You get one wish from Guitar Center.........

[midopa]

Perhaps a better climate control system. We've had a fair share of threads talking about the the necks on MM basses shrinking and causing the frets to "sprout" at some GCs (sorry about opening this can of worms again). I think the cause was the dry air that is used for the heating/air conditioning.

[mynan]

I've been trying to sell my guitar player on an EBMM, but the local GC doesn't have any EBMM 6-strings and to my knowledge hasn't for quite a while. So my wish is that the Grand Rapids, MI store would get some EBMM 6-strings.

...I know, I'm so selfless...using my wish on my guitar player...but let's face it, guitar players need all the help they can get.

[leftymike]

I second stocking more higher end lefties. I know we are a small market but trust me, the majority of us (lefties) ARE NOT going to pick up that Ib#$@Z GSR200 or F@#$%R MIM Jazz. I know we can order high-end lefties , and I don't mind the wait, but I know a lot of people (including myself) are impulse buyers. I am 50 times more likely to purchase a a Left-Handed high-end bass if I see one while on my lunch break visiting a GC (which I do often) than to think about it and place an order with a dealer.

[adouglas]

My one wish: Decent product knowledge (and failing that, a willingness to go get it).

I want to deal with salespeople who know at least as much about the gear I'm buying as I do.

That doesn't mean they need to be true experts, but if I can do minimal poking around on the Internet, read a magazine article or two and have better product knowledge than the sales guy, then the sales guy is just a little bit redundant.

Not having answers at their fingertips is okay, provided they're willing to utter (and act upon) the following phrase:

"That's a good question. I don't know. Let's find out."

Whenever somebody says that my respect for them goes up exponentially. In my book, those are among the three most important sentences in the language.

In my experience the typical GC staff person does a really great job at being helpful, attentive and accommodating, which are vitally important. If I had a guy who was really sharp on the product knowledge front but was a real twerd, I'd hate it. So that trumps product knowledge. But since they're doing a good job there already, product knowledge rises to the top.

[glockaxis]

Originally Posted by Marty Albertson

coming next year.....before June....Palm Desert.....BP knows the location

WoW!!! I read this after posting. Awesome Mr. Albertson!!! I'm going broke for sure now. I might have to get a second job to support my habit!!! Thanks Mr. Albertson!!

[Kirby]

A wider selection of top quality gear (maybe some BFR's?) and my personal take is that the Guitar Center in Indy be allowed to have Markbass gear!

[Rick]

My local GC is Rockville Maryland. My wish for that store is an expanded bass section. The bass section is probably a 15X20 foot area out of probably 10,000 square feet with maybe 20 basses in it.

[philiprst]

Here is my wish:

I wish that GC would put only one of each model on the showroom floor and keep in the back a copy of the demo guitar and several other versions. The demo guitar would have a tag saying which other versions/colors are in inventory or there should be a computer terminal on the floor where customers can see the stock of any item. If a customer wanted to see and try out a different color or versions of the demo then the sales person would bring it out to them. They would also have a pristine copy of the demo model if a person wanted to buy that one.

This way everyone gets to pull one model of an EBMM off the rack and try it out. But customers who decide to buy a specific guitar get one in great condition.

Philip

[stretch80]

More frequent setup checks/fixes. Basses are often terribly set up in the GC near me.

[muthafunk]

If I met genie near the store I would definetly ask for some small size earthquake, to shake the building a little bit and crack the parking lot in front the store in two halves...and I would also ask for a truck, but it seems like it counts as the second wish

But for real I wish that they would treat each instrument they have on display well - no matter, if it's Musicman or any other bass or guitar. Everytime I went there and was trying out some basses, one or two of them for sure had dead battery so you couldn't even get any output from the pickup...also, a lot of great instruments had old dead strings, so even if they sound nice you wouldn't be able to tell.

Of course it's diffucult to take good care of each inctrument, when 200+ maniacs feel them up and screw them around all the time. But at least changing the battery once in 2 years and strings once in 6 months isn't a really difficult thing to do especially if you're working in a large store like GC.

[ptg]

First of all, thanks Marty and BP for allowing us to talk to you directly.

I know inventory is expensive, but ordering a MM bass can be daunting simply because you don't know which one to buy. Piezo? HH? HS? H? More pup configs would be great!!

I know this has been discussed, but having a dedicated person to make sure all the instruments on the floor are playable would, IMHO, increase sales. It could be a roving guy, or the responsibility of the repairman already in the store, to check at a certain time each day or every other day or whatever.

Also, great idea tommyindelaware! Having a musical "jiffy lube" station would be mint! Instead of not maintaining the instrument properly, one could drop it off to get it tweaked (since I know it won't take long) and try out a bass or at least pick up a new cord or some other sundry.

Thanks, again, for listening!

[Larry]

1) Climate Control
2) In tune, Polished, Well setup inventory.
3) More balls in stock

[NorM]

Originally Posted by tommyindelaware

well...i know one offs are not gonna happen.......so...

as a service to gc customers.... how bout a guitar and bass tweek station at the storefront. a place where anyone could get a quick tweek / evaluation of there current guitar. an ernie ball gas station.....kinda like a jiffy lube for guitars and basses. limit to quik string change & truss rod tweek. 10-15 mins ? customer just buys strings......& gets qualified for new instrument if appropriate.
tommy in guitar centerless delaware.

The GC in Tucson has just such a "workbench" right in the Guitar station. When I went to the GC yesterday I got the polish, cloth (EBMM wonder wipes were not in stock yet) and a 3mm allen wrench from there. I spent about an hour cleaning and checking out (and tweaked 2) 5 EBMM Basses. I like putting EBMM basses in other players hands at the GC. "Excuse me sir, would you try this one and tell me if you think it's set up OK?" Everyone loves the EBMM basses. I even went next door to the hardware store to buy a battery for a Bongo. (the manager reimbursed me) The guys at my GC are great and they know me. They were all very thankful that I came in just to clean up the EBMM's. I had a great time. Next time I have free time I will try to get to the other 5 basses there. They don't have any EBMM guitars there but I understand. They get what they can sell, GC is huge, EBMM does what they can.

Marty!
The guys in Tucson are fantastic! If you get a chance to tell them I bet it will make them feel good. I recommend they get an "Attaboy" if you have any in your desk drawer.

Originally Posted by kevin

I think it would be great for GC's to have a Public computer in store that is on-line and available for customers to log onto manufacture's websites. This can be set up in a kiosk type of setitng and could be considered the GC Info center and hub, they could even have it linked to dealer inventory. With the many products and instruments that GC carries its tough to for the salesman to know every spec on every instrument(available colors, woods, configuarations...etc...etc) So it would be a great tool to have an in-store reference center that allows you access to manufactures websites.

That would be really cool. I think it's in the works. The old system that required a salesman to know, hunt for, or find cryptic codes to try and find a model or anything in the GC system was/is tough to use. They did finally get the WWW in the store. It works great for defining prices and product availability. Along with showing the GC staff the cool things happening at EB.

[GWDavis28]

Marty, yes thank you of the opportunity to post some opinions.

BP, thanx for the input about the inventory.

Glenn |B)

[paranoid70]

Another vote for more inventory of EBMM guitars. Most GCs in my area carry zero EBMM guitars in stock. I personally have never seen a Silhouette, Silhouette Special, Steve Morse, or Albert Lee at a GC. (Or at least not in the last two or three years that I have been more actively looking at EBMM stuff).

One thing I will say that I do like about GC is that you can sit down and play a guitar and/or amp for quite some time without getting "bugged" by the Sales Staff. They usually come by and say "How are you doing" or something like that... but are typically not pushy at all. I definitely appreciate that.