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Finding The Best Guitar In A Store
Usually, It's Just Too Easy To Do.
Personally I don't believe it should be so easy.
When I go into a store, (any kind of store) I like to see a large selection of unique items. I like to see things that I don't know about. I like
to check out a bunch of different things.
As a dealer and constant buyer of unique, custom, and handmade guitars, I
find myself going into every music store I can. I am always searching for an
old Original Dean or a Steinberger that most of the middle of the road music stores
don't know about or care about. Sometimes I can find an old original USA built
BC Rich for a decent price. I have given up
on pawnshops.
More often than not when I go in to a store, (even some of the large and
fancy stores), I CAN'T find anything of interest. In fact, I have noticed
that in most cases I can make a whirlwind swoop through a store in 2 minutes or
less and see absolutely nothing! Especially the
mega
chain, corporate stores. I don't trust
commissioned salespeople.
In 1998, I drove across country in a tour bus. I stopped at about 150
stores & Pawnshops between Grand Junction Colorado and Columbus Ohio. (I wasted about 10
days of my life with that move.)
I think I was able to buy about 7 guitars the whole trip.
What a waste!
I have been to five or six Sam Ash Stores, seven or eight Guitar Centers, five or six Music & Sound Recording Superstores (MARS), and
countless smaller music stores. One thing is always the case:
It takes 2 minutes to zone in on the one
or two decent guitars in their whole inventory.
Usually the best thing you can find
will be a 22 fret PRS or occasionally a McInturff. Pretty Sad. These
stores concentrate on selling what I call
Christmas Guitars or
Corporate Guitars.
At My Shop Things Are Very Different!
I can promise anyone that comes to my shop that it
will take at least three visits to start to absorb the selection of
different and unique guitars that I carry. I can promise anyone that they will see guitars that
they have never been exposed to anywhere else. I may not carry amplifiers and effect pedals, but I
will have the best selection of unique, high quality,
hand built guitars for sale anywhere on the planet.
I realize that is a bold statement,
but I
am fully prepared to back it up.
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What You Need
To Know When Buying A High Quality Acoustic, Slimline or Jazz Guitar
Why are Ed Roman's Guitars the Best
Guitars?
The Guitars you buy at Ed Roman's
are the absolute best the manufacturers have to offer
I realize this is a bold statement. (I
make a lot of bold statements.) I don't make
statements like that without thinking them out pretty thoroughly. I am
totally ready to back up what I say. I know the value of having the best
pieces in stock and I will gladly pay extra to make sure I get them.
Here's why:
- When a guitar company ships a guitar out to a regular, normal music store,
typically that guitar will be unpacked by a minimum wage automaton, who will
more than likely, be having a conversation with someone as he unpacks the
guitar. He probably won't even give the guitar a second look, never mind
inspect it thoroughly.
The guitar companies know this and they know they can usually slip in
some of their more ordinary guitars to this type of store.
That could never happen here. Joanne,
Tarl
or Brian opens every single guitar that comes in and inspects it thoroughly before it
even makes it into the receiving check in area. Scott, Tarl, Brian or myself personally inspect and
photograph every single guitar that comes in. (I
will send guitars back sometimes just to keep them on their toes.) I usually receive about
20 guitars a day.
- I have indicated to all of the companies that I do business with that
I require their best guitars!
I make it a point to discuss this with many of the sales managers,
production managers, and employees with whom I come into contact. I have
shown my gratitude with cash and other considerations. I have given Xmas
presents to production managers who have grabbed something off the line
especially for me. I encourage them to do it more by giving them yet
another little present at a later date.
I gave the sales manager at PRS a stunning BC Rich Eagle Bass.
(I was still promoting PRS at that time.)
These days, I try to keep at least 30 PRS guitars in stock, but it's getting
harder and harder to find nice ones.
-
MOST IMPORTANTLY - The "Sell Through" Scenario
There is an industry term called
"Sell
Through." All the manufacturers
live & die by "Sell Through."
Here's the "Sell Through" scenario:
A company will send out a salesman to make a sales
call. That salesman may not even make a sale. If he does make the sale the
company still has not made much money because of the high cost of the sales
call. The company only really makes any money
if the dealer continually re-orders the
item.
No one in their right mind will ever re-order
unless they sell the initial shipment. (Selling the initial shipment is
called the "Sell Through.")
Here in my shop, I have the crème de la crème of
guitar lines. I carry the world's finest guitars, and plenty of them all the
time. If you are a manufacturer and you want your guitar to
"Sell Through" in my
shop, it had better be your best stuff. Otherwise, you simply won't get any
"Sell Through."
Naturally manufacturers and guitar builders want their products to move. Julian at Tacoma Guitars personally picks out exceptional pieces of highly
figured woods for me. If something extra nice pops up, he will call
me first because, he knows I will buy it every single time. If I get a flametop
Jackson in, it's usually an extremely, highly figured, vivid piece of wood. Frank Rindone,
the operations manager at Hamer, calls me only when something is absolutely
special. One company actually coined the phrase "Roman Quilt" whenever they came
across a piece of wood or a guitar that would measure up to my standards. Newer
employees there are calling highly figured guitars "Roman Quilt" and they don't
even know why.
Ed Roman
In a typical store, a better than
average guitar will "Sell Through"
fast.
In my guitar gallery, a better than
average guitar will sit for awhile.
A guitar has to be better than GOOD
to "Sell Through"
here.
Here is the Equation:
No Sell Through
= No Re-orders = No Money For the Manufacturer
= Manufacturer Starves & Dies
- Good Riddance -
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Naturally, manufacturers and guitar builders want
their products to move.
BC Rich picks beautiful pieces of wood
for me.
If something extra nice pops up
they will call me first because they
know
I will buy it every single time.
I get guitars traded in by mail all the time. People call me from Iowa and Texas telling me they have gorgeous, incredible
flame tops on their PRS guitars that they are trading in. When they ship me
the guitars, in most cases, the tops are usually average.
They usually have
drop outs in the figuring, or dead spots on the neck. In most cases, these
guitars were sold at a Guitar Center or some other super sore.
Ooops, I mean
store.
When it was sold it probably stood out in that type of store. Here
the guitar would have been discounted out.
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That's what Ed Roman calls a "Nice Top"
This Top Was Done In Our Custom Shop Way Back In 1990
How many Rickenbackers have you seen with flames like
this?
Thought For The Day
"Intellectuals Only"
Politically Incorrect As Promised.
Why magazines don't give credence to, or
even review the new, hand built, high quality guitars:
After all, there is no potential advertising revenue. Plus, these smaller
companies could potentially harm the sales of one of their big advertisers,
making it harder for their advertiser to make a profit, which in turn makes it
harder for the advertiser to pay his advertising bills. This boils down to
lesser advertising budgets and less money for the
magazine.
This boils down to
lesser paychecks for the editors. Which further boils down to smaller Xmas bonuses,
which means no GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip for Junior this Xmas. Which also
boils down to no new car for the wife this year. Which boils down to a
deprivation of sexual gratification in the relationship.
It all comes down to the most basic of human instincts.
Think about it!
Ed Roman Spends almost no money advertising !!!
That Money Goes Into Research & Development for More New Models &
New Innovations
Can You Dig This?
Striking members of the Federal
Society of Journeymen Cordwainers, the first & oldest trade union in the
United States, were forced to go back to work when their employers called in a
phalanx of armed policemen. Many men were charged under an obscure law which
barred employees from engaging in subversive acts with the intent of increasing
remuneration... Otherwise known as the "shut your
stinking cake-hole and do that which your plutocratic employer-slash-overlord
demands of you" law.
I'll bet they don't teach this to the kids in
school today. Our
history is full of dastardly deeds that are covered up and swept over.
Home School Your Kids If You Don't Want
Them Brainwashed & Programmed !!!!!!
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