So I was in a GC. As I have said - it isn't really the QC on functionality. Its the sloppy @$$ work they do for the price you pay. I glanced at a wall of Les Pauls and let's take a look how easy this was....
I would really like that leather jacket wearing Daughtry Wannabe Dooshrocket Mark whatever his name is to explain THESE beauties to me. Someone PLEASE tell him I said so.
Exhibit A: An otherwise beautiful Amber Les Paul flame. Except that the lower bout on the left is devoid of flame. Because, for $3000 they couldn't find a better piece of wood, you know...or paint that as a Gold Top, Black or something cool.
Exhibit B: A Cherry Sunburt Les Paul Standard. Now this is a bargain at $2500. I guess it would have been $5000 if the right half of the guitar had ANY flame on it. Because you know - we all go0 around going "I want a really sweet standard half flame, half plain top!"
And finally, Exhibit C: This is a truly outrageous piece of crap. WTF did they do here??? For a mere $5300 you can get this custom El Tigre burst or something stupid like that. Note the exquisite two shades of red. Observe the completely asymmetrical dark striping. And that dark blob opposite the control knobs and what may be a water spot? on the wood (perhaps from the Nashville Flood!). This one belongs in that Customer Experience shop. Surely they let it get away! Can't believe this unique *cough cough* beauty is a penny less than $10k!!!
If GC gets a nice guitar, its because it was a customer return. Obviously the guy who received it first didn't like it either.
The put them on the wall, in hopes that someone breaks it and runs, then they can file an insurance claim. At my local GC, there is a $3500 Charvel that had been dropped and has a 1-2" edge crack. No one in their right mind would buy it, but there it is on the wall.
Or maybe someone stumbles in drunk after a sushi lunch and needs a guitar. I used to work with people who would drop that kind of cash to impress coworkers at lunch.
I think the good news in all of this is that the GC wall guitars aren't a representative sampling.
