A GUITAR CHAT thread

[Sigman]

That's one sweet looking Martini guitar Jeff!

[Jeff Alton]

Thank you!

[ramonesfreak]

Had a great and unusual experience with Sweetwater today. Wanted a particular Les Paul. I’m not usually interested in open box guitars but figured it’s a small ding on side of the headstock and they have it at $1,050 off the $3,300 price. Figured people spend a ton on relics and Murphy labs etc so why not….and I’m gonna ding it anyway. When I went to check out, it wouldn’t let me finish checkout because I had designated Walgreens as my delivery Fed Ex delivery location….and the checkout process didn’t like this for whatever reason. Checkout said call first so I called and of course the call routed me to my designated sales account guy. He said why bother with a dented guitar….how about if I offer you the same discount on a brand new one of your choice.

I’m not usually the recipient of good fortune so I was speechless. So I got a tobacco burst Custom Shop top for $2,300. I’ve spent maybe $30k with Sweetwater over the years and never had anything like this happen. I guess it pays to call them and discuss purchases.

I love Sweetwater. Incredible customer service, always.

[Steve Carlton]

ProAudioStar had really low prices on Guild guitars that were listed as open box. I was suspicious (as were many others), and looked online to make sure they were legit and found the theory was they list them that way to hide their discounts and a lot of people received guitars in never opened boxes that were brand new. So, I ordered an F-40 Jumbo and it arrived and was obviously returned with an out of whack neck. When I went to return it, they offered me a brand new one for the same price and it was great. Current example:

[ramonesfreak]

What I find odd is I’ve been looking at various guitars for a month during sweetwaters latest promo period and noticed most open box scratch and dent offering are only about $150 or $200 off. Today the one I looked at was $1,050 for a tiny ding. So, that was unusual. And to offer me a new one for the same price….hmmm. If I had just ordered the open box one and had it mailed to my house, I never would have had to call and would not have been offered this deal.

[Steve Carlton]

That's a big discount percentage-wise. Retailers can't advertise them for less than MAP, but if you call, you can often go below, sometimes well below. I don't think Sweetwater is known for big discount pricing, but they're well known for exceptional customer service. Your sales guy probably recognized that you're a great customer and took care of you.

[ramonesfreak]

I think they know more about you than we realize. Of course they have your purchase history on the screen. ….but, I noticed that if I was logged in to their site while browsing, he new exactly what products I had looked at because he mentioned a few of the out of the blue. They have a pretty sophisticated system

[ramonesfreak]

The guitar came yesterday. I was very unhappy with it. It had a few finish flaws that were not acceptable to me. Immediately drove back to fedex after calling sweetwater

They shipped out another one yesterday and I got it at 9:30 am today

Hard to believe but I got a flawless perfect in everyway Les Paul.

very impressed and wow does it play nice.

Photos do not do it justice and the right side is not that much darker in person. Lots of little mineral spots in the top which I love
And a full pound lighter than the first one. 8 lbs 12 oz. Not bad at all

[ramonesfreak]

new guitar day is my favorite day!!!!

[Steve Carlton]

I think Gibson production must be uneven. I ordered a G-00 and one of the braces inside had a chunk gouged out of it and another one had detached from the top. I got it from Musician's Friend, but they said to make a warranty claim with Gibson, which I did. They acknowledged it was defective and would be replaced. It took about 6-8 weeks, but I got a flawless replacement. It's a sweet little 00 made in Bozeman. Basic and affordable at $849 with a discount from MF.

[ramonesfreak]

nice. The difference between the two I got was night and day. The first one even had a backward left handed guitar truss rod cover on it - never seen that

I started to think that maybe the whole batch of these sweetwater exclusives were flaws and thats why I got a thousand $ off...I think it just depends.

I have a new L-00 and and SG Special, both were perfect. My SG STD from about 2008 was not so perfect.

[Steve Carlton]

L-00s are iconic. Like this one? One of the nicest sunbursts ever.

[ramonesfreak]

yea same thing I have. Of all my acoustics, I would probably let that one go if I had to thin the collection but until then, it gets played quite a bit

Im considering selling at least half my guitars at this point and just keep 5 electrics and 3 acoustics. I look around here and wonder what my wife will do about all this if I drop over. We have no kids, nobody to leave anything to and she cant be bothered to sell them off...

[Steve Carlton]

I looked and saw 11 designs for the L-00. This Grizzly is interesting. What's the last acoustic you'd sell?

[ramonesfreak]

I have a 20 year old santa cruz 12 fret D. a martin D-41. a martin 000-28ec and the L-00

the one acoustic guitar i could not part with is the 000-28ec. i got lucky and got a really good one and i love this thing.

[Steve Carlton]

I'd love to see a pic of the Santa Cruz! One of my favorite videos is this one Colin Hay did for their 40th anniversary. I'm actually going to see him in October. It was supposed to have been in January, but got postponed due to the Palisades fire. Oddly, his house didn't burn down, but was evacuated.

[ramonesfreak]

Im seeing him with Men at Work next week. looking forward to it. Bought that tape when it came out, I was in 4th grade

Not mine, but its just like this

https://reverb.com/p/santa-cruz-d-12-fret?hfid=88378691&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=18045832274&utm_content=campaignid=18045832274_adgroupid=13531 9314450_productpartitionid=1721851611018=merchanti d=5567761721_productid=88378691_keyword=_device=c_ adposition=_matchtype=_creative=616364262477&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18045832274&gbraid=0AAAAADRxZYXWtRnhoBeA2XDLrTAvW-EQM&gclid=CjwKCAjw7fzDBhA7EiwAOqJkh6ykfFXtJVnfG7EmHuxO _fTgy_XAs8s-voBEQDVes43BPvT4umXeuBoCcZ4QAvD_BwE

[ramonesfreak]

holy crap...new they are almost $9K now. Yikes. I have had 2 of them. The first I bought in 2000 and paid $3,200. That one had issues and they eventually replaced it with a new one after fighting them for 5 years about it. I have respectfully beat the hell out of it. Dings all over it. But it is a mighty fine instrument

https://reverb.com/item/67413167-d-12-fret?bk=&_gl=1*zx8pkl*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjw7fzDBhA7EiwAOqJkh6ykfFXtJVnfG7EmHuxO _fTgy_XAs8s-voBEQDVes43BPvT4umXeuBoCcZ4QAvD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAADRxZYXWtRnhoBeA2XDLrTAvW-EQM

[Steve Carlton]

My understanding is they skyrocketed their prices with their rising recognition and reputation. I was targeting a Pre-War Herringbone, but took a great deal on a new HD-28 instead for budgetary reasons.

[TimT]

I just got on line for one of these.. should be here in two months..

Ceriatone OT Lunchbox




Apparently the closest to a Dumble I'll ever be able to swing...I mistakenly sold my Mesa Boogie Mk1 many years ago.. and its another unobtanium amp