Guitar Center Mandolin Experiences

[Caleb]

BTW, they have a string club right now that's a fairly good deal. You pay $20 to buy a card, then once a month you get $5 off a set of strings of your choice. So you'll end up saving $40 over the year.

I've not heard about the string club but it reminds me of something that happened this week. I got an email from Musician's Friend (owned by GC) with a $20 e-card. I called and asked if there was a catch. No catch. Just $20 for me from them. I ordered two sets of strings, added up to $19.98. Then I was told they have a deal right now for free shipping on accessories. So, I got two sets of strings shipped to me for free. I have to hand it to them: they appear to be doing all kinds of things to drum up business and stay relevant.

They own another company that's fairly new called Music & Arts that's trying to fit the "Mom and Pop" model in neighborhoods. It's mostly band instrument stuff. No nice guitars or mandos but I have seen some decent violins on the wall. If I lived in Austin I'd be going to Fiddler's Green probably too often...

[almeriastrings]

I used to stop by when I lived in NJ whenever I had a few minutes to kill. Sadly lacking in HOT chicks, unfortunately, but sallow looking yoots playing "Stairway to Heaven" were all over the place... the mandolin and acoustic guitars tended to be not very inviting, either. They did have one of those "whale" inlay Taylors, once, which was very nice, and from time to time, they had the odd old Martin turn up, but prices were usually over-the-top. The mandolins (when there were any) were pretty much junk. I was in there one time attempting to negotiate a sensible price, without success, on an old 00-18 that needed a neck reset and new bridge, when the call went out to the manager, who I was talking with "Hey.. we got any of those gold Grovers in stock... dude wants to pimp his ride". That gives a pretty good flavour of the place. Yes, quite an experience.

[pheffernan]

I'm curious as to your own local GC experiences re: mandos...what kind of stock, any deals in the past, etc. It's interesting to me that at least at this local store, they've only been carrying Kentuckys for about 6 months or so, and of course they don't get much traffic re: mandos, I get the "you're the only dude pretty much who comes in here and looks at our mandolins" comment...anyhoo would be interested to hear your GC mando tales.

My local GC (Hallandale) has a slew of pac rim stuff new, from Savannah / Mitchell / Gretsch on the lower end of town to a couple of Kentucky and Loar models a bit higher up the food chain. I considered getting a Loar 520 there at one point, as it was going for $399 with the holiday special at the moment, but I feared that neither they nor I knew enough about the setup and went in a different direction. In vintage, that same store has a couple of Martin Style A mandolins, but there's nothing on them to indicate that they are in fact Martins. When pushed, the manager admitted that they are "Martin-style," by which I guess he means cant topped, and not necessarily Martin. Such practices strike me as sloppy at best and potentially deceptive at worst.

[pheffernan]

Support your local independent music store!

Build my local independent music store!

[Steve L]

[QUOTE=pheffernan;1160225]My local GC (Hallandale) has a slew of pac rim stuff new, from Savannah / Mitchell / Gretsch on the lower end of town to a couple of Kentucky and Loar models a bit higher up the food chain. I considered getting a Loar 520 there at one point, as it was going for $399 with the holiday special at the moment, but I feared that neither they nor I knew enough about the setup and went in a different direction. In vintage, that same store has a couple of Martin Style A mandolins, but there's nothing on them to indicate that they are in fact Martins. When pushed, the manager admitted that they are "Martin-style," by which I guess he means cant topped, and not necessarily Martin. Such practices strike me as sloppy at best and potentially deceptive at worst.

I can't speak about those specific mandolins, but Martin did in fact make canted top mandolins to be sold by the Oliver Ditson company stores that do not bear the Martin name.

I think you have to approach mandolins in big box stores the same way you do with drop and ship online retailers. Part of what you're not paying for is attention and expertise. I think they really stock them for guitarists who want to dabble. It's like buying a guitar at Target.

[greg_tsam]

There is a well known local music store right down the block from me and it's called Fuller's Guitar. THe owner supports events, has donated money and instruments to the Texas State Picking Championship for years and he's also in a band around these parts which is great but try to go in there for a decent mandolin and you will find the exact situation as GC. Some low end mandos for the kids or midlife crisis folks and one or two Gibson's that are behind the glass counter and you have to be supervised to touch and signed off to play as the worker sits there watching you with a bored look on their face.

But they have about a million guitars of all kinds.

When I asked if they could carry more midrange mando ($1,000 - $2,000) they felt there wasn't enough interest to justify ordering and gave some talk about minimums and dealer agreements. I had $2,500 cash in my pocket and was tempted to pull it out and flash my roll at them but instead just walked out of there. I can't even get my brand of strings there and when I asked them to order some it was such a hassle for them (the clerk who didn't know anything about mandolins) I just said it was OK, I'll just order them online. Fiddler's Green in Austin was the next closer store, 3.5 hours away, so I called The Mandolin Store, talked to the guys, listened to my BL over the phone and placed the order.

Guitars rule the music store market and mandolins are an afterthought in my parts even though I live in one of the largest cities in the USA. I wanted to buy American. I wanted to support my local music store. You can't always get what you want. I've fantasized about owning a mandolin store here in town with other acoustic instruments but I am a man of meager means and big dreams.

[Danny Clark]

i had a negative experience recently ,i ordered a F-9 from Boston GC ,it was really a cheap price ,i got a in hand description from an employee ,he said it was really clean and mint condition ,and it comes with a case ,
i said i will take it ,i got it in ,first it was in a $25 gigbag ,but at the price i was still excited ,opened it up and found ,major play wear ,many scratches ,dings and a poorly repaired headstock scroll break ,i got all my money back but it took a couple weeks and several phone calls
from now on i will deal with the manager on duty and not some kid
Danny

[PJ Doland]

About 18-months ago I picked up an Eastman DG-1 Dawg model in very good condition for $1000 at a Guitar Center...without a case.

It was very nice, but I ended up flipping it for a few hundred more within a couple of months.

[allenhopkins]

Lots of Gretsch acoustic instruments -- mandolins, banjos, resonator guitars, ukuleles -- at my local GC. Since Fender took over a lot of Gretsch marketing, design and manufacture 11 years ago, this can't be an immediate direct result of the Fender affiliation. Perhaps a new emphasis on Fender's part, of their Asian-made Gretsch line?

Interesting that individual GC's do differ in what they stock and emphasize. As a subsidiary of Musician's Friend, they surely have the ability to offer economies of scale -- purchasing inventory at the lowest market prices. I go to GC to get minor sound system components (cables, etc.), instrument stands, sometimes harmonicas. I'm on their mailing list so I get all their "sale" offers. My local store has a nice selection of quality acoustic guitars: Martins, Taylors, Gibsons, Breedloves etc. Lots of electric stuff, of course, but I know very little about quality and price in that area. Also -- and I find this true at other local stores -- a recent spate of ukuleles, which I gather are selling well.

With several great instrument stores in Rochester, I'd be awfully surprised if I ever felt like purchasing a quality mandolin at GC, assuming they had one. But they do fill a need, IMHO.

[Jim]

GC is the closest music store to where I live and is 90 miles away. It is on my way to visit family and friends and I stop when I need strings/picks/cables. If I were going to buy a new electric guitar (i'm not) I might buy it there. I'm glad GC is there and the attractive (overly pierced) young woman that sells me the strings is always very pleasant.

[Josh Levine]

i had a negative experience recently ,i ordered a F-9 from Boston GC ,it was really a cheap price ,i got a in hand description from an employee ,he said it was really clean and mint condition ,and it comes with a case ,
i said i will take it ,i got it in ,first it was in a $25 gigbag ,but at the price i was still excited ,opened it up and found ,major play wear ,many scratches ,dings and a poorly repaired headstock scroll break ,i got all my money back but it took a couple weeks and several phone calls
from now on i will deal with the manager on duty and not some kid
Danny

I am glad you returned it, because that is my mandolin. They told me about the head scroll break, and I did not find the play wear to be excessive or the scratches to be bothersome, as I tend to create some of those myself. One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that.

[Paul Merlo]

I did something really dumb a few weeks ago and decided to change my strings only hours before a gig. I was down to my last set, so I naturally broke an E string doing it (slaps forehead). I was lucky that the nearest Guitar Center was still open and had some J-74's in stock so I raced down there for a couple sets. The kid at the counter was very helpful and friendly, and naturally interested and somewhat impressed that I played mando. He even had to visit the stock room because they only had one set of strings on the shelf. Unfortunately he couldn't help the man looking for a new bridge for his archtop guitar. I mentioned you gotta go to Elderly Music in Lansing for that stuff and he said he just didn't have the time for that trip.

Some other kid standing there counter also seemed impressed when I said I had a gig that night. He asked what the band's name was and could he look them up on Facebook? I told him and he said he was in a punk band. I said "oh yeah, I used to play in a punk band a long time ago. We did some Exploited songs." He kinda scoffed when I mentioned the Exploited like they weren't real "punk rock" or something. I was about to start educating him right then and there about music history, but quickly realized that he was probably born after the Exploited made their last record, and people call the band Green Day's music "punk" these days.

Regardless, it was a fun encounter and I paid more than I should have for the strings (still reasonable tho) - but I was up the creek at the moment and couldn't complain.

[shortymack]

I've not heard about the string club but it reminds me of something that happened this week. I got an email from Musician's Friend (owned by GC) with a $20 e-card. I called and asked if there was a catch. No catch. Just $20 for me from them. I ordered two sets of strings, added up to $19.98. Then I was told they have a deal right now for free shipping on accessories. So, I got two sets of strings shipped to me for free. I have to hand it to them: they appear to be doing all kinds of things to drum up business and stay relevant.

Wow, same thing happened to me, got a "is this goodbye?' email with a 20 cert. Called up yesterday and got 3 packs of strings (74's,75's, and some A270's) shipped for nothing, zip, nada! And I thought I was special.....lol, glad to hear you got the same deal.

[stevedenver]

guitar center is a mixed bag
and ive done a lot of business over the past 15 years of so

you can find steals-
and i have, simply drop dead below market, wanna move this and we dont care, steals, -
rare les paul, blonde byrdland, D-28. geib cases, and other things, for chump change
but you need to know what yore doing and how to negotiate, and to know when you cant/they wont

you must know what youre doing

and is its 'vintage' versus used, you may find the prices inappropriate, given the condition

while i look for mandos and other toys,
and have come across , consistently, vintage gibsons and others,

id be more inclined to expect to find an ovation or modern electric mando etc

[Caleb]

Wow, same thing happened to me, got a "is this goodbye?' email with a 20 cert. Called up yesterday and got 3 packs of strings (74's,75's, and some A270's) shipped for nothing, zip, nada! And I thought I was special.....lol, glad to hear you got the same deal.

I could've gotten three sets too but have always wanted to try Elixirs, so I'll do so on MF's dime. I also ordered a set of John Pearse mando strings. LOVE his guitar strings so I'm excited to try his mandos.

I haven't bought anything from them in probably ten years, so it was/is a strange deal all the way around.

[vegas]

The GC and big chain stores of the like have a target demographic of 15 to 25 year old Electric Guitar Shredders and apparently they make good enough money off them to turn a tidy profit. They don't need highly trained musicians or setup techs so they can keep a low overhead by hiring the people that can't get a job at McDonalds because most of them play in local rock bands and cant get up before noon. We have a GC and a Sam Ash local to us and I don't bother to go to either one anymore. Thankfully I live in the middle of Bluegrass country so there are plenty of small music stores that cater to the acoustic crowd plus we have people like Geoff Stelling and John Hamlett if you want a top shelf instrument. I feel your pain if all you have are Big Box Stores. I lived in NYC for 27 years and most music stores up there couldn't spell Mandolin...

Boy, you hit the demographic Guitar Center is selling to right on the head! Our local stores have musicians on staff so they can answer basic questions, but the ones who aren't electric guitar players are drummers. I am eternally grateful to the people at this board who advised me about mandolin because everyone thus far has described the typical mandolin selections at Guitar Center and I have yet to meet anybody who works in our two stores who knows squat about them.

I recently talked my wife into learning ukulele with me and we are having a ball with a really nice local ukulele club where they offer nicely priced group lessons, but once again, Guitar center will push what they have hanging on their walls and know nothing about their instruments other than what they can read in the brochures. Luckily, there are uke club members to guide us.

People tell me you can find good used deals at Guitar Center but it hasn't happened to me yet. Big chains like Guitar Center have made pricing more competitive, but once again, the best deals are in the 15-25 year old guitar shredder market.

[J Mangio]

I got a similar deal from MF. A $10 E certificate in my E mail, With free shipping. I ordered two sets
of J 74s for $2.78.

[shortymack]

I could've gotten three sets too but have always wanted to try Elixirs, so I'll do so on MF's dime. I also ordered a set of John Pearse mando strings. LOVE his guitar strings so I'm excited to try his mandos.

I haven't bought anything from them in probably ten years, so it was/is a strange deal all the way around.

Let us know what you think of both of them, I am curious as well. I wanted to try some of the heavier 75's and the ghs' that get good marks from people too. Threw in some of the old tried and true 74s just to have a set on standby. So many different strings to try.

[re simmers]

My first trip to "Chuck Levin's" Guitar Center(about an hour away) in Wheaton, MD was in the mid 1980's with some friends from a local country band. I was considering replacing my 1980 Epiphone 2 point. The country guys were looking at sound equipment. I started by playing everything that was behind glass, mandolins and Martin guitars. I ended up in the basement, played about 50 mandolins and guitars that the salesman took out of the shipping boxes for me to play. Some 2-3 hrs later, an announcement came over the loud speaker, "would Bob Simmers please return to the front of the store." The store was ready to close and my friends were ready to go home. I was lost in a sea of acoustics.

At that time, the store was filled with top of the line acoustic instruments. I'm not sure it's still like that.

Bob

I didn't buy anything but a guitar capo. I didn't have enough money to buy what I really wanted.

[Clockwork John]

My local guitar center had exactly 3 mandolins in stock last time I checked- A fender, a Rogue, and an Ibanez. All A-styles, all black, all acoustic/electric. All the same price. If you covered the logos, you couldn't tell them apart. Not a single banjo in stock. When you ask about special orders, they say "check the website." My local independent music store had 3 mandolins in stock. A Kentucky and 2 Santa Rosas- one sunburst, one blonde. I took home the Kentucky, and the owner, now a friend of mine, took $10 off the price, didn't add sales tax, and threw in a set of strings. When you ask about special orders, first they apologize for not having the itwm in stock, then they pull out their catalogs and go through them with you. If they can't find what you're looking for, they call their distributors, and then call you when they've found it and let you know when it will be in. Still, if you're looking for strings, picks, straps, mics, amps, or drum equipment, Guitar Center's selection and prices are nearly impossible to beat. Also, some of the best local musicians I know work at our local GC. Still, unless I need something RIGHT NOW, I take my business to my buddy at the local independent shop.

[Bradley]

I have never bought a mandolin from GC until about 4 months ago. I was in the mood for a Gibson F5G and they had this
real good deal of 18 months same as cash which made it really easy to do....Long story short, I worked with the store here in Cincinnati on the finish I wanted and also mentioned that I wanted one that nobody had played EVER. What did they do You might ask? they worked with Gibson in Nashville and had one shipped in, and I have no regrets whatsoever to the transaction.

As many have stated they are not a high end acoustic store and make their money from the lower to mid priced instruments and not
the upper scale items. I will say that in Cincinnati they have began to put what they have out of reach to every one that walks in the door which is a good thing !

[SincereCorgi]

I will say that in Cincinnati they have began to put what they have out of reach to every one that walks in the door which is a good thing !

Hear hear... the last time I went to the GC in this are it was just gross how greasy all the instruments were. According to retail gurus, the longer you hold something in your hands the more likely you are to buy it, so it kind of makes sense to keep stuff in reach, but that place gets so much lookie-loo traffic that anything that stays on the wall for long gets nasty.

[belbein]

I've fantasized about owning a mandolin store here in town with other acoustic instruments but I am a man of meager means and big dreams.

You could make your meager dreams a reality if you opened up that mando store, Doug!

Seriously. Im shocked that Youston doesn't have a mando friendly music store. Even the Guitar Gallery is long gone, right? I guess its why we all buy on the web.

Hill Country in Wimberley seems pretty nice, then the Austin places--seems like you need to plan a road trip!

[belbein]

I don't know, it just seems to me that complaining about a low-end retailer retailing low-end, high demand merchandise is like complaining about Congress being populated by professional politicians. What did you really expect?

In any case, at the risk of repeating myself: the G.C.in Atlanta at I-85 and North Druid Hills has a very nice selection of new and used mandos. They mostly shade toward the low end, but not all. I'd say every GC and every pawn shop--is worth a look.

"My" G. C. does not have hot chicks, as far as I can tell, but then my definition of "hot" and "chick" his changed in the last 30 years. Anyway, none of the putative "hot chicks" could possibly come close to being as hot & chic as my wife, who hooked me up with a Weber Mandola as a pre-knee gift, I ask you: what could possibly be hotter than that?

[jaycat]

I had a great experience at the GC on Comm. Ave. (now moved to Boylston St.) many moons ago when I sold them a used Gibson SG bass for about double its value! I don't suppose the kid who did that deal works there any more . . .

I agree with the post above about all the instruments being way up high and out of reach . . . infuriating. I recently stopped by the new GC across from Berklee to get a set of strings (they had exactly one set of J74s in stock) and ventured into the acoustic playing room . . . first you had to wade across a sea of guitar cases to get anywhere near any instrument. Then, the 3 or 4 mandos they did have were hanging at least 20 feet in the air. One was a Gibson f-style, but more than that I cannot tell you . . . couldn't see that far. Didn't have time to ask someone to get it down for me as I was on lunch break. So maybe it was a real find or maybe it was ripoff, or something in between . . . I'll never know.

BTW GC is not the only store that hangs instruments up in the stratosphere . . . Music Emporium does the same thing with its guitars, though luckily not with the mandos.