How's your local EBMM dealer?

[Big Poppa]

Guys Its not like TV where you meet in a conference room and all your problems go away. The big picture is that we are in a difficult price point for most retailers. We arent cheap and arent super expensive. They pressure of retail consolidation coupled with downward price pressue from China makes it hard for all of the dealers to focus on "Botique" category.

PRS has done a great job of bucking these trends and he is signifigantly higher priced than we are.

How many truly american made custom shop fenders do you see in stores these days. It isnt just us.

I spent six hours with the CEO of Guitar Center yesterday. He is really seeing an opportunity in boutique guitars and I have been involved with all of the big wigs to help formulate a plan for success in the price point...Not just for EBMM but all similar manufacturers. He has approved the plan and given budget dollars and we will see gradually the improvements. This is what Guitar Center is doing.

It is really important to keep in mind that Guitar Center is a 1.5 billion dollar company and for the CEO to spend time with me is evidence of his commitment to this. Most CEO's of large retailers don't give suppliers of our scale the time of day. Also all of the execs know that this program is backed by the CEO and they can't bury it.

By the way he sometimes reads threads here! I forwarded this thread earlier this week.

 

[SteveB]

I think whoever mentioned this idea somewhere on the forum had a good thought:


Could EBMM take that cool NAMM display that we all got to play with at the Open house, and set it up in one GC store every weekend throughout the year?

If it's too big, maybe 1/2 of the display could be used, and you could do 2 different stores each weekend?

(I'm talking primarily about the little tables with the Korg units and headphones).

Maybe the Scion guys could tow them around?

I know this is a logistical nightmare and a costly thing as well, but it sure would be cool.

Or, you could drag that display around to some malls. I'm not kidding. A local mall has a huge, staffed Playmobil display up right now in the central part of the mall. Every time kids go in it, they get a free bag of swag, including a little Playmobil toy. They have tons of Playmobil things set up for kids to play with, and there aren't even any stores in the mall that sell Playmobil! I asked! (They referred me to some nearby retailers who did carry their stuff, though.)

My kids have gone to this thing maybe 4 times in 2 weeks. I don't know how much longer it will be in that mall before it moves on to the next one, but my kids got a chance to try some Playmobil stuff hands-on, and now Santa knows which things hold their attention.

 

[GWDavis28]

Steve reading your post reminds me that I've always thought that a guitar/music store would do well in a mall setting, but you hardly ever see this sort of thing.

People say it's the noise, so sound proof the store. Just a thought. Pete, you got an comments?

BP thanx for the input, I'm glad and had hoped that someone from GC would read this thread. It's the buying public, small percentage though that's posting.

I'd like to hear what the CEO from GC has for those that have posted about his company?

Glenn |B)

 

[SteveLINY]

My local dealer is amazing...

ROYAL MUSIC in Merrick NY(Long Island)

They easily have 25 nice guitars and a ton of basses, plus a bunch in the back stock room.
All their guitars are set up amazingly, and the prices are excellent.
I've bought 5 from them in the past few years and their customer service is excellent.
They always seem to get top notch stuff, plus they have the EBMM shows at the store with Morse and Albert Lee etc....
Deal with Bill Handy if you go there....
I recently bought a Morse blueburst with FR trem from Jason at Drumcity Guitarland because he had it in stock and sent it out to me immediately. The only reason I didn't get it from Royal was because they didn't have a BB Morse with matching headstock and FR, just a standard bridge...And I was GASSING...

But, Royal is an excellent store with a ton of stock all the time....
Steve

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

People say it's the noise, so sound proof the store. Just a thought. Pete, you got an comments?

Glenn |B)

We have various sound proofing stuff here -
-The front showroom of DMC has only acoustic ceiling tiles.
-The first lesson room has a 2 1/2' dropped ceiling (yes feet, ceiling is 10ft high in front) with no soundproofing.
The middle lesson room has an 8" thick w/acoustic tiled front/rear soundproof door & an 8" dropped ceiling with acoustic absorbant tiles and 5" acoustic absorbant foam.
The piano/amp room here has the same soundproof ceiling, along with acoustic tiled walls, and a double-door setup. The first door is an 8" thick w/acoustic tile front/rear, and then a regular wooden door.

I still get noise complaints from some of our tennants who live above/behind the store, if people are jamming in the piano & amp room after 9:00pm. We try and keep things down after dark, although we don't have to.

If it weren't for the noise, I would think a mall setting would work wonders for a music store. But I think that someone would be complaining ALL THE TIME about the noise.

 

[shamus63]

Guys Its not like TV where you meet in a conference room and all your problems go away. The big picture is that we are in a difficult price point for most retailers. We arent cheap and arent super expensive. They pressure of retail consolidation coupled with downward price pressue from China makes it hard for all of the dealers to focus on "Botique" category.

PRS has done a great job of bucking these trends and he is signifigantly higher priced than we are.

How many truly american made custom shop fenders do you see in stores these days. It isnt just us.

I spent six hours with the CEO of Guitar Center yesterday. He is really seeing an opportunity in boutique guitars and I have been involved with all of the big wigs to help formulate a plan for success in the price point...Not just for EBMM but all similar manufacturers. He has approved the plan and given budget dollars and we will see gradually the improvements. This is what Guitar Center is doing.

It is really important to keep in mind that Guitar Center is a 1.5 billion dollar company and for the CEO to spend time with me is evidence of his commitment to this. Most CEO's of large retailers don't give suppliers of our scale the time of day. Also all of the execs know that this program is backed by the CEO and they can't bury it.

By the way he sometimes reads threads here! I forwarded this thread earlier this week.

My complaint about GC isn't really about their stock, it's the lack of organization and (quite frankly) the apathy that their employees show towards their customers. If I treated my in-house customers (who are co-workers, I might add) the same way, I'd be jobless (and without my new Bongo ).

GC doesn't have to be an EB-exclusive dealer, nor does anybody else for that matter. In fact, I like the variety. I like being able to choose.

If the CEO does read these posts, I hope he takes them to heart! After all, it's his livelyhood that a good number of his employees are jeopardizing.

Note: GC SF staff blew the sale of my first Bongo (purchased 9/24) due to the above-mentioned reasons; I bought mine at 'B' Street Music in San Mateo (thanks again, Jason!).

The next time, I hope to have one built for me. It'll be worth the wait!

 

[John C]

How many truly american made custom shop fenders do you see in stores these days. It isnt just us.

Too true - around here a couple of the Fender dealers only stock the minimum amount of USA production guitars - typically a couple of American Series Strats, Teles, and P-basses (and maybe a token Clapton or SRV Strat) mixed in with walls of the import lines. They don't even stock the upper-end USA production lines (the USA reissues, Deluxe series and Signatures) which are essentially at the same price point as the EBMMs. Our only G&L dealer is slowly selling off the USA models (which are also at the same price point) and is focusing on their import line, even though they sell USA Gibson and high-end accoustics and bluegrass instruments.

I do have to give a shout out to my EBMM dealer, Guitar Emporium, here in Louisville. While they have always been good about stocking the MM basses, the stock of guitars has ebbed and flowed. However, over the past two years they have really increased their store stock, and currently have examples of the Axis, Luke, AL, Silo Special, Madden and Sub 1 in stock. They were also easy to work with when I ordered my Silo Special.

 

[pack-rat]

The thing is you can walk into most music shops and you will see that most guitars are lower priced and as you look at higher end guitars they become less frequent.

Lower price guitars turn over more quickly than higher ones. I can go in and see that $2800.00 Gibson that has been hanging on the wall for the past couple of years.

A guitar hanging on the wall costs money for the retailer so I would think they would be reluctant to have guitars that will take awhile to sell.

What sells? Fender and Gibson.

Why? everyone knows Fender and Gibson - Watch MTV and tally up the make of guitars you see in an hour.

Of EBMM line my dealer only carries a few MM guitars and mostly MM basses and EB strings that sit alongside all the other competitors (including strings with the store's own packaging). They do not carry much of anything else in the EB line that I can see.

I'd like to see more promotion of EB and EBMM products here in Canada. Go to the retailers and have a show so the retailers and the staff know your product and think it's the best. I went to one hosted by Parker Guitars and Korg which was pretty good. Drinks and refreshments and prizes and good musicans showing off the products. Got to know the sales rep too.



There are several axis in stock around Canada, but none here in Vancouver. I could have them take pictures and send them to me, when I find one have it shipped to the store so I can examine it, but it seems more of a hassle to me and the store, so I am just ordering it through them and have it factory made. I can wait it is no problem.

 

[Roubster]

Talking about all these dealers and GC especially reminded me of a funny incident at the NYC GC. It was a while back that I went there with my friend. It was probably when they first opened on 14th street. So we are in there checkin out the Ibanez and Jacksons. Of course back then we were into purly metal and pointy headstock locking tremolo machines. So I pick one up with the locking tremolo and we were jamming. So after a while one of the employees (I believe he was either the manager or assistant manager, based on the way he looked and dressed) came up and was going to take the guitar back to where it came from. Then he turns around and asks why we stole ONE of the locks for the headstock. Naturally it was missing in the first place, and me and my friend were like WTF is this guy talkin about. He was really serious about it and was threataning us with all kinds of sh*t. I just thought it was hilarious how those guys dont even know whats going on with their guitars. PLUS, why would I take ONE of those locking thingies, and HOW in the HELL would I unscrew it without the hex thingie or whatever, my TEETH??? Anyway, that was my little story with GC back in the day.

Oh YEA, and now their policy is that you can play a guitar only for 5 mins!!! I attempted to play a EBMM Sub (one of the only two they had), and I didnt even manage to plug it in properly and choose a setting, and the femalia employee person came up and said that I'm done with my 5 mins, grabbing the freakin guitar out of my hands. LOL
People are just so hilarious!

 

[shamus63]

Just unbelievable that a company with some serious ongoing flaws can do $1.5b worth of business...

 

[B2D]

Just unbelievable that a company with some serious ongoing flaws can do $1.5b worth of business...

Imagine what they could do if they were REALLY on top of their game...

 

[FoxMustang]

I seem to be in the minority here, but I've had only good luck with the local GCs. There are two in my area, and I bought my JP6 from one and my Mesa from another. I played the JP6 for ~30 min in the "loud" room before buying it, no problem. And I fiddled with every Mesa in the store over the course of two weeks before finally settling on one. No problem there either. And in both cases I paid several hundred bucks less than the tag price.

Guess I'm just lucky.

 

[shamus63]

Imagine what they could do if they were REALLY on top of their game...

Scary...isn't it?

 

[PugNinjas]

I called the local GC today to see if they had an Albert Lee's in stock and the obvious answer was "NO" The guy I spoke to told me that the last time he placed an order for an EBMM the wait time was 6-9 months !!!!

 

[koogie2k]

I seem to be in the minority here, but I've had only good luck with the local GCs. There are two in my area, and I bought my JP6 from one and my Mesa from another. I played the JP6 for ~30 min in the "loud" room before buying it, no problem. And I fiddled with every Mesa in the store over the course of two weeks before finally settling on one. No problem there either. And in both cases I paid several hundred bucks less than the tag price.

Guess I'm just lucky.

Not so. My local GC is awesome. We have several dealers locally and they (GC) are the best to deal with as far as I am concerned. I know all the salesman/ladies there and they have been there for quite some time. Most are knowledgable about chosen instruments and if they don't know, they get the guy/gal that does. I happen to be the EBMM resident "guru" and they always call me when a new one arrives....be it, bass or guitar as I get first crack at it! They especially loved when I brought in all the pics of the Open House and showed them exactly how cool EBMM are. Very cool staff here and have a "no pressure" sales tactic. I watch them deal with other customers, and they treat them as they do me. But, that is not the majority as far as GC is concerned it seems. Maybe the others could use a lesson from my local one or yours FoxMustang.

 

[nobozos]

The GC that recently opened in Peoria does not have one EBMM guitar in it. They have some bases, but no guitars. Oddly enough, they do have some OLP stuff. Flores Music in Peoria does have EBMM guitars though. In fact, they just got in the new Rosewood Axis SS.

 

[5Stringer]

Flores Music is a good Music Man dealer. They always are willing to try new things and keep a good stream of MM coming and going. Mike Flores has always been good to work with. They are not huge but their two stores seem to do well. I expect them to continue to do well even with GC nearby.

Dan

 

[phatduckk]

If it weren't for the noise, I would think a mall setting would work wonders for a music store.

one of the nearby malls did have a music store and i think it went away. you'd think CD stores would do in a mall too but all the Camellots and Sam Goodies ive seen in malls have more or less dissappeared.

esp with an amp or something do you really wanna trek it around the mall, out the door then walk all the way to your car? I dunno ...

 

[5Stringer]

I forgot to mention, I walked into a Sam Ash in Coconut Creek, FL. The guy told me they don't carry EB anymore. Haven't for over a year.................

Actually, Sam Ash hasn't been a Music Man dealer for over 3 years ....

 

[PugNinjas]

I spent six hours with the CEO of Guitar Center yesterday. He is really seeing an opportunity in boutique guitars and I have been involved with all of the big wigs to help formulate a plan for success in the price point...Not just for EBMM but all similar manufacturers. He has approved the plan and given budget dollars and we will see gradually the improvements. This is what Guitar Center is doing.

It is really important to keep in mind that Guitar Center is a 1.5 billion dollar company and for the CEO to spend time with me is evidence of his commitment to this. Most CEO's of large retailers don't give suppliers of our scale the time of day. Also all of the execs know that this program is backed by the CEO and they can't bury it.

By the way he sometimes reads threads here! I forwarded this thread earlier this week.

I was glad to read this, hopefully there will some legit reps at the Music Player Live convention this weekend, I am going to ask them about EBMM guitars.