diatribe from a working tech (SOAPBOXY)

[axpro]

To go off on a tangent here, i blame guitar magazines and the internet being too "easy" a fix for info. So many kids come into the shop wanting upgrades and repairs to their broken guitars... 3/4 of my guitars coming into the shop with "tuning problems" many with requests to put in locking tuners... only need the nut set up. usually because someone read about a guy who uses 12's and throws them on thier epi lp, and it suddenly tunes for crap... or strats with "broken" bridges that are someone changing string guages without adjusting bridge springs and tension. People read an interview with "artist x" and change their strings and then their guitar is messed up.

I get tonnes of kids coming in asking about putting EMG pickups, locking tuners and pickup boosters into an entry level epiphone SG-310, without ever thinking about getting a better guitar!!!! I get parents coming in and plunking down hundreds of dollars to mod guitars that aren't worth it. cause someone read a forum or interview or blah blah blah.

I get kids who bring int heir guitars with the endless request for "Low action, No buzz" and when they get it back (with the action as low as it can getwithout rattling and buzzing) and it comes back for a re-do cause its buzzing... 99 times out of 100 i open itup, and the action has magically dropped to 2/64 or less... or the guitar is now tuned to C (though that wasn't mentioned before" or both. and explaining to people that my $3000 PRS has the SAME issue if i lower the action gets a confused look. People seem to think that rock stars guitars are effortless to play. the action is super low and it never buzzes or rattles....


THe working musicians i deal with on a regular basis have instruments that people would be shocked by... blues players who like no buzzz, so the action is HIGH!!!! world touring bass players who like low action... and if you dig into their instrument it would buzz like a group of angry bees... but these are pros who come in with needs, and i setup to exactly what they want... they aren't rock stars, but more than a few have been endorsed artists who make a living 100% from playing. I set em up as they request and they leave happy, with an instrument i would never play.

I get kids who NEED their first guitar to be a FLoyd rose equipped metal guitar... I used to steer them away from that when i sold guitars, and i still see the salespeople at my store come downstairs and shake their heads when a kid buys one... and it comes back into the shop 5 times over the next 2 weeks, cause they can't tune it, can't change a string and don't understand the idea of a floating trem.

and it comes down into my shop, and i get it back into playing condition.... and the parents who wouldn't listen to advice about getting a simpler guitar for their kids, gets angry when we say that restrings and adjustments aren't warranty work.

ANy other working stiff in the dark recesses hearing me?!?!?!?

[Steve Conner]

You're right. The Internet sucks. What are we doing here?!

I always thought Floyd Rose metal guitars looked cool, but the tuning and string replacement hassles weren't worth being able to whammy. The best metal guitar I ever owned was an old Ibanez Destroyer that I bought second hand, set up for 13s and tuned down to C or D, with a Duncan Invader in the bridge. You couldn't play super-fast leads on it, but there was no need to bother when you could blow the windows out with one palm mute.

The guitar tech in my local music store told me years ago when I was starting out: The heavier the strings and the higher the action, the better it's going to sound, but the harder it'll be to play. And he was right.

[axpro]

You're right. The Internet sucks. What are we doing here?!

ROFL

Yeah i know, bitching about the net while posting...

My problem is the "easy answer generation" who don't research a question, just google for an answer (a buddy of mine has always said "why think when you can google?")

I can ask why my amp is buzzing a hundred times and do a hundred different fixes and have it still buzz. but when i take my time, and research and go over the circuit, I inevitably find the issue.

posting a question on a forum is fine, when you use it to ask other experienced people for guidance. But when you ask a question, you should be "guided" into doing research and learning, not just trying a fix and saying "nope, what else?"

[Mark Hammer]

In part, one of the culprits is the vast choice available to buyers. With so much choice, and often so little difference between the choices, often the choice comes down to hype. Sometimes it comes down to "I don't know what I need, but I like player X, so I'll take whatever comes closest within my budget to what THEY have".

It is a basic principle in human reasoning that as the search space expands, the criteria for sifting through the search space get more superficial and unrelated to the long-term goals. That's why, despite the fact that we know organic chemistry grades do not make a sensitive health practitioner, and a cool car or neat tattoos do not making for stable relationships and families, when it comes to sifting through med school applicants, or poring over the many possibilities for romantic partners, we opt for that superficial crap.

It's no different at all when a kid is supposedto pick from a gazillion guitars and amps.

It also doesn't help that a great many esteemed musicians are unable to accurately describe what it is that has been done to their instruments, and never really address the pros and cons of the modifications or special features they have added.

Ironically, a lot of the things the OP is griping about come down to a basic knowledge of physics, and the physics of stringed instruments.

[Gibsonman63]

Since we are all on the soapbox...

A lot of people are looking for easy answers when the real solution is spending more time with your instrument in your hands. It has become the standard approach, just throw money at it until you get the right gear instead of taking the time to hone your skills and figure out what you need to bring your own voice out. There are so many more choices now than there were when I started that it is mind-boggling.

Wanna learn a cool solo, just download the tab and you can see exactly where your fingers are supposed to go.

Haven't trained your ear to be able to recognize differences in pitch, just buy a tuner... but forget tempered tuning.

Don't have the recording, just download it from the internet.

Can't play it as fast as the recording, slow it down with a trainer.

Don't have a cool vintage amp... use a modeler.

Can't play like your favorite rock star... try guitar hero.

... and of course... your gear doesn't sound like your favorite rock star... just have your favorite guitar tech perform the same setup and mods to your guitar

When things are easily available and free, they lose thier value. Not that this is all bad. I certainly don't want to go back to playing my albums at 16 rpm and dropping the needle a few hundered times on the track I am learning, but I can still play all the songs I learned that way.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

I agree with most everything here, but I see my role as a guitar tech a bit differently. If everyone knew guitars really well, I wouldn't have a job! It is my job to understand the instrument better so people can focus more on playing, having fun and making music. I tend to get more frustrated when I have clients who obsess over their instruments more than play them. It is more fun to do work for people who love music.

It takes time, but eventually you can learn that educating the client is just a part of the job. Sure, you got them into the shop wanting locking tuners, but if you fix their instrument without putting the tuners on and only charge them labor & strings, you have a customer for life. A good tech can make a frustrated player fall in love with their guitar all over again, and not thanks to some corporate label, but just to one humble tech. Eventually people will learn that the magazines are garbage, and if you want real information on your instrument, ask an expert.

There are days when I'd much rather just stay at my bench and work with the guitars, but so much of the battle is working with the musicians. If you earn their respect, they'll take your advice and be grateful for it.

[axpro]

I agree with most everything here, but I see my role as a guitar tech a bit differently. If everyone knew guitars really well, I wouldn't have a job! It is my job to understand the instrument better so people can focus more on playing, having fun and making music. I tend to get more frustrated when I have clients who obsess over their instruments more than play them. It is more fun to do work for people who love music.

It takes time, but eventually you can learn that educating the client is just a part of the job. Sure, you got them into the shop wanting locking tuners, but if you fix their instrument without putting the tuners on and only charge them labor & strings, you have a customer for life. A good tech can make a frustrated player fall in love with their guitar all over again, and not thanks to some corporate label, but just to one humble tech. Eventually people will learn that the magazines are garbage, and if you want real information on your instrument, ask an expert.

There are days when I'd much rather just stay at my bench and work with the guitars, but so much of the battle is working with the musicians. If you earn their respect, they'll take your advice and be grateful for it.

I see where you are coming from. Unfortunately i have other roadblocks

I work in a busy music store, I have an easy 40 hours of work every week just doing repair work. If i dig in hard, I can keep my lead time (time before an instrument comes into my cue) about a week, maybe 7 business days. Time talking to people slows me down and I end up fielding more comlaints over lead time. Unfortuantely (or fortunately depending how you look at it) it is a large music chain, so working overtime is a no no. if i get slowed down everything takes longer. also, since it is a major store, i don't usually talk to customers unless they have special requests or concerns. I work early mornings (a few hours before the store opens) so i can get some hardcore work time without staff interuptions. and the store is open 7 hours after i go home... so i not only have to educate customers, i also have to educate staff, many of whom aren't guitar players, and a few who aren't musicians at all!

WHich brings me to music store staff....

I am treading on thin ice here of course... but when i was a floor staff guy, I did TONNES of research, every night! Taking gear home to learn how it works (like when pods cam out... early ROland digital recorders, GT-series floor effects... line 6 guitars blegh)

My current staff doesn't even want to look up parts on the net for customers... they would rather call me and ask what a part number is, or what is a "good" pickup.... and most of these questions are from guitar players.... of course ten or 13 years my junior (I must be ancient!)

But i guess that is why i am on here, bitching in one window, researching some amp stuff in a second, and checking harmony central news feeds in another. all while laying in bed beside my wife!

Not a horrible life though... i have a guitar in my hands all day....

[Gibsonman63]

Now you've opened a can of worms...

... but it is a pretty big soapbox.

I gave up on the giant music stores long ago. The last time I visited a major music store (the largest chain in the USA, I believe) to to get a few picks. They did not have my pick (Fender Jazz - Heavy) and the closest thing they had to my pick was priced at $5 for a half a dozen picks. From the looks of it, it cost more to produce the packaging than the picks. I decided to go home and check the lint collector in the dryer and the top of the refrigerator (I have now learned to put my pick back in my pocket before making a drink!). I also got very tired of reading about a piece of gear in the major guitar magazines and then finding out when I got to the store that I knew infinitely more than the salesperson from reading a single review.

The upside is that my GAS is in remission most of the time. Now I order picks, cables, strings etc... on the internet. Everything else I buy used from the Craigslist or eBay and only when it is a screaming good deal.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

Sounds like you do have some problems at that store, sorry to hear that. They aren't putting enough emphasis on customer service, so it all is just cascading down to you since you're the last person to point to. Yeah, a tech can't be the only customer service person in a music store, you're absolutely right. But, I think that is the fault of the company rather than the customers. Perhaps the customers as well, as I think they should patronize smaller businesses who are usually more knowledgeable and have a more devoted staff (no offense to your current employer), but really a customer coming in with questions is an okay thing in my book.

[axpro]

I cant put much of a hate on for the company i work for, they are actually pretty good. but it is the same in all areas. I used to work at Home Depot many years ago. at that point, Homey D was pushing "qualified staff, professionals in every aisle" which was a bit of a stretch... but if someone came into my areas, i either knew what they wanted, or could bring them to another staff who knew. I worked a LOT of deptartments (BEing part time the only way to get more hours was to be a shift whore, which i was for almost a year before i was made FT)

When i met my wife, she was living in Toronto, and i was in London Ontario. I transfered to Toronto so we could be together, and took the only shift open at my store... overnight electrical... 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. pack down and prep, and the store was OPEN! but I saw a major change once i was in the big city... no "qualified pros" no "knowledable staf" they were a big chain,a nd they went with "warm bodies" in other words, minimal training, put a uniform on them and send them out.

I got sick of it and went to the music store i have been with for the past 10+ years. I was the newbie, but anxious to learn (i was already a gear whore) and was surrounded by experts... recording specialists, pro drummers, gigging keys players... witht he emphasis on "getting customers what they need"

But this too has changed... I guess there aren't that many hardcore gear experts.... and those of us who are around aren't working the floor anymore. I was an expert, not a salesman. and that was an issue. the #1 concern was always that my sales could be so much higher.. if i wasn't educating people as much as i did. after some less than pleasant medical leave, i shifted to repairs. THe staff I left behind who took over running my dept had similar fates.. leaving for other areas of the company away from sales.

I guess the onus is on sales...we are a music store after all.

But from a CUSTOMER standpoint. it makes no sense to work to develop the relationships anymore. People buy from online suppliers, instead of their local store, which is their choice. but then they get upset that the local store doesn't carry what they want... how could they know what people want, everyone orders online!

blegh

fun to kvetch about it though.

[Gibsonman63]

To me, it’s not the people on the front line in the stores that have changed the music gear buying landscape. The major manufacturers are as much to blame as the giant music stores. I grew up in a time before large corporations sold musical equipment on a retail basis. There were a lot of small independent music stores and one big store downtown who also sold pianos. I spent a lot of my youth hanging out in these little music shops trying out gear and getting to know a few of the people who ran these stores. In fact, I used to go every Saturday morning right at opening time, so I could annoy the owners with my questions while they drank their coffee. These days, those guys are struggling to get by and ,for most of them, their bread and butter is selling accessories, giving lessons and doing repairs and setups. The major manufacturers have put a lot of them in a tight spot demanding that they carry a certain amount of inventory before they will even agree to sell to them. The numbers I have heard to carry Gibson or Fender are astronomical and far out of reach for these guys. I used to be a big supporter of the small shops in my neighborhood, but none of these guys in my area are around anymore.

A little competition is a good thing.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

Gibson has been especially unreasonable in terms of how much product a store has to carry. They really don't care about dealers, they have enough deals with larger chains/mail order places that people who want Gibsons will get them one way or another. You're right though, all manufacturers need to further their commitment to dealers. Folks at Fender have told me "off the record" plenty of times that they get frustrated with chain places that never want to deal with warranties, repairs or other bits of customer service and just refer people to smaller stores or send them straight to the manufacturer. It isn't apparent in overall company policies, but there is hope there.

Customer service is fast becoming a lost art. On the bright side, guitar techs are some of the last who can do it right - even if it is overwhelming and not terribly profitable at times. Obsessing over making a sale is a great way to scare people out of stores and make them want to order online. You can see trends of sales staffs becoming more and more passive as time goes on in all sorts of areas. I remember a recent endeavor to a chain looking for a bass amp, and the salesman just couldn't tell me enough about this one little over priced toneless thing.... he kept down playing the amps I was actually interested in. Turns out that little POS had an insane markup from dealer cost for them, and (I would venture to guess) a good sales spiff.

axpro - I did the same as you when I did sales. I wanted to know my products inside and out, though I wasn't as fluent with the digital stuff as you. Luckily I worked at a music store that didn't work on commission, they watched our sales numbers, but also appreciated customer service. They saw it as the best weapon against catalogs. Sooner or later chain/catalog customers will come in the front door frustrated and we could win them over. The frustrating part was when customers would ask us for help, thank us, leave and then called a catalog company and order from them. That is when it is important to know how to close a sale.... you've sold something, just make sure they buy it from you! But, the more threads on message boards that exist about how frustrating chain stores are (and there do seem to be a lot of them) the more people will want to express loyalty to their local friendly music stores.

Music shops have a habit of always being the exception to the trends of retail, so while you got to see Home Despot go from helpful to annoying (my local one is certainly more annoying than helpful), not to mention Wal-Mart and other box stores, music stores will just become more and more of a niche environment. I mean, what other sort of place has any kind of repair facility? Can you still take your tv or toaster to get fixed? Yeah, there is the geek squad and car repair shops galore, but guitars have bucked the trend of being "throw away" goods (for the most part) and I think that is indicative of an entirely different mentality for instruments.

[axpro]

I hear ya Funky!

Another thing to take into account though, that wasn't as present in the "good ole days" is distributors. adding a middle man to a deal is a sure fire way to increase costs without increasing value. some half decent distro's have a repair shop and handle stuff in house, but quite a few are happy to sell stuff to a store, but when a problem arises, say "deal with the manufacturer" being in the business long enough, i have seen price changes from when we dealt directly with a few companies, and when we had to go through a distributor on the same product. and saw the 30%+ markup on the item... what do you tell a customer when they ask why the prices are so high this year???? and in a lot of cases, Distributors are the ones pushing for "Guaranteed sales" and "premium floor space" sure they aren't as powerful as fender or Gibson, but when a small store can't have fender or gibson (due to the MULTITUDE of rules/costs/agreements) then they need to deal with these smaller manufacturers and Distros to fill store shelves. many times getting raped in the process.

My store doesn't have commision (which i prefered as well, let me sell what people needed, not what i thought they should buy cause i wanted cash!) which is nice and getting rare in the industry. but they pretty much look at the repair department as a money pit. I am there to service what they sell. if idon't lose "too much" money in a year, thats good. Truth be told, we don't lose money at all, but they have some weird ass ways of looking at costs/time/value.... (luckily a new manager is trying to explain the books to the old guard in a different way... showing that we DO make a profit...)

If it wasn't for the fact that my store likes to push customer service, i am sure they would replace me with a kid who just did restrings for minimum wage.

[uvacom]

What's the problem - sounds like these kids are providing you with a lot of job security!

[jrfrond]

What's the problem - sounds like these kids are providing you with a lot of job security!

No they aren't. Not in the true sense of job security. Unless you want to make a living pandering to the supposed "needs" of the would-be customers, you need to exercise a good deal of diplomacy, balls and the ability to say "no".

Let's face it: the internet does NOT suck! Even experienced techs like ourselves have found it to be an amazing resource. I know that I have. I find and obtain parts, even vintage and oddball stuff, with relative ease as compared to the old days, and in that way, I've been able to make our shop more productive, and even my own business (I build custom drums). In addition,reference materials such as schematics, parts lists and owners manuals are usually available close to immediately, and mostly free of charge.

What DOES suck is the post-Baby Boomer generations (I HATE sounding like my parents, but it's true!) who want instant gratification with everything, and are too quick to blame the gear and not the musician (usually themselves). From a technical standpoint, I've seen too many DIY'ers totally screw-up their gear in an effort to save money, learn the trade, impress someone, etc., and I must then invoke the "knucklehead fee" to unscrew the work. At THAT point, I have the task of questioning the customer to see if they REALLY need said "mod" or "improvement". If I think they do NOT, or are wasting their money, I will tell them directly, because all too often, the outcome of these situations is rarely good. Customers who really do NOT know what they need, only what they have been told orwhat they read, are generally tough to satisfy, and as a result, can become a liability to you and/or your shop's reputation in the long-run.

Like digital recording and the flagrant and idiotic use of plug-ins, it is not the tools, it's the operator. The internet seems to suck because too many people see it NOT as a means to an end, but the end itself.