Guitar Center 4th July Sale?

A Fat Strat usually means one with one or two humbucker pickups - the wider, double-coil one which well, 'buck' the hum you'd get sometimes with single coil pickups. Humbuckers also have a 'fatter' tone to them normally, hence, 'Fat' Strat.

I dunno if GC does that, but they might if you find a cheaper price online and print it out.

Best regards.

Yes, GC will most definitely negotiate, especially if you get someone you have a raport with. They may can only come down a certain amount, but you should be able to get them to throw in a few extras (strings, etc). They will definitely cut a bit of a deal if you buy case and guitar together.

I'd like to point out a few things that aren't always obvious to non-players.

What you are looking at is sometimes referred to as a'double fat' strat. A regular strat has 3 single coils.

You might consider taking your son to GC in the next few days and have him try a few things out. There are numerous guitars in your price range all with different shapes, lengths and sizes of body and neck which affect player comfort. They also have different combinations of single coils and humbuckers. There is also quite a variation between individual guitars of the same model. Sometimes the guy at the factory just had a bad day. From what I've seen, the Mexican production has been quite variable lately.

The other thing to keep in mind is the amp. You don't have to buy a new amp of course, just be aware that a $300 guitar into a cheap amp won't necessarily be much of an improvement. Roland, Behringer and Vox all make good practice amps which are of better value than Fender and Marshall's.

And GC should offer a free set-up within 6 months to a year of purchase. Most guitars need some tweaking to suit the preferences of the player in string thickness and height ff the fretboard(action).

Good Luck.

Guitar center ALWAYS has a sale......I love the place, but I can't believe their marketing strategy. Every weekend is a sale....red tag....blue tag.....closeout.....4th of July.....

But 99% of the stuff is the same price....anything to get you in the door....

....and I'll probably be there too...........crap!

im off from work on July 3 and 4, so i'll prolly be at both Guitar Center and Sam Ash, just for fun...GC's memorial day say was quite nice...CHEAP stuff

When they say sale, they really mean take this off our hands sale. They usually push the used and discontinued stuff hard to people who come in bargin hunting.

I'm always checking around for prices before I buy ANYTHING, and I'll tell you, GC advertises "HUGE SAVINGS" is really their everyday price. I've bought two guitars and an amp there in the last six months and their price is always higher than Daddy's. I've been able to negotiate the prices to at least what Daddy's had advertised or even lower in some cases. But as far as their monthly fliers that they send out and that you can get on the website, it's just the same EXACT price as they have year round.

What they typically do is advertise %50 to %90 percent of Manufacture's LIST prices and make you think you are getting a huge deal, when in reality, if you ever pay Manufacture's list price for ANYTHING, not just musical gear, YOU ARE GETTING RIPPED OFF!!!!

The good deals are the accessories like strings, string winders, cases, stands. They typically advertise this stuff cheap to get you in the door and then hopefully, you'll drop more coin when you get there. So go pick up their 10 packs of strings for $29 bucks or whatever and then when you are ready to buy a guitar and the salesman says, "This guitar is already marked down for the sale", just know what you are looking at and make sure you shop around. For this reason, I think sometimes their BIG SALE is probably the WORST time to go, cause the salesman are like, "If you don't buy it now, it won't be on sale on Monday", when in reality, on any given Monday, you could probably talk them down below what they offer you during the sale.

By the way, this isn't specific to GC, almost every store does this. Especially the big chains.

You have really found Daddy's to be cheaper? My daddy's wasn't the last time I went.

The items that I recently bought was listed for more, for instance my Epi Masterbilt was listed for $50 more at GC then Daddys, and a new Strat was listed for $30 more.

Wow......Thanks for the replies ...Great advice!
Guess we're all just "playin the game" much like buying a car but mostly on a smaller scale!

I called yesterday (just to ask about a 4th july sale) and the sales guy on the phone seemed like he wanted to claim me. Asking for my phone number and name for his sales "contacts". pfffft.
Couldn't discuss anything over the phone...."you have to come in store to discuss".... Sigh!
I'll post what we end up doing/getting.
Thanks again!

I tend to stay away from the chains because I find they tend to have the most annoying sales people. On the other hand the smaller shops want you to come back and not just get as much money out of you up front. There is not much better then going into the shop to buy strings and having them ask me how my <insert last gear purchase> is going. I guess keep in mind that any serious bit of guitar playing costs money after you have allready purchased the guitar. ie Strings, Picks. I find sometimes the $20 the smaller store has it higher then Guitar Center is worth it.

what I've found out was to go in with cash. I wanted to buy my motu ultralite, a cable, a mic and had an amount in hand. I told them what I wanted and how much I was going to pay. I said was going to pay with cash. Amazingly, I got what I wanted for the price I wanted. They worked the numbers to fit my amount.

what I've found out was to go in with cash. I wanted to buy my motu ultralite, a cable, a mic and had an amount in hand. I told them what I wanted and how much I was going to pay. I said was going to pay with cash. Amazingly, I got what I wanted for the price I wanted. They worked the numbers to fit my amount.
Excellent Strategy! :D

what I've found out was to go in with cash. I wanted to buy my motu ultralite, a cable, a mic and had an amount in hand. I told them what I wanted and how much I was going to pay. I said was going to pay with cash. Amazingly, I got what I wanted for the price I wanted. They worked the numbers to fit my amount.

I did that with my bass. That's why I know they won't cut you much of a deal (if any) on used gear. So they sold me the multi-effects pedal for dumb cheap.