- (Reuters) - Guitar Center Inc, the largest U.S. retailer of music instruments and equipment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday, as music lovers moved their shopping online during the coronavirus pandemic.
I think I have spent...$50? Ever? At Guitar Center, for strings. Never bought anything else from there. Guitars have been local shops, amps have been local shops, pedals have been internet magic.
Guitar Center was useful if there were local musicians on hard times and idiots setting prices. I bought a pair of Auratones there for $65 and a Roland A-80 for $90. It was ghastly otherwise, though - the original one on Hollywood Blvd had a 32-fader Digidesign Icon that people had slowly, steadily pulled all the knobs off of and they left it there like a sacrificial boar in a river full of piranhas.
I used to try and get everything from local shops, but they all disappeared. I use SweetWater most of the time now. I know they're huge and probably a subsidiary of GC... who knows. I do like that I have time to test drive stuff and send it back if I don't like it. Plus... they send candy. I wonder if there are some sales happening in their stores? I should go.
This has been all the talk amongst my music friends for about 2 months now. The shelves at GC have been empty for a while. Everything is "on back-order" and "will be in soon". In other news, my local music store - Georgetown Music - was priced out of Georgetown and has moved to my town (Burien), and is doing great business in a much smaller place, focusing mostly on instrument repair, etc. They have a small inventory of starter instruments on hand, strings, drum sticks, the little series of Korg synthesizers (like the Volca) and a few new and used amps.