Sam Ash - What a Disgrace!!

I live near a Sam Ash. I have never been there when the place is swamped in boxes. The staff there is actually very helpful. I have never been snubbed - maybe because I am a girl but I haven't seen them ignore anyone else either.

As for the guitars, it seems more and more the guitars are not properly set up in that place. There may be a reason if it was primarliy Gibson guitars you were playing. A few years ago, Sam Ash's contract with Gibson was up so all of there Gibson guitars were just the ones they had left over. Then I think earlier this year again, their contract with Gibson was up and so once again, they only had left overs. In the no contract phase, I noticed just about all of the Gibsons left were really poorly set up and I was playing the SG's and Les Pauls (just for fun which actually turned out not to be fun because the action was really high on them and the tuning was way off). I am sure the fact that the contract was expiring between them was a business tactic and they will renegotiate - if they haven't already. Hmm... next time I am there I am going to complain that they should take better care of their guitars.

This might be common among large guitar chains. I just got a Fender for Christmas, sounds wonderful but the action is like a mile and a half high. All their acoustics have this problem. And they gave me a hard time cos I wanted them to fix the action problem for free because I felt it should have been taken care of at the time of purchase. They eventually agreed.

But I think it's a definite issue for all stores.

Sorry to hear you had a not so positive experience. Not all shops are created equal. Yes, there are times when shop leave guitars not setup. Here's what a friend of mine told me he does at his shop.

1. The guitar will need to setup for the new owner when its purchased.

2. To keep some folks from handling expensive guitars without help. (in other words to cut down some from coming in and jamn every other day and not really going to purchase anyway)

3. The real collector guitars are keep higher up or in another studio.

Joe

The biggest guitar store, here in Munich, has a policy on "customers" playing guitars. If you want to play any instrument, whether their own cheapo brand or a PRS custom, you have to ask an assistant, who will tape up the guitar, so that the areas likely to get scuffed are protected. If it's out of tune you just tell him and he'll sort it out for you - that's if you're not playing through an fx box with it's own tuner and you want to do it yourself.
You can choose to play unconnected, through headphones or through an amp. When you're done, you give it back to an assistant, who checks it out and removes the tape, so that the guitars are in pristine condition, when sold.

You may just have caught them replenishing stock. The guitars, on the walls, had, perhaps, just been taken out of their boxes and hung on the walls, after which the assistants would go around and tune them.

When I had a music store, I would string and tune guitars when they arrived - and never do it again (unless a customer requested it, or I was going to play that guitar... so each one really got tuned to standard maybe 2-3 times a month). I never did a setup, although I'd quickly check the harmonics on electrics, and if they were way off I'd adjust a saddle to get close.

Not only will every individual customer require their own setups - perfect action for you will be too low for someone else - but the store will have yahoos in all day long strumming away and adjusting the tuning to suit their ears rather than a standard. People will play in drop D and forget to go back... it would be nearly a full-time job to keep just 15-20 guitars in tune.

The boxes are a different thing, and that's a store manager not doing his job. His insurance agent would have a fit - it's a 'trip hazard'. That'll raise your insurance rates a couple hundred percent - and the guitar prices go up when overhead goes up.

I live near Chicago, and visit a pretty decent number of music stores, including Sam Ash. The boxes are probably just a fluke for holiday restocking, but you won't find many stores that have a lot of instruments consistently in tune. I know of two in the area where EVERY instrument I've looked at has always been in tune - if you go to either of those, bring the fat wallet: one sells only vintage/collectible electrics, the other only acoustic luthier builds.

I never really thought about it, but you've got to see the owner's point of view.

As NoteBoat said, there really is no way to keep hundreds of guitars in tune. And setup takes a few minutes to do properly. So they don't have time for that.

But also, even though they want to sell the guitars, they really don't want a lot of people coming in and handling them. Can you imagine someone scratching a $2000 Les Paul? Who would buy that? If you are gonna pay big bucks for a guitar, you want it to be perfect. So I can see an owner placing these guitars high on the wall. I can even see them wanting guitars to be out of tune to discourage people from playing them.

I really don't worry too much about the action or intonation of a guitar I am looking at. If the guitar seems well made I know I can set it up myself.

I think every guitarist should learn to set up their guitar. It is not difficult. There are many good websites like Mr. Gearhead that give very easy to understand instructions, many times with pictures or diagrams. Once you set up your guitar the first time it is very easy and usually takes less than 30 minutes. And it will save you money! :D

And every guitarist should learn how to tune their guitar. (Without a tuner)

I would definitely have to second Wes's comment. Learning how to adjust your own guitar is the best thing to do. A few simple tools and some patience and you can fine tune your playing to exactly how you like it. Ever taking it to a professional, they are going to set it up how it "should" be setup and won't have the time to tweak it to your own personal preferences.

I think every guitarist should learn to set up their guitar. It is not difficult. There are many good websites like Mr. Gearhead that give very easy to understand instructions, many times with pictures or diagrams. Once you set up your guitar the first time it is very easy and usually takes less than 30 minutes. And it will save you money! :D

And every guitarist should learn how to tune their guitar. (Without a tuner)

But also, even though they want to sell the guitars, they really don't want a lot of people coming in and handling them. Can you imagine someone scratching a $2000 Les Paul? Who would buy that?

I would! I could save money! As long as it sounds sweet a scratch is just a bit of character.

I agree with a lot of the points made here and can understand why a shop owner wants to keep his high priced guitars out of reach of the riff raff. And Wes you're right, I need to learn to tune by ear.

But I still think this place was a shambles. Noteboat said he would tune the guitar and put it on the rack. That's fine, I wouldn't expect a full blown set up to be done, but these had obviously never been touched. And I do mean every guitar I picked up was this way (at least 20 from $75 starters to $1500 Gibsons). And if they do it to discourage playing them, a better strategy would be to have assistants at hand to keep things under control.

I'll have to admit that I'm biased. I like to support the little guy. The local shop that I bought both of my guitars from (Triple R Guitar - a little plug for the guy) is a good example. He has a sign in there that says "Play anything you want, but please ask us to get it down for you". A simple solution that keeps their guitars safe while not making you feel unwelcome. When they take the guitar off the rack, they'll check the tuning and hand it to you.

I'm a believer that there is no such thing as a free lunch. You may get a better price at a chain store, but you lose personalized service and the welcome feel of a local shop.

I have been a shop owner for 5 years and have gone from moaning and bitching about the way these shops are run to now actually sympathising as well as understanding all the problems faced with running a shop, most of which goes beyond your own control forced into situations through fierce competition, catch 22 and incompetent staff. As the company gets bigger the problems grow.

Bottom line is if the owner has any kind of pride in his business (which most do) you will more likely still get a better service from a small store than a large one (most of the time, not all) even if you don't like the way it seems to be run.

Lee