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Rants |
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What's a Rant? |
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Bold, Brash, Politically & Sometimes Even Grammatically Incorrect.
Ed Roman 1996 |
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Rant Title |
Rant Excerpt |
| Beginner Guitars | If you are getting ready to buy little Johnny his first guitar, I suggest you read the page/pages below. You will probably be surprised to find out a few things. |
| Bent Top Guitars | A bent top guitar is a guitar that has a totally artificial veneered archtop. It is yet another way for the bigger mega corporations to bilk more money out of uneducated consumers. |
| Best in Store | When I go into a store, (any kind of store), I like to see a large selection of unique items. I like to see things that I don't know about. |
| Chain Stores | Some people may read my rants and may assume that I was sour grapes on Superstores for self serving reasons. I have thought about it long and hard and I have assured myself that my own agenda is truly unaffected by these stores. |
| Christmas Guitars | A Christmas guitar is usually, but not necessarily purchased around Christmas. Usually for someone who has no real clue about guitars. |
| Commissioned Sales People | The main reason "Guitar Center" has such a high employee failure rate or turnover is probably because they have a commission system that forces people to work at minimum wage. |
| Cost Cutting | Many people wonder why large companies try to shave pennies off their costs. Especially when the product sells in the multi thousand dollar range. Most people don't grasp the reasoning behind it. |
| Ebony Fingerboards | It really rankles me that PRS refuses to offer Ebony fingerboards. I mean what's the deal, I thought PRS was supposed to be a Premium High End Guitar? |
| Ed Roman's Nightmare | I met Richard Mermer at the Asia Show in Nashville three years back. I was impressed with the look and feel of his guitars. I bought three of his samples and entered into a verbal dealership agreement with him. I had intended to carry his line and promote his company. |
| Flamers | Currently there are some individuals on the internet who don't agree with my opinions. I have no problem with that. I also have no problem with profanity and flaming. |
| Free Country | In the United States of America we are supposedly guaranteed certain inalienable rights. Simple things like freedom of speech and freedom of expression, religion, opinions etc. |
| G.A.S | Many of my customers have asked me about what kind of guitars I play. Currently I use my Quicksilver guitar when I need major tonal versatility. I am still using a headless LSR for a backup... |
| Ghost Builders | You may be skeptical regarding some of the facts that I will be relating to you in the examples section below. It is possible that there may be a couple of errors... |
| Gift Certificates | When you buy someone a gift as personal as a guitar it is advisable to have them with you. Or at least know exactly what model the person wants. A guitar is a very personal thing. |
| Girl Guitars | OK. First of all there is no such thing as a girls guitar!! A guitar is a guitar is a guitar. It makes no difference in the basic construction. |
| Glossary of Terms | Due to dealer agreements and competitor complaints many companies won't allow me to print my LOW prices. |
| Hand Made | Is a guitar really handmade if its made by 100 pairs of hands aided by several million dollars worth of machines? |
| Heel from Hell - PRS | Years ago PRS guitars had no heels, Today they use this big flat heel on the back of the neck. In 1995 PRS switched to this monstrosity and it has remained ever since. |
| How the Devil Builds Guitars | This page is reprinted with permission from The Zachary Guitars Website. I don't agree with some of the religious overtones. In principle however this is dead on and relevant enough for me to ask the owner permission to reprint it. |
| Import Guitars | I used to carry very few imported guitars, I personally would rather sell USA made guitars. In the downturn economy that happened in 2001 and a seeming rebirth of American pride, many of my customers refused to buy Asian imports. |
| Japanese Guitars | Here's another one of my politically incorrect, too little too late, pain in the ass articles reminding you that you are screwing the entire American way of life by buying expensive high end products made in Asia. |
| Legal Notice | All text, graphic and other written content appearing on this website are the property of Ed Roman Guitars. Copyrights 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 200, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007... |
| Loose Strings | Occasionally I will have to purchase a guitar from another dealer, usually when it arrives the strings will all be loose. I HATE THAT !!!!!!!! |
| McCarty PRS Guitars | Personally Ed Roman is definitely not a fan of the PRS McCarty, In fact I prefer to sell them off on Ebay! |
| Magazines | It occurs to me, that if you write a book on something you are then supposedly considered an expert. That is not necessarily true. |
| Mailboxes Etc... | Always go directly to UPS or Fed Ex. Mailbox etc typically charges at least double UPS rates, If you ever have a shipping problem, Mailbox etc will be the ones that will have to sue. |
| Manny's | Imagine if you will, Omar Ahmaddesman is a Turkish diplomat en route to Los Angeles Via New York City. Omar has a to change planes in New York and he has a 5 hour lay over. |
| Microsoft? | I will print anything that anyone send me as long as it's relative and intelligently put together, I don't care if you call me the lowest scum sucking maggot on the planet as long as you do it with decorum and intelligence I will print it. |
| Million Dollar Fly | Momo is one of our best customers. He in fact paid 1.5 million dollars for the Parker Guitar in the picture. |
| Mission Statement | The main mission of my website is to eventually cover every obscure and unique electric guitar brand that exists or ever existed. |
| Music Yo | "Music Yo" is a company that appears to be a subsidiary of Gibson that was formed to sell product direct to the public. They make a big deal about selling to you direct and cutting out the middleman etc. etc. |
| My Price Guarantee | I will not be insulted if you try to negotiate or make a better deal. I realize that human nature is such that every one wants to get a good deal. When a customer starts negotiating price, He is telling me that he is a serious buyer. |
| My Requirements | I have been in the guitar business most of my life. My website gets about 1,250,000 hits a day from interested guitar buyers. Currently I retail between 10 and 20 guitars every day and wholesale as many as 25 to 30. |
| My Selling Style | People have called me a good salesman, I don't think that I am, A good salesperson can sell anything, I can only sell what I truly believe in. So in effect I am telling you that a 17 year old kid who works in a Guitar Center or Sam Ash is actually a better salesperson than me. |
| Overpriced Guitars | An expensive guitar would be like a JET or a Centurion or maybe an Abstract. These are guitars that cost a lot of money. |
| PRS Questions | I Ed Roman, truly believe, that PRS builds a great guitar, that it probably is the absolute best guitar BY FAR, that you can or will find in a store like Guitar Center. |
| Pawnshops | To the extremely few pawnshop owners that are actually honest AND knowledgeable-- Ed Roman personally hereby apologizes in advance. |
| Prices | I get numerous E-mail because I don't post all my prices, Believe me I wish I could, it would make my life so much easier. Hell all I would have to do is wait for the checks to arrive. |
| Scam Woods | Any production guitar, I don't care what brand, will always suffer from uniformity. The prevailing design engineer has to pre-suppose the end consumers decision about what he or she wants in a guitar. |
| Spam | I hate Spam. Spammers are beginning to really piss me off. I have decided that every time I get a piece of Spam in my mailbox that I am going to try to post their email address... |
| Spend Your $$$ | Stop complaining, shut up, and spend your damn money, There has never been a better time to spend your money, There has never been a better reason to spend your money. Money is not edible, Most money is not collectable and money does not even make good toilet paper. |
| Stupid Story, A Really Stupid Story | I am proud to say, I was involved in the original design of this guitar, and it's subsequent revisions. When I first designed this guitar, I never wanted it to be sold under the BC Rich name. |
| The Truth About Canned Air | The fact is, there is no such thing as "canned air". Traditional aerosol dusters contain synthetic chemicals that emit harmful and potentially toxic vapors. In addition, these chemicals leave a moisture residue that can contaminate and damage expensive equipment. |
| Vintage Guitars | A Guaranteed Sure Fire Way To Tell The Real From The Rip-Off's. All guitars in our inventory that are sold as vintage will be approximately 25 years old or older. Ed Roman guarantees they are what we say they are. |
I get at least 3 or 4 letters from people a day who ask for more rants !!!
I'm working on one right now about Travelers Checks and why they are a scam.
Ed Roman
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Hi, my name is Chris Lamb, I'm 17, and I'm an
aspiring (read: starving) musician. I own several
guitars and lately I have been spending a lot of
time at edromanguitars.com. I gawked and gasped at
the incredible axes Mr. Roman has to offer, but
after looking around a bit more, I found that the
most valuable part of the site is Mr. Roman's
"Rants" section. After having read many of the
articles, I am beginning to think Mr. Roman is one
of the few sane and intelligent people left in the
music world. My favorite rant, "Overpriced
Guitars", hits the nail directly on the head and
should be in the back of every guitar player's head
at all times. I must admit that even as a young
player, I have made many of the mistakes mentioned
in the rants, and wish I had come across Mr. Roman's
words of wisdom MUCH sooner. Luckily, I started out
with a Dean Baby V- a decent guitar- at a very
reasonable price ($130). However, I have loads of
sympathy for aspiring guitarists who make the HUGE
mistakes of buying from mega-stores, or starter
packs from "Music Depot." Why more people aren't
aware of the scams present in the music industry is
beyond me- Mr. Roman's advice is available at a
mouse click and here's the best part- it's totally
FREE! Thank you for imparting your wisdom to me- I
am an exponentially smarter consumer for having
taken the time to read your rants.
Sincerely,
Chris Lamb, Vacaville CAHello Chris Thanks for your letter, & fine compliments, I especially thank you for the Sane and Intelligent compliment, But I must deny the part about being sane. It's pretty hard to keep any semblance of sanity in my life. This is an insane industry where I deal with insane people on a minute to minute basis, I am trying to stay a little sane, but often I feel I am losing the battle. Thanks Again Ed Roman |