Dumb music store moments.

[nofi]

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.....

[uwe]

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.

[TBird1958]

 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! 

[Bargeon]

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.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I have too many, but they all end the same: "I'll holler if I need anything from you."

[Dr Eagle]

 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?

[ack1961]

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.

[nofi]

"i took my rag and went to harry's". perfect.

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.

[Dave W]

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.

[lowend1]

[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?

[chromium]

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   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.   


(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!)

[Hornisse]

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.   

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.

[TBird1958]

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.

[Nocturnal]

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.

[rahock]

"i took my rag and went to harry's". perfect.

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
Rick