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To the extremely few pawnshop owners that are actually honest AND
knowledgeable-- Ed Roman personally hereby apologizes in
advance.
As far as the rest of you
please keep those death threats and hate- mail coming. It only
serves to bear out what I say !!!!!
Guitars and
Pawnshops
Pawnshops are usually filthy little gyp joint stores that sell everything
from gold to cameras to fur coats to power tools and guns. The owners and
clerks usually hail from some third world country whose flag depicts an American
being shot. Personally, I choose not to frequent this type of store.
But, it wasn't always that way. I can remember when I was much younger, I
actually invested some of my valuable time checking out pawnshops for both
guitars and guns. Needless to say, I was horribly disappointed.
(More about that later.)
I want to make it very clear that there are at least some
exceptions to this rule. I remember one store in LA on Melrose
that had a number of cool guitars. I actually bought my Abel
Axe from them for $400.00. They had a real guitar specialist
working there and obviously had made some type of commitment to
selling guitars. (Side note ) While I was there I saw the
owner buy a 1960's Rickenbacker 360 for $75.00. At that time
the guitar was worth about $1,600.00 on the open market. Today that
guitar would easily bring $3,500.00. Using that formula I
guess he paid about $15.00 for my Abel Axe.
Pawnshops Pay You Squat
Pawn shops pay next to nothing for the guitars they buy. If you
don't believe me take a guitar in and ask them to buy it. Now take the
same guitar into a music store and ask them to buy it. Chances are the
price they will pay will also be too low for you to accept. However, you
will notice that the music store will generally give you a lot more than the
pawn shop.
So Why in Hell Would Anyone
Sell a Guitar to a Pawnshop?
A pawnshop owner is rarely a guitar player. He wouldn't know the
difference between a good playing guitar and a Bouzouki. He may look down
the neck to see if the fingerboard is straight, but he will rarely if ever check
to see if the truss rod is broken.
On the other hand, a bona fide music store will usually put the guitar
through a series of tests to see if there are any major hidden or underlying
problems. For example, the first thing I check for is a broken truss rod.
I look carefully at the fingerboard to see if it is delaminating. I check
all the frets, etc. On a Steinberger, for instance, there are a a number
of things that can be wrong. Steinbergers are very expensive to repair
because parts are usually not available. I don't know any other dealer in
the United States or anywhere that has parts for Steinberger guitars, except of
course for me. Almost every Steinberger I have ever purchased used has
required some replacement parts.
The only reason to sell the guitar to a Pawnshop would be because there
was something horribly wrong with it. Something that would slip by the
pawnshop owner. So the next time you see a guitar in a pawnshop beware of
the hidden problems that could crop up on you. Usually the prices aren't
very good anyway.
After all, any sensible person is going to sell his guitar where he can
get the most for it.
Back in 1989, my guitar dept. manager, Bob May, and I decided that
it would be a good thing to go check out a bunch of pawn shops in Miami.
We took a plane down there and rented a car. I brought along a briefcase
with about $60,000.00 in it. We started stopping at pawn shops even before
we checked into our hotel. Most of the places were dimly lit, smoky dirty little
stores. It was very disappointing to say the least. Mostly it was a
bunch of krap and more krap. Occasionally we ran into a something barely
half-way decent, but the prices were hundreds higher than we could have sold the
item for back in the store. By noon the following day we realized that
this endeavor was a complete waste of time. We had planned the trip to be
5 days long. We ended leaving the money in a rented locker at the airport
and we drove down to the keys and went scuba diving for 3 days!
Screw Pawnshops!
Ed Roman 02/21/02
I reiterate:
I wrote this little missive one evening in about 20
minutes. As a result, I received at least 200 letters from pawnshop owners
and other Trunk Gypsy types who were upset with what I had printed.
In about 3 weeks time, I received some of the
nastiest hate mail I had ever gotten. One moron attempted to scare me by
saying was going to stop by my shop and punch me in the nose. I have been
called every dirty name I can think of --in 5 third world languages.
I got several nice letters also from what appeared
to be pawnbrokers who were trying to live down the horrible reputation that they
have been given. The bottom line of course is about 1 to 2 percent of the
people sent polite letters while the vast majority sent hate mail and threatened
me with lawsuits and bodily harm. This of course paints the same picture I
wrote about above. (You can trust one out of 250 pawn shops.)
To the few pawnshop owners that are actually honest
and to the few pawnshop owners who actually care about their customers, I hereby
apologize in advance.
So I repeat for the record..............
F%#k Pawnshops!
Someone please email me a photo of the dirtiest slimy foul smelling
nastiest low-life pawnshop you can find and I will post it. If
enough people send me pictures I may even have a contest for who sent the most
gross or funniest or nastiest or most outrageous.
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Dear Sir:
With all due respect to your rant on pawnshops, (which I
99.9% agree with you on) I would like to bring to your attention
what happened to my Stratocaster when it turned up in a
Pawnshop, and then offer a cruel story about when I took it to a
music store to get restrung. Perhaps it would give you a
laugh, or maybe even shock you, but please read.
Occasionally, I bring my guitar (2004 Fender American Strat
HSS) to my radio show to play it on air. There are times I
must go away from it such as to use the bathroom. One of
these times that I had to do such "business", I left my
Stratocaster on the couch in the DJ control room. Upon
returning, my strat was gone. Horrified to this fact, I
immediately contacted the police, as well as my insurance
company in re: to my strat. When the police wouldn't do
anything (useless bastards they are), the insurance company
wouldn't do anything (they required a police report to initiate
any action). Immediately, I began calling up pawnshops in
the Binghamton, NY area to see if anyone had turned in my guitar
for pawn. One such pawnshop in Endicott, NY said they had
received my strat, and if I could prove to them it was mine
(through warranty and insurance papers), that I would receive
my guitar back. Much to my surprise, the dealer had the
exact guitar. I called a taxi, and upon arriving, showed
the dealer the paperwork and inquired to how much I owed him.
He replied "it's yours, you proved it... take it home and the
damage is none". Amazingly, it was dent-free and unharmed.
Now the horror story. A few weeks ago, I take my
guitar to a shop in the Binghamton area and attempt to get
it restrung. (4517 Old Vestal Rd in Vestal, NY)
This shop agrees to the job, and tunes it. I agree to
pick up the guitar 2 days later (Wednesday.)
Unfortunately, family events required that I have to pick it
up on Thursday. Upon going to said store to pick it
up, the sales clerk says "I'm sorry we don't have it here."
This made me mad. I go to ask the manager, who simply
says "well, since you did not pick it up on the promised
day... we have put your guitar up for sale. Here's
$100 for your trouble." Realize, this is a near $1,000
guitar... and it's in dead mint condition. I went to
take a look at the back "premiere instruments" rack, and
there was my guitar... with an on-hold tag around its tuning
key. I called the police (Vestal police don't f#%k
around) and immediately told them what had transpired.
Showing them the paperwork (which I keep with me when
getting work done on the guitar... lest this happen), the
manager was arrested and convicted of attempting to steal,
and then sell property. Again, I got my strat back,
but such an experience has led me to distrust low-end music
dealerships.
Pawnshops for the most part are slime, but there are
those few that do keep the law of ethics. What I
advise as someone who has had my guitar stolen several times
is to keep the warranty paperwork with you, NOT in the case,
and to make sure such paperwork is filled out. It may
be a pain, but a little ink now can save you a lot of
trouble later. And as for low-end music stores trying
to make a quick buck. I may be a college student, I
may be limited in funds, but until I give u the guitar and
sign that I agree to sell it to you... DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
SELL MY GUITAR.
(rant done)
Jason S. Ganz <--- Real name (and ballsy enough to use it)
Vestal, NY 13850
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Yet Another Sleazy Pawn Shop
Story:
Beware of the Fakes!
Recently I walked into a Las Vegas pawn shop. The pawnbroker had 3
Tom Anderson guitars for sale. I was quite surprised because normally you
won't find a Tom Anderson guitar in a pawnshop. So, naturally I asked to
see them. They were all obvious fakes. They were probably Samick or
Tradition guitars with Rio Grande pickups. One of them still had the residue of
the made in Korea sticker on the back of the headstock. The decal was on
over the finish. EEEEEKKK!!!!!!
I told the pawnbroker, and he basically told me I was full of shit.
When I started pointing out the fact that the necks weren't quartersawn and the
frets were pretty cheesy he started to get annoyed. I backed off, thinking
maybe this guy bought them this way or maybe he did them himself. The
headstocks weren't even close.
I am not a huge fan of Tom Anderson guitars. Not because there is
anything wrong with them, but because I think they are overpriced. They are
actually a fine guitar, just horrendously overpriced. They claim that they
only make three a day, which does not make any sense because these guitars are
very definitely CNC made.
Well, to make a long story short, I saw another one in another pawn shop
about a week later--so heed this warning. It is almost child's play to
make a copy of a Tom Anderson, John Suhr, Melancon, Sadowsky or any traditional
Strat or Tele style guitar. The Pearlcaster
can't be copied as easily because the all access neck is an immediate dead
giveaway.
Pawnbrokers are typically (and I apologize in advance to the honest,
knowledgeable pawnbrokers) all ebay maggots--so watch out. Actually, if
someone is stupid enough to buy a guitar from ebay, he deserves to get burned
and I won't feel sorry for him at all.
Tom Anderson Decals are cheap and easy to get.
Ebay maggots will sell anything illegal.
Ed Roman
02/28/03
Curse of the Chain Stores"Here I go, Whining and Complaining"
"Hey, after all it is my Soapbox."
This article is probably a waste of my time. I am a realist, and I
know that if every musician in the world actually took the time to read this it
would probably make no difference anyway.
Chain stores and super stores are here
to stay. And it's already too late to do a thing about it.
California, for example, is so driven by chain-store-type music stores, it's
almost impossible to buy a cool guitar out there any more.
Great for me,
bad for people who live in California; they are forced to deal with it.
Well maybe it's not that bad after all. My prices are pretty low on
all new guitars, and there is that huge tax savings to consider when you buy
mail order. A few companies like myself, are doing extremely well in the
onslaught of price wars, and white bread, bland, blah merchandise that the chain
stores are shoveling down people's throats.
I recently visited several large chain store operations. In one of
them I counted 247 guitars on the wall. Then I figured out that
there were really only about 17 different guitars in assortments of colors.
For example, there were 54 American Stratocasters in approximately 5 different
colors. Not very impressive when you compare to my inventory of over
450 different choices of guitars with 3500 in stock.
Incidentally, it took about 7 to 10 minutes for me to count and absorb
what was on that wall. During that time I was expecting someone from the
store to approach me as a potential customer. NOT A CHANCE !!!!
The other thing worth noting here is it took me less than 30 seconds to
ascertain that there were about 4 guitars out of 247 that even slightly piqued
my interest. Most of what they had was production made crap. There were
the usual 5 PRS 1998/99, 22 fret customs which of course the average high end
customer would have ascertained as the best they had to offer.
On the other hand, I feel especially bad for Mom, Dad, and little Johnny,
who have absolutely no clue. When they go in a chain store the young
dwebe in the guitar department will surely steer them into the nice safe, middle
of the road, white bread, honky, bland, Megacaster. And life
goes on.... AAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHH.
They will get it at about 20% off list price and think they are getting a
deal EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK. You poor hapless fools!!!!!
When Larry the Lawyer, Dennis the Dentist, or Doug the Doctor types walk
in, they are steered to those 5 PRS guitars. Educated, well to do people
are typically told that PRS is the last word, The Top of the Heap, The Creme de
la Creme. Well, of course it is if the heap happens to be the usual
pile of sh#t that they have available.
So Larry, Dennis, and Doug naturally will buy a PRS. They will
assume incorrectly that they have just bought the best there is.
Well I have sad news for them, but that's another story for another day.
(Click here to see The Worlds Best Guitars.)
I don't like chain stores of any kind. I don't like snot nosed 17
year old clerks who think they are "Oh So Cool" because they work
in a large music store. I don't like going to a chain operated burger
joint and trying to explain that I don't want tomatos on my whopper to some 16
year old moron kid who doesn't speak a word of English, and doesn't even care if
he ever learns a word of it either.
Looking for a non-chain owned diner is a real adventure these days.
I remember not to long ago there were small family owned restaurants where you
could go get a decent meal for a decent price. Today it's a real challenge
trying to find a freakin' place to get something to eat. The truck stops are
still somewhat real life but the smoke is enough to gag a maggot. The jukebox
leaves a real lot to be desired also. As I said above this article is
probably a waste of time. I'm just venting, or spewing, whichever
way you want to look at it.
When McDonalds and Burger King set out to rid this planet of small family
owned restaurants they had 15 cent burgers and they bragged about "Change
back from your Dollar" Does anyone remember that?
Now that they rule the world, their prices are substantially higher than
normal restaurants. Be aware that you can go to a steakhouse and have a
great lunch for usually less than the price of McDonalds or Burger King.
(As long as you don't order a cocktail.) You will spend less almost every
time. Plus no McDonalds breath, or McDonalds smell on you for several
hours after you eat.
You may wonder what the hell this has to do with chain music stores, etc.
If you can't see the parallel I am attempting to create here you should be
working at McDonalds yourself.
Let me explain. I don't like the fact that, excepting in rare cases
of loss leader merchandising, the prices aren't really that good.
I don't like the limited models they continually seem to carry.
Chain stores always subscribe to the bean counters 80 - 20 inventory
concept. They only carry the 20% of all the products available. The 20%
that appeals to 80% of all the mindless consumers. What about that other
80% of the products? You know the high quality / low production stuff. The
stuff that it doesn't pay to teach your sales staff how to sell because there
never seems to be enough of it around. What about the intelligent consumer
who wants to buy something cool? What about the player who wants an
especially nice instrument. Good Luck !!! In my opinion, I
believe that chain stores just naturally assume that everyone is pretty stupid
and reads the magazines and has no mind of their own. These
individuals wouldn't know a quality instrument if it hit them right between the
eyes.
After all--the magazines won't give
any credence or review any of the new low production high quality stuff because
there is no potential advertising revenue. Plus, these smaller companies
could potentially harm the sales of one of their big advertisers, making it
harder for their advertiser to make a profit. This in turn makes it harder
for the advertiser to pay his advertising bills, which boils down to smaller
advertising budgets and less money for the magazine.
I remember back in the days before Radio Shack. There used to be
lots of cool little electronic specialty stores. These stores gradually
got pushed out of business by Radio Shack. Today, you get reamed by Radio
Shack if you want to buy something. They never seem to have anything in
stock, the Pseudo Intellectual Ex Car Salesman Clerks are slightly more helpful
than a grocery check out clerk, and lately I have noticed a tendency for less
and less of them to speak English.
By the way, I don't have a problem with people who can't speak English.
But sometimes I get the distinct feeling that many of these immigrants are
trying to preserve their own heritage by purposely not learning the English
Language. Nothing pisses me off more than when I have to return something and
the clerk who spoke perfect broken English at the time of the sale suddenly
forgets the entire English language when it comes time for a return.
What can we do about it... Not a thing it's already toooooo late. So
bend over and take it like a man.
If people had gone out of their way to deal only with specialists this
problem would not exist today. Of course, a specialist may cost a little
more, and in the consumers attempt to save a few dollars he has screwed himself
again.
I must confess.... I too am guilty. I patronized several large
office supply superstores for convenience and lower prices. Today those
stores are all higher priced and rarely is there a clerk who can answer even a
basic question. It's too late for me to go back to my old supplier, he
long ago went out of business. These days he works as one of the Carbon
Based Units at Home Depot. (Home Depot--Oy-- Don't get me
started.)
Incidentally, Mark Begelman. the successful entrepreneur who owns Music
And Recording Superstores (MARS), used to be the owner of Office Depot.
Depot.... What is the fascination with the word "Depot"
Coming Soon to YOUR Town............."Music Depot"
In Closing, I would just like to say,
"If all people spent all their money at Taco Bell, ALL STORES WOULD BE TACO
BELL."
Think About it !!
Ed Roman
04/01/99
PS This was written before MARS went out of business.