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Drove past my local SoCal GC today, went in to take a look around... SOOO depressing
Took me like 30 minutes of wandering around to even see anything I was tempted to plug in. Cheapest item of any interest whatsoever was a used FGN bass, somewhat overpriced at 699, which turned out to have somewhat jacked up electronics and be strung with some monstrous string gauge I can only assume was meant for like Drop F if not lower --- and then tuned to BEAD. Barely playable..,
Out of curiousity, checked to see if at least the 999 & up category had anything fun... NOT REALLY. A used Warren DeMartini Charvel turned out to be Mexican, have iffy wiring, and just fall far short of the $999 asking price. The new Ibby RG550's were okay-ish, but the necks were kinda sad in comparison to the old ones, and while they were crisp clean builds, the maple looked like something off a Squier Affinity, not a $1k axe. Felt like a damn budget model.
An Ibby Prestige for $1500 felt like a solid B+, but at that price, come on... an RG 1570 i once had was infinitely more satisfying and a much nicer build.
The Gibsons all felt like Epiphones and had flimsy creaky and loose pickguards. And horrible necks. Sttangely, they weren't even robotuners, but still no joy
Tried to try a brand new Schecter, just to see what the EMG Retroactives in it were like --- but it immediately delivered earsplitting feedback upon plugging it in. Clearly something wired wrong or defective.
Looked in vain for any E-II, LTD Elite, or old fullbrand ESP -- nothing in stock... barely several random Korean LTDs.
Oh and of course the tube amps in the store were all jacked up and trashed or on their last legs.
....what the hell happened?????
Took me like 30 minutes of wandering around to even see anything I was tempted to plug in. Cheapest item of any interest whatsoever was a used FGN bass, somewhat overpriced at 699, which turned out to have somewhat jacked up electronics and be strung with some monstrous string gauge I can only assume was meant for like Drop F if not lower --- and then tuned to BEAD. Barely playable..,
Out of curiousity, checked to see if at least the 999 & up category had anything fun... NOT REALLY. A used Warren DeMartini Charvel turned out to be Mexican, have iffy wiring, and just fall far short of the $999 asking price. The new Ibby RG550's were okay-ish, but the necks were kinda sad in comparison to the old ones, and while they were crisp clean builds, the maple looked like something off a Squier Affinity, not a $1k axe. Felt like a damn budget model.
An Ibby Prestige for $1500 felt like a solid B+, but at that price, come on... an RG 1570 i once had was infinitely more satisfying and a much nicer build.
The Gibsons all felt like Epiphones and had flimsy creaky and loose pickguards. And horrible necks. Sttangely, they weren't even robotuners, but still no joy
Tried to try a brand new Schecter, just to see what the EMG Retroactives in it were like --- but it immediately delivered earsplitting feedback upon plugging it in. Clearly something wired wrong or defective.
Looked in vain for any E-II, LTD Elite, or old fullbrand ESP -- nothing in stock... barely several random Korean LTDs.
Oh and of course the tube amps in the store were all jacked up and trashed or on their last legs.
....what the hell happened?????
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