Category: Music Stores

Categories
Music Stores

Guitar Center: Times They Are A-Changin’

Phillip McKnight is a YouTuber that produces guitar-related vlogs on his channel. This includes guitar/amp/pedal reviews, as well as critiques of manufacturers and stores, be they brick-and-mortar or online. His recent critique of Guitar Center motivated the CEO of the company, Gabriel Dalporto, to contact McKnight and set up an interview to react to the critique.

I applaud this wholeheartedly. We saw how effective podcasts and vlogs are recently, such as the presidential election. The interview was actually interesting to watch. Dalporto, besides being the head of GC, is also a musician. Just like the CEOs of Ford or GM drive the cars that their companies build, he plays the guitars that his company markets. He knows as a performing musician what is needed when on the stage or in the studio. He walks the walks so that he can talk the talk.

Most interesting in the conversation was that Dalporto realizes that the terrain of musical instrument stores has changed dramatically, especially post-COVID. Low-priced beginner guitars are available through Amazon in a way that GC cannot compete. So Dalporto has decided that GC will concentrate more on mid-line and upper line/vintage instruments, and making them more accessible to customers. He realizes that GC is like a candy store to musicians, but regular musicians, whether pro or amateur, want to get hands on with the better equipment. Dalporto plans to take the locks off of the instruments out of reach and make them playable. He has found in studies that those customers that spend more time in the store end up purchasing more.

Dalporto plans on taking the challenge of competing against online-specific music stores like Sweetwater, which right now has a strong hold on the topic, particularly when it comes to fast shipping. He also said that he is interested in getting questions from customers on how to improve the stores. The comments section in the YT video had some good points, along with people complaining just to complain. I posted my thoughts with two suggestions. One deals with GC executives traveling the country to visit stores outside of California. My second suggestion was more important to me personally.

When I go into one of the local GC stores here in the Detroit area, I notice that the guitar section is about 85% electric guitars and basses, Much of the floors space is dedicated to amplifiers. Acoustic guitars have a separate room, with about a dozen acoustic guitars, two or three acoustic bassed, and perhaps two mandolins, a banjo, and a round-neck reso guitar. Interest in acoustic music, especially in the bluegrass and Americana formats, has grown considerably in the past decade. Particularly, youth and female musician numbers are growing. Yet selection for acoustic instruments is still limited.

I am fortunate in that I can drive about two hours to one of the best music stores to offer acoustic musical instruments in the country. Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan has been one of the best resources for bluegrass musicians since 1972. Yes, the offer shipping to out-of-state shoppers, but if anyone is like me, one likes to try out the instrument and “kick the tires” before purchasing.

GC already has a contract to sell Gibson electric guitars. Gibson makes excellent banjos and mandolins. Selling Fender lower-quality banjos and mandolins will not get that niche customer base into the stores. It would be worth it to at least test-market such an idea at a few stores to see what happens over a few years. Hopefully Dalporto at least considers this suggestion, or at least looks at it.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music Music Stores

My Oasis in Nashville

As you know, two weekends ago I was in Nashville for the SPBGMA conference. While the conference ends on Sunday, I like to stay an extra day to get some work done while I am there, usually co-writing with someone in town. Unfortunately, my co-writing friend got sick, so she had to cancel. I figured it was a lost day, so after doing some driving around town, I headed back to my hotel for a quick nap before dinner.

There’s a strip along the road near my hotel where there are a number of small industrial businesses, and a block off of this road (Elm Hill Pike) is the Gibson Guitar factory, where they make most of the electric guitars. About a half mile from my hotel amongst these businesses is a building that looks like a 1950s era church. I had not paid any attention to it before, but on this particular day, there was a sign outside that read “GUITAR SALE.” I was not about to let this slip away, so I pulled into the small parking lot and headed for the front door.

As I walked in, there was no one around, but my eyes caught a large sign on the wall by what looked like a reception desk, that displayed a number of old record companies, including Gusto, King, Starday and Federal. These were all labels from the 1950s through 1980s that had some of the best bluegrass, traditional country, and R&B acts on their rosters. On an adjacent wall was a number of gold records from the likes of Red Sovine and Marty Robbins.

Wow! I had just entered a little piece of Heaven! Soon, a gentleman named Garry came into the lobby and showed me to a room that was all that I could hope for. There were racks of CDs, cassettes and vinyl, along with rows of guitars, ukeleles and other musical instruments. Some of the CDs were marked down to $1.00! I had to pinch myself to see if it was real! I texted my buddy Ken and told him that this was the type of place we would be running.

As for the guitars, most of them were the Urban brand, which is a make sponsored by country artist Keith Urban. When he started this brand, he was contracted with Yamaha to make the guitars, so the older models included the Yamaha tuning fork logo along with the URBAN name on the headstock. More recent models have an eagle on the headstock with the name, so I am not sure if they are still made by Yamaha. If they are, the price tag of $99.00 would actually be worth it, but I have way too many guitars in my house right now and am actually looking to get rid of a few, so I passed on those. They had some Urban practice amps priced decently at $39.00 and $49.00, but again, I don’t need any more practice amps.

Other musical instruments included some Jay Turser electric guitars that were priced at about what the going rate is on Reverb and eBay. The ukeleles were reasonably priced at $39.00, but I am not a fan of those. There were a few banjos that were priced above what I would pay. The counter display cabinet had some accessories, so I picked up a three-pack of harmonicas for my brother for $20.00.

Then I turned my attention to the records. The vinyl was all $5.00, and I picked up a Charlie Rich album issued on Sun Records, one album by The Whites, and a Pickwick Records reissue of an old Bill Monroe album. I don’t have a turntable right now, but I could not pass these up. I also got an album called The Best of the Mom and Dads. This group was a quartet of older people that played old standards that old people would waltz to (did I say “old” too many times?). They used to advertise this album on late-night TV, and my brother and I as kids would laugh at the commercial. So of course, I bought the album as a gift for my brother as a joke. He got the joke.

I didn’t bother with the cassettes, as I don’t have a good player, and at $5.00 or 3 for $10.00, it wasn’t a deal for me. But diving into the dollar CDs was a treasure trove. Bluegrass albums from Stringbean, Lester Flatt, Reno & Smiley and Carl Story, as well as some compilations and instrumentals. Country albums from Cowboy Copas and Hank Thompson. R&B and blues albums from James Brown, Freddie King and Big Joe Turner, as well as some great compilations. All of these were reissues of albums that were on the above-mentioned labels. If I would have had more cash, I would have spent it!

I talked with Garry for a bit, and he told me that his current company, IMG Retail, oversees the end-marketing of the remaining stock from the labels. The company purchased the church in the 1980s to use as a warehouse for the music items. I made the recommendation that he consider contacting SPBGMA to set up a small table in the exhibit hall at next year’s conference, considering that the warehouse is only a half mile away from the hotel and he could easily unload a lot of the bluegrass CDs there.

If I get a few days to spare as vacation in the next few months, I am definitely planning to hit Nashville again and visit the warehouse. I plan on doing some research on Urban guitars to see if Yamaha is still contracted to manufacture them. If so, it might be worthwhile to pick up a few acoustics and re-sell them.

If in Nashville and interested in checking out this place, the IMG Retail warehouse is at 1900 Elm Hill Pike. Garry says that he currently plans to be open Monday-Friday 10am-4pm.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Music Stores

Closing of Marshall Music and Other Music Stores

Last week, Casino Guitars posted a video talking about how Best Buy used to have musical instrument stores within some of the stores.

They were more prevalent in the south, and the only thing that I remember at Best Buy stores around my area was some would sell low-end Maestro guitars and a few accessories. Presently, the Best Buy stores in my area are now closing down completely one by one, just like the local drug stores like CVS and Rite-Aid.

I learned recently that a local music store for me, Marshall Music in Allen Park, Michigan, has closed permanently, along with a few other locations, and the company has consolidated into one store in the northern Detroit suburb of Troy (https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/08/13/marshall-music-company-closes-stores-location-troy/74779920007/). The Allen Park location was one of the places that elementary and middle school students could rent quality wind and string instruments, and was highly recommended by many school districts in the area. There have been a number of area independent music stores closing over the past decade, some due to competition from Guitar Center, others because of cost to survive and a drop in band instrument interest from young people.

I drove by my local high school a few weeks back, and the marching band was out practicing. The size was about half of what I remember when I was going to school about 40 years ago. I was not in the school band, but my interest in music led me to playing in a cousin’s oldies band at the age of 16, eventually leading me to play in punk, roots-rock, Americana and bluegrass bands as my years went by. However, I have always been a promoter of music for young people, whether it be playing guitar, piano, or a wind/string instrument in school. It is sad to see the stores that catered to students are closing, leaving parents to rely on shady online sales or just telling their children that music may not be in the plan.

I am sure that schools have their resources that I am not fully aware of, and there are still a few stores around that are a bit of a drive away. I just wonder what happened to the interest in music at the grade, middle, and high school level. Music stores used to be a place to hang out and dream (it still is for me). However, there seems to be less places to dream, and with that, less dreamers. Music is a great therapy for people, and studies have shown that students that practice a musical instrument do better in school (https://www.artsedsearch.org/study/does-musical-training-improve-school-performance/). Now I know that not every kid is going to be into bluegrass music, as much as I would like to teach them. However, a young person taking interest in any genre of music, be it classical, jazz, marching band, rock, or something else, makes me a lot happier.

When I worked at the musical instrument petting zoo at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival back in June, I truly hoped that at least one kid would be inspired to go home and ask his/her parents to help with learning the guitar, banjo, mandolin or fiddle. There was one girl there who was intrigued with the dobro, and I talked with her parents on how to help her gravitate and keep her interest with it. I hope that I will see them there next year and that they tell me that she is continuing interest in the instrument.

In short, if your child takes an interest in music, for Pete’s sake, support that motivation in any way that you can. If you have a tough time financially, search the internet for resources. They are out there.

Chew on it and comment. Have a safe Labor Day weekend.

Categories
Acoustic Guitars Music Stores Old-Time Fiddle

Yard Sales, Fiddle Conventions, Elderly Instruments

Last weekend I did my yearly trek to two of my favorite ventures – the Michigan Avenue World’s Longest Yard Sale and the Michigan Fiddlers Association Fiddlers’ Convention. Before this year, the Fiddlers’ Convention was held in Hillsdale, so I could take Michigan Avenue all the way from Saline to Hillsdale to see the fiddling as well as do some yard sale shopping. This year, the convention was moved to Hastings (west of Lansing), so I ended up taking Friday off of work and doing each activity on separate days. Rain was predicted both Friday and Saturday, so here’s how it went.

Friday: The morning started off sunny, but I was frustrated with being stuck in traffic for an hour due to construction on Michigan Ave. and US-23. Once moving, I was able to stop in a few places that set up tables in quaint towns such as Clinton, Allen, and Quincy. My first stop led me to an old garage full of antique/junk toys, games, and nick-nacks. While I passed on almost all of it, I did get something that brought back memories of a when I was a kid – salt and pepper shakers that look like vintage Squirt soda pop bottles. Totally going up on a shelf in the kitchen.

About the time that I reached Quincy (a few miles east of Coldwater), the skies were starting to turn dark, so I figured to head back toward home. I was primarily looking for music-related items, but almost everything that was in that category was priced way too high, even if I was able to barter down some. However, I was able to secure a used Applause AE-32 acoustic/electric guitar for a decent price.. For the unfamiliar, Applause guitars were put out by Kaman in the late 1970s to be a lower-end version of the popular Ovation acoustic guitar series. The main difference was a laminated top instead of a solid top. Other than that, most everything was the same. I was never a big fan of these guitars due to the rounded molded-plastic back/sides that made them difficult to play while balanced on the lap sitting, requiring a strap and standing up to hold. Bringing it home, I tested it out and it still had a good sound unplugged, also being clean and loud when plugged into an amp. While it seems like a good guitar, I plan on just cleaning it up and selling it off, hopefully making a few bucks in the process. Fortunately, I did beat the rain making it home.

And I did make a pit stop at Randy’s BBQ near the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. It is a trailer where they make some of the best pulled pork barbeque you have ever tasted. Every year I stop by and order a Godzilla sandwich, which consists of pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, mac & cheese, cole slaw, and pickles on a bun! I literally starved myself all day because I knew that I would be devouring one of these in the afternoon.

Saturday: This day went a lot worse in so many ways. First off, getting to Hastings is not an easy task. I used to go to a park near Hastings every June for a Civil War reenactment. I had forgotten how many two-lane roads with police cars shooting radar there were along the way. No, I didn’t get busted, but I kept my eye on the speedometer almost all of the way there and back.

As soon as I pulled up to the campground where the convention was, Mother Nature let out a storm that made you want to start building an ark! It kept going on and off for over an hour. I was able to catch most of the fiddle workshop and jam session under the pavilion. I had attempted to video some of the activities, but the video camera that I was using was brand new and my first time using it, so I was unfamiliar with the set-up. The result was absolute garbage! Live and learn. I have to say that the workshop leader, a left-handed fiddler named Dave Langdon, has a great demeanor with the students, being very patient and hands-on with learning each part of a song.

After some time at the convention, I decided to head to Lansing for a stop at Elderly Instruments. This place used to be a Mecca for me prior to the pandemic. I would either schedule time off from work or make a clean slate on Saturdays to make the trip and spend a few hours testing out guitars and thumbing through the room full of CDs, videos, and music books. When I walked into the store, I was extremely disappointed. A lot has changed at the place in three years. What was once a room full of books and CDs was now limited to two or three bins each. The videos were completely gone, most likely due to the lack of interest in hard-copy videos and the move to online instruction. It was all replaced with walls of ukeleles – not my favorite stringed instrument to be sure. They still had the Martin guitar room, but the violin room was converted to a left-handed instrument room. It just didn’t have the same appeal to me as a whole than it did a few years back. I should have sensed that it would be a disappointment when I checked out the website earlier this year and noticed that there was a lot less being offered. I guess that my trips to the store will be extremely rare, only if I should happen to be in the area and the store is open at that time. No going-out-of-the-way trips for me any more.

Because of that, I will be scouting around for other music stores to make the trips to in the future.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Music Stores Musical Instruments

My First Real Guitar!

At my place of employment, there are a few other musicians and music lovers. One guy plays death/speed metal guitar in a band that has a decent local following, but when we talk, we are usually discussing guitars and equipment and not the music.

Our conversation one day came around to our first guitar that was decent in name brand and playability. I brought up my first axe, which was a Fender Squier Bullet. This was a step above the other Bullet models that Fender was putting out at the time (about 1987). The body was more solid, a Strat-style neck, but also looked very 1980s, with that hair-metal pickup configuration of two single coils and a humbucker.

Strange enough, I actually still own that guitar. While at least a dozen other electric guitars have passed through my ownership, that one has remained. Starting out as my main (only) guitar, it moved to back-up when I secured a Fender MIK Telecaster. Soon the frets began to pop out of their grooves, and rather than repair or sell it, I put it back into its case and let it sleep for now 20+ years.

My co-worker asked me to take a photo of it so he could see it, and I obliged. Pulling that old brown case out from the closet was a struggle in itself, as it was buried under a few suitcases and other junk. However, once I opened it, the memories came back. It still has the 1980s charm to it, and there was still some Scotch tape remnants where I put a photo of one of my girlfriends from back them. I cannot even remember who that girl was. I also remember that this guitar was a victim of an early guitar modification. I tapped the humbucker with a grounding switch so that I could have a pseudo single coil pickup in the treble position. I can’t remember if there were originally three control knobs on it or if I installed a third control for tone or volume – the configuration looks too weird for Fender’s design. Of course, it did have a vibrato bridge. If I remember correctly (I still haven’t plugged it in to check it out), the single coil pickups that were installed were not too much Fender sounding, so playing surf music on it didn’t have the same tone.

This was my first decent electric guitar. Before this, I had been playing bass in bands, and I was finding out that, to get my songs out there, I needed to form a band with which I was the next Joe Strummer. I couldn’t afford much, and was still keen on playing bass if need be. I purchased this Bullet from Wonderland Music in Dearborn, MI, which has long since closed down due to competition from Guitar Center. Back in the 1980s, Wonderland was THEEE music store in the Detroit area. Crazy Clarence would have sales three or four times each year so that you could get cheap guitar strings, and the craziest television commercials!

If you don’t know who Tony Bacon is, he is a world-renowned guitar historian. He has put out books on Fender, Gibson, Martin, Rickenbacker, and other top-name guitar companies. He also put out a comprehensive book on the history of the Squier brand (Squier Electrics: 30 Years of Fender’s Budget Guitar Brand, ISBN 978-61713-022-9). Unfortunately, there is no information on this particular Bullet in the book. In my years of floating around at shows, music stores, and guitar shows, I have only seen one other Bullet like this, and it was in black (mine is white). I find it strange that there are not a lot of relics out there of this model, as it proved (at least to me) that it was a quality guitar for the price. I have noticed that over the past few years, Fender has upped its game on the Squier brand, producing some high-quality models coming out of Asia that can compete with its Fender models at a more affordable price.

Upon looking at this old girl, perhaps for sentimental reasons, I may take it to a professional guitar repair person and have it re-fretted. I know that I will never sell it, but it may be nice to have and play occasionally in the basement to bring back memories.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Music Stores

Sweetwater: A Musician’s Best Friend

As far as music equipment is concerned, I’m pretty much satisfied with what I got. In fact, I find myself selling off stuff that I no longer use, especially in the electric guitar area. As I have been cleaning out my house, I am finding amplifiers and effects pedals that I don’t see myself using, since I am sticking to acoustic music, and with that, primarily songwriting and not band situations.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t shop around any more. Thanks to the COVID shutdowns of so many businesses, going into stores and getting your hands on guitars and actually trying them out is almost completely gone. I really miss that. Musical instruments are a lot like cars. You want to test-drive the puppy before making a buying decision. On the other hand, buying books, videos and CDs is a bit different, and I have no problem ordering online or mailing in an order form.

I want to tell you about a great experience that I had with a recent purchase with Sweetwater. I have been on the company’s mailing list for years, even though I don’t purchase much from them. A few days ago, I received an email from Sweetwater about some clearance items. There was an audio interface module available for a great price that I couldn’t pass up (even though I do very little with music and computer hook-ups), and made the online order. About an hour later, I got a phone call from Marcus, a rep at Sweetwater. My first thought was that the product was sold out and he was going to try and talk me into buying something more expensive that I didn’t want or need.

I was wrong, to say the least! Marcus talked with me for about five minutes just to confirm my order and address, as well as to thank me for the purchase and tell me about how many days the shipment would take. No sales pitch, no bad news. On top of that, he sent a thank-you text to my cell phone. As far as emails, Sweetwater sends one out to me at every step (received order, packing order, sending out order).

This isn’t the first time that I have dealt with Sweetwater, and I have never had a bad experience. The packages usually get to me in a fast amount of time, and there is always a bumper sticker or a small bag of candy included with every order. That is good customer service! It’s that little extra, which doesn’t cost much in time or money, that customers will remember and come back for more. You feel important to Sweetwater, even if you are just buying a set of strings or a capo.

Sweetwater founder Chuck Surack started out like many of us, as a musician after graduating high school. At age 22, he bought an old VW Westphalia Microbus and converted it into a mobile recording studio so that he could record bands around his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This passion for music led to the creation of Sweetwater Sound Inc, which is now a $275 million business, selling 3,300 guitars, 830 keyboards, 460 drum sets, and 5,300 microphones EVERY WEEK!

Surack knows what lies in the heart of every musician, whether he/she is a hobbyist playing in the bedroom, or a professional sweating it off on stage every night. Sweetwater was an oasis for many of us during the pandemic while brick-and-mortar shops had to close up. The people at Sweetwater honestly care about you as a musician, because most of them on the other side of the phone line, or in the warehouse, or at a desk inputting invoices, are musicians as well.
My advice: Go to Sweetwater’s website at www.sweetwater.com and take a look around. Sign up for its mailing list. Check out what is going on at its YouTube channel. There are not a lot of honest and friendly companies on the internet. Fortunately, Sweetwater is a good one, and treats its customers with tons of respect.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Music Stores Musical Instruments

YouTube Find: Casino Guitars

Although I’m not the guitar nut that I was, say, 20 years ago, I still like to pick up different guitars, be they acoustic or electric, and strum away! Some things only a guitar enthusiast would understand goes on during this ritual, like the feel of the neck, the tone coming off of the body, and a few dozen other actions. Whether it is cars, motorcycles, beer cans, baseball memorabilia, or guitars, enthusiasts have a passion about something that the people around him do not quite understand.

That’s why I like these guys. Casino Guitars is a music store in North Carolina that is not just another Guitar Center. They treat the buying and selling of guitars like an adoption agency, which means that they REALLY love and care about guitars. The store has a YouTube page that is absolute entertainment. Two of the employees/owners(?) of the store (Baxter Clement and Jonathan Robinson) post a video about once a week to discuss guitars or rock/pop music in general.

When I first watched one of their videos, I thought that it looked like someone from Duck Dynasty talking guitar smack with Robert Smith from The Cure. They both look like guitar geeks somewhat, but also look like they would NEVER be in the same room together. However, as I got to listening to them, they were a lot like me. Not in looks or in presentation, but in passion for the guitar.

What is more likeable about Baxter and Jonathan is that they totally respect their fan base viewers. I’ve commented a number of times on their vlogs, whether it be praise, disagreement, or just to swipe a humorous insult. Sure enough, within a day or two, one of them will reply with a comeback or even a simple thanks for the suggestion. In short, they actually READ the comments, which 99% of YouTube vloggers do not. They make you feel like you are part of the conversation, and know that the people watching them are just like them – guitar enthusiasts.

Watching Baxter and Jonathan is like sitting in with them and talking guitars as well. Think of sitting around a music store that is welcoming, not a big-box place, and being able to BS about stuff we all love. The only thing missing is the bottle of bourbon to pass around (although I do have a rocks glass of Makers Mark close by).

Enough of the talk! I recommend that if you are into talking about guitars and guitar-oriented music, then check the Casino Guitars YT page and enjoy.

Chew on it and comment.

PS: Rest in Peace Alex Trebek and Sean Connery.

Categories
Music Stores

I Miss Mars Music

I miss Mars Music. I’ll explain.

We can order just about anything we want for our musical instrument needs through the internet. Before the Coronavirus pandemic, it could arrive in a matter of a day or two. Once the pandemic kicked in, package delivery now takes weeks. When it comes to a lot of music stuff, especially instruments, you usually don’t want to just order them – you want to sit down and try them out, take them for a test-drive.

For months, music stores were considered non-essential, so the doors were bolted shut. Now, some are open on a limited basis or by appointment. Moreover, some mom-and-pop ones have gone out of business never to return. It is a sad state of affairs.

I love music stores. To me there are two kinds: the big-box ones like Guitar Center, and the specialty smaller ones that cater to enthusiasts. I always looked at it like going out to eat. If you want something fast and maybe cheaper and are not too picky about the outcome, you go to McDonald’s. If you want to get the best steak available and are willing to pay for it in money and time, you go to a five-star restaurant.

As for the big-box music store, there is really only one out now: Guitar Center. The immediate competition is minimal. Music-Go-Round is not much of competition as far as offerings, seems to concentrate on used gear, and is limited in locations. Sam Ash is even more limited in locations and relies heavily on internet orders. GC has its ear to the ground, with numerous locations and prices that are reasonable in most cases. They really do not have any brick-and-mortar competition.

It wasn’t always that way. For a few years, from 1996 until about 2002, GC had intense competition from Mars Music. MM was founded by Mark Begelman, a former president of Office Depot and an avid guitarist. After being disappointed by an experience at a local music store, he started up MM with the intent of selling decent equipment at affordable prices and no pushy salespeople. It worked for a while. Stores were in 20 states, and it was innovative in setting up music education programs and charity programs.

What I loved about MM was that it was competitive with GC in pricing, especially with accessories. I never really purchased any big-ticket items from either store, but I relied on them for quick and easy access to strings, cords, picks, straps, and other stuff that breaks and needs replacement right away. When MM opened, they had their own brand of such items, and they were extremely affordable. You could get a box of 10 set of guitar strings for about $20.00. A set of bass strings would be about $7.00. GC shortly started selling their own brand of accessories as well at bargain prices.

Begelman had a great heart. He knew musicians liked to try out instruments and did not have a lot of money. MM was in many ways more comfortable and welcoming than GC, but the main idea there was competition. Both knew there was a decent-sized market out there, and both went to extremes to get that cash.

Sadly, MM went bankrupt within a few years due to expansion problems and poor investments. It was literally a one-day-open-next-day-closed situation. I thought about all of that branded stuff going nowhere. GC kept going, but phased out most of its budgeted self-branded accessories. While GC still has relatively good prices, there is not that competitive feel for the small-ticket items.

Recently, I needed to purchase a budget gig bag for a cheap Chinese bass guitar that I got brand new for around $65.00. I just needed a glorified dust covering, not a hardshell case or a bells-and-whistle soft case gig bag. Surfing the internet, it was extremely hard to find even a cheap-quality gig bag for under $25.00 plus shipping. I finally found one that come to about $20.00 with tax and shipping. I got it through the mail a week after ordering, and it was not much more than sewn canvas with a zipper.

This experience made me think about how much I miss Mars. Back then, I remember getting a few gig bags that were of the same quality as this recent one for about $8.00. It had the MM brand emblazoned on it, but who cares? It did its job at a musician’s price. Times change, and I realize that a lot of good things disappear. Only competition can keep the things we love affordable.

Chew on it and comment.

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