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Comment by patwolf | Hacker News Reader

I have a friend that owns a small mom and pop instrument store. He had to finally stop selling guitars because too many people would use his store to try them out before buying online. I can only imagine Guitar Center experiences the same problem.

In his case he was fortunately able to pivot to a very niche market and is doing quite well.

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The instruments must have been overpriced. You know, I would even pay a bit extra if I could have the instrument in my hand today, and could inspect it myself before paying. But I wouldn't pay that much more.

You'd be stupid not to get the instrument over the counter, unless the online deal offers more than a modest discount.

Not worth the return headaches if something is wrong: twisted neck, fret being out, bad wiring, cosmetic issue and whatnot.

Or is it a choice thing? People try in the store, but get something a bit different online, like a very similar model that the store didn't have?

One more anecdote to back up kazinator here.

I chose to buy from Guitar Center when I made my thousand-dollar purchase. And yes, the sales staff were difficult to work with, but I kept my receipt and when, two days later, I found an obvious defect, I was able to walk back into the store and get a replacement.

I was happy to pay a little extra up front because I was able to take the instrument out and actually use it before buying. (And I was able to bring it right back two days after I bought it.) It was well worth the slight surcharge to be able to inspect it before buying.

I wonder what my "extended warranty" means after the company is out of business? I'm pretty sure it's not worth the paper it was printed on.

I've spent a few thousand at Guitar Center on stuff for my kids, over the past two years. I always liked it. I don't want to order large things (like electric pianos) from sketchy online places. Guitar Center's pricing was always "good enough" for me, and being able to return the wrong thing and pick up the right thing in a single trip is really worth a lot.

In my experience selling similarly priced durable goods (firearms), it was always price. Having a brick and mortar presence with employees and inventory costs a lot more than drop shipping from a distributor.

But instruments made out of wood are not all equivalent.

There's a ton of variance. Buying guitars in person (or better, built to order from a luthier you know) is always preferred.

In the case of mass-produced solid-body electric guitars of good repute, there is less variance, but stuff can still go wrong.

But not wrong in that same way whereby you compare three identical, well-made acoustic guitars side by side and one of them obviously "projects" the tone more.

I can usually find something wrong with most guitars. A handful of my friends and I go to NAMM every year and just sit down and play every guitar all weekend. Play different things with different techniques all over the fretboard and you will almost always find something.

Most of the are minor issues, but it helps a lot in narrowing down something to buy. Brand reputation doesn't mean much these days, especially with electric guitars. The way those are priced you'll see a huge spectrum in cost and construction techniques and the economics of electric guitars mostly means labor priced towards zero and cut corners.

11 and 13 piece laminate necks are a trend that I would like to see go away. It's a "look" that nobody can really see, usually means worse tone and says you couldn't find one good neck out of the wood you had. Same with the relic look.

We usually find a couple of good Hall E brands every year with a 1-3 year waitlist for a good custom guitar. Some of those are today's "good" brands (Aristides...). Martin always has a few beautiful acoustics to sell out of the custom shop that cost as much as a car.

Every year we usually find a different model Yamaha that's probably $1000 cheaper than it should be.

I don't know what kind of musician is rolling the dice on instruments sight unseen. It's not like buying a $2000 computer where every single one pumped out of the factory is the same or you warranty it. There's a ton of variance in instruments. A $2000 guitar can play and sound like a $200 guitar and vice versa, even factory new. It's like buying a used car sight unseen online: you might end up with a knocking engine and cigarette stench.

> I don't know what kind of musician is rolling the dice on instruments sight unseen.

Well, either complete neophyte, or a seasoned pro who can absolutely shred on anything blindfolded, and convince others that they should buy it, too. :)

I would imagine it would be difficult to run a guitar store today relying new instrument sales. I think if you specialize in vintage instruments (and expert repair) you’ll continue to do well.

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