The Music & Sound Retailer - Latest Comments

Re: D’Addario Woodwinds Rebrands Rico, Royal Product Lines

thedeprogrammer — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 19:10:36 -0000

Many saxophonists who had been using Rico Royals for years stopped using them after the re-branding, as it created the perception that the quality changed for the worst.

Re: Guitar Center Commences Note Offering as Part of Company Restructuring

Circulogi — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:42:44 -0000

Be cool if people would just stop giving these guys money so they just go away for good and the music stores that don't suck can stay in business.

Re: Music Tribe to Stop Selling Its Products in Most Brick-and-Mortar MI Stores

Paul Hedges — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:58:58 -0000

So Brick and Mortar stores have little value..... even though we built them to what they are. Of all things to slap the face of the businesses that have supported your products for 20+ years, is very disrespectful and unappreciative.

Re: Middle C Music’s Myrna Sislen Offers a Tip All MI Retailers Can Implement During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PickMonte — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 19:10:58 -0000

Myrna is a class act, she embodies the “we’re all in this together” positivity. Good luck to Middle C Music and god bless Myrna.

Re: Guitar Center Teams with Red Cross to Help Wildfire Victims

Michelle DUH — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 11:03:03 -0000

yes of course they are a for profit corporation and like any other cannot help out everyone, my 2 cents is this is more for good press which couldnt hurt, but a donation is a donation and their 25K will help people

Re: Guitar Center Teams with Red Cross to Help Wildfire Victims

Justice Jack — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 10:49:01 -0000

I suppose your comment is just a matter of perspective...and my perspective is that you can't please everyone.

GC isn't in the rescue business. It's simply an entertainment-based company...and all companies strive to make money. Every $50K donation helps and counts. Think of all the incidents and accidents that happen around us--you can't contribute to all of them. Imagine if every company matched donations dollar-for-dollar...then you would think $50K is quite generous.

Re: LD Systems’ MAUI 5 GO

Rob F — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 05:33:35 -0000

I never ever would put the system in the sand, as shown in the photo, what can't be seriously be recommended by the manufacturer. There are better options, than this, like using a blanket or a wooden plank or so.
By the way, you show an environment, where people use usually blue tooth boom boxes. A typical application is more the busker on the street or in the park.
For my personal preferences, the mic in has a dull sound and I miss also some effect. So I add a battery powerered TC Helicon Mic Mechanic, that makes the sound crisp, adds echo and reverb, has mic level on the output and works fine.
I use the high boost, so the sound is more like a Bose L1 compact or HK Audio LUCAS series.
Compared with Bose L1 compact, the MAUI 5 and also the MAUI 5 go hasn't included bags and to include these would make sense. And contrarely to the normal MAUI 5, the "Go" would be never used for stationary, permanent installation. In Germany, one store offers MAUI 5 bundles with bags, where I get one of both bags for free.
It could be, that I add one more MAUI 5, because I would like a stereo twin set.

Re: Gibson CEO’s Journey

FromTheAshz — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 13:58:47 -0000

Dude just looks like a the CEO of a guitar company. And was doing jeans before? Thats like the most American culture resume you can find

Re: Gibson CEO’s Journey

Taki Koutsis — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 13:44:07 -0000

Good to see Gibson is once again in good hands

Re: Gibson to Turn New Leaf: Company Explains New Brand Protection Philosophy

Larry Daniel — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 12:11:08 -0000

You may want to point out that Gibson, in it's pursuit of brand protection, hasn't always been successful in it's brand protection witch hunts. Gibson also copied details of instruments from manufacturers that proceeded their existence and called these "trademarks". A lot of their "intellectual" property was stolen by them.

Re: Guitar Center Teams with Red Cross to Help Wildfire Victims

Michelle DUH — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 21:03:02 -0000

matching up to 25,000.... I suppose it's the thought that counts, but considering there are 300+ locations and online donations, If you think about it, that comes out to under $100 per location. I think if they really want to make a difference, they should add a zero.

Re: Gibson Names New CEO

Jim Winski — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 19:29:23 -0000

The last paragraph says that KKR has a track record of successful investments, helping its portfolio companies achieve sustainable long-term growth. I notice it says nothing about KKR having a track record of helping companies that they buy achieve success and long term growth. I'm afraid this will be another cut and run, where they trim the company to the bone and watch it die.

Re: MAP: Useful Tool…or Bane of Retailers’ Existence?

Sam — Fri, 29 May 2015 14:34:54 -0000

The industry needs to replace map pricing with a MSP price (minimum selling price), covering pricing in advertising AND when the customer is right there in front of you. Get caught violating MSP, and loose your dealership for that company's products FOREVER. No strikes, no second chances, no get out of jail free cards, done. Otherwise it's just a race to the bottom which hurts everyone.

Re: Why We Fired Fender

Larry Milam — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 16:56:20 -0000

It means Fender should bring the jobs back to America in order to get the customer base back.

Re: Why We Fired Fender

Larry Milam — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 16:54:11 -0000

Off topic....bump.

Re: The Future Of Retail

Pete Arado — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 11:15:10 -0000

Great read.

For another example on how to do it right, look at Vic's Drum Shop in Chicago. Not only will you get competitive prices and huge inventory, but more importantly a fun shopping and buying experience. It's a store that you just want to hang out in all day because you're surrounded by great people who love what they're doing. That's infectious, and it makes you feel like a part of the community.

It's almost an hour drive from my house to Vic's, but I go there as often as I can, which is more than I can say for Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc.

Re: Why We Fired Fender

resonator resonator — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 06:13:12 -0000

Truly glad you had a good experience mate! Here in the United States, the problem tends to lie in the buyers expectation and perception of what's become an acceptable quality product. Today's average bix-box guitar shares characteristics more akin to a "factory seconds" or blemished quality item, and the current public is also largely unaware of the typical craftsmanship that say Gibson or Fender put into their iconic instruments in the past. This has now become the norm. People in-the-know now go searching specifically for Korean made guitars because they now set the bar of standards for a fine, high-quality guitar. And they are really, really good at what they do. For the money, you can't beat a Korean PRS or Epiphone. America seems to be having a resurgence of builders who pay loving attention to even the slightest details, of their work, and there's still quite a large selection of American made instruments to be had in general. PRS, Gibson, and Fender all have Custom Shops that churn out sickeningly beautiful axes still, (and always will). I will say this about Gibson: they don't seem to listen to their customer wants as of late. (away from the e-tune thing, funky color schemes, etc) and the last two years of guitars mostly look like quality control was asleep or really stoned. It's little things, but those things are huge on a guitar that's $2799. I expect cosmetic perfection myself at even the $700 price point these days. It's one of the areas Fender is killing it. They churn out consistent, great looking catalog, and rarely do you find a sonic loser with Fender as of late. I typically throw a little money at Fender each year, a little less at Gibson, and A LOT on weird "boutique" stuff like my recent Grosh Retrojet, or my TMG, or the Heritage I have been eyeballing for a minute now!

Re: Why We Fired Fender

wyclif — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 07:05:35 -0000

Just because a guitar isn't MIA doesn't necessarily mean it's poor quality, and this is especially the case with Fender. I've played some MIJ Strats and Teles that were much better made with far finer attention to detail than some comparable MIAs.

What Fender specializes in is providing a guitar for every price point. If you are a kid with a paper route looking for your first electric guitar, you can pick up a Squier Classic Vibe for a few hundred dollars. If you're wealthy, then the Custom Shop beckons. And all prices in between. But it really comes down to the individual guitar. Some are going to be great and some will be duds.

Re: Guitar Center Reduces Corporate Staff Levels

Kim McCarty — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 03:30:55 -0000

I agree that most of the employee's are relatively inept, unless you happen to ask them about the particular area of music they're into. They don't have any idea what prices are supposed to be, or what's in stock. Now on the other hand I went to the "Local" instrument shops, and they were all more expensive than GC. So it's basically picking the lesser of the two evils.

Re: Why We Fired Fender

Larry Milam — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 17:11:49 -0000

I'm a musician/consumer and I have a '97 MIA Standard Strat. I've wanted to get another one, possibly a Road Worn but I'm really turned off with them sending all the jobs out of the country. I think it's silly to have something as awesome as the Fender Stratocaster and have to stamp it with "Made in Mexico, or Korea, or China". If Fender continues down this path of substandard quality and pushing their dealers out of the retail picture, I predict they will lose the battle in the long run. Just MHO....

Re: Why We Fired Fender

Jeff Pitts — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 01:36:48 -0000

You are correct, for sure on Fender. Fenders are amazing quality right now. People always wanna say old is better, but in the case of Fender... right now... that's not true.

Re: Guitar Center Reduces Corporate Staff Levels

dentabill — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 22:41:52 -0000

GC employees are also dumb as f--king rocks. Even a one-month employee can figure out that all of what you said is true...and most of the corporate people have known this for YEARS but not sought employment elsewhere. GC is a springboard, it is not a career. Never was, never will be, and every single day of employment worked there (beyond about 18 months) is precious time wasted, never to be recovered.

Re: Guitar Center Reduces Corporate Staff Levels

Diane O'Connor — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:45:13 -0000

This is all a crock of shit... They got rid of people who had over 30 years at Guitar Center. It's all about the almighty dollar. Guitar Center has no loyalty when it comes to it's employees. Their employees are under paid and many don't have a clue when it comes to product knowledge. Thanks to them all the small Mom and Pop stores are gone, you remember those places? The place you went as a kid and knew the owners and the owners knew you. Guitar Center is nothing but the Walmart of musical instruments.

Re: Why We Fired Fender

Daniel Reynolds — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 12:44:35 -0000

It means bend over and lube up.

Re: Why We Fired Fender

pippa123 — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 17:57:26 -0000

I would guess the price increase is because Gibson (et al) have been using endangered woods from old growth forests. This is an issue where I really do think a massive mistake has been made by pretty much all of the guitar makers. Sad to see people boasting their LP's have a Brazilian rosewood fretboard when they have run out of mature trees. Eliminating sub $1000 guitars is not such a bad idea...are there already enough guitars in the world.....possibly, are there enough rare trees in the world...absolutely not!