The big brands do NOT make it affordable for you to even stock them! Having been in music retail myself for 8 years, I'd get people come in, & ask., ' DON'T you stock Gibson/Fender/PRS guitars/amps etc?' I say 'NO, we can't afford the stock levels, and NO we CAN'T just get 1 or 2 in to stock, it DOESN'T work that way!' 'Oh! That sucks!' Yeah, here the Big F wanted us to stock min, $40K at all times in guitars/basses amps etc, The big G, even more! NONE of them made it EASY for the small suburban shops, running on shoestrings! Pathetic!
@timeofsilence8 ай бұрын
I’ve enjoyed these videos. I owned a music store in a tiny town in AR for about 6 years. I was a Fender dealer. I wanted to carry as much as I could so I did the buy-in for USA, MIM, Squeir, Acoustics, and Solid State amps (which also included the Cybertwin). The opening order was $45,000!!! Mind you the town population was 10,000. That was one of my more dumb decisions regarding my store. Plus, once a guitar sold, the rep would come in and make me order another one to replace it, even if I had to practically give the guitar away just to move it. I had one customer come in wanting a Deluxe Reverb, of course I couldn’t get it unless I ordered 2 amps from the line. I talked the fellow in to buying a Traynor YCV20WR instead. He was thrilled but couldn’t get over it not having that Fender emblem on the grill. I carried USM guitars also, and they were more flexible like you mentioned. I carried Parker but I had opened with them before USM bought them. Believe it or not I sold every one of the Parkers I ordered. We talked to Taylor at the California NAMM show, they were so rude “we’re not interested but you can come back next year, we probably won’t be interested then either but do come by and let us know”. I walked right across the aisle and signed up with Larrivee, a better guitar in my opinion, and we sold every one of those as well. If I had it to do again I would have stopped at the MIM Fenders, the acoustics did well, the Squiers did well, and the solid state amps did well. Dean acoustics did well for us, their electrics not so much. We sold a lot of Cort products too. We sold a lot of Sonor drums. Our nearest competitor would say “I wouldn’t cross the street to play a Sonor”, a year later he was stocking them. We tried Tama and Ibanez with decent results. WIthin a year of my store opening the local walmart started carrying GHS strings. My GHS rep tried to tell me the model they sold was inferior to the model I sold (that was in the exact same packaging) That was the last time I ordered from them.
@DMSProduktions8 ай бұрын
GHS:Ok Boomer! ;oP
@sdriza8 ай бұрын
that's a real bummer to hear about Taylor - love their cutaway acoustics
@barnettg668 ай бұрын
Really appreciate this. I've always wondered how the business works for music stores. I worry that local music stores are dying because of both online competition and from sheer cost to operate the business. There is almost no place near me now where I can actually put my hands on the gear and try it in person. Simple things like neck width/shape are so important, but you can't figure it out without opportunity. Same with things like basic setup....nothing like having the store tech teach the basics. We're losing something precious.
@lunamatic97758 ай бұрын
Hey, that was my question! Thanks for doing what you do to make us all better informed. I guess we'll never know what the VP decided to do with that information, assuming he closed that account with the dealer. I can't imagine they thought they could have gotten away with it forever. The VP could have also tried to find out what kind of deal they got from the other brand to make them willing to do that.
@bradnelson26378 ай бұрын
Thanks for posting this…I always wondered why my small shop had Fender accessories, but not guitars
@KainzMusic8 ай бұрын
There was a rumor going around in the mid 90's, that the center for guitars was telling the manufacturers to stop selling to the small single location shops or they'd stop dealing with them. One of those smaller stores (I used to frequent) went under apparently because of.
@user-qr7ee2cp4y8 ай бұрын
Decades ago a larger local music store did that with Marshall. They wanted Marshall exclusively so my local store couldn't carry them.
@cnilecnile67488 ай бұрын
I remember back in the day, in Mississippi, nearly all stores sold Peavey, but if you had their stuff, you couldn't be a dealer for anyone else. You could get a new Fender or a Gibson guitar, but not a new Fender or Gibson amp-all amps and PA gear were Peavey. Some smaller stores were ALL Peavey, and those were the ones that had the UGLY guitars that nobody wanted, even though they were actually killer.
@denverwalker90788 ай бұрын
I believe Peavey killed many small Mom and Pop shops with that business model, the only music shop in my town only had Peavey and literally nothing ever sold lol
@sdriza8 ай бұрын
I remember Peavey being EVERYWHERE
@hisproperty14388 ай бұрын
G'day Phillip, Thanks for that info on Fender. It all makes sense now. I dropped into a dealer last year to look at buying a Strat, & wanted to get a Fender pick guard for 1 of my Teles on the same deal. Even though they wanted to sell me the Strat, they suggested that I go to eBay for the pick guard. It's obvious now that they are a guitar dealer, but not a spare parts dealer. That's nuts! That also explains why it took a week to get the guitar ready for sale - they had the Strat, but not the gig bag or the vibrato arm, & had to order them in. Why does the distributor make it so hard for a dealer to support the product with spare parts? With Fender not telling the custommer the products that every Fender dealer carries, it's almost like a treasure hunt, but in reverse! That's like buying a new F-150 from a Ford dealer, only to have them say; "Sure, we can give you a factory service on your truck, but you'll have to leave it here for a week, whilst we're getting the approved brake pads which retains your warranty..." Thanks for a great video. Keep up the good work Andrew
@gurianboy5 ай бұрын
Where is the podcast for today? I never know how to find it. Pleaze!
@benv68752 ай бұрын
A few years back, I was in Florida and bought the music store's Fender sign because he no longer represented Fender. I asked him why, and he said he wanted to but a couple of Strats and Teles and the rep said OK, but you have to order 3 P basses as well. He was in a rural area and said there was not way he could sell 3 P basses where he was located and would be stuck with inventory collecting dust but they were forcing it on him so he told them he was no onger going to deal with Fender. I think channel distribution sucks in any industry.
@michaelfessenden86018 ай бұрын
I think I know the store he was talking about. Where are they now?
@sirtogii52168 ай бұрын
If it wasn't for your little stories I wouldn't be listening to your podcast religiously :-D
@jamesonpace7268 ай бұрын
That's the OEM cutting the dealer's throat & it's just plain stoopid....
@baileywatts13048 ай бұрын
Oh, man. I know this. My local shop carries Fender guitars and acoustics but not Fender Amps, and they are so on the hook for Fender Accessories. I love the place but they only have Fender branded strings. I asked about getting in some other strings and the owner just said, he's gotta move Fender product if he's going to keep carrying the guitars. It was sad, because I'd be more likely to get a D'Addario tattoo than a Fender tattoo.
@Soldano9998 ай бұрын
Soon they will be begging for any buy ins at all and offer massive discounts.
@Joe-mz6dc8 ай бұрын
Many of them will be bankrupt before that happens
@Soldano9998 ай бұрын
@@Joe-mz6dc well look for it bankrupt stores will sell their stock at any cost
@kungfuseadog8 ай бұрын
Phil! I am shocked! You snitched on such a creative hustle! :D Funny storry
@yessitsme68848 ай бұрын
1500$ of tubes? Nowadays that may be enough to retube a Triple Rec, but just.
@mars64338 ай бұрын
I can tell ya' stories about getting screwed by Gibson and Peavey.
@Rhythmicons8 ай бұрын
That is such a shitty business model, which is why I'd buy vintage if I want something Fender.
@stevelaferney35798 ай бұрын
The way to sell an extra “just in case” set of tubes is to include a free case to protect the tubes. There’s no way to keep them together if they stay in their own boxes which get separated like socks in a dryer. You’ll always be missing the one you need when you need it and yeah you could look at it as another chance to sell a tube but you’re gonna have a pissed off customer. Keep’em happy from the get go. Free case.
@bradnelson26378 ай бұрын
Great idea!
@ChiefSpartan18 ай бұрын
That's the reason that the two local music stores in my town only carried Washburn and Samick respectfully.
@johanngregory34998 ай бұрын
Great story about Fender vp
@sgt.grinch32998 ай бұрын
Thank you for the insight.
@trance91588 ай бұрын
Wait...Sunn amps are back? The Sunn amps that Fender bought out and shut down??
@antoonhermans89538 ай бұрын
i like these "inside "stories from phil , it shows that like any business , the guitarmarket is just about one thing , now , what would that be : )
@DanaDeerwester8 ай бұрын
Thanks for the FYI Phillip
@user-qr7ee2cp4y8 ай бұрын
This is so interesting to hear the business side...
@joeking4338 ай бұрын
where is the full episode?
@tonym25138 ай бұрын
I wouldn’t have a Chapman guitar on my property even as firewood if it was 20 below and the furnace is broke. Trash, but tainted.
@rosewoodsteel66568 ай бұрын
So, how is Gibson for a small dealer?
@AnonYmous-jp8uu8 ай бұрын
they are not for the small dealer. they suck in fact
@rayschoch58828 ай бұрын
Ah, corporate capitalism. I try to stay as uninvolved as possible…
@DjDoggDad8 ай бұрын
I know right, they really have us hoodwinked that building guitars isn't a high school level project.
@antonchilinski97298 ай бұрын
You can easily build a guitar as a high school project. You can build a guitar with nothing but nails, a 2x4, and an antenna. That doesn't mean it'll be as good. Good techs/luthiers have skills you can't even comprehend.
@ramencurry66728 ай бұрын
It’s like that with concerts too. Used to be cheap to see all the famous bands. Now be prepared to have a financial discussion with your family
@mattj66767 ай бұрын
Sometimes things that sound good on paper, like making sure everyone can "have access to something we sell" really doesn't work in the real world. That's why people like that VP go out into the field, I'm sure they learned something that day. What do they think the vendor that doesn't sell their guitars is going to say about them? Jeesh. The system is dumb, if there are limited special items, those should go to your higher value (volume) dealers first. Everyone should be able to sell any product they make otherwise, why send a Fender customer to a different brand for an acoustic? It's nuts. It's also really simple.
@iknowyouarh8 ай бұрын
Guild
@AnonYmous-jp8uu8 ай бұрын
Gibson was the worst of all.
@jonmurphy7768 ай бұрын
Are there any anonymous groups for help with with my guitar collection addiction! 🎸⛑️
@davidkastin42408 ай бұрын
They only help people with 50+ guitars 😂 I'm almost there 🤓