I had the weirdest experience at Guitar Center in Santa Clarita. I went in to buy an acoustic guitar for my wife's nephew for Christmas. It’s a present from his parents and they wanted me to help pick out one for under $200.00. The sales guy first showed me a $129.00 Yamaha that was okay, then a $149.00 Washburn. I liked the Yamaha better. But I have a $200.00 budget and a coupon for $30.00 off so I want something better.
He hands me a $199.00 guitar and when I strum it the sound is nonexistent. It was like an electric solid body, unplugged. "Why is this guitar dead?", I asked. He gave it to the guitar tech who swore it was okay earlier. The neck was warped or something. I've never heard anything like it before. Then the sales guy gives me a $199.00 Epiphone that was both acoustic and electric with a built in tuner. I played up the high E string and when I got to the ninth fret it sounded buzzy, then when I got to the tenth fret it sound exactly the same. I continued up the neck to the thirteenth fret and all the notes from the ninth to the thirteenth sounded exactly the same. And I mean EXACTLY the same, not just buzzing but the SAME NOTE. How is this even possible? I left saying I'd come back tomorrow with my wife’s nephew. I lied.
My friend Paul Keller from the Bay Area Prog band, Hush, said it sounds like there’s a high fret somewhere that’s preempting any frets lower than it. So, when you’re pressing down on a note, you’re actually hitting a note several positions higher. I suppose that’s the answer but the real question was why did Epiphone let it leave the factory like that and why didn’t Guitar Center check it out before they hung it on the wall? A friend of mine pointed out that when he bought a cheap guitar thirty years ago it cost $200.00 so now a guitar of that price has to be made overseas and the quality control is just not there.
I took my wife’s nephew and his dad to the Guitar Center in Van Nuys which is much, much larger and with a better selection than the new one in Santa Clarita and there was no problem at all. He picked out a sunburst Mitchell that played real well and had a solid face rather than a laminate.
I’m glad he went and picked it out himself. A guitar is the kind of thing you want to pick out yourself. Each one is different even when it’s the same model of the same brand and everyone’s hand and grip is a little different. I wouldn’t want anyone else picking out a guitar for me any more than I’d want someone picking out a girlfriend for me. It’s been said that guitars are very female. Just look at the anatomy of a guitar; a head, a face, a neck and a curvy, hourglass body with the sloping indented center called the waist. After all, B.B. King named his guitar Lucille, not Larry.
He hands me a $199.00 guitar and when I strum it the sound is nonexistent. It was like an electric solid body, unplugged. "Why is this guitar dead?", I asked. He gave it to the guitar tech who swore it was okay earlier. The neck was warped or something. I've never heard anything like it before. Then the sales guy gives me a $199.00 Epiphone that was both acoustic and electric with a built in tuner. I played up the high E string and when I got to the ninth fret it sounded buzzy, then when I got to the tenth fret it sound exactly the same. I continued up the neck to the thirteenth fret and all the notes from the ninth to the thirteenth sounded exactly the same. And I mean EXACTLY the same, not just buzzing but the SAME NOTE. How is this even possible? I left saying I'd come back tomorrow with my wife’s nephew. I lied.
My friend Paul Keller from the Bay Area Prog band, Hush, said it sounds like there’s a high fret somewhere that’s preempting any frets lower than it. So, when you’re pressing down on a note, you’re actually hitting a note several positions higher. I suppose that’s the answer but the real question was why did Epiphone let it leave the factory like that and why didn’t Guitar Center check it out before they hung it on the wall? A friend of mine pointed out that when he bought a cheap guitar thirty years ago it cost $200.00 so now a guitar of that price has to be made overseas and the quality control is just not there.
I took my wife’s nephew and his dad to the Guitar Center in Van Nuys which is much, much larger and with a better selection than the new one in Santa Clarita and there was no problem at all. He picked out a sunburst Mitchell that played real well and had a solid face rather than a laminate.
I’m glad he went and picked it out himself. A guitar is the kind of thing you want to pick out yourself. Each one is different even when it’s the same model of the same brand and everyone’s hand and grip is a little different. I wouldn’t want anyone else picking out a guitar for me any more than I’d want someone picking out a girlfriend for me. It’s been said that guitars are very female. Just look at the anatomy of a guitar; a head, a face, a neck and a curvy, hourglass body with the sloping indented center called the waist. After all, B.B. King named his guitar Lucille, not Larry.
It always puzzles me to see the large volume of instruments now sold online. I guess in some cases, you can try out the same make/model in a store and have some indication of what it plays like, but it's just not the same. I found a Taylor 814CE in a store a few years back and thought it played magnificently. Went back a couple weeks later, and they'd sold that one but had received another one. Didn't feel the same. Sure, you can take it to your local luthier and have them do a setup for about 80 bucks, but nothing speaks like a first impression.
ReplyDeleteI recently bought a guitar that had been sitting in a shop for nearly 3 months. Every week I'd drop in when I took my daughter to her voice lesson, and every week this stunning guitar was still there. It was a boutique manufacturer, and wasn't selling primarily due to the fact that it didn't have "Martin" or "Taylor" written on the headstock. Ultimately, I felt that there were greater powers that were working to put the guitar in my hands.