The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Dave W on April 17, 2020, 09:23:21 PM
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These aren't permalinks so read the second and third links now if you're interested.
If Guitar Center/Musicians Friend has suspended payments to vendors, then that may cause much more than just a ripple effect. It could be a tidal wave. GC could easily go under altogether, and think of how many manufacturers rely on them.
Operations At Guitar Center Distribution Center Suspended (https://www.musictrades.com/news11.html)
Facility shuttered under COVID-19 statute closing "nonessential businesses."
KANSAS CITY HEALTH OFFICIALS have ordered Guitar Center to suspend operations at its 700,000-square-foot distribution center, under a statute that permits only “essential” businesses to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The operation, which employs 300, fulfills orders for all of Guitar Center’s online platforms, including Musician’s Friend, GuitarCenter.com, and Woodwind&Brasswind.com.
Guitar Center management had previously argued that automated systems in the facility made it possible for employees to maintain the 6-foot social distancing recommended by health officials. They also said that the facility maintained a rigorous cleaning regime. Local officials were not persuaded.
Separately, several prominent manufacturers have reported that Guitar Center is suspending payments to vendors to conserve cash for the duration of the shutdown.
Guitar Center Employees Furloughed
Amid Store Closures (https://www.musictrades.com/news3.html)
Coronavirus Crisis Cripples Industry (https://www.musictrades.com/news1.html)
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We're screwed at work (custom flight cases). Tours and corporate events are our bread and butter. As soon as those stopped, so did we. And all my customers (MAJOR audio/video/lighting companies, as well as smaller guys around the country) are sitting on warehouses full of gear that came back. Which of course means gear manufacturers are screwed because nobody is buying anything. We're currently sitting on $90,000 worth of past due invoices owed to us, and I don't expect many to be paid any time soon. Everyone but me (16 guys) is furloughed. I'm at about 30% of my normal salary. Better than nothing. My friends who gig for a living are really getting boned as the PPP money has been exhausted. Nobody knows when large gatherings are going to start up again, and when it does, what the landscape is going to be like. I read that Disney is losing 13 million a DAY worldwide. Interesting times...
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These are interesting times, you got that right. I'm glad I live in a country with good health service (Norway) but everything is shut down here too. I'm able to work a bit (tube distribution and amp repair) but the music instrument store where I rent workspace is shut down, so business is very slow. Makes you think though, how much we actually depend on each other. You'd think we could at least buy fish locally, but because of labour costs we send all fish to China for packing :) On the positive side, everybody looks like mad scientists these days because all hairdressers are shut down 8)
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This is going to cripple the industry if they can no longer sell on line. I bought the “Stupid Deal of the Day” from MF last weekend. It’s coming today but they didn’t ship it until Thursday. They still have a notice that due to Covid-19, shipping will be slower. I wonder how much longer they can keep selling with the main facility closed.....
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I bought some smaller stuff from MF more than a week ago and it hasn't been shipped yet. My best guess is that I'm not seeing it anytime soon, which prompts the question whether I should just cancel the order and re-order from Sweetwater...I did have a coupon from MF which is what pi$$es me off even more...
Decisions, decisions..
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I've gotta think that preserving their online business is their primary hope of survival. If they can't do that, they're either stupid or in desperate trouble (I know, someone will suggest both, but I think that's not the case.)
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GC killed Mackie, Crown, SWR, and several others by holding out on credit payments in years past as a business tactic. What goes around comes around.
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We're screwed at work (custom flight cases). Tours and corporate events are our bread and butter. As soon as those stopped, so did we. And all my customers (MAJOR audio/video/lighting companies, as well as smaller guys around the country) are sitting on warehouses full of gear that came back. Which of course means gear manufacturers are screwed because nobody is buying anything. We're currently sitting on $90,000 worth of past due invoices owed to us, and I don't expect many to be paid any time soon. Everyone but me (16 guys) is furloughed. I'm at about 30% of my normal salary. Better than nothing. My friends who gig for a living are really getting boned as the PPP money has been exhausted. Nobody knows when large gatherings are going to start up again, and when it does, what the landscape is going to be like. I read that Disney is losing 13 million a DAY worldwide. Interesting times...
Wow, that's too bad, Tom. Even if everything opened back up tomorrow, the damage will be long lasting, and in many cases it will be permanent. A lot of jobs won't be coming back, and we'll see some big names go under in all industries.
My younger son is in a similar situation. He manages a small casino which is shut down. He's getting a percentage of his regular salary but all the hourly employees are furloughed.
This is going to cripple the industry if they can no longer sell on line. I bought the “Stupid Deal of the Day” from MF last weekend. It’s coming today but they didn’t ship it until Thursday. They still have a notice that due to Covid-19, shipping will be slower. I wonder how much longer they can keep selling with the main facility closed.....
I bought some smaller stuff from MF more than a week ago and it hasn't been shipped yet. My best guess is that I'm not seeing it anytime soon, which prompts the question whether I should just cancel the order and re-order from Sweetwater...I did have a coupon from MF which is what pi$$es me off even more...
Decisions, decisions..
If they can ship from one of the GC retail stores that are still open then you should get your orders. If I were in your position, though, I'd cancel anything that isn't already in transit.
I've gotta think that preserving their online business is their primary hope of survival. If they can't do that, they're either stupid or in desperate trouble (I know, someone will suggest both, but I think that's not the case.)
with GC's debt load, they have to have both in order to survive. I'm more concerned about what it will do to their vendors who likely wouldn't get paid.
GC killed Mackie, Crown, SWR, and several others by holding out on credit payments in years past as a business tactic. What goes around comes around.
It sure does, doesn't it? That was also one of Henry J's tactics at Gibson. Look what happened to his investment.
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My purchase did show up late yesterday. I was beginning to wonder if they paid UPS. It might be a good time to suppress my GAS, at least as far as GC/MF are concerned.
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My purchase did show up late yesterday. I was beginning to wonder if they paid UPS. It might be a good time to suppress my GAS, at least as far as GC/MF are concerned.
I see that MF is still taking orders with a warning that there will be extended shipping times.
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I see that MF is still taking orders with a warning that there will be extended shipping times.
I'll be calling them tomorrow to see what's going on with my order...
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Does anyone know yet if it's safe to order from MF? I can endure extended shipping times. But if the uncertainty goes beyond that, I would be hesitant.
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Does anyone know yet if it's safe to order from MF? I can endure extended shipping times. But if the uncertainty goes beyond that, I would be hesitant.
My grandson ordered a guitar from GC and after a small hassle and call to their customer service recieved it within a week.
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Does anyone know yet if it's safe to order from MF? I can endure extended shipping times. But if the uncertainty goes beyond that, I would be hesitant.
My aforementioned order from MF took more than two weeks altogether. OTOH, ZZ Sounds delivered the stuff within 48 hours.
If the item was available elsewhere, I'd likely pass on MF.
If not, and I *really* needed it...I'd bite the bullet.
My $0.02 only...
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Thanks for the info everybody. I've got three basses I'm trying to decide on. Or now two. Because the first choice is already gone. Recently, I gave away one of my really good basses to a relative. I wasn't exactly planning on it, but it was the right thing to do.
I'm just trying to replenish my supply. It was harder than I expected to find what I really wanted. Also, as much as I like, for instance, AMS and Sweetwater, sometimes MF is the only place that has what I want.
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I'll update my info. It's possible it may be of use to someone. Without going into all the details, since I couldn't get the bass I wanted, I was trying to talk to somebody about buying the Guild Starfire II which they briefly had a price drop on. The sales rep told me over the phone he would probably be able to help me. I waited and waited. Didn't get back an answer for 5 days. Today I found a deal on a Gibson SG Standard and ordered that from Sweetwater. I think Musician's Friend is probably still functioning okay; they're just very slow. If they had been even one minute faster, it's very possible I'd have a Guild from them. As it stands, what I got instead will most likely be fine. But I won't know for sure until I have it in my hands because it's an ebony demo with a few issues.
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If the price was right, hopefully you can deal with the issues.
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Yes, I'm thinking the same thing. I feel comfortable dealing with Sweetwater. And except for the fact that they've become so slow, I still don't mind MF, either.
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I stocked up on MF's Stupid Deal of the Day for rack cases last week and they took the normal shipping time.
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It's good to hear things must be getting back to normal. In my case, MF definitely was slow. But it was a complicated situation. No harm was done and I'm most likely going to end up getting what i want anyway. I have nothing to complain about with anybody. The only thing I feel like complaining about is the pandemic. That's getting really old.
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I'm in the "lucky" minority of Covid-19 patients who contracted it in early March and STILL have not shaken it, so shipping times have been the least of my concerns.
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I'm in the "lucky" minority of Covid-19 patients who contracted it in early March and STILL have not shaken it, so shipping times have been the least of my concerns.
Wow, sorry to hear that. Generally speaking, how do you feel?
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I'm in the "lucky" minority of Covid-19 patients who contracted it in early March and STILL have not shaken it, so shipping times have been the least of my concerns.
Hopefully, you'll make a full recovery. I'm being more careful about this than most other things since I have some existing pre-conditions, including allergy and asthma problems. It hasn't affected me directly and I hope it doesn't. In the meantime, I'm trying to take precautions, it seems more so than the people around me. And there is obviously no way to affect what other people do about something like this.
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Hopefully, you'll make a full recovery. I'm being more careful about this than most other things since I have some existing pre-conditions, including allergy and asthma problems. It hasn't affected me directly and I hope it doesn't. In the meantime, I'm trying to take precautions, it seems more so than the people around me. And there is obviously no way to affect what other people do about something like this.
Same here. No asthma, but I have scar tissue from radiation treatments that blocks >30% of my airway on a good day, plus some nerve damage in the same area. Any exertion and everything clenches up even more. I have to keep a script for prednisone handy in case I get a cold and my throat swells up. Keeping track of other peoples' illnesses has become a part-time job.
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Same here. No asthma, but I have scar tissue from radiation treatments that blocks >30% of my airway on a good day, plus some nerve damage in the same area. Any exertion and everything clenches up even more. I have to keep a script for prednisone handy in case I get a cold and my throat swells up. Keeping track of other peoples' illnesses has become a part-time job.
I've got a friend in Denmark who also has serious preexisting conditions and he went off to a safer place for quite while away from everything. But Denmark has handled dealing with the pandemic so well he feels safe just where he is now. I wish I could be somewhere like that. It must be nice.
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Wow, sorry to hear that. Generally speaking, how do you feel?
That's the frustrating part: I'll have a couple of days where I think I'm finally recovering for real, and then the bottom drops out again. In general, the symptoms are much easier to deal with now than they were when I feel like the virus was still active (what I have now is allegedly post-viral fatigue); there were days then that I would get so dizzy I fell off the couch just sitting and my cough scared people- over the phone. Things generally feel like the flu crossed with VERY bad walking pneumonia with all attendant symptoms of both. The worst thing I deal with now is intermittent shortness of breath and random severe fatigue, but I also still have random severe headaches, insomnia, and back pain and a cough that comes and goes. X-ray says my lungs are clear. Have not had a CT, but I've had enough good days where breathing was not an issue at all to be confident that I dodged major lung damage.
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The worst thing I deal with now is intermittent shortness of breath and random severe fatigue
That should get better with time. This is one of those virus' that can just shock the system in a way that slows recovery a lot.
I hope everyone here is keeping as well as one can these days!
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We're keeping our collective heads down here...
Both my wife and daughter have asthma... my wife also has COPD and my daughter has several other conditions that put her at risk... they are both on a required 12 week "lock-down"... this was done here so most of the hospitals could cope with "regular" issues before the folks with the highest likelihood of serious complications are kept "out-of-the-loop" end up there...
We know several people that have had this and unfortunately not all with good conclusions... closest family issue (discovered it was on-going yetserday) has been since my cuz and her other half returned from Spain in December... he was hospitalised in January, on a ventilator and in a coma for nearly 2 weeks... came out in April... still not out of the woods... also has multiple complications... he was not expected to leave hospital... the NHS are denying this was C19, as it was "too early"...
Quirky medical reactions...
My mum had TB she contracted in 1949 in her early 20's working in London... she was hospitalised until 1951... finally got the "all-clear" in the late 50's when she married my dad, who had known her since before she got sick...
My wife's younger sister contracted a form of TB (NHS description) in Moscow in the 80's... it was not diagnosed for 20 years... she has been in and out of hospital too many times...
We contracted an "unknown virus" in the good-ol'-USofA when we visited in 2003... knocked us out for 6 weeks and I lost about 30lbs during that time... not describing why...
Not going down the political or business route with this but the only losers here are the in-excess of 400,000 folks considered cannon-fodder in this viral-confrontation... This figure will get larger before this is over... I expect it to reach 7 figures...
I, for one, am glad I do not live in a city...
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That's the frustrating part: I'll have a couple of days where I think I'm finally recovering for real, and then the bottom drops out again.
I've heard that from others. Hopefully the lungs are good. I found out a couple of years back that I have "apical scarring" on mine - from who knows what. I was never a smoker. Doc says it just happens sometimes when you get a bad cold/cough. I think that we might see a resurgence with all the "social non-distancing" of late. Stay safe.
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We're keeping our collective heads down here...
I, for one, am glad I do not live in a city...
Likewise.
I'm in northern NJ, so I'm in the second worst state for the virus, and the worst area of said state. My wife is working from home, and I've been here continuously as well - save for a couple of heavily-swathed trips to the hardware and auto parts stores, plus a quick cruise with the car on the weekend. If I need anything outside of that, I get it online. Frankly, that's not much different from the way I function normally. Worst part is the two twenty-something sons that are here with us, but they generally toe the line as well.
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It's a rough ol' world at the mo', Billy, and it ain't getting better any time soon either... :sad:
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I think that we might see a resurgence with all the "social non-distancing" of late.
I'm expecting that fairly soon so my patterns of keeping distant from people and washing/sanitizing my hands so much they crack won't be changing. While I may be a healthy 31 y/o, my mom is right in the high risk area of 60+ in addition to breathing issues that already have her doctor suggesting she be on oxygen 24/7. She's lucky if her O2 levels reach 95% so yeah. She's been in lock down and I've become even more hyper aware of what I touch than before all this.
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If the price was right, hopefully you can deal with the issues.
You don't know how right you are to say that. I was told by Sweetwater that this was an ebony SG Standard demo with a chipped spot by the bridge and with scratches and scuff marks in various places on the bass. That's why it was $300 off. But for some reason they sent me a bass in perfect condition. I was very glad to have made this purchase.
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You don't know how right you are to say that. I was told by Sweetwater that this was an ebony SG Standard demo with a chipped spot by the bridge and with scratches and scuff marks in various places on the bass. That's why it was $300 off. But for some reason they sent me a bass in perfect condition. I was very glad to have made this purchase.
That's great. I wonder where that description came from.
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That's great. I wonder where that description came from.
It fit the description of a bass they really had. My guess is that at the last minute they found something else wrong with it. So that meant they had to send one without problems (the one I eventually got.) They had another one with cracks on both sides of the neck coming from the nut. I had already told them I didn't want that one. So what they gave me must have been the only option. Definitely a stroke of good luck for me. I'm a satisfied customer; that's for sure. I didn't even deal with the guy I usually talk to, but with one of his assistants.
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I thought this was sort of odd.... I bought the MF Stupid Deal of the Day, instead of being shipped from their warehouse in Kansas, it was shipped from a Guitar Center in Appleton Wisconsin. I think it was a mistake because it was immediately changed to something else.
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Fender, et. al. seem to be doing quite well during all of this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/style/guitar-sales-fender-gibson.html
“I would never have predicted that we would be looking at having a record year,” said Andy Mooney, the chief executive of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, the Los Angeles-based guitar giant that has equipped Rock & Roll Hall of Famers since Buddy Holly strapped on a 1954 sunburst Fender Stratocaster back in the tail-fin 1950s.
“We’ve broken so many records,” Mr. Mooney said. “It will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history, record days of double-digit growth, e-commerce sales and beginner gear sales. I never would have thought we would be where we are today if you asked me back in March.”
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Realtors are experiencing the same. And mortgage brokers are going double crazy with so many people refinancing.
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People stay at home and finally learn guitar because they always wanted to and there is really nothing else to do - what's not to like? :)
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Delighted to hear this, especially as it helps Gibson - the article posted indicates they have been smart enough to re-issue some good ones. Same for Fender - nice to see them get a boost. And I hope it helps Guitar Center and mom & pop shops as well.
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Brick and mortar retailers? Yeah…no.
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People stay at home and finally learn guitar because they always wanted to and there is really nothing else to do - what's not to like? :)
That's probably it.
Realtors are experiencing the same. And mortgage brokers are going double crazy with so many people refinancing.
Existing home sales are going nuts in some areas. My daughter-in-law in Ohio is having a record year. Here, anything in my neighborhood sells immediately for more than the listing price. Considering the economy, it seems crazy.
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Real estate is bats here in Colorado, too. A neighbor went into care, his family waited a few months, then cleaned out the house and sold it "as is". Sold within hours for full asking price at $634,000. It's a mid-70's ranch with basement, probably 2400 sq. feet. Good condition but not updated significantly since new. The buyers will do a complete interior remodel, so they'll probably put another $150K into it.
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Buy land, God isn't making any more of it.
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Buy land, God isn't making any more of it.
Unless you're China in the Spratly Islands....
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You mean we should together start a real estate investment fund for artificial military purpose islands, "anchored aircraft carriers"? It's certainly a thought, the People's Liberation Army probably has good access to foreign currency ...