I got into my guitar shop yesterday to try a few acoustics. They did'nt have a very big selection, but from what I tried, i was very dissapointed. Even one of the Martins marked $2000 sounded real cheap. Very metallicky and dry, nothing like $2000. My friends cheap school guitar sounded better than this thing, whats the deal? Where they just really overpricing their guitars or what? I plan to try out a few other local shops, hopefully this isn't the case everywhere?
The first time I heard a Beatles song was "Let It Be." Some little kid was singing along with it: "Let it pee, let it pee" and pretending he was taking a leak. Hey, that's what happened, OK?-some guy
One thing I've noticed about playing guitars in guitar shops is that they dont always sound up to par. Most of those $2000 guitars have been sitting on the wall for a while...not everyone can afford them. I've seen $3000 Gibsons at my guitar center that looked beautiful and sounded like CRAP because the strings were like a year old and tarnished and generally ugly looking. If you were truly serious about buying the guitar, the people there should change the strings for you so you can hear what it sounds like without all the crud in the windings.
That's my experience with these things anyway.
I've had exactly the same experience at a number of larger shops -- even Manny's in NYC (owned by Sam Ash these sad days). Martins, Breedloves, Larivees (sp?), Guilds and others -- many sounding and playing like absolute crap. My conclusion is that these large volume stores do not take proper care of the guitars on display -- crappy strings, bad set-ups, even damaged instruments. It seems to be a "joint" effort between the shop and uncaring/inexperienced shoppers who try them out and damage them. The store probably doesn't bother repairing the damaged pieces, because they will just be damaged again or maybe they hope some 40-something noob with more $$ than experience will drop a bundle on the damaged goods. I don't believe most of these guitars arrive at the store in such shape. Pretty sad.
BTW, I don't find the same situation at the smaller, family-owned shop I favor -- same brands of guitars, too.
-=tension & release=-
The better guitar stores will keep there display models setup properly and in tune. As for Martins & Gibsons in my opinion about half the price or more is for the name. With most of the bluegrass people I play with it has to be a Martin. They're usually amazed at how good my Tacoma sounds and even more impressed when I tell them how much I paid for it.
Tim Madsen
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until they know how much you care.
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It's also possibly that the acoustics of a large guitar shop have an effect. If there's a lot of people in the store, there wil also be a large amount of background noise, which will tend to deaden similar frequencies from the guitar (human bodies and clothing also soak sound).
Smaller, less populated, guitar shops may well not suffer from this and, therefore, sound better.
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If you are about to buy a $2000 guitar, convince the salesman you mean business and have them go get you a new set of strings.
At my local shop, they don't even bother to ask if I want a set. They just go get them.
I do tell them when I'm just browsing though.
So its probably the strings then. Next time I'm there I might ask about a string change if I find something I'm particularly interested in. You'd think they'd change the strings more, would'nt they probably sell more guitars if they all sounded their best?
The first time I heard a Beatles song was "Let It Be." Some little kid was singing along with it: "Let it pee, let it pee" and pretending he was taking a leak. Hey, that's what happened, OK?-some guy
The store should have a few back room studio's for giving lessons. There also used for trying out guitars and equipment. All you have to do is ask them. The rooms acoustics are far better than just playing out in the main stream show floor. You also need to think of how many folks have played the same guitar that day. most probably didn't even have clean hands.
I've found numerous no name guitars that sound and play great, just the same as a few name brand ones I wasn't to impressed with.
Joe
