What I Saw At Guitar Center...

[randyz]

I should know better than to go into my local Guitar Center on a Sunday afternoon. As always, I got to hear the sounds of mindless guitar noodling and the same tired metal riffs, but today I saw a spectacle of unimaginable horror. I heard a child's voice asking, "Can you get that down for me? It's up too high". With that a teenager reached up and helpfully handed a Gibson EDS-1275 Doubleneck in Heritage Cherry to a kid that was only 3 foot tall and couldn't have been older than 6-7. The child, struggling to hold onto the Gibson, turned to his sister who then appeared with a pointy-looking Ibanez saying, "Now we've both got guitars!". The boy actually plugged in the Gibson and beat on the strings for a few minutes. Later he took it up to the sales counter (still barely able to carry it) and asked an employee to put it away. The employee's eyes got big as he snatched the guitar away, asked him how he got a hold of it, and said it was a "big bucks" guitar. Then the kid goes, "How much?" and the guy answers, "About $3000!". I walked by and looked at the guitar and spotted a severe finish problem on the back of the 12-string neck. It looked like an area 2-3 inches long where the finish was peeling away and soft. All of my Gibsons have trouble with guitar stand reactions, and that's what apparently happened to this one too. Way to go Guitar Center!

[wmthor]

I few years back, I took my then 12 year old nephew to a GC to try out some amps. We were thinking that a Vox Pathfinder stack would be about right for him. The salesman (a kid) was very helpful in providing Bobby any guitar that he asked for to try out with the amp. My heart tighten when Bobby asked to play a vintage LP Goldtop with a price tag in excess of $15K and the salesman got off the wall. But then again, I should have realized that Bobby has been around vintage guitars his entire life. In fact, his first guitar at age 7 was a 63 Model 1000.

[deaconblues]

Hey, sometimes its good to help us young'uns out! If a kind salesman hadn't let 12-year-old me play my first Ric, I wouldn't own it today

[charlyg]

Hey, sometimes its good to help us young'uns out! If a kind salesman hadn't let 12-year-old me play my first Ric, I wouldn't own it today

touche!

[jingle_jangle]

"It looked like an area 2-3 inches long where the finish was peeling away and soft. "

Are you sure it didn't smell like hot dog relish? Kids...

[kenposurf]

Nice avatar you have there Paul

[jingle_jangle]

Yeah, that was about 10 seconds before it burned to the ground...

[JakeK]

When I was 12, International Vintage Guitars had the biggest problem with me trying out guitars. Not Mexican Standard Fenders, but Rickenbackers and VOS Gibsons. These days, I walk into IVG (or any guitar store, really), store people will grin and tell me, "Try it and see what you think!"

[deaconblues]

It's funny, even though I'm 20 now, and own nine guitars including three Rickenbackers, I still feel guilty reaching for the expensive guitars, like some salesman's going to come and take them away!

[sloop_john_b]

Hey, sometimes its good to help us young'uns out! If a kind salesman hadn't let 12-year-old me play my first Ric, I wouldn't own it today

Gotta agree here!

[qwezirider]

"Try it and see what you think!"

Yeah, my favorite mom and pop shop owner is the same way. Only his comment comes with an evil grin of a drug dealer working you on your first free hit because he knows he's got you if the thing sits in your hands. Precisely how I got my first 340/12 when all I was in the store for was to pay off a Peavey on layaway.