I've never been a fan of corporate giants, so let me explain. I used to work at a local guitar store about 8 years ago, mostly just assistant stuff, but the whole vibe was about music and making people happy.
Flash forward to today. Theres only one local music store within 50 miles and two Guitar Centers and one Sam Ash. In December, I was in the process of buying a new PRS, had $2000 available and ready to go. I had done months of researching, playing and was on the fence between a McCarty and a Custom 22. Ready to buy, I went over to the local GC and scouted out what they had, a plain McCarty that everyone has, ie no birds, average top and McCarty standard color. Scratch that off the list, then I saw a Blue Matteo Custom 22, now bear in mind that these guitars are not brand new, anyone can take them down and play them. This one was in good, not great shape.
So I ask the sales guy, can I get this for $1900.00? I'm lowballing and infact had an extra CE 22 I was going to trade in. The sales guy takes 5 mins and comes back and says that they can't go below sticker $2749. No problem. I bought a Whale blue 2001 Custom 22 Artist Pack off of Ebay for $1935 shipped. Think I learned my lesson? Wrong
In January, I walk in one day to GC to pickup some strings and the guitar salesman asks me if I need any help, I ask him if they have any Mesa to try out. He comes back and says they do not carry Mesa.
So now, I sell my Crate Vintage club 1x12 (lol) and my CE 22 and I'm ready to buy a Mesa. Man, I can taste it, I'm so excited. I read on other forums that GC is blowing out Rectoverb heads for $799! Some guys have even had their heads shipped to other stores to pickup if they weren't in stock. I say to myself, hey give them another try. So I call them on a Friday night and the guy says " Sure we can order you a Rectoverb head and its only $799." I go in the next weekend and talk to the guy on the phone in person, who goes to the back and brings back a Mesa catalog. He tells me that he will place an order for a Rectoverb, he comes back three mins later and says, "We don't have any Mesas here and we cannot order one, but another GC 150 miles away has one."
Then he calls them and they have one. Great, I'll get a head and a 4x12 cabinet that they have on sale for $1000! He gets off the phone and says, "We can't sell you a Mesa. We're not authorized. Everyone here has a pass a 100 question test from Mesa or they take us off the authorized user list and they can't have more than two dealers in a 50 mile radius. Then he tells me to call the store 150 miles away. Same thing, they don't want to ship it to a store or even direct to me even if I pay for shipping and the head up front. This is also a returned and now it is a floor modeL
Screw that. I end up buying a Solo 50 head for $900 off of Ebay and should be here Tuesday. The point is, I am a hard working person who just wants to make music, my money is as good as anyones. But when big business and corporate bs take over, to me you're killing the spirit of rock and roll. But I got a really nice Mesa catalog from GC because they told me they won't need them anymore.
Flash forward to today. Theres only one local music store within 50 miles and two Guitar Centers and one Sam Ash. In December, I was in the process of buying a new PRS, had $2000 available and ready to go. I had done months of researching, playing and was on the fence between a McCarty and a Custom 22. Ready to buy, I went over to the local GC and scouted out what they had, a plain McCarty that everyone has, ie no birds, average top and McCarty standard color. Scratch that off the list, then I saw a Blue Matteo Custom 22, now bear in mind that these guitars are not brand new, anyone can take them down and play them. This one was in good, not great shape.
So I ask the sales guy, can I get this for $1900.00? I'm lowballing and infact had an extra CE 22 I was going to trade in. The sales guy takes 5 mins and comes back and says that they can't go below sticker $2749. No problem. I bought a Whale blue 2001 Custom 22 Artist Pack off of Ebay for $1935 shipped. Think I learned my lesson? Wrong
In January, I walk in one day to GC to pickup some strings and the guitar salesman asks me if I need any help, I ask him if they have any Mesa to try out. He comes back and says they do not carry Mesa.
So now, I sell my Crate Vintage club 1x12 (lol) and my CE 22 and I'm ready to buy a Mesa. Man, I can taste it, I'm so excited. I read on other forums that GC is blowing out Rectoverb heads for $799! Some guys have even had their heads shipped to other stores to pickup if they weren't in stock. I say to myself, hey give them another try. So I call them on a Friday night and the guy says " Sure we can order you a Rectoverb head and its only $799." I go in the next weekend and talk to the guy on the phone in person, who goes to the back and brings back a Mesa catalog. He tells me that he will place an order for a Rectoverb, he comes back three mins later and says, "We don't have any Mesas here and we cannot order one, but another GC 150 miles away has one."
Then he calls them and they have one. Great, I'll get a head and a 4x12 cabinet that they have on sale for $1000! He gets off the phone and says, "We can't sell you a Mesa. We're not authorized. Everyone here has a pass a 100 question test from Mesa or they take us off the authorized user list and they can't have more than two dealers in a 50 mile radius. Then he tells me to call the store 150 miles away. Same thing, they don't want to ship it to a store or even direct to me even if I pay for shipping and the head up front. This is also a returned and now it is a floor modeL
Screw that. I end up buying a Solo 50 head for $900 off of Ebay and should be here Tuesday. The point is, I am a hard working person who just wants to make music, my money is as good as anyones. But when big business and corporate bs take over, to me you're killing the spirit of rock and roll. But I got a really nice Mesa catalog from GC because they told me they won't need them anymore.
