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Thread: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

  1. #1
    Registered User bob_mc's Avatar
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    Default Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Old topic, dead horse, etc. alert.

    I have been in different Guitar Centers maybe 4 times in my life, all 58 years of it. This past weekend I was on a business trip to City Of Industry and visited the Glendora store in an attempt to play some mandolins.

    On my way to the acoustic room, I passed an Ibanez electric guitar that caught my eye because the lower bout was cracked and the plys of the top exposed. It was also missing the switch tip and 3 knobs and the binding was deformed; it was a hot mess and "scratch and dent" priced at $399. Two guitars down was a brand new one also priced at $399. So, yeah, retail and stuff.

    Onto acoustic room and ALL the mandolins in stock:
    #1) a shiny Loar F ($599) that was unplayable/untunable (open strings OK, 3rd fret and above not OK and vice versa).
    #2) a less fancy Loar F that was unplayable because the price tag holder was woven in between strings and nut
    #3) a Mitchell A that I choose not to play after hearing it

    So, if you live somewhere where you can try before you buy a mandolin, count yourself lucky.

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    Orrig Onion HonketyHank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    So, now it is five times in 58 years. Look at the bright side: you probably won't be in another GC before you are 70.
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    I have one GC i always go to since it is near where I often shop and I have yet to find any mandolin worth playing there. I think the only one there was one of those Recording King Century models with the MOTS fretboard. They look good but that one did not sound great. I have played that brand of guitar and I believe that laminated back and sides on a guitar will work OK with a solid top but not so much for a mandolin. Then again, I am pretty sure that that mandolin was not set up properly anyway.
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  6. #4

    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    I have never found a playable mandolin in a general purpose music store. It seems like they feel the need to have two or three just to have them. I live near a large well run independent that has four. Maybe the same four I've been looking at for years. And they have mandolin strings if you want J74s.
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Sam Ash, another big box music store near me, has a couple of Epiphone mandolins, but they have a Seagull S-8 and that was actually fun to play. All these kinds of stores have lots of ukes but those are similar to guitars. Mandolins are a different animal.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Unfortunately you've just seen the new clothes of the king of chain warehouse music stores. There are a few other large chains, some which are doing a little better, others which are not.

    If you can still find a privately held local brick and mortar music store, you may find more care about instruments or you may just find accumulated years of frustration. Most of the small privately held small music stores survive by providing band/orchestra instrument rentals and sheet music for schools, turntables and other equipment for DJs or electric guitars, drum sets and PAs for dad bands.

    Unless you are close enough to visit one of a handful of specialty music stores and private builders that still thrive in the US or the world, you probably won't find better mandolins to try before you buy. Happily, most of the great specialty stores and even some of the private builders routinely advertise online, including here on the Cafe'. And many include video or sound samples online for their potential buyers. So statistically you'll probably see and hear much more by, for example, looking at the Classifieds here than by driving 30 to 90 minutes to find any local store. Although while online you can't feel the instruments in your hands, to help alleviate that issue, many online sellers offer a return period (minus shipping fees).

    Whether we like it or not, this is the musical instrument sales world as it exists today. Looking back 45 to 50 years ago things were very different, where you could find a shiny new high-end mandolin, banjo, Dobro, guitar or double bass sitting in your local music store. The popularity of making music by hand -- and the funding for such instruments -- has diminished significantly.
    -- Don

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Quote Originally Posted by dhergert View Post
    Looking back 45 to 50 years ago things were very different, where you could find a shiny new high-end mandolin, banjo, Dobro, guitar or double bass sitting in your local music store. The popularity of making music by hand -- and the funding for such instruments -- has diminished significantly.
    Hmmmm... I am trying to remember. I grew up in suburban area outside of New York City. There were a few music stores within reasonable driving distance, however I don't recall too many mandolins or banjos in them back when I was in high school which would have been 50 years ago. My dad bout a plastic-rimmed Kay tenor banjo back then at a local store but when he wanted something even a little better, we took a trip into the big city. Even back then in New York City mandolins, banjos and the like were few and far between. Vintage instruments were unheard of—or at least the term—they were called used. Mandolin Brothers opened in 1971. There were a few stores that did sell older, second hand instruments. I bought my first mandolin, an American Conservatory bowlback, from the House of Musical Traditions which was in the east Village back then (many years ago moved to Maryland). There were a few others like Silver and Horland and We Buy Guitars but otherwise you could find some good stuff at pawn shops.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Hmmm, must have been geographic then... Here in the burb of a town that I grew up in, I found a number of nice new mandolins, banjos and guitars just sitting around as a kid. Neither I or my family could afford them but they were there. As trends changed, about 5 years later in another burb there were lots of very high quality imports available -- still too pricey for me then, but available. While I often admired the nice mandolins, my money was into banjo then; eventually I ended up building my own, which was my main playing instrument for about 25 years.
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    The GC down the road from me has the mandolins on the highest row on the wall far out of reach without a ladder, so I've never even touched them. All my mandolins have come from various online sources. I do like popping into the GC to see what interesting used instruments happen to be in stock, good way to gauge if I might be interested in finding a similar one elsewhere. For instance I played an old 1970s Giannini classical guitar at GC and discovered I loved the neck profile, so I ended up getting a great deal on an old Giannini AWN 300 from Reverb.

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    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Quote Originally Posted by Seter View Post
    . . . good way to gauge if I might be interested in finding a similar one elsewhere. For instance I played an old 1970s Giannini classical guitar at GC and discovered I loved the neck profile, so I ended up getting a great deal on an old Giannini AWN 300 from Reverb.
    That's the best use for GC. My buddy decided he wanted a Telecaster, so we went to GC and tried them all out, then proceeded to the local mom-and-pop and bought the one he liked. The price wasn't much higher, and they threw in a setup, gig bag, strap and tuner.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    ▬ Guitar Center ▬

    The operative word there is "Guitar." ♫
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Guitar Center started in a single small shop on Sunset in Hollywood. I was there a few times in the mid-seventies and bought my all time favorite guitar there in June of 1976, a top of the line 1976 TV model, Guild D55, which I still play. It had a single salesperson with a cramped acoustic room containing only Martins, Guilds and Gibsons, and a long counter backed by a row of Fender and Gibson electrics. Everything was negotiable. Even as the company expanded into the 1990's there were still quality instruments and salespeople being paid on commission that could barter the price on a Martin, Gibson, Ovation, and drum sets or cymbals, which I did many times for my three sons and I. The beauty was quality instruments for a discount, versus what they stock today: a high volume of guitars that are mass produced and often abused by customers. The lack of mandolins at Guitar Center is alarming... they do very well to include DJ equipment, drums, keyboards, and PA's, etc., so they should make an effort to have actual carved mandolins available. I see your point, exactly.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    I have been to half a dozen Guitar Centers. There are plenty of things to play with but I have never ever had any luck finding a playable mandolin. I guess that's why they call it Guitar Center and not Music Center, LOL.

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Quote Originally Posted by lflngpicker View Post
    The lack of mandolins at Guitar Center is alarming... they do very well to include DJ equipment, drums, keyboards, and PA's, etc., so they should make an effort to have actual carved mandolins available.
    I am not surprised. According to Mandolin Cafe Statistics there are 53,970 members worldwide. I would guess that in most well-populated countries that number would constitute maybe 85-90% of the wordwide mandolin population. In other words, we are a definite majority compared to guitar and even ukulele players. Also bear in mind that the vast majority of mandolin players play acoustic instruments. There are probably a lot more separate brands of both acoustic and electric guitars than there are of acoustic mandolins. I am sure that in some areas there are a concentration of mandolin players—maybe in larger cities—but, for the most part it makes little sense for a music store, large or small, to invest in an instrument that appeals to a such smaller community of players. GC online carries a lot more mandolins but it probably makes little sense for each store to have any kind of selection of mandolins. I, too, wished it weren't so but that seems to be the case.

    The few that are in the GC and other stores in my area have been there for a year or two. The one exception was a Seagull S8 at my local Sam Ash which was around for a few months and eventually sold. They did stock another one of those. Otherwise, the Epiphone and the Fender mandolin as well as some Good Time banjos have been there for awhile.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Well said, Jim. It is true that GC has mandolins available online and that makes sense, considering the demand related to percentage of population playing mandolins vs guitars and other more in-demand instruments.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    Mandolins are a big deal here (go figure) but comparing them to many other instruments, it's not a big deal. Go to Craig's List and look at the musical instruments for sale: guitars, drums, guitars, amplifiers, guitars, someone's old school clarinet, guitars, etc. Guitar Center is trying to make money and there's more money in guitars than mandolins.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    If they were selling them, they would have them.

    Look at the ratio of guitars to mandolins in even a nice shop. Probably ten to one. Sales are probably 50 to one, so I suspect they stock mandolins and banjos as a matter of pride rather than economics.
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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    If you're in the area again, and if you're up for a bit of a drive, McCabe's in Santa Monica has a good selection of Mandolins. https://www.mccabes.com/

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    Default Re: Mandolins at Guitar Center Geldora Ca.

    I go into GC a couple times a year for guitar strings and to play the used guitars (some real gems show up from time to time). I was in there this week and spotted a few decent mandolins on the wall. Didn’t attempt to play, usually a lost cause. All said, I still love GC, mostly for nostalgia’s sake. I see kids in there with eyes filled with wonder. Always makes me happy.
    ...

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