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Musician thread

Volcomism said:
When are you leaving California to join me in Europe? ;) I have a Funky-Metal (hate the genre name) project that I'm starting with some pretty seasoned pros. We just write and jam for fun, and will do some clubs next year.
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I'd be down to travel, but only after I get vaccinated. :p
 
The BK filing doesn't mean they're going away. It's a debt restructuring which may or may not help them survive.

A lot of manufacturers would miss them, as they sell a lot of product through their stores and online.
 
Oh I know they're not necessarily going away, but honestly with Sweetwater, Musician's Friend, Reverb and even Amazon, Guitar Center's B&M sales method is slowly dying. Even before COVID-19, foot traffic in any store I've visited in the Bay Area has been quite low. There's just far too many lower-cost options online and those store's return options are very liberal so there's basically no catch with using them over B&M unless you absolutely have to have it immediately.
 
Guitar Center locations have repairs & lessons. Can't do that online!

Musician's Friend is same corp as Guitar Center.
 
wheel_muse said:
Guitar Center locations have repairs & lessons. Can't do that online!
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Been playing guitar for over 20 years and I've never heard of anyone taking their instrument to a Guitar Center for repairs. Admittedly, given my own personal experience with their supposed "experts" in their stores, it wouldn't be my first, second or even third choice. I've always found a local luthier or repair shop that I'd go to first if it wasn't something I'd just tackle myself.

As for lessons, I'm aware that they do offer that, but literally so does everyone else. There's tons of outlets for that in any population center.

wheel_muse said:
Musician's Friend is same corp as Guitar Center.
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Which is interesting because I cross-shop all the online stores and I'll routinely find that Musician's Friend will have something in stock when Guitar Center says they do not and vice-versa. :laughing
 
Most of the amps I've bought over the years I would not have bought without playing them first. Not interested in a return shipment scenario if I can find it locally. I feel the same way about guitars.

Modeling gear and pedals have been a different story.
 
To be honest, short of the last purchase I made, the ONLY purpose GC has served for me is as a test center for things I might want to buy. However, literally no store carried the amplifier I have now in the configuration I wanted. Everyone only had the combo version if even that so there's really no way I could've tested it without just buying it. I took a chance and while it has its nits that I could pick, it's been a great platform choice overall. Even one of the guitars I picked up recently had to be special ordered as, once again, not a single Fender dealer in California, large or small, had it in stock as was confirmed by hours of phone calls and website checks. Indeed, it's just like buying a Japanese motorcycle...you're almost never going to get a chance to demo it before you buy it so the reality is you're likely just going to have to bite the bullet. I'm not a fan of most traditional amplifiers and guitars and tend to want models that are harder to locate, even though they're not necessarily expensive or high-end models.
 
Stores are in a tough spot. It’s expensive to stock inventory that won’t turn, but the function of a store is local distribution. The minute the sales guy says, “we don’t stock it, but I can order it for you,” I leave and order it myself.
 
Also people misuse the guitars at GC. The worse I heard at the local GC store was a customer that caused multiple MusicMan guitars to drop and get scratched. Then he went on and purchased one of them for half-price.

I got a really nice EBMM Steve Morse Y2D for close to half price for someone had scratched the fretboard in on place -- does not bother me at all as gigging guitars get scratched anyway. But how to make any profit in such situations is challenging.
 
I must say that fanned frets have caught my interest. That and 7 strings? Yes please. :p

Ladies and gentelmen, the Ormsby RC One:

Xaqjsto.jpg


KCisRc8.jpg
 
tzrider said:
Stores are in a tough spot. It’s expensive to stock inventory that won’t turn, but the function of a store is local distribution. The minute the sales guy says, “we don’t stock it, but I can order it for you,” I leave and order it myself.
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I think that's most shopper's M.O. when going to Guitar Center. For me, they never seem to have what I want anyway. I've always got to order regardless.
 
Hooli said:
I must say that fanned frets have caught my interest. That and 7 strings? Yes please. :p

Ladies and gentelmen, the Ormsby RC One:

Xaqjsto.jpg


KCisRc8.jpg
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My intro to 7 and 8 string multi-scale opened up a whole new tonal landscape for me and had a huge impact on what I write and the way I write it. Have you given Kiesel a look? Semi-custom shop out of esondido. They seem to be a bit polarizing, but all my builds turned out virtually flawless.
 

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poach said:
Have you given Kiesel a look? Semi-custom shop out of esondido. They seem to be a bit polarizing, but all my builds turned out virtually flawless.
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I have looked at the Kiesels, and was considering having one built until Solar introduced their line.

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If you're entertaining the idea of an 8-string, Tosin Abasi's guitar company Abasi Concepts might be worth a look.

They release instruments in batches and seem to sell out quickly.
 
So I'm curious, how exactly does one form chords on a seven and eight string guitar? Do you just tune it to allow it?
 
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