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MikeVt

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Vermont
:D Thanks!

Heck, it's easy to provide a customer perspective when you're a customer, right?

Mike
 

Sasquatch

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Jan 3, 2007
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Houston
When I bought my Silhouette Special last year, I looked at Musician's Friend. The question I had was "Was the image of the guitar really the one I would be shipped?" It seemed like they pasted a stock image (color & pickguard), but I wasn't sure if I was going to get that one or not. Maybe I am ignorant, but I figured that if I was going to pay that much for a guitar, I wanted to know exactly what I was getting.

I ended up going with MakeNMusic in Chicago, IL. They had photos showing EXACTLY the guitar I was purchasing. Thus, I could clearly see what I was paying for. The guitar was shipped to me, and arrived in perfect condition.

Oh by the way, MakeNMusic sold me the SS for quite a bit cheaper than was advertised on MF.


I agree 100%. That is a great point.

I think the other option is that they list more of the options of colors that EB has. EB has so many beautiful colors but the options offered by MF are limited.
Usually MF just has the standard colors listed.
I would like to see more than just the base colors.

I remember when I purchased my Petrucci, I loved receiving all of the free strings. I felt that was going over and above.
 

Warg Master

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Apr 7, 2004
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SLC
Hello Kids

Greetngs from Medford, Oregon home of Musicians Friend.

Dargie and Brian and I are meeting with the powers that be and going over this years plans and promotions.

What would you , oh valued, forumites like to see MF do with Music Man? ( cheap shots here, knuckleheads)

WE are talking about them ordering some more loaded or exotic peices and keeping them in inventory to help people that dont want the wait.

WE talked about reissuing pinkburst Albert's. Would any of you domestic customers be interested?


I would be interested!!!
 

phatduckk

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Jul 25, 2004
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San Mateo, California, United States
actually one thing that has stopped me from buying MMs from MF is that (as far as i can see) they don't list what options the guitars/basses in stock have. i never see any mention of whether an instrument has a matching headstock or not. they also dont seem to mention what color pickguard is available.

they say something like Sterling HH/black/rosewood... but my question always seems to be "what color is the PG and is the headstock matching or not???"
 
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lumberjack

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Mar 2, 2006
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Toronto, Canada
Any word on expanding to Canada. At the very least putting a warehouse here so we don't have to deal with shipments coming across the border and dealing with duty, customs, etc.
 

phatduckk

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Jul 25, 2004
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good point Phatty

I wonder if any of the lads at MF have read any of this?

hopefully. i like MF. its nice and easy to have a shop w. a ton of stock at your fingertips. but they have the general "internet" problem (whether its salesforce.com or yahoo mail or MF)... w/o a human to talk to a lot of customers are lost due to them not knowing how (or it being impossible) to get clarification or ask questions.

desiging great & usable sites is a total art... and when youre "asking" people to plop down $1k + you really gotta nail it. you get way less margin for leaving the user with questions than something like a DVD purchase on amazon. most common goods on amazon etc dont vary much options-wise (widescreen vs fullscreen - hardcover vs soft etc) and they dont cost as much as a guitar. hell, even a "cheap" guitar costs hundered more than a DVD or CD or book.

if knowledgable users (like me re: missing option info) are left with questions what about the mom, dad, noob etc who's trying to get "help" in picking out an instrument... especially for the first time

this is beyond the "MF and MM" discussion but its something they should look into due to their mostly "customer-self-service" "store front"

ps: im sure you can call them - but i think most web folks have been trained to not call people since entire businesses were built to "help" ecom shops avoid having to talk to customers. also (im just guessing here) id assume MF's reps are more order taker types than guitar sales folks (no clue on this... just guessing)
 
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roburado

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Jul 18, 2005
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Commerce, MI
re: missing option info) are left with questions what about the mom, dad, noob etc who's trying to get "help" in picking out an instrument... especially for the first time

Do most of these first-time buyers even know that such options exist? Maybe, MF has found that they don't. :confused:
 

phatduckk

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Do most of these first-time buyers even know that such options exist?

i dunno... but looking back at when my friends and i got our first guitars i know a LOT was based on looks at least. we wanted guitars that looked like the one xxx dude from yyy band played. a 14 year old me would be surprised in a no- so-good way if he got a guitar w/ a pickguard that wasnt the color he wanted/thought he was getting.

now that im an educated buyer i know that certain options exist so not having an enumeration of the options detures me from purchasing.

now to bring this back to more MM-MF related talk... MM has a lot more options than most manufacturers (at least the ones i know about) so for MM products i feel that this info is super important. but thats all IMO of course and my experience while browsing their site for MM gear
 

jeffrey

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Feb 17, 2004
Messages
1,909
Location
Milky Way, Earth, North America, that's as specifi
Sterling,

I actually didn't realize Musician's Friend sold Ernie Ball Guitars either. I do shop with Musician's Friend regularly for stuff like cables, strings, random acessories, mic's, etc.

I am not doubting for a second that they do a fine job with their merchandise, but I have a major problem (as I bet most will) with buying a high-end guitar sight unseen and without playing it.

Please don't interpret that as me doubting the intergrity of Ernie Ball Guitars, because it's the opposite if anything. It's just regardless of how much I like the guitars, some speak to me more than others.

Being able to talk to someone like Pete prior to buying a guitar makes a big difference. I know he'll have played it, given it a good once over and all that prior to shipping it to me. I can talk to him and get a really good feeling for what's going on.

Now this may not matter to some people and probably isn't that big a deal (especially with the consistency of Ernie Ball Guitars) but I just figured I'd mention it as it may (or may not) be relevant. :)

As a bonus to buying guitars through Musicians Friend, it let's people with the appropriate credit get some interesting financing options. :D
 

roburado

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Jul 18, 2005
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Commerce, MI
As a bonus to buying guitars through Musicians Friend, it let's people with the appropriate credit get some interesting financing options. :D

My friend kneeoh did just that when he got his Black Sparkle JP6, his first EBMM. I certainly thought of doing the same thing. I played his guitar, and I didn't really like it. So, I felt I had to wait until I found one I liked, or I just wasn't going to be buying a JP. Then, I found one I liked and did "interesting financing" with GC.
 

Warg Master

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Apr 7, 2004
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hopefully. i like MF. its nice and easy to have a shop w. a ton of stock at your fingertips. but they have the general "internet" problem (whether its salesforce.com or yahoo mail or MF)... w/o a human to talk to a lot of customers are lost due to them not knowing how (or it being impossible) to get clarification or ask questions.


MF does have a phone number... I've used it quite a bit, PLUS I worked that phone 7 years ago! :)
 

MFGuitarBuyer

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Sep 14, 2007
Messages
4
I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and say that we here at MF are listening and taking all of them to heart. We are commited to doing better with Music Man and doing it right too.

I saw, probably more then anything, requests to see each actual guitar. This can and will be done on our Private Reserve site. Each guitar is shown by serial number with several pictures of the actual guitar. Also our sales guru for PRG is based in the room with the instruments, not in a call center several states away. Everything is inspected, and prepared there before going to the customer.

Things won't change over night, but expect it to over the next year with more selection and special models. Speaking of that.. there may be some special Koa Axis in stock soon.

Thanks,
wayne
 
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