My Journey to The Local Music Store

[Raz]

OK as some of you may be aware, I was heading out, all excited to trade in some of my collection for a JP7 that was at a local music store. Well, like I had mentioned earlier, the JP7's action was about 3/8" , so I couldn't decide on whether the JP was for me cause I couldn't play the dang thaing. So anyway I stumbled accross a local forum and a ghuy who works at this store was a poster...well here's his excuse:
BTW I'm guest!

To answer your question guest. They are poorly setup currently as the weather has changed and those guitars in particular need a little more care than say a Fender or Gibson or even a PRS. However having only one guitar tech on hand, and as I am sure you saw about 175 to 230 guitars on the floor it takes some time to get to them all. It is however unfortunate that you had that experience. Those two guitars inparticular are on my techs bench now and should be back up next week. I hope you will try these guitars again.

Thanks
Patrick

So I replied discussing how EBMM guitars leave the shop, set up to spec. so another dude hits me up with this nonsense:

It is impossible to predict what gauge of string or what setup the buyer will want, or what environmental conditions the guitar is going into, so most manufactures ship guitars without setting them up very well, even the $3000 Gibsons. Another one of the few exceptions is PRS, since they are well cured and optimally designed for 9-42, and at the price they sell them, the least they can do is set them up at the factory. Most stores offer a free setup with every guitar anyway, and I agree, it would be best to do that to the specs of a serious buyer and not screw around with it till then (unless is show up at the store completely unplayable).

Idiots, I'm not talking about 1/32 or 1/16 preference, I'm talking 3/8".

Do you believe this nonsense, anyway sorry about the rant.

 

[dfrady]

Rant on brother !!!! Stupid people get me jacked up faster than anything.

 

[SteveB]

Raz,

Hey.. at least the guy heard you and is having his tech set up the axe. Granted, you shouldn't have to be the one to catch it, but I'm impressed enough that they cared to set it up after hearing from you. A lot of places probably wouldn't bother. And if he really does have that many guitars on the floor, I can understand some of them needing some tweakage.

However, if *all* of the guitars on his floor are in need of a setup, that's another story.

I'd go back and give it another try after they set it up. Even if you don't buy it, the fact that you came back to try it after a setup may convince them to keep those guitars in better playing condition!

 

[Raz]

Raz,

Hey.. at least the guy heard you and is having his tech set up the axe. Granted, you shouldn't have to be the one to catch it, but I'm impressed enough that they cared to set it up after hearing from you. A lot of places probably wouldn't bother. And if he really does have that many guitars on the floor, I can understand some of them needing some tweakage.

However, if *all* of the guitars on his floor are in need of a setup, that's another story.

I'd go back and give it another try after they set it up. Even if you don't buy it, the fact that you came back to try it after a setup may convince them to keep those guitars in better playing condition!

Yeah, you do have a point, however this time I will go without lugging in all of my guitars, and if I flip over the JP7, well I'll have them hold it, and take it from there...perhaps it will be different this time since I won't be expecting as much as last time...

 

[hbucker]

Kudos to both of them for responding at all. The first guy sounds realistic. The second guy was feeding you a line of b.s.

Even if he were correct, Gibson would still have a standard setup required on their $3k guitars and it wouldn't vary much from guitar to guitar. Yes people tend to have varying preferences with regard to setup. But a very small number of people looking at guitars want high action and a lot of relief on the fretboard. "Low" is subjective but there is a point at which high is just "high". Even fewer want dirty fretboards and finger fung on dead strings.

I'm usually astonished at the setup of new guitars sitting in stores. Especially since a basic setup isn't hard to do. Enough to make the action fine anyway.

Most of the time when I play a new guitar I think, "This might be pretty good if it were setup right."

Sometimes I think guitars would fly off the racks if they were just set up well. People would fall in love with them without having to imagine how good they COULD be.

 

[John C]

"It is impossible to predict what gauge of string or what setup the buyer will want, or what environmental conditions the guitar is going into, so most manufactures ship guitars without setting them up very well, even the $3000 Gibsons."

Believe it or not, that guy is right about Gibson. That is the way they set up - or rather DON'T set up - their Historic line. If you want a good laugh, go over to the Les Paul Forum; there are usually a few posts on this issue with the obligatory Gibson apologists defending this practice.

On the other hand, my Silhouette Special went from California to Kentucky in December and was perfectly set up out of the box - and 5 of the 6 strings were still perfectly in tune (and the B was only slightly off).

 

[phatduckk]

EB spoils us. just more proof that EB is the shiz ...

I've been to stores and picked up a guitar with crappy action and the sales-dude did a quick setup for me so i could have a more realistic "shopping experience".

i dont remember if a salesguy ever talked to Raz or not, but if they did i'd expect them to at least offer a quick tweak.

 

[slukather]

OK as some of you may be aware, I was heading out, all excited to trade in some of my collection for a JP7 that was at a local music store. Well, like I had mentioned earlier, the JP7's action was about 3/8" , so I couldn't decide on whether the JP was for me cause I couldn't play the dang thaing. So anyway I stumbled accross a local forum and a ghuy who works at this store was a poster...well here's his excuse:
BTW I'm guest!




So I replied discussing how EBMM guitars leave the shop, set up to spec. so another dude hits me up with this nonsense:




Idiots, I'm not talking about 1/32 or 1/16 preference, I'm talking 3/8".

Do you believe this nonsense, anyway sorry about the rant.

Rant away mate, l agree, they are idiots, and to say the petrucci came from the factory set up 3/8. crap!!!!

My petrucci came from Miami (If i remember) to my front door, here in Melbourne Australia, when it arrived on my door, l was heading off to band practise, so l took it with me, l took it out of the case, it was still in tune, and set up perfect, and l used it that night, all night. (on a side note, by Petrucci has been to more places than me, hehe)

As l've said l'm from Melbourne Australia, and there are alot of environmental changes, and weather changes here, my Peavey Wolfgang neck is probably one of the worst necks, because of these changes l can't get rid of fret buzz, but my Ernie Balls seem to handle the weather changes fine. To give you an example, is was hot here yesterday, l was in shorts sweating my ass off, today it's raining, and is freezing cold.

All l'm hearing from these 2 people is excuses.

Scott.

 

[Raz]

Rant away mate, l agree, they are idiots, and to say the petrucci came from the factory set up 3/8. crap!!!!

My petrucci came from Miami (If i remember) to my front door, here in Melbourne Australia, when it arrived on my door, l was heading off to band practise, so l took it with me, l took it out of the case, it was still in tune, and set up perfect, and l used it that night, all night. (on a side note, by Petrucci has been to more places than me, hehe)

As l've said l'm from Melbourne Australia, and there are alot of environmental changes, and weather changes here, my Peavey Wolfgang neck is probably one of the worst necks, because of these changes l can't get rid of fret buzz, but my Ernie Balls seem to handle the weather changes fine. To give you an example, is was hot here yesterday, l was in shorts sweating my ass off, today it's raining, and is freezing cold.

All l'm hearing from these 2 people is excuses.

Scott.

Thanks bro, I know the truth but they THINK they know it all. LIke I said, I'd rather have that guitar in the back room waiting to get set up, then hanging there in its unplayable state!

 

[edensdad]

On the other hand, my Silhouette Special went from California to Kentucky in December and was perfectly set up out of the box - and 5 of the 6 strings were still perfectly in tune (and the B was only slightly off).

Ditto - My JP6 went from SLO, Calif to Maryland, sat in a warehouse for a month, then from Maryland to Florida - still set up perfectly, still in tune. In fact it's still set up perfectly, and aside for a string set change or two - still in tune.

 

[Raz]

I feel like compiling a list of all of your great stories and mailing it to those brainless occupiers of human flesh just so that they can see what kind of Quality company they're dealing with..NO BS HERE!

 

[slukather]

Thanks bro, I know the truth but they THINK they know it all. LIke I said, I'd rather have that guitar in the back room waiting to get set up, then hanging there in its unplayable state!

Yeah, they should of just taken it off the rack instead of leaving there in it shocking state. I hope everything works out well for you, if you decide to buy it, or go else where.

Scott.

 

[blackspy]

The main music shop in my area is similar, they don't concern themselves with the good guitars on the racks. The thing is, they sell so few of the nicer guitars that they never really look at them. However, you pick up a low end fender or epiphone guitar off the rack and its in tune, strung properly and setup ok because they can sell those guitars easily. I've actually been refused when asking to try one out at this particular store because they figured I was just a 'tire kicker' and wouldn't really be buying anyway. Hows that for salesmanship? It's a business #1, they just want to sell product and keep their inventory moving, they have about 0 interest in guitars or music in general. I have to buy strings and picks there but that's it. I buy nothing else there anymore.

 

[OrangeChannel]

I reserved myself from responding here for awhile....3/8" Bah...needs a setup...no sweat, just tell the morons in the store to fix it...however whom ever responded to you that PRS are optimally designed for 9's is a complete and utter idiot...they string them that way factory but they're not designed for a particular string guage...

 

[Norrin Radd]

I reserved myself from responding here for awhile....3/8" Bah...needs a setup...no sweat, just tell the morons in the store to fix it...however whom ever responded to you that PRS are optimally designed for 9's is a complete and utter idiot...they string them that way factory but they're not designed for a particular string guage...

Wait a minute now...PRS may not be optimally "designed" for 9's, but they are optimally set-up for 9's from the factory. If you want to use a different gauge, no problem, but to do it properly you are going to have re-set-up the guitar again, just like with any guitar. They should ALL ship from the factory with a particular set-up for a certain gauge of string. Those that don't, well, there are some brands that sit on the shelf longer than others.

 

[Raz]

I reserved myself from responding here for awhile....3/8" Bah...needs a setup...no sweat, just tell the morons in the store to fix it...however whom ever responded to you that PRS are optimally designed for 9's is a complete and utter idiot...they string them that way factory but they're not designed for a particular string guage...

I don't follow, are you saying I should have just purchased it, or what...I mean honestly I couldn't tell if I liked it, it was UNPLAYABLE! No way I'm trading in my babie for that...

 

[Norrin Radd]

NEVER buy a guitar that hasn't been set up properly! Would you buy a Honda Civic if you could only test drive it with Hummer tires? No. You should go as far as it takes making the store set it up to your liking. After all, you're spending a boat load of money, make sure it's what you want. Make them adjust the truss rod, saddle height, bridge height, trem pull, etc... Get it the way you would play it first, before you buy. Run out of any shop that won't set up a guitar the way you want to test it out. There are some places that will even change string gauges for you, if you ask. I suggest getting it set up perfectly for you before you buy anything.

 

[Raz]

NEVER buy a guitar that hasn't been set up properly! Would you buy a Honda Civic if you could only test drive it with Hummer tires? No. You should go as far as it takes making the store set it up to your liking. After all, you're spending a boat load of money, make sure it's what you want. Make them adjust the truss rod, saddle height, bridge height, trem pull, etc... Get it the way you would play it first, before you buy. Run out of any shop that won't set up a guitar the way you want to test it out. There are some places that will even change string gauges for you, if you ask. I suggest getting it set up perfectly for you before you buy anything.

Amen bro!

 

[OrangeChannel]

What I meant was tell them to set it up correctly BEFORE you test drive it...nothing like test driving it correctly....if there's a poor set up in effect it's noticeable...I can't believe that their tech takes a week or so to do a setup...sounds like a line to me...

 

[koogie2k]

I agree to a point. The set up was garbage. No, EBMM don't send their stuff out like that. No, you couldn't play it. No, the tech dude could tie his shoes. No, playing an axe with 3/8" off the fret board is comfortable.

NO NO NO NO NO!!!

Anywho, any guitar can be strung with whatever gauge string. May need a set up or the nut filed. Whatever. We know that.

PRS may come out strung with 9's, but they are not "optimally" built for 9's...that is a garbage statement.

JP's come out with 10's, but I have one with 9's, one with 10's and yet another with 11's. Beauty part is, not having to file the nut........

Raz, I hope they get their head out their tailpipe and get that axe set up for you to try. Try it out. If you like it, WALK AWAY! Then order one through one of our forum dealer buds. I think you know that, but that is what I would do.

My 2 pennies.