We have a GC here in Nashville (go figure . . . ) and I step in from time to time. I'm always amazed that in a town crawling with serious players, I ALWAYS hear the same old 'gee, I could play it like THAT in my bedroom' sturm + drang I've always heard in music stores my whole life. I do, as a personal prerogative, immediately go back out the door if I hear 'Eruption'.
I think of it like a WalMart for musicians if I need strings, etc. Not for serious shopping for me, their inventory is just not for guys that have been there, done that, except for those guys that buy Taylors to look at or Gibson 'Custom Shop' pieces to pad a collection (except the truly custom pieces never see retail in most cases, but they get a lot of mileage out of that itty-bitty stamp). Of course, here in town you can go to George Gruhn's, or Walter Carter's new vintage store if you truly want to see how deep your pockets are . . . .
A while back I had a curiosity about the new Alain Caron MarkBass combo, and GC had one, so I took the Elan to test-drive it. I had to 'check it at the door', and when I opened the case, this kid started stammering so bad, he could hardly write my pass. He called a floor manager over, and I thought they were both going to need oxygen. Anyway they hooked me up with this kid that took me in this room where they had the amp (won't be buying one, AC loves it, but it didn't suit me), and I tooted around on it for a minute, and let this kid play it, and he really got a bang out of it, 'I've never seen one of these before, but I've always heard of them', so it was fun to watch him digging it.
Then, it got really wierd. I wanted to see one of the Universal Audio LA channel strips, play the Elan through one. None of them in their test racks, nor would they unbox one of the ones on the shelf for me to try it. I could buy it and return it, but not try it in the store first. Am I missing something here?
J o e y
