Reply #20: Aaaarrrrgghhh - These GC Salesmen are clueless

[countryken]

It's tax return time and the IRS is whispering in my ear that I need a 12 string guitar. My first inclination would be the most convenient, so I dropped by the Guitar Center up the road. I tried a Martin 12-28, priced at about $2300 used, only to find that it was out of saddle and one of the G strings was clearing the saddle altogether and buzzing like crazy. I put that down and picked up a used Martin 12-20 at about $1300. That had the same problem, but in this case it was the E string buzzing. The salesman dropped by and I mentioned that they both needed neck resets. He blathered on about the price popping up when they enter the year and the model. I said, yes, but you need to take into consideration the cost of the repairs required to make the instruments playable. He talked about 'fixing' the saddle and twisting the truss rod, and would hear none of it. You would think that a potential buyer of such guitars wouldn't touch these with a ten foot pole when inspecting their condition.

What does GC do about guitars that cannot be sold. Do the employees get a crack at them at very cheap prices? That would motivate them to not want to sell them.

Anyway, I'm thinking of a new Blueridge, solid spruce, solid EIR, for around $800, from an independent dealer I know in Pittsburgh.

Maybe it's good that they are incompetent. It keeps indies competitive.