loving holy hell. i just called a pair of independent guitar shops to ask if they could place an order to get me an epiphone casino pickguard (epiphone/gibson can't ship direct). i was like, i'll be nice, give my money to shops that maybe need it, instead of sam ash or gutter center

<call main drag music>
"call back in 20 minutes for joe, he just stepped out."
<call back>
"joe's not coming in today."
can you give him a message?
"naw, just call back tomorrow, i got stuff to do."

<call ludlow guitars>
hi do you have any of these used and, if not, can you order one for me?
"we don't deal with gibson, so no."
oh gosh, why's that?
"why is the sky blue? why do some stores carry gibson and some don't? why look for something that isn't there?"
ok goodbye

they have plenty of people willing to pay their retardedly jacked up prices so they dont feel they need to be kind to you and help you out with this. of course, they dont realise that you'll go badmouthing them to every tom, dick, & satriani on the internet who will probably never go in there now.
incidentally, have you tried matt umanov's?
edit: also, carmine st guitars is close by umanov's, too. worth a shot.

ive been there (matt u) before, but its kinda a walk for me. guitar center is closer, i'm just gonna go there.

The indie stores near me are staffed by pretty cool guys.
On the contrary, I find Guitar Center and such to generally be staffed by douchebags.

That's about as retarded an answer as I've ever heard before.

i imagine his reply had to do something with gibson's deal with guitar center. still, it was a curious, innocent question. i wonder if he was stroking it while he was on the phone with me

when he asked you 'why look for something that isnt there?', you shouldve just replied with 'i bet you say that to all the girls' and hung up.

I've never particularly enjoyed going into a guitar store. I'm kind of like Pee-Wee Herman when he goes into the biker bar. Most of the employees look like dirty bikers. They have scary tattoos, talk very loud and yell a lot, say the F-word constantly, and say "dude" frequently. They seem to only like heavy metal, and worship only the players who play as fast and loud as possible. It's usually hard to interrupt them and ask for some service, because they are slamming on each other in loud voices. Some night-time comedy show should do a skit about a mild-mannered customer trying to get service in a guitar store filled with aggressive ape employees. I like to order only from catalogues.

post their numbers so we can all call them asking for that thing.

they'll both order a shitload thinking demand is high, then you can go back and get it at a super discounted price when they need to move them fast.

YES!!!
One of the best comebacks I've ever heard!
Brilliant, Nick. Just brilliant.

I hate guitar shop employees...luckily there's one place near me that's friendly and leaves you alone.

I basically can't bring my guitar to be repaired with anyone in the area because I've apparently pissed so many of them off...when all I did was ask a few questions...jerks.

haha. I am down for a long distance phone call.

Post. Numbers.

ludlow guitars 212-353-1775
main drag music dont bother calling theyre too damn busy

See the thing is, they don't. They're disappearing. They tend to charge more (because they have to), and in some cases they have worse service than the big chains (because they hire dipshits and don't police them). Guitar shops who won't lift a finger to try and earn your business deserve a swift death.

You check Ebay and such, Katie?

I'm sitting here lol'ing @ Timmy's idea. Friggin' genius.

Customer service sucks everywhere anymore. I find myself telling people "You realize that if I stop coming here because of junk like this, & more & more people do, too...that means you end up working at Taco Bell. You get that, right?" more & more.

yeh checked ebay for weeks.

i caved. just got back from walking to the guitar center so they could special order it.

Right on the money Cap. The one area small shops can beat out the big guy is usually with customer service and a more personable approach.

If they can't even do that then fuck em.

My wife's brother has had four guitar shops over the years. In four different locations. But he had a habit of doing things like put up a "back in 15 minutes" sign and go off to get weed or pizza.

Also, he spent most of his time playing the instruments and working in his
homemade recording studio and often didn't answer the phone or remember to unlock the door.

man guitar center is the worst. you walk thru the turnstyles and immediately get hit with 'HEY BRO, WAZZAP?! WHAT GEAR YOU LOOKIN FOR?

the most surreal moment was one time i walked in and there were literally 80 asian dudes sitting in front of amps w/ bc rich warlock's strapped on just finger tapping away. turns out i stepped into a quarterfinal of Guitarmaggedon.

They just opened a Guitar Center fairly near my house and it has by far the best and nicest staff of any GC I've ever been in; I think it has to do with two things:

1. I went in there the first week they were open, met a couple people in pro audio and bought some speakers.

2. Since they are trying to keep a GC open in a fairly small city, they have to be nice to their good customers. Consequentially, I am greeted by name and have actually been called personally by the two sales geeks I know about special sales.

The Guitar Center's in Atlanta are more like robotboy described though I would pay money to see the asian dudes finger tapping.

The shop I ran across in New Hampshire this summer was like that. They sell a lot of guitars online, and they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That is to say, if you buy a guitar from them, they ship it to you, you don't like it for some reason, it comes back at THEIR cost and you get your $ back.

We had a 20 minute conversation about it... the guy's like "this is all I can do. It's the only card I can play. So I play the hell out of it." Guy was extremely nice, just cool as hell.

Did you ever get that gift card for Guitar Center I bought you for Christmas? If not, it's possible it never left my parents' house...

The guys on the main floor at the Guitar Center near me are a bunch of assholes usually, but the guys back in the acoustic guitar room are always pretty damn nice and really know their stuff. I've gotten five guitars from those guys over the years.