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bobby · 6th July 2007, 10:07 AM

Nah, you're right Alex; I'm the primary pointy guitar salesman in the shop.

And yeah, I advise people to buy guitars and guitar gear (that's my job, after all), but mainly based on things like, y'know, playability, and tone. Or how about just serving the purpose the customer needs the guitar to serve? And yeah, cheap guitars are sometimes a waste of money; but surely it's better to advise the customer as to the fact they'd be better with a better-quality guitar, be it now or when they came afford it, than they would be with a guitar they can buy right now but won't give them the results they desire?

See, when you work in a shop, you don't actually want to piss people off. If I sell someone a guitar/ amp that I know isn't gonna last them when I know I could help them by showing them something else, then they're just gonna be back in 3, 4, 5, 6 months needing to do what I should have told them initially, and thus will have wasted 300, 400 quid on a guitar that hasn't actually helped them at all.

And by the way, you're proving my (and everyone's) point again in snippily implying I or we in the shop rip people off and force them to spend more than they need to. That ignores the simple fact that musical equipment (as with any consumer products; TVs, Stereos, etc) generally increases in quality as the price bracket too increases. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, and some manufacturers sell off having a name or badge regardless of price. And it's not a point for argument or discussion either; you can say "oh but I get fine results from a Mexican Tele for what I do" or "Yeah I like the Line 6 stuff" (to give two examples), but an American Telecaster is a better guitar, and a Peavey Valveking is a better amp. There's just no two ways about it.

You settle for what you can get out of your cheap gear, that's fine. But even if you are using it to the fullest of it's capabilities, you are still limited by the constraits of it being relatively low- quality gear, mass- produced within a certain budget, in China. But to say that's all anyone needs is plainly ridiculous.

6th July 2007, 10:07 AM	#91 (permalink)
bobby Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Dundee Posts: 3,906 Band: Swordmaster, Retro @ Kage	Nah, you're right Alex; I'm the primary pointy guitar salesman in the shop. And yeah, I advise people to buy guitars and guitar gear (that's my job, after all), but mainly based on things like, y'know, playability, and tone. Or how about just serving the purpose the customer needs the guitar to serve? And yeah, cheap guitars are sometimes a waste of money; but surely it's better to advise the customer as to the fact they'd be better with a better-quality guitar, be it now or when they came afford it, than they would be with a guitar they can buy right now but won't give them the results they desire? See, when you work in a shop, you don't actually want to piss people off. If I sell someone a guitar/ amp that I know isn't gonna last them when I know I could help them by showing them something else, then they're just gonna be back in 3, 4, 5, 6 months needing to do what I should have told them initially, and thus will have wasted 300, 400 quid on a guitar that hasn't actually helped them at all. And by the way, you're proving my (and everyone's) point again in snippily implying I or we in the shop rip people off and force them to spend more than they need to. That ignores the simple fact that musical equipment (as with any consumer products; TVs, Stereos, etc) generally increases in quality as the price bracket too increases. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, and some manufacturers sell off having a name or badge regardless of price. And it's not a point for argument or discussion either; you can say "oh but I get fine results from a Mexican Tele for what I do" or "Yeah I like the Line 6 stuff" (to give two examples), but an American Telecaster is a better guitar, and a Peavey Valveking is a better amp. There's just no two ways about it. You settle for what you can get out of your cheap gear, that's fine. But even if you are using it to the fullest of it's capabilities, you are still limited by the constraits of it being relatively low- quality gear, mass- produced within a certain budget, in China. But to say that's all anyone needs is plainly ridiculous.