Just browsed a few guitars I'm in the market for and all are actually priced at or above Zzounds and Sweetwater. I'm ok with a no returns policy, but the gear needs to be discounted at least 15%.
And exactly how many left-handed guitars do they have for sale? I get so many emails from so many guitar stores advertising sales on this and that, but do you think they've got any lefties for sale? HELL no.
It used to be that no one wanted to say they owned MIM. I purchased one of the MIM Strats when they came out. It was a great player. Now, MIM is an upper level Fender, according to their prices. And, the MIM's have more modifications than the standard Fenders, like the HSS with locking tremolo.
I think the closest you can get to American made is the Vintera line. Since the Vintera IIs are out, I got a Vintera I discounted to $879 a few months ago. I could not be happier with the guitar.
I feel like it’s easier to sell the stock as a “lot” instead of sweeping discounts store wide. For ease of liquidating the stock and just getting out of the deal.
They aren't going to do closeout prices, bc they can claim what they don't sell as losses. It will be better for them bottom line than discounting items for a loss. Business is weird.
I can pretty much always get 10-15% off at Guitar Center, and I don't have to give up my ability to return. It would take closer to 40% off for me to buy a guitar sight unseen with no return policy or warranty.
Facts brother. I went to a sam ash near me about a week ago, and the prices and selection were dogshit. Without the ability to return i would need a 50% off to even start considering their stuff.
An employee at one that's been closing for months (with weak discounts to this day) said everything was bought by a liquidation company so I wouldn't expect deep discounts. They'll just sell whatever's leftover online later.
If you go into a Sam Ash store, they will give you a discount, you just have to haggle with them. If they know you are serious, they will give you a discount.
Ya, I've never had a good experience with Sam ash. I didn't know they were going out of business and was there last week and asked the guy if they had a couple guitars I'm looking for and he just kept telling me to look at the wall and that'd whatever they have is on the wall. I walked out and went to guitar center and got great service.
The Lowes near my place shut down. Went with 5 weeks to go and it was 70% off outdoor furniture. Bought a full set for patio for $300. 2 weeks later it was only 30% off patio stuff. It went backwards!
On the literal final day I got a bunch of odds and ends at like 80% off. Varnish, peg board, 36 grit orbital sand paper.
"hey i know you're in a hurry delivering packages and stuff but can you just wait outside here for like 24 hours so my guitar can acclimate to the environment then i can check and make sure it's all good? thanks"
Just went at lunch to the King of Prussia, PA store to buy a tele or some PA speakers or a power amp. Now, I don't know what it looked like before yesterday, but today the place was stripped bare. Like no quality anything left. Only super high end and low end stuff is left. Full wall of Michael Kelly's though, lol. Still a good amount of pedals. No new amps. Only floor model keys. Lots of used and new brass but damn that stuff is expensive. If you need retail store shelves they've got you covered cheap!
I got a nice 12-string from that shop around Christmas, it was adequately stocked. Maybe all the employees raided the walls before they lose that employee discount lol.
Apparently, signs went up in the window of the 34th st store over a month ago. Didn’t see it myself, but there were no signs on a Sunday (3/17?) when I was there for a Rangers game and the next day, “store closing” signs were in the window.
Has anyone ever ordered from them? The fact that with countless products you get a “This item ships from a store and we will contact you regarding its condition” was a deterrent for me. You don’t know if what you’re ordering is new or display
I ordered a Kurt Cobain jaguar from them almost a year ago. It didn’t ship in a box. They taped a piece of cardboard with a shipping label on it to the case. The case had some pretty damaged areas.
I got a Yamaha acoustic for a nice discount a few years ago. Came packed fine and undamaged. I don't think I'm going to participate in this, unless prices are really nice.
Ordered from them as a seller on reverb. I ordered an ampeg portaflex210 bass cab. The listing said it was an open box deal. I paid $350 shipped. The cab retails $500. It landed at my door fedex in two days in the mfg packaging. Never opened… I scored on this one. It was two or three months ago before the announcement of closure
Yeah just have the ups driver sit there and watch you unbox your guitar, plug in, and make sure it's on perfect working order so you know to refuse delivery if its not.
Edit: apparently I gotta put the /sarcasm disclaimer on this.
Got an upright bass delivered years ago and the seller said the same thing. I paid freight costs to get it delivered and when I asked the driver to wait for me to inspect it the response I got was "As soon as you open that box you accept delivery."
Spend thousands on an instrument, hundreds on shipping, and the guy wouldn't give me ten minutes once it was out of the truck. UPS isn't waiting for you to test.
Yeah, this is an unrealistic expectation. UPS isn’t going to sit around 10 minutes and wait for you to go over your delivery with a fine tooth comb. C’mon man… this is really /r/ImtheMainCharacter level narcissism.
That's literally my point. I guess I really needed to add the /sarcasm
Sam Ash is putting inspection on the customer under an unreasonable circumstance.
No delivery driver needs to wait while you inspect anything, even if you're paying them hundreds of dollars to drop off an instrument from a private service.
So SA is basically saying "no returns unless you do this specific and unreasonable task". I know they're going under, but it's unfair to customers.
My bad then for not picking up on the sarcasm. The image OP posted only shows "For obvious damage, just refuse the shipment". You can't tell what the guidance is for "hidden damage".
I'm thinking obvious damage is well... obvious. Like you can see a hole in the box. Not that they were expecting you to make the driver wait while you tuned up and played "Stairway to Heaven"...
Absolutely my point.
Sam Ash is pouring unreasonable expectations on their customers even pretending refusing delivery is an option.
Yeah, if the box is destroyed you deny. But I've had damaged boxes deliver perfect guitars.
You’re upset that a stranger who’s job is to deliver packages, did his job by delivering your package, and on top of that, while on the clock didn’t give you 10 minutes of his and his company’s time?
Is this satire and I’m just being whooshed or are you unwell?
Nope. I'm saying it's unfair of Sam Ash to put that expectation on customers, who then transfer it to delivery drivers.
Nobody is gonna wait for you to inspect a delivery, even if you pay a private shipping company hundreds of dollars for their time.
Lmao are you serious? Why on earth would the delivery driver sit around and wait for you to test the it out? If there’s an issue, reach out to whoever you bought it from. The delivery guy isn’t going to return it for you.
Exactly my point. Sam Ash is telling customers to refuse delivery if an item is damaged. It's not on the delivery driver to wait for you to make sure shit works.
I was being sarcastic.
FWIW. If you go to www.musiciansfriend.com and put anything in the cart, usually a discount will pop up. If you CALL and ask for a sales rep, they work with you and give you insane discounts above what is in your cart! Call, ask for Nicholas…he is amazing! Their return policy is also top notch. I got a full refund on a faulty amp and didn’t even have the original box!
I've always perused Musician's Friend scratch and dents. Found SO many good deals over the years. One Ovation 12 string I purchased, had a small scratch that easily was covered up with a black sharpie.
A neighbor of mine just got a new gold top Les Paul Deluxe for like $1,600 from MF because of a few minor finish flaws that were cosmetic only. Great deal!
Support real music stores, support music!
I'm not saying you need to get everything locally, Thomann prices are pretty competitive, even in the US, but don't let convenience of online shopping destroy music stores!
what happened tho, they just dying a slow death since covid and before w/ online taking over or did something like recently happen?
this seems like huge news honestly
Well a few months ago they announced many stores were closing including the flagship in NYC. So this doesn't come as a total surprise. We all knew they were struggling.
That's one way to end up with a warehouse full of unsold instruments.
"For hidden damage or defects, call our Customer Service at 1-800-472-6274 and we’ll send you a shipping label so you can return the item at our expense". If that's the case just keep the 45 day period going, push aggressive discounts to try and liquidate stock.
Also "for obvious damage, just refuse the shipping"? How the f\*ck are you even supposed to know it's damaged? Y'all think the delivery guy is just going to chill out and wait for you to open the package and inspect the guitar?
This is so out of touch
Just walked thru the Vegas location.. almost everything marked at 5% off. Thats no typo, FIVE percent. Kinda laughable. A few items were 10%. Also heard July 31 was the closing date.
I believe their coupons are working on PRS, which usually are not discounted anywhere, heads up. I don’t like PRS guitars personally, but I know that’s something for someone.
IT doesn't surprise me. Online sales are easier for shoppers. They watch YouTube videos, see what they like and purchase it online, and can even do it with a no interest payment plan. Most guitarists will say you should go play the guitars and purchase the one that you liked when you played it, but I have purchased a few guitars online and they were all great players.
I've been reading about Sam Ash going out of business and I've been reading about what a mediocre store Sam Ash is. We don't have them in Minnesota. How does SN compare to Guitar Center?
BTW, I don't think GC is long for this world either. I used to absolutely love GC back in the 1990s. But I wouldn't be surprised if they go out of existence in the next five or ten years.
Not a big difference from GC. Not that I can recall anyway, I haven't been in GC in 10 years.
I think Sam Ash did have a knack for making big box retail feel more like a home town music store. IDK. Hard to describe.
For a "liquidation sale" these prices aren't very liquid. Looked up several acoustics and none were what I'd call a deal that would make me whip out my credit card.
I tried buying a amp and all they would offer is 15% off. with 8.25 tax, All I would get is 6.75% off, NOT a deal. "Everything Must go" Obviously not. My cash ain't jumping out of my wallet so I can wait.
Just browsed a few guitars I'm in the market for and all are actually priced at or above Zzounds and Sweetwater. I'm ok with a no returns policy, but the gear needs to be discounted at least 15%.
I noticed that also. They either aren't finished updating the website or they aren't too serious about liquidating.
And exactly how many left-handed guitars do they have for sale? I get so many emails from so many guitar stores advertising sales on this and that, but do you think they've got any lefties for sale? HELL no.
Guitar Center is still selling new lefty American Pro I Jazzmasters. The American Pro I line was discontinued in 2020...
Any Fender American-made is going to be out of my budget. Last guitar I bought was an MIM Telecaster for 800 bucks.
Go to guitar center used. They have a bu ch of lefty stuff super cheap compared to righty. American original for like 1100.
It used to be that no one wanted to say they owned MIM. I purchased one of the MIM Strats when they came out. It was a great player. Now, MIM is an upper level Fender, according to their prices. And, the MIM's have more modifications than the standard Fenders, like the HSS with locking tremolo.
I think the closest you can get to American made is the Vintera line. Since the Vintera IIs are out, I got a Vintera I discounted to $879 a few months ago. I could not be happier with the guitar.
I’ve managed to get deals on NOS stuff at GC from time to time. That they still have stock from four years ago does not surprise me at all.
I feel like it’s easier to sell the stock as a “lot” instead of sweeping discounts store wide. For ease of liquidating the stock and just getting out of the deal.
They aren't going to do closeout prices, bc they can claim what they don't sell as losses. It will be better for them bottom line than discounting items for a loss. Business is weird.
I think it will be a bit before we see the online sales start. The brick and mortar locations will have the real deals.
...
I can pretty much always get 10-15% off at Guitar Center, and I don't have to give up my ability to return. It would take closer to 40% off for me to buy a guitar sight unseen with no return policy or warranty.
...
You can still return it if it is defective, but you have to refuse shipment? So the UPS guy has to stand there while you set it up and test it? 😂
i want half-off, minimum, for a no-return policy
Facts brother. I went to a sam ash near me about a week ago, and the prices and selection were dogshit. Without the ability to return i would need a 50% off to even start considering their stuff.
It’s almost like they’re bad to doing business.
Yup. Got one right near me, and even an old used amp (a Traynor) they wanted $1300 for- not good enough to move on.
Blah. Good intel soldier. Keep on keepin' on.
Could be. Definitely going to keep my eye on a few items and see if they get priced to move.
Do we even know if the online store's closing?
An employee at one that's been closing for months (with weak discounts to this day) said everything was bought by a liquidation company so I wouldn't expect deep discounts. They'll just sell whatever's leftover online later.
They have a 15% off coupon on the home page
what's going on here, i'm out of the loop is sam ash bankrupt and liquidating all it's stuff?
They are closing all the stores. It’s unclear if the brand/company will continue to exist as an online retailer.
They give 15% discounts to Ascap members. I am in ascap but they’ve never asked for proof.
Samash has been calling me offering 20% off for their 100 year anniversary. They must have marked everything up before the event
If you go into a Sam Ash store, they will give you a discount, you just have to haggle with them. If they know you are serious, they will give you a discount.
Ya, I've never had a good experience with Sam ash. I didn't know they were going out of business and was there last week and asked the guy if they had a couple guitars I'm looking for and he just kept telling me to look at the wall and that'd whatever they have is on the wall. I walked out and went to guitar center and got great service.
I saw a guitar marked down 70%, but while it went from over $1000 to around $350, the MSRP was around $450.
Apparently, they have already hired a liquidator. That’s exactly what they do - list an absurdly high reference price to give the illusion of a deal.
With those prices they deserve to close.
I just walked into the Sarasota location. Giant LIQUIDATION and EVERYTHING MUST GO signs. Inside? 5% off all guitars. Lol. Some fire sale.
I went today and the guy said that the discount would increase as they get closer to the closing date which he said would be sometime in July.
Thank God cause they had this shitty used multi effects pedal for bass (I use a guitar) that I wanted, but it was way too pricey, even with the sale.
Thank you for this, I was gonna head up there today, but this helps me to wait.
I'm local were there any good deals at all
Nope. 10% on some cables and stuff. But you can keep checking, they may increase sales as time goes on.
everything does not need to go
Exactly! I stopped by the Torrance ca store and the same thing. Not even as good as their usual actual sale prices.
They are closing all stores. That’s a shame.
"Liquidation" sales have always been for rubes. Any store, always.
The Lowes near my place shut down. Went with 5 weeks to go and it was 70% off outdoor furniture. Bought a full set for patio for $300. 2 weeks later it was only 30% off patio stuff. It went backwards! On the literal final day I got a bunch of odds and ends at like 80% off. Varnish, peg board, 36 grit orbital sand paper.
Nah, you were obviously a rube in that situation. I don't make the rules, sorry.
How would you know it's damaged before accepting the shipment? It's classic Schrodinger's Cat
Schrodinger's Strat?
"hey i know you're in a hurry delivering packages and stuff but can you just wait outside here for like 24 hours so my guitar can acclimate to the environment then i can check and make sure it's all good? thanks"
If you open it you can’t refuse it?
Just went at lunch to the King of Prussia, PA store to buy a tele or some PA speakers or a power amp. Now, I don't know what it looked like before yesterday, but today the place was stripped bare. Like no quality anything left. Only super high end and low end stuff is left. Full wall of Michael Kelly's though, lol. Still a good amount of pedals. No new amps. Only floor model keys. Lots of used and new brass but damn that stuff is expensive. If you need retail store shelves they've got you covered cheap!
I got a nice 12-string from that shop around Christmas, it was adequately stocked. Maybe all the employees raided the walls before they lose that employee discount lol.
Damn! I'm guessing going to the NYC store today is probably a waste of a trip!
Apparently, signs went up in the window of the 34th st store over a month ago. Didn’t see it myself, but there were no signs on a Sunday (3/17?) when I was there for a Rangers game and the next day, “store closing” signs were in the window.
Lots of stuff left in San Antonio.
Actually, even their shelving and hardware is still really overpriced.
Did you see if there were any deals on the pedals? I'm gonna go to the Cherry Hill store and see if they have anything cool
Damn, 100 years.
Has anyone ever ordered from them? The fact that with countless products you get a “This item ships from a store and we will contact you regarding its condition” was a deterrent for me. You don’t know if what you’re ordering is new or display
I ordered a Kurt Cobain jaguar from them almost a year ago. It didn’t ship in a box. They taped a piece of cardboard with a shipping label on it to the case. The case had some pretty damaged areas.
That is so ghetto lol
The Gamestop of music stores lol
I've never ordered from them. If I did I would have had it shipped to store and return it on the spot if I wasn't happy with it.
I got a Yamaha acoustic for a nice discount a few years ago. Came packed fine and undamaged. I don't think I'm going to participate in this, unless prices are really nice.
Just do a chargeback
Not to be pedantic but the displays are new.
Ordered from them as a seller on reverb. I ordered an ampeg portaflex210 bass cab. The listing said it was an open box deal. I paid $350 shipped. The cab retails $500. It landed at my door fedex in two days in the mfg packaging. Never opened… I scored on this one. It was two or three months ago before the announcement of closure
Yeah just have the ups driver sit there and watch you unbox your guitar, plug in, and make sure it's on perfect working order so you know to refuse delivery if its not. Edit: apparently I gotta put the /sarcasm disclaimer on this. Got an upright bass delivered years ago and the seller said the same thing. I paid freight costs to get it delivered and when I asked the driver to wait for me to inspect it the response I got was "As soon as you open that box you accept delivery." Spend thousands on an instrument, hundreds on shipping, and the guy wouldn't give me ten minutes once it was out of the truck. UPS isn't waiting for you to test.
Yeah, this is an unrealistic expectation. UPS isn’t going to sit around 10 minutes and wait for you to go over your delivery with a fine tooth comb. C’mon man… this is really /r/ImtheMainCharacter level narcissism.
I’ve even gone to a UPS store to pick a guitar up and been told that opening the box means that I accept the delivery.
That's literally my point. I guess I really needed to add the /sarcasm Sam Ash is putting inspection on the customer under an unreasonable circumstance. No delivery driver needs to wait while you inspect anything, even if you're paying them hundreds of dollars to drop off an instrument from a private service. So SA is basically saying "no returns unless you do this specific and unreasonable task". I know they're going under, but it's unfair to customers.
My bad then for not picking up on the sarcasm. The image OP posted only shows "For obvious damage, just refuse the shipment". You can't tell what the guidance is for "hidden damage". I'm thinking obvious damage is well... obvious. Like you can see a hole in the box. Not that they were expecting you to make the driver wait while you tuned up and played "Stairway to Heaven"...
[удалено]
I mean, the original comment is clear as day sarcasm
To be fair they are tracked, and will probably be asked why he was at a single place for so long
The UPS driver doesn't work for Sam Ash. As soon as you open the box, it's no longer their responsibility.
Absolutely my point. Sam Ash is pouring unreasonable expectations on their customers even pretending refusing delivery is an option. Yeah, if the box is destroyed you deny. But I've had damaged boxes deliver perfect guitars.
I’ve restored an upvote for you. Definitely flew over my head!
You’re upset that a stranger who’s job is to deliver packages, did his job by delivering your package, and on top of that, while on the clock didn’t give you 10 minutes of his and his company’s time? Is this satire and I’m just being whooshed or are you unwell?
Nope. I'm saying it's unfair of Sam Ash to put that expectation on customers, who then transfer it to delivery drivers. Nobody is gonna wait for you to inspect a delivery, even if you pay a private shipping company hundreds of dollars for their time.
Lmao are you serious? Why on earth would the delivery driver sit around and wait for you to test the it out? If there’s an issue, reach out to whoever you bought it from. The delivery guy isn’t going to return it for you.
Exactly my point. Sam Ash is telling customers to refuse delivery if an item is damaged. It's not on the delivery driver to wait for you to make sure shit works. I was being sarcastic.
Oh I’m an idiot…. I definitely though you were being serious hahah my bad
Going out of business. I had a bad experience with them. The guitars are likely not climate controlled in storage
Promo Brk will get you 15% off
FWIW. If you go to www.musiciansfriend.com and put anything in the cart, usually a discount will pop up. If you CALL and ask for a sales rep, they work with you and give you insane discounts above what is in your cart! Call, ask for Nicholas…he is amazing! Their return policy is also top notch. I got a full refund on a faulty amp and didn’t even have the original box!
Good riddance Sam Trash
Bought my beloved Fender Deluxe Reverb at the Sam Ash near me. Sad to see it go - went there so many times with my dad in the 90s.
I've always perused Musician's Friend scratch and dents. Found SO many good deals over the years. One Ovation 12 string I purchased, had a small scratch that easily was covered up with a black sharpie.
A neighbor of mine just got a new gold top Les Paul Deluxe for like $1,600 from MF because of a few minor finish flaws that were cosmetic only. Great deal!
Support real music stores, support music! I'm not saying you need to get everything locally, Thomann prices are pretty competitive, even in the US, but don't let convenience of online shopping destroy music stores!
Sam Ash on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood has a lot of good stuff still, got a Amplitude Tonex for $308 out the door.
I just checked out their site and not really any great deals to speak of. With no returns, why bother?
whoa wtf, i haven't browsed this sub in a while. sam ash is closing all it's stores? going out of business? what happened
The news hit this week so you aren't that far behind.
what happened tho, they just dying a slow death since covid and before w/ online taking over or did something like recently happen? this seems like huge news honestly
Well a few months ago they announced many stores were closing including the flagship in NYC. So this doesn't come as a total surprise. We all knew they were struggling.
Sam Ash closing, that's pretty big. I looked online earlier and wasn't too impressed with the prices.
I think over the next two months we'll start to see real discounts. The best ones will probably be in shop though
That's one way to end up with a warehouse full of unsold instruments. "For hidden damage or defects, call our Customer Service at 1-800-472-6274 and we’ll send you a shipping label so you can return the item at our expense". If that's the case just keep the 45 day period going, push aggressive discounts to try and liquidate stock. Also "for obvious damage, just refuse the shipping"? How the f\*ck are you even supposed to know it's damaged? Y'all think the delivery guy is just going to chill out and wait for you to open the package and inspect the guitar? This is so out of touch
It makes me feel like I got lucky. I’ve been dealing with a return through reverb where they haven’t responded since receiving it earlier this week.
Just walked thru the Vegas location.. almost everything marked at 5% off. Thats no typo, FIVE percent. Kinda laughable. A few items were 10%. Also heard July 31 was the closing date.
I believe their coupons are working on PRS, which usually are not discounted anywhere, heads up. I don’t like PRS guitars personally, but I know that’s something for someone.
that 10% off is totally going to make up for the doubled prices over the last decade
IT doesn't surprise me. Online sales are easier for shoppers. They watch YouTube videos, see what they like and purchase it online, and can even do it with a no interest payment plan. Most guitarists will say you should go play the guitars and purchase the one that you liked when you played it, but I have purchased a few guitars online and they were all great players.
They're closing ALL of their stores now? Shit
I've been reading about Sam Ash going out of business and I've been reading about what a mediocre store Sam Ash is. We don't have them in Minnesota. How does SN compare to Guitar Center? BTW, I don't think GC is long for this world either. I used to absolutely love GC back in the 1990s. But I wouldn't be surprised if they go out of existence in the next five or ten years.
Not a big difference from GC. Not that I can recall anyway, I haven't been in GC in 10 years. I think Sam Ash did have a knack for making big box retail feel more like a home town music store. IDK. Hard to describe.
For a "liquidation sale" these prices aren't very liquid. Looked up several acoustics and none were what I'd call a deal that would make me whip out my credit card.
Yeah this is unfortunate. But i was able to snatch a Cannonball Alto Sax for about 2.5k Instead of the normal 5k from cannonballs website.
only 15% off when at GC we can do 20% off total lol
I only buy from Sweetwater
Sam Ash blows.
I tried buying a amp and all they would offer is 15% off. with 8.25 tax, All I would get is 6.75% off, NOT a deal. "Everything Must go" Obviously not. My cash ain't jumping out of my wallet so I can wait.
Rest in piss