Would you pay a small fee - to try out a bass/guitar?

[skej21]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1390156931' post='2342094']


That's disgusting. I read a long time ago that signs such as "All breakages must be paid for" haven't got a prayer in law, don't know if that's true or not? Couldn't you have done him for criminal damage for such an expensive item, if you'd called the police in?
[/quote]

Not really. If we let people play the instruments, I suppose we're responsible for them. It's losing money on items like this that cost the high street stores money that online businesses will never have an issue with.

The ironic thing is, it's the people who feel it's their right to try everything in the shop without an intention of buying that are the first ones to pull lines like 'well it's the last/only one in stock, therefore it's ex demo so how much are you going to knock off' or 'what's your best price?'... I had a guy pull the first one on me about a Gibson custom VOS SG the other day. How likely is it that ANY shop is going to stock more than 1 of the same model of Gibson custom VOS SG?!

Edited January 19, 2014 by skej21

[Wally]

Perhaps.

As Skank alludes to. What about some sort of 'megastore' hosting gear for multiple manufacturers where a soundproofed booth was a tenner for an hour, or fifteen for two and all sorts of guitar, amp and effect combinations could be tried out in that time.

You'd have to order whatever you might then want to purchase but leads and picks etc would be in stock as usual.

[Mokl]

Thank God I don't work in a music shop any longer. Regrettably the number of people who weren't prepared to show a little respect to the instruments was very high. Pulling at expensive guitars hanging on the wall without realising the headstock was secured in place by the hanger, dinging the acoustics as they pull them out of the display then getting shirty when you go to assist to try and avoid further damage being caused. I even encountered customers who didn't even pretend that they had any intention of buying from you and would say 'I've seen this on GAK but just wanted to check how it sounded" for example, although this after quizzing you for 5 minutes on the features and requesting your opinion then playing it through an amp for half an hour. All of the above could be very soul-destroying when you work as a very small team at an independent shop, and at times I did wonder how an adult (because they were almost always worse than the kids) could have graduated from childhood with such a lack of basic manners or respect. Of course there were plenty of people, and to be fair probably more than 50%, who had the manners to check it was okay if they wanted to try something or take something down from display; and we always made a point of approaching customers to greet them and to 'please let us know if there's anything you want to try'.

But back to the topic, I can't see any way that charging people to try a guitar would work, although I completely empathise with where you are coming from.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Mokl

[skej21]

[quote name='Wally' timestamp='1390157590' post='2342112']
Perhaps.

As Skank alludes to. What about some sort of 'megastore' hosting gear for multiple manufacturers where a soundproofed booth was a tenner for an hour, or fifteen for two and all sorts of guitar, amp and effect combinations could be tried out in that time.

You'd have to order whatever you might then want to purchase but leads and picks etc would be in stock as usual.
[/quote]

Personally I think that companies like Gibson, Fender etc should offer all offer a demo instrument of their choice to each retailer (cost to be split between retailer cost and manufacturers 'marketing'). If they insist on having stocking requirements and buy-ins and laying down rules to keep dealerships, they should also offer a demo instrument so that shops can have them hung up with a 'WANNA PLAY A *insert brand name* TODAY?! JUST ASK A MEMBER IF STAFF TO TRY ME!' sign. That means anyone fancying a quick ten mins jam on a guitar to fulfil their playing Tourette's/attention seeking tendency can do without damaging shop stock, the manufacturers get more people playing their instruments and it means the actual stock is less likely to be damaged prior to purchase by a genuine buyer.

Edited January 19, 2014 by skej21

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1390156311' post='2342081']
It's a shame there aren't more customers like you. We had a gent today who came in, unlocked a guitar on the wall (ie helped himself despite 2 of us asking if he was ok or needed help etc, to which his response was a flat 'no'). He then dropped the guitar (acoustic) cracked the back, passed it to me and said 'here *passes instrument*... Sorry', walked out of the shop and so we now have to recoup the items cost despite the damage which he hasn't paid a penny for.

Personally, I think it's this kind of issue that is killing the high street music shops. They can hold less stock so don't get bulk order discounts plus staffing costs and damage of stock pushes the price of instruments up and makes it so difficult to compete.
[/quote] I try and avoid going at weekend too, you would like me as a customer!

That fella sounds awful. I get really annoyed with how you see some stuff getting treated. guitars especially.

[Mokl]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1390158223' post='2342126']
Personally I think that companies like Gibson, Fender etc should offer all offer a demo instrument of their choice to each retailer (cost to be split between retailer cost and manufacturers 'marketing'). If they insist on having stocking requirements and buy-ins and laying down rules to keep dealerships, they should also offer a demo instrument so that shops can have them hung up with a 'WANNA PLAY A *insert brand name* TODAY?! JUST ASK A MEMBER IF STAFF TO TRY ME!' sign. That means anyone fancying a quick ten mins jam on a guitar to fulfil their playing Tourette's/attention seeking tendency can do without damaging shop stock, the manufacturers get more people playing their instruments and it means the actual stock is less likely to be damaged prior to purchase by a genuine buyer.
[/quote]

That's a really good idea - signs tend not to work though, but it wouldn't matter if the manufacturers were prepared to offer a demo model. Roland actually used to offer a discount to us on the digital drums so that the first kit could be discounted to a realistic price after a while on display. This was the right idea, although we still couldn't compete on price (and we're talking miles out), compared to the online specialists. As a result we stopped selling them as we couldn't afford to lose money on them, and that meant the good people of our town had nowhere local to see or try the product.

[mentalextra]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1390156311' post='2342081']
We had a gent today who came in, unlocked a guitar on the wall (ie helped himself despite 2 of us asking if he was ok or needed help etc, to which his response was a flat 'no'). He then dropped the guitar (acoustic) cracked the back, passed it to me and said 'here *passes instrument*... Sorry', walked out of the shop and so we now have to recoup the items cost despite the damage which he hasn't paid a penny for.[/quote]

A friend of mine had a punter crash a car on a test drive and run off! Try sorting that mess out!

[skej21]

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1390160361' post='2342169']


A friend of mine had a punter crash a car on a test drive and run off! Try sorting that mess out!
[/quote]

Some people are just amazing!

[White Cloud]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1390148932' post='2341943']
Would you pay it - or would it put you off going into shops that did such?
[/quote]
Eh, no and yes.

Any shop implementing this would be sure to lose my custom

Edited January 19, 2014 by White Cloud

[FinnDave]

Not a chance!

[TimR]

Surely you just give your customers a time limited wi-fi code that only lasts 30mins when they buy their coffee.

I thought that if you break something in a shop the shop keeper can demand you pay the cost value of the item.

[topo morto]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1390150759' post='2341975']
Never go into music shops anyway as I can pretty much guarantee they won't have anything of any interest to me.
[/quote]

Sadly I too usually find this to be the case. A lot of mainstream are targeting people who are Ignorant of where they could get better stuff for cheaper. I took at the price tag and think "I may be an idiot, but even I have limits".

I'd like a store that was the music equivalent of TK Maxx. It's those kind of stores where I might make an impulse buy, and where it's actually worth the store's time to have me browsing around in there.

[Jellyfish]

If I had a big budget, and a wide choice of basses I could play e.g. something along the lines of a Fender Jazz, but considering other makes, then I'd happily pay a fee to spend time in somewhere like Bass Direct.

[lucky]

I'd say it's a great idea. I once went into a guitar shop with a friend who was in the market for a new guitar, he asked to play one and was handed the guitar of interest, after a few minutes he asked to try another similar guitar and was told if he wasn't there to buy a guitar that day then it wasn't worth the music shop guy having to clean and tune the guitar. Needless to say no guitar was bought that day.

If somewhere had a guitar i'd seen online it would be great to try it out perfectly honestly before buying elsewhere, while still benefiting the music shop. And if the charge for trying a few things out was deducted from the final price then it could be make the prices closer with online competitors (after paying to try the things out)

On a side note, i would happily pay a few pounds to spend some time just enjoying a few different instruments/amps in a little booth/room somewhere for fun

[Colonel36]

What about putting a decent coffee style shop, in a section of the music shop, with those nice Fender stools round the bar.

[Graham]

If it was somewhere like Bass Direct where I could have access to a large variety of, often esoteric brands with someone like Mark who has the knowledge of different brands to be able to steer me in the right direction from my vague descriptions of tone then I wouldn't object to maybe paying £20 for an hour's time.

I have to factor in the cost of transport to places like Bass Direct or The Gallery anyway so factoring in another cost wouldn't be the end of the world and would go some way to the cost of re-stringing demo instruments after sufficient people have got their hands on them.

Last trip I took to Bass Direct I knew I had no intention of buying a bass, but wanted to try some out and then look for a used version, I spent about an hour or so there and played about £16k's worth of instruments, if I had to pay for that experience I think it would both be fair and wouldn't put me off. I did buy some strings whilst I was there though, mostly so I didn't feel too guilty about the experience.

[MiltyG565]

Short answer - no. It's not a horrible idea, I just can't see it working favourably for a shop, at least not one that is trying to scrap by on sales of budget/beginner guitars. If you impose a fee on people playing the instruments in the shop, they will be less likely to play them, and if they are less likely to play them, they are less likely to buy them. I don't think you could make up that loss in sales from charging a few quid to play a guitar in shop.

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='lucky' timestamp='1390189580' post='2342438']
I'd say it's a great idea. I once went into a guitar shop with a friend who was in the market for a new guitar, he asked to play one and was handed the guitar of interest, after a few minutes he asked to try another similar guitar and was told if he wasn't there to buy a guitar that day then it wasn't worth the music shop guy having to clean and tune the guitar. Needless to say no guitar was bought that day.
[/quote]

What on earth? Not worth his time? He's there anyway, isn't he? I mean, he didn't open the shop up just for your mate, did he? Sounds like he made it not worth his time by talking your mate out of a sale.

[Noisyjon]

I would not pay to try an instrument, but...

I like the idea of dedicated demo guitars/basses available to try in a shop supplied by the manufacturers marketing departments.
Then when your chosen model is selected it would be in a new/unused coming out for you to buy.
You would of course be given a perfectly balanced & weighted, superbly playing, sounding and looking demo instrument and guess this could only be done for more mainstream models to be cost effective to manufacturers.

[Les]

No. I wouldn't pay to try.

[Thunderbird]

A Big fat NO from me but I would not mind paying a small fee to rent a bass for a weekend or something to try it out properly at home

[Beer of the Bass]

I don't see it working for the meat and potatoes stuff, but there are a few high-end instruments I would be very curious to experience playing that I'm not in a financial position to consider buying. I'm not in the habit of trying out things in shops unless I'm considering a purchase - I'm a polite sort of chap (or try to be) and it just feels a bit cheeky. So I'd be quite open to the idea, in certain cases.

[Grangur]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1390218833' post='2342632']
I don't see it working for the meat and potatoes stuff, but there are a few high-end instruments I would be very curious to experience playing that I'm not in a financial position to consider buying. I'm not in the habit of trying out things in shops unless I'm considering a purchase - I'm a polite sort of chap (or try to be) and it just feels a bit cheeky. So I'd be quite open to the idea, in certain cases.
[/quote] +1
I can also understand a time limit on trying a bass too. It must be frustrating to have a customer playing a bass for an hour, then say "nahh, I don't like it. "

[flyfisher]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1390156311' post='2342081']
It's a shame there aren't more customers like you. We had a gent today who came in, unlocked a guitar on the wall (ie helped himself despite 2 of us asking if he was ok or needed help etc, to which his response was a flat 'no'). He then dropped the guitar (acoustic) cracked the back, passed it to me and said 'here *passes instrument*... Sorry', walked out of the shop and so we now have to recoup the items cost despite the damage which he hasn't paid a penny for.

Personally, I think it's this kind of issue that is killing the high street music shops. They can hold less stock so don't get bulk order discounts plus staffing costs and damage of stock pushes the price of instruments up and makes it so difficult to compete.
[/quote]

I don't doubt that story and others like it are huge problems for music shops. But the internet is often described as a 'game changer' and this is exactly the sort of thing that happens when something better comes along.

How many of us keep a horse and cart for our travel requirements - after all, they're still available aren't they? Once upon a time they were the pinnacle of transport aspiration but were eventually superseded by something so much better that the vast majority of people chose the alternative.

Sure, change sometimes adversely affects some people, but if that change is not to the benefit of the vast majority of people then it won't happen because people will stick with what they know. I don't think people were forced to give up horses in favour of the internal combustion engine - they chose it because it was better. What other reason was there? It's the same thing with high street shops versus online shopping, or email versus handwritten letters delivered by the royal mail, or warm comfortable shopping malls compared with trudging all around town.

Times change. If they didn't then we'd all be living far poorer and less comfortable lives.

[lowlandtrees]

I play a bit sax. One of the problems down the years hasn't been the instrument itself but the mouthpieces. I would be prepared to pay a fee to bugger about with different mouthpieces and I think that there would be a (small ) market for this. I must have spent literally hundreds of pounds looking for the perfect m/pc. I think there is a similar parallel with bass strings. I recently discovered flatties and love them but I must have gone through a few bucks worth of sets to get there. Don't think you could charge though. I understand music shop dilemma but on the other hand a busy shop looks better than an empty one.......just got it.....why don't they sell coffee or go the whole hog and have a bar....christ......think I'm on to something here..