Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Sam Ash Is Closing After 100 years... Is Guitar Center Next?

Sam Ash 5% Off Guitar Sale 5-15-24

A few weeks ago I went to both SamAsh and Guitar Center in my local area. I really wanted to checkout a few acoustic guitars since I only have one right now (A Taylor GS Mini) and I wanted to have another acoustic handy incase one of my musician friends comes over to my house and we can jam together.

Before going I looked at a few guitars online, cheap ones like the Fender Redondo to expensive ones like a Taylor Koa K24ce because why not day dream. I headed to Guitar Center (GC) first because Sam Ash opens later than the GC near me. What I was surprised to see was how many acoustic guitars had locks on them. They were literally locked to the hanging guitar stands. I did see a few Fender Acoustasonics but I didn't get a chance to actually hold one to see how it felt in my hands (bummer missed opportunity). I really wasn't that impressed with their selection at GC so I left and headed down the street to check out Sam Ash.

Sam Ash had a wider selection and only the most expensive acoustic guitars were locked up in the show case corner of the the acoustic room. They had a wide variety of ukuleles, banjos, 6 string guitars and even a few 10 and 12 string guitars. I took the opportunity to hold and play the 10 string Micheal Kelly Koa 10 on sale for $499 (msrp $649.99) and that sounded really cool.

I never heard of Micheal Kelly, it's not one of the brands sold at Sweetwater.com and I usually gravitate towards Taylor acoustic guitars anyway. They also has a beautiful Micheal Kelly ebony java 6 string on sale for $419.99 (msrp $519.99) and that one just looked super cool, but I felt like I could get a better deal on a used one if I searched hard enough.

I checked online for used ones at GC and Sam Ash but the price was still too close the one the one I saw in the store. Next I started searching the usual apps like Facebook Market place and OfferUp. I found used Koa 10 for $399, but I honestly didn't want to spend more than $250 on another acoustic. I found an Micheal Kelly ebony java on offer up for $250, the description said "...asking $250" so I was hopeful that maybe the person would accept a little less like $200. I wrote to the seller on offer up and offer $200 cash, he agreed and an hour drive later I had the guitar with a case in my hands.

The things I like about Guitar Center and Sam Ash are I can walk in and see a wide selection of musical instruments and I may not have know about. Just like Michael Kelly, because the don't sell them (yet) at Sweetwater. Please I like to see in person how guitars look and feel the action (how high the strings are on the fret board), and that's not something you can typically do from just a photograph online. Plus when searching for guitars online you really have to know exactly what you are looking for and can easily miss out on all the stuff you don't know to search for.

The things I don't like about Guitar Center and Sam Ash are the high prices. I get it some guitars are super expensive, but finding a deal online just seems easier to me. I don't like the lack of used gear options. Over the last 10 years it seems the used gear market has ultimately disappeared from the the major retailers. And in the case of GC almost all the guitars were lock up and I couldn't find anyone to help me, so I couldn't hold or try any of them.

So I'm not that shocked that Sam Ash announced its closing its stores, all of them. I did swing by Sam Ash today to check out the deals and was surprised that all the guitars were marked down by just 5% (not 50%, not 15% just five percent!). So that 10 string Micheal Kelly Koa 10 on sale for $479 (was $499 a few weeks ago... msrp $649.99)... thats a huge savings of $20 (that's sarcasm by the way- not huge savings at all since you can buy that guitar direct from the Michale Kelly website for around $499 anyway. That just reinforced my view that there aren't any deals there yet, and I'm not sure when there will be deals and if anyone will actually score something worth while. I really feel like its only a matter of time (probably a short amount of time) before Guitar Center does the same thing and goes out of business. Hopefully that gives the smaller Mom and Pop shops a boost in sales.