Local GC wall models all set up super high. Why??

[Mononoaware]

Just a short rant I have to get off my chest. Please bear with me.

I just got back from my local GC, where I spent some quality time gawking at the Wall of Endless Guitars. I would have loved to have tried out a couple Music Men and a Kramer or two, but every single guitar in reach was set up with ridiculously high action. By which I mean an easy 7mm or more on the low E.

I went down the whole row and it looked like they were all intentionally set up this way. Tons of daylight between the strings and fretboard. Even the supposed shredders like the RGs and Kramers were high enough to play slide on.

I've never received a mail-order guitar with action that high, so I can only assume that this was a decision by the store. What gives? Why set up your guitars to be so uncomfortable no one will want to spend time trying them out?

[PFDarkside]

It seems to me that GC just pulls them out of the box and hangs them on the wall, while Sweetwater and the smaller website stores actually open them and do setups.

[beaubrummels]

You can check the sound, but can't play them.

[Securb]

I was at GC last week., I played a Gibson Deluxe that was set up perfectly. I would guess the set ups on guitars vary from location to location. There are things like the attentiveness of the staff and their skill level for doing set ups that definitely has to come into play.

[Mononoaware]

It seems to me that GC just pulls them out of the box and hangs them on the wall, while Sweetwater and the smaller website stores actually open them and do setups.

That had occurred to me, but the consistency of the badness here was really striking. You'd think that if they just hung them up from the box, they'd be all different heights, some playable, some less so.

[LLL]

The last time Guitar Center was cool was the late 1980's.

[NegativeEase]

So the Blues guys won't drop them

[ErikH]

Their "techs" can be questionable depending on location. One or two around here have an actual tech come in to do work and may be in the store a couple days a week. The rest of them have whomever has the most experience changing strings.

[Securb]

Their "techs" can be questionable depending on location. One or two around here have an actual tech come in to do work and may be in the store a couple days a week. The rest of them have whomever has the most experience changing strings.

I think the experience can also vary by location. GC forced out our local chain Daddy's Junky Music. A lot of the Daddy's people went to work for GC. The GC across from Berklee feels like Daddy's with a different sign outside. The GC in Nashua also had a bunch of Daddy's people and still has that local feel.

[beaubrummels]

The setups at my local CG are all over the place. I honestly don’t know what their goal is with setups, or if they have one.

Where I live, it's the same. The problem was some competent guys tried to set them up right, while others would just get them to not have fret buzz (possibly what the high action is about) while other guys would just take it out of the box and hang them up; because they said people were just going to come in and screw with them anyway.

[UnderTheFlame83]

7mm action is insane. Maybe they purposely set them like that so no one will play them?

[Securb]

7mm action is insane. Maybe they purposely set them like that so no one will play them?

I would imagine these guys work on commission. They would want the guitars to play as well as possible and be desirable to the buyer.

[UnderTheFlame83]

My local shop 8 out of 10 guitars has sharp fret ends and most have really high action. All price ranges. I've seen them unbox them and all have sharp frets out of the box it seems. This isn't a Guitar Center, though. The humidity inside seems ok. I have only bought a few guitars there and I've played 100s. It's been a good 20 years since I stepped inside a Guitar Center.

[JMP/HBE]

I have 3 GC in my Metro. Ive actually called ahead before about a specific guitar to demo and GC assured me they'd have it setup and all ready to go only to find out its 30 feet on the wall needed a complete setup.
I even brought a multi tool & did a 20 minute setup, go to plug in the amp and they have no working instrument cables.
Finally find a cable and the guitar is DOA, no sound coming out at all.
I have multiple GC stories each one worse that the other. So done with GC.
Some dude did a grab & run out my local Vintage store w/a $3500 Martin guitar ran to his partner waiting in the car outside.
The stolen guitar was bought by .... you guessed it Guitar Center.
My local guy got the Martin back but not without filing a Police report and a bunch of hassle.

[Aceman]

Always surprised at the lack of attention to tuning, action, etc. It probably kills a lot of sales.

Then again, I can easily tell if guitar is able to be set up vs damaged. I wouldn't trash a guitar because the GC fool was too lazy to put a screwdriver to it.