Guitar Center, Local or Pawn

Where do you think the best place to find deals of gear is? I've heard a lot of stories about guitar center's lack of quality control. I've bought from both GC and local shops before but never a pawn shop. How do pawn shops compare in bang for your buck gear?

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'72 Tele Deluxe w/ custom WRHB
Hot Rod Deluxe
Boss ME-50
Diamond Compressor, Ernie Ball Jr VP, Boss TR2, Boss DD7, FS-5U

I've found deals at GC that were incredible. In Indianapolis, the manager told me once that as many as 100 guitars will come in during a week or so. I go in nearly every week just to look at the walls and see the deals. Gets me in trouble quite often I can tell you.
Bought a big blonde archtop - not even looking for one. Nice thing about blonde guitars, though..... you can wear anything with them.

SRN
http://www.conversationpiecesmusic.com

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SRN

i LOVE guitar center. quality's never been a problem for me when it comes to amps, guitars or pedals because you can go there and jam around and test the equipment out. the deals are amazing because they'll match any online price you can find, and even after that, if you're a regular there and the guys are cool, you can talk them into lowering the price even more. once one of the guys gave me 50 dollars off a multi-effects pedal that was already on sale. the guitar center where I live will do free professional setups on any guitar you have too, even if you didn't buy it there. set up the bridge, neck, and pickups to make it great quality. most guys there don't have much technical experience, so they don't offer repair or pickup replacements. also, they don't give lessons. it's corporate, so you don't have that one-on-one buyer/seller relationship like you get at local music shops.

i've been to pawn shops before, and the ones around here are pretty terrible. sometimes you might be able to find a rare guitar, or one for dirt cheap, but it's gonna be used and will probably have lots of dings on it. return policy is usually not very good, neither is set up or repair. that won't happen with a pawn shop. best thing about a pawn shop is you can usually get guitar gear there dirt cheap if you can't afford a new one from guitar center.

local shops can either be good or bad. locally, we have a couple music shops. music shops are good if you want special equipment, vintage equipment that isn't on market anymore, and nice people you know and really care about their customer. usually they have lots and lots of different kinds of stuff there that you won't find in a corporate retailer, but you'll end up paying a little more. quality is very good usually, and most have a good return policy. also, if you have old gear, a good place to get new gear without forking out a gob of cash is at a music shop, because most of em'll do trades. owners of music shops are usually nice people and very easy to work with when it comes to prices or even making payments without using credit cards. they offer lessons, repairs, and setups. usually things are a little more expensive at music shops though..from strings to amps.

also, be careful when buying from a music shop. not all owners are nice. if you don't do your research about your product online before going in to buy it, it's very likely they'll try to rip you off.

hope i helped. Very Happy

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Learn your theory.
http://musictheory.net/