Sam Ash has been bought by Gohner music in Mexico in hopes to become a online retail giant. Could there be a world where Sam Ash returns to battle the boss of the online music shopping world Sweetwater Music!
I like buying used gear from Guitar Center online. I ALWAYS have it shipped to my local store 10 miles away. I try it out, play it in the store when I pick it up. If I don't like it, I can return it before leaving the store. Nothing lost.
I’ve only had excellent interactions with Sweetwater. I love how they follow up on everything. To me that puts them in a next level category. The return system has worked flawlessly for me. I bought a Gibson Les Paul JR from them several years ago. Sweetwater didn’t have any blacks ones and Sam Ash had 1. The guy that was handling it, asked for my phone number and called me immediately to make sure I was getting what I wanted. He followed up with me the day after it arrived. The experience with them was excellent. I hope they make it with the new owner.
I was able to spend a bit of time in the Sam Ash Charlotte store and witnessed them sell everything in the inventory. On the last day only a few items remained. It was precision selling down to the carpet. I'll miss the store. Having said that I'll be moving to Mount Gilead in the late fall. Ron's picking parlor and Casino guitars will be my new favorite stores to frequent. A long day but worth the mileage each time. I look forward to meeting you all.
I got my follow up call yesterday from Sweetwater and as a happy customer I'm looking forward to another. I thought it was Donner at first you were talking about.
Off topic: One of the greatest instrumentals of all time, makes me shed a tear every time I hear it: Theme from Rocky- James Last Orchestra featuring Derek Watkins on Trumpet. Actually not so off topic since you are talking about the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight. Rocky was Sly's big breakthrough, and he wrote the script. It's free on prime again with the whole series. Pretty cool.
I bought a PRS Custom 24-08 online from Sam Ash About seven years ago. It was called a guitar of distinction and they had three of the color that I wanted great pictures and all of them had accurate weights. IDK if that was for high-end guitars only? Sam Ash should head in that direction with all their guitars and equipment.
I love Sweetwater and use extensively their guitar specs to buy sight unseen because I know the scale length, radius, nut width and all the rest I like, and they above all the rest in safely shipping guitars. With all that said competition keeps biz from sitting on their laurels. They could do well possibly finding a niche, maybe like acoustic guitar experts of the online world as a lame example, but taking on Sweetwater for enormous amount of different gear is a tall task.
Got an idea, how about Baxter Sean & Jonathan all pick their Top 5 Favorite Strat, Tele & Les Paul style songs or Solo's, personally on Tele I loved Danny Gatton on Tele playing Sleepwalk
Just my opinion, the number one thing they need to do is actual photos of the actual guitar just like Sweetwater does. That’s the #1 thing that makes me go to Sweetwater if I’m going to buy a guitar online instead of locally. I will never buy another guitar online from anyone else unless I have actual pics of the instrument. I had a really bad experience with a big name retailer on their Reverb store sending me a very plain topped Les Paul that they claimed was the same guitar as the super quilted one pictured. The Sweetwater reps are a fantastic resource and a great touch. But for me, that’s something they can incorporate later.
I used to use musicians friend. Not been using sweetwater very long. But, this competition is good to see. The fact is, sweetwater has set the bar high. So any company taking them on has to give more candy. In a sense.
So I come to realize every time I purchase a guitar online I return it , i’m not that guy to just buy some returns Guitars all the time however i did buy an Echopark from u guys and I loved it. And for some personal reasons I sold it .one of my biggest regrets. The other was when I was younger and my two stripper neighbors wanted to make out and I got scared because one of the girls hands were really big .I feel safe to says this on this platform But back to guitars I find it better when I get play before purchasing . I use the Internet for all the spec stuff but when you order the guitar online it could check all the boxes, but one thing could be wrong it’s too big of a wrong thing to live with, I think that’s where the sales person online really has to know the material versus just trying to sell something. I hope Sweetwater has some competition on out to find out to Sam Ash went under
Never been a great fan of buying the "name". In the end if the new product is better and people benefit - then go for it. Hopefully the workers will be taken care of.
This is like Jake Paul trying to take on Tyson for real.... but Tyson is in his prime.... Sweetwater, musicians friend, guitar center.... the online market couldn't be more flooded, and its gotten so bad that manufacturers are now refusing to supply some companies unless they have brick and mortal locations. I feel like this is just delaying the inevitable.
Guitar center won’t even upgrade the point of sales where they’re still using that old green text dos based system that they have to type a novel so you can just buy a pair of sticks. That’s how I know they’ll never have a viable website.
Right, Guitar Center really needs to bring their in store computer systems into the 21st century. I still shop and order from them because of their great return policy and local stores, and they're still giving an extra 10% off on a lot of Fender stuff. Just make sure it's new in box in store or from the KC warehouse to the store. Guitars off the wall are a crapshoot.
I mean any business should have a certain level of respect for the literal place where the money comes into your business. Make that place as quick and efficient as technology will let you.
Samash in my town had this "going out of business" "sale". %50 off all guitar parts. So I grab an arm load of guitar parts. Like 14-20 items. NOt one of them was "on sale" in the cash register. Total hoax "going out of business" sale. Sucks I bought gear from them cause I felt sorry for them. bad move. They're full of shit. Oh well.. live and learn.
Sweetwater is the "State of the Art' for selling Guitars on line. In order to beat them, you have to cut the fat out of their bottom line, there's not a lot of (if any) fat to cut. Sweetwater is the retailer. So how do you sell guitars below the dealer price and remain profitable?
Hi! Long time heavyweight boxer here. I will speak from experience that the brain does not absorb a punches the same way at age 45 as it does at age 25. At age 58, it's a tragedy waiting to happen. Let's hope this fight doesn't occur, cuz Jake Paul is going to absolutely demolish Tyson and probably cause long-term damage. It's an irresponsible promotion and it should never happen
Love to hear you guys ramble. Just checked the Sam Ash website and they're still doing "closing sale and mega discounts", but its a mess. Right now it looks like Sam Ash is a total disaster. So Gohner is going to have to totally reinvent the brand and the website to even have a chance. Mexican ownership, what could go wrong? Are the cartels going to be trafficking Fender knockoffs? Yikes, buy from a reputable dealer. And talking about catalogs, remember when Computer Shopper was a 3 inch thick monthly tabloid sized publication?
@@juanjosebol I gave you a thumbs up for replying. I'll tell my 3rd generation American born in Hawaii Filipina Chinese Spanish wife what you said. She's a beauty. On second thought I won't even bother her with it. Mind over matter. I don't mind because you don't matter.
Sam Ash could be a Netflix-style retailer. Like you pay a subscription fee and they send you a guitar in your queue. You play it, return it for the next one...or keep it and your account is charged.
Click bait. It's laughable. Sure there's people who don't prefer Sweetwater. My advice to them would be to slow your roll, and look at the bigger picture. This is a great marketing plan by the buyer of Sam Ash to say this. But it's just not based in reality. If it were that easy, GC/MF would be doing it. A.M.S. would be doing it. Please.
Copying SW isn't it, imo. GC is trying (poorly) to emulate SW reps. Got an email I had been assigned one. A week later he calls me about a used item I had left in my cart... that they didn't have any more. Intrusive and useless. Sweetwater's candy game has been slipping. Three orders, zero rootbeer barrels or bit-o-honey. Maybe that's where SA can slip in.
