freemusiciansecrets.com

How to Get the Pro Deal at the Corporate Music Store

This little segment is by request from Juan Ruiz who is the founding member of the So. Cal. Band “Miel“. BTW “Miel” means sugar in Spanish. And I’m going to give them a plug too because I think they sound really good! www.myspace.com/miel Tell him Jeremy from free musician says hi. Lol! Now on to the real stuff.


So you walk into a Guitar Center or a Sam Ash….You want to buy something and you hear the guy next to you telling the sales guy he gets the “Pro Deal”. WTF! What the hell it the pro deal? How the hell is the guy next to you getting some kind of magic hookup? And most importantly who the hell is this guy? The answers are simple. There is no “Pro Deal“, anyone can get the hookup, and he is most likely nobody. Back in the good old days, the retail market had gigantic mark ups. Now a days, its not the same story. Thanks to the internet and company competition the prices have all come down vs. cost. However, like everything else things get more expensive. What does this all mean? It means you can still get a deal! You just have to recognize a good deal when you see it. First thing is to get a reference as to what things cost. Hop on the internet and look at the best deals including the “B stock” items. Froogle.com is a good place to look for pricing. After you have this list of normal to crazy pricing, its time to head down to the music store. Try to “grind” the first guy you see in the department that has the item you’re looking for. Never show him your prices! BTW at Guitar Center “grind” is what they call bargaining for a lower price. Ok, so when he does his salesman dance and tries to get you pay full price, tell him you were at the other company’s store. For example, you’re at Guitar Center, tell him you went to Sam Ash last week and they were going to hook you up. Tell him a price that is about 20% below the cheapest price you found. Now you have him thinking.


So now he’s got his back against the wall! Think about his perspective. You can go on the internet and just pick the lowest price and so be it, but when you can go down to the other company and give them your money…that is failure. Today there is nothing the retail brick and mortar stores can do about the internet except to compete on service and price. Whatever. At the same time they do well with customers who like to have their guy, or need information about all the products offered. This is where they go head to head with the other brick and mortar stores. They want to be your guy. They want to have the answers for you. This will keep you coming back instead of going on the internet or god forbid…the other company. Another important fact to pay attention to is most of the stores are on commission. Not all of them, but most of them are. If this guy lets you walk out the door after mentioning their competitor he knows that he likely isn’t going to get the sale. You’ll either go back to their competitor or talk to someone else in the store.


He’s going to do whatever he can do to get you to take it that day. Maybe what you told him his competitor would do is below cost. He’s not going to lose money for you, but he’ll get the price a lot lower than you would get otherwise. He’s going to usually go about 10% above what cost is. Try to “grind” him down a bit more, but the price he comes back is a good price if he won’t go down any more. Remember he is trying to impress you with a price that will make you buy it today.


Once you get the price…buy it. If you go in and “sport grind” just to see what you can get gear for, you’ll get a bad reputation in the store and they won’t do anything for you. They aren’t going to let you waste their time, and they aren’t going to bargain on price for you. In their mind, why would they bend over backwards for you when you aren’t going to buy anything anyways?


Ok, so you bought it! Sweet! You got a great deal and this guy knows you. Let him be your guy unless you think he is an idiot. But once you get someone who will deal on price and knows their gear, stick with them. They will appreciate the loyalty and if you are a nice guy they will want to hook you up just because you aren’t a pain in the ass. The nice part is the hard work is done. You have an established relationship with someone who knows you get the deal. Stick with them, but check prices before you shop so you can still have a good idea about what things go for. He’s always going to try to get dollars out of you, but he’ll always start out with a hookup price that’s pretty good! On a side note, if you like your sales guy, throw him a bone! Let him hook you up and make a buck off of you every once in a while.




Jeremy Gift




Free Musician

Maybe you’ve heard, vintage gear can be really, really expensive! So is it just the hype or is it really worth the price? That depend on what you want in your guitar or amp or basses or whatever the gear is. I’ve played plenty of vintage Gibsons and Fenders, and a good pile of the 60’s and 70’s Japanese guitars. Since there are really new Teiscos and Kuwai guitars to compare, I’ll speak of the guitars I’ve done a “A B” test on. Say a 1956 Gibson Les Paul vs. a 1956 Gibson Les Paul reissue. There are some things that time can change on a guitar that manufacturing techniques can’t. For instance the wood tends to dry out as it ages. As this happens the body resonates easier when its lighter but still has the cellular structure of the wood. End of the day it means more sustain. In my opinion more sustain is better, and most people will agree with that. Pickup are a little different, as they age assuming they are wax potted the wax loosens up and one they feed back a little more, and two which is the important part they get more dynamics to your amp. Sweet!


So now we are on to the magic part of selecting a guitar…the neck. When you find a neck that feels right its such a good feeling. It moulds to your hand like it was built for you. This happen every once in a while these days because the necks are very standardized. On the vintage gear there was a lot more variety in the manufacturing. Some companies have necks that are all the same so if you find a PRS neck you like, you will always find a neck you like. If not…too bad. So for me viva la difference, but I’m not everybody. You have to make that decision yourself. I really liked a neck on a $45,000.00 Les Paul recently, while the reissues of the same year feel a little large to me, so pay attention to the right feel.


Amps are a question of two things: Speakers and Electronics. Most of the earliest amps were hand wired and they used very good components that in some cases aren’t being manufactured today. For example the Marshall Jubilee amp used the Drake transformers which today aren’t available. In an amp, the transformer makes a huge difference in tone, so make sure if you are buying a vintage amp you are getting what you are paying for. For hand wired amps, they are very easy to work on, and because of this you have to make sure the components are all original or at least period correct. Tubes aren’t as important because if you play your amp regularly, you get about a 5 year shelf life out of them. Vintage NOS (New Old Stock) tubes are an ideal change for a vintage amp, but are getting to be difficult to find. Get as good a tubes as you can. Some of the features the old amps don’t usually have are things like, high gain, 4 channels, effects loops and a couple modern features that may make you choose a newer amp versus a vintage amp.


On to speakers…Broken in speakers tend to be more responsive than new speakers. You can’t fake the playing time that goes into a speaker. Now there are some speakers that you might like over others and that’s fine, but head to head with the same model speaker, the older speaker usually wins. Make sure the speakers aren’t blown though. An old cab with new speakers sounds about the same as a brand new cab. So find the sound you are looking for and you might find it in a new cab or combo amp…Great! It’ll be a lot cheaper than a vintage tone monster. But if you find it in a vintage Fender bassman for instance be prepared to pay for it.


So happy hunting and good luck on the quest for the perfect tone! I’ve got my eye on a 1955 Gibson Les Paul jr at the moment. Unfortunately, they want $11,450.00 for it. So, at the moment I’ll stick to my 1976 Les Paul Custom and a few other choice guitars in the collection. BTW eBay is a great place to check street value on vintage gear so get an account and look at the completed listings. That shows what they actually sell for.


As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns…Hit me up!


Jeremy Gift


Free Musician