some enterprising businessmen who could see the void that GC has left and make things right again for CT musicians. Not so as to compete with Brian's Guitars, but just spread the playing field throughout Connecticut so we might not need drive to more densely populated areas we're unfamiliar with.

Artist havens like Collinsville, Norfolk, New Hartford, Plainfield in the northwest and northeast would welcome music stores that could offer high end instruments. Heck, if Brian's Guitars would divest itself and open some sister stores in these regions, I'd wager they'd be more well-received than the big box stores that put most Mom & Pop retailers out to pasture some years ago...

you're going to make me cry cp.

 

[CandidPicker]

you're going to make me cry cp.

@jxe,

Don't get me wrong, GC when it was a viable business, had some really nice gear on their walls. Nowadays, with bankruptcy looming, GC is in survival mode, hoping to clear as much of its stock from its shelves to turn a profit, and take in as little in trade as they can allow with their used gear aspect of their business.

It is somewhat sad to read that Connecticut was once a thriving place where tourism and the music scene brought many folks into our state. The good news is, with recent leadership, the aim is to revitalize CT and the metro areas so that more people will visit the state capitol and surrounding towns where the music scene had once been.

It may be an ambitious project, but the goal is to make the metro areas safe havens for business and community alike. In previous years, there was far too much overturn in business because people didn't feel safe traveling into the metro areas at night, when bars and restaurants typically offer live music.

With this revitalization, the next step will be improving citizen/police relations so that safety protocols can be implemented on a wider scale.

GC, thankfully, remains outside of the capitol area yet not far from easy access off the main highways through CT. Each GC is located several minutes off each of CT's interstate highways, which allows for visits whenever you might need to pop in.

The Mom & Pop stores that GC had squeezed out of business; some still exist as franchises that have withstood GC's monopoly. It was the individual Mom & Pop stores that GC had overtaken. It is my belief that the franchises were the ones that had both the capital and customer loyalty for these to survive during times when the economy wasn't as music-friendly.

If more music stores could compete with GC (not necessarily big box stores, just viable Mom & Pop franchises), we might see the return to the beginnings of a thriving CT music scene again. The first step will be insuring the bars and restaurants can provide live music and reopen toward full capacity, once most all CT nutmeggers have received their vaccines. The ambitious revitalization is a hope CT leadership is holding out to CT folks for a return to what we remember as being "pre-Covid normal."

I'm personally looking forward to visiting my old open-mic venue, though the venue hasn't said exactly when they will reinstate open-mic. Not enough waitstaff/kitchen and bar help on hand to allow open-mic yet. The venue is holding a meeting today and hopefully later this week we'll hear/view the meeting's results on FB regards their decision.

It may take a good year before CT comes back up to speed regards its music scene, but the key is restoring CT nightlife to its former status. Once that occurs, then CT will likely see its economy also rebound with improved cashflow.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I bought my very first, from a small shop in Columbus, Ahia (actually its Ohio but if you live there ... ) :

60 years of living "there" and I've never heard it called anything close to that.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

60 years of living "there" and I've never heard it called anything close to that.

I guess you had to work for AT&T Network Systems, 6200 E Broad St ...

From looking on line ... Looks like Lang Music has suffered since, with the decay of Eastland Mall and all ...