If you're an Ibanez player and you want a true pro setup, the person to buy your guitar from is Rich from IbanezRules in the USA. He hand selects each instrument, totally disassembles and reassembles it, does a few pro mods along the way and finishes the neck and the rest to your spec level (up to j-custom level). Pro setup by the way does not mean a professional setup, but rather the setup done for a pro guitarist… Obviously you pay for it, but you’ll own an instrument that is in another league…
Stores that Sell Pre-Setup Guitars
Totally true that.bobbyblues wrote: This is not something peculiar to South Africa. Try a guitar hanging up in any of the Guitar Centre shops in the USA and guess what you'll find; Yes you're right; a lousy setup.
This is a pet peeve of mine, I ranted about it in a thread a few months ago. I've seen plenty $3000 guitars with rusted strings, unplayably high action etc etc, and not just in SA.
I’ve never understood this myself... Do you book a test drive for a new Benz and arrive to find a dirty car that pulls to the left and hesitates when you want to accelerate? Won't sell many cars that way! Why must the approach to high level instruments be any different? To most they are luxury items after all... ??? Or are the music shops selling enough of these items? I seriously doubt that!BMU wrote:Totally true that.bobbyblues wrote: This is not something peculiar to South Africa. Try a guitar hanging up in any of the Guitar Centre shops in the USA and guess what you'll find; Yes you're right; a lousy setup.
This is a pet peeve of mine, I ranted about it in a thread a few months ago. I've seen plenty $3000 guitars with rusted strings, unplayably high action etc etc, and not just in SA.
Hmm, good point - corroded strings: Why are there so many Gibson acoustics still hanging on the walls? Rusted strings. Taylor, Larrivee, Walden (sadly no longer available locally), Cort, Tanglewood and I think Takamine are sold standard with coated strings. The reason is to make the guitar sound as good as possible for as long as possible.Banditman wrote: Tell me about it - one local store has a USA Deluxe Strat on the wall with a neck pickup that doesn't work at all (but still has the full price tag) & along with several other Fenders of the same bracket is fitted with strings corroded & cruddy enough to feel like hacksaw blades.
a Basic but very logical strategy.
a month later
+1 Zark. Rich Harris was a pleasure to deal with when i bought a trem from him. And i would assume that the same level of service applies to the guitars he sells as well. I like the fact that he's very cut n dry. What you get is what you pay for.ZarK wrote: If you're an Ibanez player and you want a true pro setup, the person to buy your guitar from is Rich from IbanezRules in the USA. He hand selects each instrument, totally disassembles and reassembles it, does a few pro mods along the way and finishes the neck and the rest to your spec level (up to j-custom level). Pro setup by the way does not mean a professional setup, but rather the setup done for a pro guitarist… Obviously you pay for it, but you’ll own an instrument that is in another league…
4 months later
Bit of a waste of time to set-up EVERY guitar before it goes on the wall IMHO. Fixing the basics, yes, but a full set-up? No. Before you shoot me, hear why...
All Fenders & Gretcshs come out the factory with .009's on em, so they feel easy and nice in a store. But I play .010's, so could care less. So when I bought my Tele, I just asked the guys to set it up for me with 010's. Which they did - a very decent set-up too. If I want it better, well, off to Foster it goes (Support your local tech - they're specialists, it's what they're there for!). Most of the stores are willing if you ASK, and yes, sometimes you just need to ask. I mean, you just bought the guitar so you can't blame a sales guy for thinking you're happy with it. And as for those stores who aren't willing, you shouldn't be shopping there, unless of course you're dogging around for the absolute lowest price, in which case you get what you pay for.
Everyone's taste's are different, so even if they set up every guitar on the wall, I'd still need it tweaked for me - therefore, I'm happy that they set the guitar up for me after the fact.
Support the guys like Andy's, Music Connection, Musiek Wereld & Marshall Cape Town who give you THE WHOLE SERVICE PACKAGE. If you don't, all you'll have left in the future is bad service. The reason we have the bad service guys is because we've made scoring an extra R100 off more important than how we're looked after. Get a good deal, but stop screwing the good stores for prices - quality staff normally cost more money, and I want quality shops to shop in. I hate talking to monkeys for advice, but while we're expecting to spend peanuts for gear on the south tip of Africa, that's what we're gonna get. Along with apelike service and set-ups on our guitars...
I'll get off my soapbox now...?
All Fenders & Gretcshs come out the factory with .009's on em, so they feel easy and nice in a store. But I play .010's, so could care less. So when I bought my Tele, I just asked the guys to set it up for me with 010's. Which they did - a very decent set-up too. If I want it better, well, off to Foster it goes (Support your local tech - they're specialists, it's what they're there for!). Most of the stores are willing if you ASK, and yes, sometimes you just need to ask. I mean, you just bought the guitar so you can't blame a sales guy for thinking you're happy with it. And as for those stores who aren't willing, you shouldn't be shopping there, unless of course you're dogging around for the absolute lowest price, in which case you get what you pay for.
Everyone's taste's are different, so even if they set up every guitar on the wall, I'd still need it tweaked for me - therefore, I'm happy that they set the guitar up for me after the fact.
Support the guys like Andy's, Music Connection, Musiek Wereld & Marshall Cape Town who give you THE WHOLE SERVICE PACKAGE. If you don't, all you'll have left in the future is bad service. The reason we have the bad service guys is because we've made scoring an extra R100 off more important than how we're looked after. Get a good deal, but stop screwing the good stores for prices - quality staff normally cost more money, and I want quality shops to shop in. I hate talking to monkeys for advice, but while we're expecting to spend peanuts for gear on the south tip of Africa, that's what we're gonna get. Along with apelike service and set-ups on our guitars...
I'll get off my soapbox now...?
6 months later
Well if you're in Cape Town's northern suburbs, there's a little shop called Guitar Centre near Bayside in Table View.
It's low traffic, so the owner and his nephew/son/not100%whatHeis spend a lot of time keeping everything in a nice condition. They do also stock quite a lot of 2nd hand stock, but most of their stock is still entry level. Though he can source what you need, and will usually set it up for you if you ask - he can seem a bit of a car salesman, but he's still a decent oke
It's low traffic, so the owner and his nephew/son/not100%whatHeis spend a lot of time keeping everything in a nice condition. They do also stock quite a lot of 2nd hand stock, but most of their stock is still entry level. Though he can source what you need, and will usually set it up for you if you ask - he can seem a bit of a car salesman, but he's still a decent oke
Yeah, the only way to go.bobbyblues wrote: Support your local guitar tech
If on the South Coast, give Dave @ The Axe Workshop a line at
slyd@vodamail.co.za
Loving care and quality workmanship to your specifications! ?
17 days later
Totally agree. I think expecting stores to setup the guitars is one thing but I have had experiences of stores that don't even have their guitar vagually in tune. Having to tune every guitar you want to pick up is really painfull and well lets just say I usually give up and go somewhere else.
Surely it makes business sense! Make the customers guitar buying experience enjoyable and you sell more guitars. It's not rocket science.
Surely it makes business sense! Make the customers guitar buying experience enjoyable and you sell more guitars. It's not rocket science.
2 months later
Mark at Andy Mcgibbons really knows his stuff, he's gos a really cool workshop, so I guess they're your best bet.
8 days later
I was actually put off more than one guitar store here in CT due to the poor quality setups. I was looking at buying a tele or a PRS and played quite a few ones and, although I realised that the setups could be better done to improve playability, they actually made me not enjoy playing the guitars I was trying out. As a result, I went elsewhere and got amazing service. Marshall Music, both Cape Town Stores, seem to have really well setup instruments.
7 months later
MUSIC CONNECTION Craighall Park JHB, That's the "ONE" ?
Been doing business with them for a long-long time.
URI himself, Jacques and Anton are super.
New guitars get a total runover and complete set-up before leaving the shop. It also gets strung with strings of your choice. After sales service is superb! Their prices are excellent! MUSIC CONNECTION Craighall RULES!!!
Not easy to find a music shop that equals these people!! ?
Been doing business with them for a long-long time.
URI himself, Jacques and Anton are super.
New guitars get a total runover and complete set-up before leaving the shop. It also gets strung with strings of your choice. After sales service is superb! Their prices are excellent! MUSIC CONNECTION Craighall RULES!!!
Not easy to find a music shop that equals these people!! ?
a month later
This is one of the things that upsets me most about our "local" stores, cant find more than 3 guitars sortof in tune. Oh and sales people getting mad when you don't fall for the "these sell like hotacakes if you want it at that price buy it today, otherwise you will never ever get a deal like this again, ever" speeches.Booga wrote: Totally agree. I think expecting stores to setup the guitars is one thing but I have had experiences of stores that don't even have their guitar vagually in tune. Having to tune every guitar you want to pick up is really painfull and well lets just say I usually give up and go somewhere else.
Surely it makes business sense! Make the customers guitar buying experience enjoyable and you sell more guitars. It's not rocket science.
9 months later
solution is very simple : buy guitars which are perfectly in tune and set-up directly from factory , flawless even under microscope .
there are a few such a guitar producers , and their guitar are not so expensive as some industrial junk , they are even cheaper .
it will stay forever secret for me : why 99,00% of guys spent lots of cash for junk guitars : out of tune, with cheap , fast dried industrial wood , with screwed necks, paint problems, cheap electronic, lose wiring , with 2mm gap between neck and body , with 3 kg more in weight , with rusted frets and metal parts , you name it ......
reason why such a junk is produced is mass production and profit based on savings in quality control (there IS NO quality control ) , quality parts and proper design on the end .
you can do very simple math : put on the paper costs of each part and you will find that your lovely guitar with famous logo on the headstock costs no more than 200-300 USA $ in the best case , but you paid for it $2-3,000 !
on the end , you get to Andy ,Music Connection , Marshal Music or TOMS and expect a miracle from their guitar technicians .
there is a old saying : you can not made a pie from a shit .
apart from the fanboyism , don't you find it as ridicules !!! ? ???
?
there are a few such a guitar producers , and their guitar are not so expensive as some industrial junk , they are even cheaper .
it will stay forever secret for me : why 99,00% of guys spent lots of cash for junk guitars : out of tune, with cheap , fast dried industrial wood , with screwed necks, paint problems, cheap electronic, lose wiring , with 2mm gap between neck and body , with 3 kg more in weight , with rusted frets and metal parts , you name it ......
reason why such a junk is produced is mass production and profit based on savings in quality control (there IS NO quality control ) , quality parts and proper design on the end .
you can do very simple math : put on the paper costs of each part and you will find that your lovely guitar with famous logo on the headstock costs no more than 200-300 USA $ in the best case , but you paid for it $2-3,000 !
on the end , you get to Andy ,Music Connection , Marshal Music or TOMS and expect a miracle from their guitar technicians .
there is a old saying : you can not made a pie from a shit .
apart from the fanboyism , don't you find it as ridicules !!! ? ???
?
Another store that sets up EVERY guitar before even putting them on the shelf is Thundercloud Music in Fish Hoek...
Terry is also a great guy!
Terry is also a great guy!
Of course you can. Pie + shit = shitpie. Eating it, on the other hand...Rescator wrote: you can not made a pie from a shit .
I'm interested in hearing which guitar makers can produce flawless, perfectly set-up instruments for less many than mass-produced "industrial junk"?
I am glad you are interested .
For the start , you can search TGP , and find out about few guitar brands which do not need post factory setup .
There is (pretty strange for angry fanboys ?) consensus among those guitar brands and their ultimate quality .
Usually , behind all of such a brands is ONE person , that particular guitar builder , and you can deal directly with him .
More , you can buy second hand guitar in perfect conditions for less price than some new junk . :?
For the start , you can search TGP , and find out about few guitar brands which do not need post factory setup .
There is (pretty strange for angry fanboys ?) consensus among those guitar brands and their ultimate quality .
Usually , behind all of such a brands is ONE person , that particular guitar builder , and you can deal directly with him .
More , you can buy second hand guitar in perfect conditions for less price than some new junk . :?
2 years later
I have only two words for you!
"Music Connection" on Jan Smuts!
"Music Connection" on Jan Smuts!
14 days later
Walked into a Braamfonteen (JHB) shop earlier in the week, thought of getting a short scale less expensive bass. They had a Fender Jaguar on the wall. When picking up the guitar from the wall I could feel the frets sticking out by more then 0.5mm on the G-string side of the neck and not just one but all of them. So bad that when you moved your hand along the neck it ripped the flesh out your fingers.Norio wrote: It's such a pity that so many stores sell guitars in a completely unplayable state. It makes it impossible to see if you'll really like a guitar because of its rusted strings, dry fretboard, sharp frets, etc. (That was my experience with a JS1200 @ a popular store in JHB).
So I'd like to build a list, in this thread, of stores that sell guitars that are setup and ready to play/take home. Even if the list only has 3 stores, that's better than nothing and, hopefully, the other stores will take the hint and start setting up their guitars before putting them up for display!
Please, no naming and shaming of "bad" stores here - just tell us which stores you've been to that had their guitars in good nick and ready to play. Let's show the industry just how important this is to us.
The List:
Music Connection - Which branch(es)? I'll add only those branches here.
Andy McGibbons - 4 Main Street, Bordeaux, Randburg
Put the guitar back and forgot about it , didn't even look where it was made. It was a new one (not second hand) It had no price on maybe I should have put in an offer to take of their hands ? Am sure it's still hanging there. Maybe it slipped trough QC at the factory but the shop should never hang a guitar on display like that.
4 months later
Ive had very good experiences at Musiekwereld in Bellville, ive been supporting them for about 15 years now. Also Marshall music here in cape town is awesome, BUT heres the kicker... Dont buy new instruments if you dont intend to walk the extra mile with that guitar. ive bought two new instruments in my life. my first electric guitar which i had for about 5 years an ibanez exr170 and my Tokai sg88 which i dont intend to get rid of ..ever. have your guitars set up properly by a professional in anycase. remember. factory specs and personal preference differs.. some guys like a higher action to really dig in.. some guys like myself enjoy a lower action because of their laid back style.. a factory or shop setup will never do an instrument justice.
Thats my Humble pie for the day.
Thats my Humble pie for the day.