A visit to GC and some surprises

[rollypolly]

I was honestly looking for a guitar to play while on my work trip. I ended up just renting a Taylor 114 which was fine to practice in the hotel. I would have purchased that Recording King if they’d have let me. I understand the pawn shop law but for an $80 guitar? Come on!

[619TF]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

I was honestly looking for a guitar to play while on my work trip. I ended up just renting a Taylor 114 which was fine to practice in the hotel. I would have purchased that Recording King if they’d have let me. I understand the pawn shop law but for an $80 guitar? Come on!

Maybe if you had a guitar stolen you'd understand. Not to mention if it was ever discovered you had it the authorities would take it away from you with zero compensation. This is the best for everyone.. like it or not

[davenumber2]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

I was honestly looking for a guitar to play while on my work trip. I ended up just renting a Taylor 114 which was fine to practice in the hotel. I would have purchased that Recording King if they’d have let me. I understand the pawn shop law but for an $80 guitar? Come on!

Why don't they just keep it in the back until it's actually available for sale? It would avoid any confusion.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by davenumber2

Why don't they just keep it in the back until it's actually available for sale? It would avoid any confusion.

Normally they're clearly labeled as to when they can be released. Hiding it in the back would mean they couldn't sell it to anyone looking for that guitar. No business wants to do that on the off chance it might, possibly, potentially be stolen.

[captain_jack]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

Empty and cluttered shelves

[Jimi2]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

I visited a Chicago area GC while on a work trip and had some time to spare. Some guitars I was surprised by:

Martin 000 Macassar ebony HPL - surprisingly sweet tone and good playability. Almost wanted to buy it but the countertop feel and the weight told me no. Still , excellent guitar for the $.

Recording King RP7 Dirty Thirties parlor - used for $80, I tried to buy it. Had a loud and sweet tone, albeit boxy, but I really liked that guitar. GC wouldn't let me walk out with it since they are now under pawn shop rules so you have to wait a certain amount of time. Really disappointed in this as I've never heard of that at a GC.

Cort dreadnought ASE5 - deep sounding, great all wood binding and build quality. Really hung with higher end dreads. Plus it was only $600 used. I don't need another dread otherwise I'd consider that one.

Cordoba C5CE - great fusion type of classical. solid cedar top. It sounded and played like a 800-900 classical and it was only $200. Sadly again I couldn't buy it if wanted to.

Martin DM - I played this one for a bit and liked it. I think I preferred my Custom D and definitely prefer my D-18, but if I needed a Martin dread this one would be great.

A couple Eastman PCH GA guitars - low asking prices, but I didn't jive with these. They felt about like Taylor 114s. Nothing really special but could be good beater guitars.

Other high end Taylors and Martins were all locked up so I couldn't even try them and no employees ever asked if I wanted to.

All in all, GC, especially this particular one, kind of sucks. Empty and cluttered shelves, pawn shop rules, no high end boutique guitars and only a handful of decent Martins and Taylors. Still, I had a chance to tune up some of their acoustics for them since they were all way out. Got to jam a bit and talk to other players. So there's something to be said for that I guess.

I actually bought one of those Martin Macassar all-HPLs when they were on sale around thanksgiving and I had a gift card. For $200 it was well worth it. They sure are heavy, but they sound great and play well for a fake wood guitar. But that was the selling point for me - there’s almost no real wood on it, so it’s sat in my car in 20 degree weather and been out on a stand at home in sub 20% humidity for months with no ill effects. When spring comes it’ll be my campfire guitar too. Beats paying $2000 for a carbon fiber.