The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: nofi on March 23, 2011, 12:28:46 PM
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everyone has a story so feel free to air it out here.
i was trying an amp and i had the controls set to where i like them. this sales guy comes over, takes a look and tells me my settings are all wrong! i'm not at a loss for words very often but this time.....
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In the late eighties I tried out a Victory at a shop, playing it with the pic I always have in my wallet. It's relatively thin, but hard, giving a percussive sound as it dosn't dull the presence of the strings as many thicker picks do. The shopowner sees me and in passing says: For a good bass sound, you need a thicker pick. This after I had been complimented on my pick sound for years by other musicians. I was flabbergasted at his nerve.
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Me at GC across the street from my work trying out an new Acoustic rig with my purple '76 Bird....
Dude comes up to me and says: Is that a Gibson bass?
Me: Yes, it's a Thunderbird.
Dude: Oh, I'm a Fender man.
Me: (I laughed at him first!) Oh,I'm sorry.
He went away.......Gotta love GC, the idiot factor can't be matched anywhere else!
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I have my own self-made dumb moment.
I want to know why it is that when I sit down to try a bass in a guitar shop I can't think of anything to play. ??? I have a head full of tunes, can waste precious practice time noodeling away. Sit down in a shop and my mind goes blank.
I finally came up with something I call the GC lick. It's a smart ass run I'm sure impresses hell out of no one. It's usually all I can come up with.
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I have too many, but they all end the same: "I'll holler if I need anything from you."
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Me at GC across the street from my work trying out an new Acoustic rig with my purple '76 Bird....
Dude comes up to me and says: Is that a Gibson bass?
Me: Yes, it's a Thunderbird.
Dude: Oh, I'm a Fender man.
Me: (I laughed at him first!) Oh,I'm sorry.
He went away.......Gotta love GC, the idiot factor can't be matched anywhere else!
Guitar Center Seattle
530 Westlake Ave.
Seattle, Washington 98109
At this store?
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I was hoping to forget this one, but...
Music-Go-Round (used gear store) near Raleigh - I've been in that store 6 or 7 times in the past and bought 2 basses, many pedals, drum stuff, etc. there.
I was looking to get my son a bass for his b'day and this place had a new Schecter Diamond Series as well as a few interesting basses. I've got $800 in cash on me. I'm dressed like I'm always dressed - athletic shorts, sneakers and t-shirt. I go in there, I see one of the clerks in there who used to work at another music store. We talk for several minutes, and he gives me a cord and tells me to knock myself out. This may sound odd, but I usually have a guitar cleaning cloth with me when I visit stores. I give 'em a quick rubdown before I put em back.
I swear, I'm just checking out instruments - checking the neck, electronics, sound, feel, etc. at like 1-2 on some crummy amp so only I can hear just how terrible I am - I try 2 basses - less than 5 minutes each. After each bass, I zero the volume, power off the amp, unplug, wipe it down and put it back. I'm looking at some overpriced Cort Fretless number hanging on the wall when the owner comes over to the amp, takes the cord and shoots me "the look". I jokingly asked him "am I done?" He says "Yeah, you're not gonna buy anything". I was amazed. At that point, the clerk comes over to him and starts to say something to the owner, but I stopped him. At that point I was done. I took my rag and went to Harry's.
I'll never go back there (and my kids won't go there either) - they could give away stuff, and I wouldn't take it.
Sorry for being so long winded, but that was therapeutic for me.
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"i took my rag and went to harry's". perfect. ;D
we have a store here in atlanta that i went to one time and never again. when you walk in the place and a sales guy comes sprinting at you with that cheery,hard sell look on his face; well you know it will not be a good time.
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There was a notorious music and pawn store in south Minneapolis, when you walked in the door there was a bin full of tootsie rolls and the owner would try to get you to take some, his sales technique for trying to make people comfortable. It was on my route home from work so I would occasionally stop in for strings or accessories.
My favorite moment there was when I spied a used 60s EB-0 on the wall. I took it down to look at and immediately there were two sales guys hoping to make a sale. The finish was completely stripped, the serial number had been burned off, and there was a large unrepaired neck crack so bad you could have easily broken it off with your hands.. The price was $400 and I said at that price, there must be $350 of loose cash inside the control cavity. The two sales guys roared with laughter only to look up and see the owner fuming at us. That was a lot funnier than my smartass remark.
He eventually had his business license yanked after an local news investigative team ran a sting operation and caught him on camera.
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[quote author=Bargeon link=topic=5405.msg87136#msg87136 date=1300928834
I want to know why it is that when I sit down to try a bass in a guitar shop I can't think of anything to play. ??? I have a head full of tunes, can waste precious practice time noodeling away. Sit down in a shop and my mind goes blank.
[/quote]
Performance anxiety? ;D
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I have a gig this coming weekend, and want to use the 4001. I took it to the last rehearsal and came to the conclusion that a) I need to bypass the cap - check! b) I need to pull the cover off - check! and c) I need to ditch the flats! (gave 'em a chance, tried to like 'em... not happenin)
So off I go to GC to buy a pack of bass strings... After standing there for twenty minutes behind the guy deliberating over which wireless mic to get (truly priceless conversation and sales pitch), I reach the 20 year old shredder-guitarist behind the counter and was asking if they had any set of EB Slinkys in 95s or 100s with nickel windings (wanted to try 'em out). Whooooah :o So the guy glazes over, starts pouring over the single-pack guitar strings, and I suddenly realize I'm speaking an archaic dialect! I carefully guided him over to the bass "section", to my old standby... "yeah - that's it! there you go! that little blue pack that says eee echs elll one-seventy! right on, bro!", paid, and backed slowly away...
Just further proof that its better for everyone involved if I just shop online. ;D
(p.s. I saw one of those new Gretsch's like Pilgrim's over there - that is a mighty fine looking bass, even more stunning in person!)
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When I moved to Austin in 1981 I had just turned 20 and was broke most of the time. I used to go to the pawn shops and play basses and then one day I went to a "famous" Guitar store here in town. They have (and still have) a couple of nice guys who work there and then the "owner" who is a dick. I could never afford anything there and the last straw was when the "owner" scolded me for letting the bass swing back and forth (slightly). "It might ding the other basses in front and back of it!" No matter that I was very careful with all of the basses I picked up. I still to this day won't spend any money there. 8)
Fast forward some 20 years or so: I'm scoping out the Cash America Pawn at Oltorf and South 1st when I see the "owners" car parked there. I've seen the car before at pawn shops and was an easily recognizable car. In back of the pawn shop was a porn store called The Pleasure Shop. It's long gone today but back then it was just one of those small little shops where dudes could "preview" movies before they bought them. (yeah, right..... :) ) Anyhoo......as I'm approaching the Pawh Shop door I see the "owner" coming around the corner (from The Pleasure Shop) with a brown paper bag in his hand. He sees me and his eyes get big. I say "Hey (owners name deleted to protect the innocent), did you find any good guitars?! He hurriedly got into his vehicle while mumbling something I couldn't make out. I had a great laugh about that and I relayed the story to the 2 cool dudes that still work at the store when I'd go there to shoot the shit with them. I still don't buy anything from that store some 30 years later.
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Guitar Center Seattle
530 Westlake Ave.
Seattle, Washington 98109
At this store?
No, down @ Southcenter, in Tukwila.............I think it's the company's dump.
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No, down @ Southcenter, in Tukwila.............I think it's the company's dump.
I went to that one when I was there. I think you are correct about it being a dumping ground.
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"i took my rag and went to harry's". perfect. ;D
we have a store here in atlanta that i went to one time and never again. when you walk in the place and a sales guy comes sprinting at you with that cheery,hard sell look on his face; well you know it will not be a good time.
Are you sure it wasn't a discount furniture store ;D
Rick
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I went to that one when I was there. I think you are correct about it being a dumping ground.
By the airport, right. I used to have an apartment a mile of so from the one in Kirkland. And I used to go to the one in Seattle from time to time.
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By the airport, right. I used to have an apartment a mile of so from the one in Kirkland. And I used to go to the one in Seattle from time to time.
Yes, and I live a bit south of Sea-Tac now. My parents house, in Kirkland is about a mile or north of the GC there - Very small world at times :)
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There was a notorious music and pawn store in south Minneapolis, when you walked in the door there was a bin full of tootsie rolls and the owner would try to get you to take some, his sales technique for trying to make people comfortable. It was on my route home from work so I would occasionally stop in for strings or accessories.
You must have passed close to High Tech Consignments along that route. I traded a couple guitars for a near mint 1968 EB-2DC there. I went toe to toe with the salesman fifteen minutes past closing time before he gave in. The nieghborhood was rapidly changing after dark. That store was bought by Play It Again Sports, and became the first of the Music-Go-Round chain.
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I was in there a few times, never bought anything major.
I also remember the time Chad put "no tootsie rolls, ever" in his regular Strib ad. Someone was mighty peeved about that.
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Encore Music had another store in St Paul, not too far away from Aabe's other store. Chad bought it from the widow of the origional owner if I recall correctly.
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Yeah, Chad didn't keep the St. Paul Encore open long. Maybe a couple of years.
Back to Aabe's: I remember the sting set up by KSTP that caught him red-handed ripping off their setup customer. That must have been the last straw that caused Minneapolis to yank his license. At that time his St. Paul store was fairly new. After a while it became Midway Music, supposedly owned by the guy who had managed it for him. I figured he was still pulling the strings, but then I heard he got out of the business after an angry customer beat him up. It wouldn't surprise me.
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Two quick ones:
I went to a now-closed music shop in South Minneapolis, and they had a fairly clean 1983 P-bass. I picked it up and the strings were a half inch off the neck. Just a nightmare. You could fret at about F# and it was done for up beyond. They had it marked at $350, but they said the truss rod was broken as they couldn't straighten it out and had been trying for days. I got it for $300 I think, and took it home. Then I took a wrench to the then revolutionary BiFlex truss rod, and straightened it out. The idiots had been putting a bow into the neck as they had no idea how to work the truss rod. (Secret Fender Identity revealed) I still play it regularly.
I walked into a Boston shop to find A) a just in that morning 67 Telecaster and B) a guy asking to see it. The store manager had put it up high - it being a real Fender and all - and in pulling it down he dropped it to the ground from maybe 8 ft. The body cracked straight through right then. The manager said "OH SHIT!" At the exact same time I and the other guy both said "How much do you want for it now?" The other guy got it as he was the one who asked for it, and he paid $150. We both laughed outside. I was happy for him, and got to know him pretty well after. He glued it up - you couldn't see the line - and sold it later for stoopid money.
I went into Aabes a couple of times on Lyndale I think, near the bad Cub. All Music-Go-Round crap. I hit the University in St Paul place once. Same junk. I thought Aabes made money booking wedding bands.
But enough of Mpls. I am heading to Texas this week. Sun and maybe better guitars and basses.
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B-Sharp Music is always the store that comes to mind for problems. You'd call them to see if they had something, they'd say they did, jump in the car and drive to see it and "it just sold". Old man Lopez would at least be straight forward, he'd say "If I can take you for everything you've got, I'll do it. If I can't, I'll take that too." They had a big banner over the cash register, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash". Buying from them was always a headache.... One time the kid pretended to call his Gibson Rep to ask a question I had, I know he had nobody on the phone.
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Yes, and I live a bit south of Sea-Tac now. My parents house, in Kirkland is about a mile or north of the GC there - Very small world at times :)
I actually lived in Juanita Bay, stayed during the week and flew home most weekends. When I first lived there the GC in Kirkland (Totem Lake) was a Musicians Friend store before GC bought them. It switched over to GC while I was there.
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Ah yes Juanita! What years did you live up here?
When we first moved out there from Seattle in 1966 the freeway ended about 2 miles north of Totem Lake, we did our grocery shopping in Juanita, it was very quaint at the time. When those stores were Musician's Friend they were so much better than GC at both locations. In Seattle at least, they are worse than Walwart, just choke full of cheap crap. - I don't even like to buy strings from them, A Sharp in Renton or BassNW for me please!
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I used to work for McCaw Cellular, which was bought by AT&T to become AT&T wireless. Their HQ was at Carillon point in Kirkland. I worked there in the Seattle area in 1996 thru 1998. I totally agree about the MF vs GC, it kind of ruined it for me when GC bought it I liked it soooooooooooo much better as the Musicians Friend store. Actually both of my Thunderbird's have come from GC but I don't shop there very much. I usually get stuff off the catalogs as we don't have the kind of store like Bass NW or The Bass Place in Scottsdale (another place I have lived while working out of town) here in the Sacramento area.
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I remember when what became Carillon Pt was a company that serviced Porta Potties ;)
Kirkland sire has changed, it was sleepy in the '70s, now it's more like the snooty suburb with a bad city council that allowed runaway developement........oh well.
I loved visiting MF, after the takeover ( I'd actually call it rape) not so much - For the most part it's completely forgettable crap.
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B-Sharp Music is always the store that comes to mind for problems. You'd call them to see if they had something, they'd say they did, jump in the car and drive to see it and "it just sold". Old man Lopez would at least be straight forward, he'd say "If I can take you for everything you've got, I'll do it. If I can't, I'll take that too." They had a big banner over the cash register, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash". Buying from them was always a headache.... One time the kid pretended to call his Gibson Rep to ask a question I had, I know he had nobody on the phone.
Back in the day (about 40 years ago), Jim Lopez couldn't be beat, because he discounted heavily while other stores were still trying to sell everything at list price. After he got out of it (at least actively) it got to be almost impossible to buy anything from them. Last time I was there was about 15 years ago, just trying to buy a few picks, and it was still a hassle.
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I worked with a gal who was the daughter of the original owners. It was her parents that gave the Beatles the Ric 12 string when they played here in the sixties. I remember now, how much many of the other store owners despised B-Sharp for how cheap they would sell stuff. I got a pretty good deal on a Peavey Bass amp in about 1975. It was the first amp I had that could handle my 1967 EB-2.
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More Aabe's memories: Sean (was that his name?) had Gibson but not Fender, so he carried Fernandes and he would tell customers that Leo Fender had gone to Japan in 1947 and stolen all his ideas from Fernandes! No kidding, I heard him do this more than once.
Then there was the I-Team sting. One of their team took a guitar to be consigned with him for $700. The consignment contract stated that payment would be made within a few days of a sale. I think it was 7 days. Another team member came by the very next day and bought it for $700, but weeks went by and he never contacted the seller or sent a check for the net amount. When she came back to ask if it had been sold, he told her he had just sold it but he had to reduce the price to $500. And they had all this on hidden camera. Once they broadcast it, that was all the excuse the city needed to get rid of him.
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Aabe was just a name to get them 1st in the yellow pages. Sean might have been his name, he was quite the weasle. When the Zoom 505 first came out, he gave us his sales pitch, how Boss & DOD were worried about how they would compete with it. We did end up buying a couple of them, I stuck with my Boss pedals & gave it to my Niece.
Another B-Sharp memory My brother-in-law wanted me to find a cheap electric guitar for him, I went to B-Sharp to buy one of those old cheapos that were always on the wall but nobody ever bought. He pulled down a brand new Peavey T-60 that he said was all scatched up & damaged. He sold it to me for what I was trying to buy one of the other guitars for. I couldn't find a mark on it. I hadn't been there in years, there was a fire that destoyed it about four years ago. I think it might have re-opened accross the street but I'm not certain.