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Music shop (in France) Thought I'd heard it all.


leschirons
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Our French guitarist popped into our local music shop to get some picks. The owner was not there (his pal) and the only member of staff was in charge.

In walks a lady, to buy a Christmas present for her husband. An acoustic guitar. She starts to look at a couple on the wall, starting with an Epiphone (J200 type) She knows nothing about guitars which is fair enough as she expects the shop staff to point her in the right direction.

Next, she looks at a slightly cheaper electro acoustic with a cut-away and then asks why the Epiphone is more expensive.

The reply? Pointing to the jumbo "More wood....... more wood, more money, less wood, less money" and then promptly wanders off.

At this point, our guitarist picks up the Epiphone, corrects the "so far out its unbelievable" tuning and gives her 5 mins of everything from his classical party piece to Wanted dead or alive and then a nice instrumental version of True colours. She bought the guitar (and a gigbag)

No surprise that the shop is likely to be closing in 3 months due to lack of trade. He did tell the owner but the guy is still there!!

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I loved the ambivalence from French shop staff when i lived there. We had a guy in our local France Telecom shop who learned to swear in English just so he could have a right pop at me. It was great as he would rant at me in Clouseau type swearing then i would correct him when he got something wrong which made him madder until he slipped back into his native tongue.

Then there was the baker who would always ask me to repeat my order even though i bought pretty much the same thing every day. After about a year i plucked up courage and asked them why they did this. They said it was because they liked my "naughty little English accent" :rolleyes:

Vivre la Republique

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[quote name='molan' timestamp='1357481411' post='1923148']
Brilliant - I'm going to try that line on someone and see what reaction I get :)

Just sold a massive, and ancient, Marshal cab for £80. Would have loved to stick a £500 price tag on it because it had more wood in the construction!
[/quote]

King Salesman... keep going with those Foderas <_<

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[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1357481230' post='1923145']
I've often wondered why solid bodies were more expensive! Now I know...

Still, it's good to know they won't charge extra for the air in F holes!
[/quote]

Also explains the ridiculous cost of a double-bass. If you could get a solid body one of those the shops would never shift them........ ;)

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More wood, more money, eh..?

How much would these go for, then, I wonder..? Might be a good address to know...

[url="http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Acoustic-Instruments/Mandolin/Gibson-Original.aspx"]http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Acoustic-Instruments/Mandolin/Gibson-Original.aspx[/url]

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[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1357482582' post='1923171']
I loved the ambivalence from French shop staff when i lived there. We had a guy in our local France Telecom shop who learned to swear in English just so he could have a right pop at me. It was great as he would rant at me in Clouseau type swearing then i would correct him when he got something wrong which made him madder until he slipped back into his native tongue.

Then there was the baker who would always ask me to repeat my order even though i bought pretty much the same thing every day. After about a year i plucked up courage and asked them why they did this. They said it was because they liked my "naughty little English accent" :rolleyes:

Vivre la Republique
[/quote]

This all sounds so familiar. Once, when asked by a shopkeeper which direction I was going in (as he did not have what I wanted) I replied, in a very passable French accent, Chateauroux.
"Quoi? Chateauroux I replied a second time.
"Ou" CHATEAUROUX (raised voice) "J'ai pas compris"

So, I wrote it down. "Aaaaah Chateauroux"

I'm sure they do it on purpose :rolleyes: I bet you miss it really.

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Our local shop is the same, women comes in for a recorder for her child, he takes two different ones from under the counter one is £7 one is £12, "whats the difference?" "£5". He thinks he is a legend when really she thinks he is a dick and will buy the next item from Thomanns online in future ;)

They have a used for sale notice board that has down the side-

[b]S[/b]econd
[b]H[/b]and
[b]I[/b]nstruments
[b]T[/b]o
[b]E[/b]njoy

OK so its a bit funny but you get the idea of what this shop is like, its the only one in a 10 mile radius though.

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[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1357482582' post='1923171']
They said it was because they liked my "naughty little English accent" :rolleyes:

Vivre la Republique
[/quote]

Shouldn't that be [u]Vive[/u] la Republique? Unless it's your accent?! ;)

Edited by simon1964
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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1357491593' post='1923431']
Our local shop is the same, women comes in for a recorder for her child, he takes two different ones from under the counter one is £7 one is £12, "whats the difference?" "£5". He thinks he is a legend when really she thinks he is a dick and will buy the next item from Thomanns online in future ;)

They have a used for sale notice board that has down the side-

[b]S[/b]econd
[b]H[/b]and
[b]I[/b]nstruments
[b]T[/b]o
[b]E[/b]njoy

OK so its a bit funny but you get the idea of what this shop is like, its the only one in a 10 mile radius though.
[/quote]

Sounds like the chap who owns it used to do cabaret at Butlins in the 1970s . Those jokes are worthy of it .

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