Typical guitar center, I’ve found a guitar on the wall being sold as new with a hole in the body, another one being sold used for more than it was new and it looked like it was used as an ashtray, rusty, missing strings 😂😂😂
LOL dude one time i got like 300 bucks off of a jackson slx dx because someone bought it, didnt like it, and returned it. absolutely 0 issues with the guitar!
Those are USUALLY demo models, NEVER buy the one off the wall unless its PERFECT. They always keep one extra in the back at my local store and have for 15+ years
@@TeensierPython the comment is more about the negative impact guitar center has had on the industry as whole, which arguably negatively impacts everyone. Manufacturers, consumers, and separate dealers alike.
I have a 1990 Ibanez rg570 that i bought in 94 sort of by accident. Locally owned guitar shop had what looked a box of random guitar parts sitting on the counter. Looked in it and thought for right price some extra parts. Guy sold me the box for $60. I thru that box in the corner for weeks before i finally went thru it. I was amazed it was complete guitar with all paint and markings sanded off, chunks of wood missing and such. But they left the serial and model number on back of headstock. I restored that guitar and its still my favorite to this day. Everyone tries to buy it but no.
I recently bought a white Ibanez 350DXZ with the Edge Zero 2, and I cannot believe how well it plays. The neck is unreal. One of the best guitars I have ever played.
Taylor, or anyone else reading this, example why you ALWAYS have it shipped to the nearest store and have employees unbox in front of you. In this case, you simply deny acceptance of item and refund is processed. Plus it’s fun watching employees reaction to packing.
Yep, I recently ordered a Jackson 7 string bass and the guy at GC said, "send it directly here, that way you can open and check it out before you take it". The bass was perfect. But, yes, in the future if I buy used...send to the store, meet it there and inspect it.
I have this guitar and im doing it now for 4 months and im just a beginner but its a real good guitar the neck is awesome and you can have great sounds from it
I buy my GC used stuff through Musician's Friend - that way they cover any sort of nonsense that GC ends up doing within the sales process. If anything shows up and I don't like it - no matter what the issue is - I can just take it to any GC and drop it off and they have to take it and return it at no charge to me. Done it with a bunch of stuff.
I have 7 RGs and a JEM Jr... I have OCD and fell in love with Ibanez as a teenager. My favorites are my Frankenstein RG and an RGR320EX in Arctic Frost with a Seymour Duncan Dimebucker and Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell. I do own a Schecter C-7 Diamond Series 7-string I might sell to put money towards a Boss Tone Bender TB-2w.
In 2022, I had a similar experience with Guitar Center during their Thanksgiving sale. I bought a brand new Line 6 HX Stomp. I chose to pick it up in-store instead of having it shipped. The box looked new, so I didn’t check it closely at the store since I was in a hurry. But as I walked back to my car, I heard things rattling inside the box. I couldn’t wait to open it, and to my shock, I found an extremely old, heavily scratched unit in terrible condition. The manuals were missing, and the cables were in bad shape. I immediately rushed back to the store, questioned them about my order, and asked why I was given an old unit instead of a new one. They had no explanation, but eventually, they found a new unit and handed me a blue HX Stomp. Overall, I felt very relieved that I checked the box before getting home and was able to exchange the unit right there. However, the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. It was such a negative ordeal that I decided not to buy anything from Guitar Center again after that day.
Dealing with used stuff from Guitar Center is so weird. New items have their standard company wide policies but used almost seems like it varies from store to store. Bought a guitar used from them that very obviously didn’t arrive as pictured because I took screenshots since the listings disappear after you purchase an item. The guitar had these chunks missing but was listed in good condition. Called tried to get a partial refund like you did and was told well those weren’t there when we shipped it but you can just return it because we know we can still sell it at the price it was listed for. Sent it back and recently bought a Solar A1.7 that arrived dinged up and condition not matching its description. Called the store and they were super cool gave me a partial refund and refunded my shipping cost. There whole listing process just sucks too. They make their employees take pictures using what seems like a MySpace era digital camera.
i can relate, my first guitar i ever pay for was an ibanez grg121 and they were super super cool for a $200 brand new at the time.. although i never brough an ibanez since, they are always solid guitars.
I once purchased a Mick Thomson Warlock from Guitar Center listed as good condition and it also had a broken headstock. It split from the top of the headstock all the way down to the nut. I literally can’t understand the negligence, when they pack a guitar up to ship. Listen I know it was a warlock, I was expecting some chips and dings, but for the headstock to be split all the way through, it’s just ridiculous😅
The fact they wouldn’t even offer to give credit or partial refund for you to keep it sucks. It would be a super easy fix and those old Ibanez necks are rock solid even after repairs. I had to epoxy inject a cracked RG neck once and it was probably stronger after I fixed it.
I used to work at gc customer service and sales via phone like the person you spoke to, they def can use email and view pictures i did all the time. As for resolving the issue, typically they will just have you return the guitar like they told you, however, in very few instances if you reach out to the local guitar center this guitar was shipped from and ask the manager, SOMETIMES they will throw the customer a bone and do things that the corporate offices wouldn't let us do to reslove issues like this, like a partial refund. Im sorry this happened, unfortunately most agents dont have the ability to do the right thing in these scenarios like we would want to because our overlords who would give us our pay checks dont like doing brain dead simple ways to fix things. Hopefully something will allow you to get a better resolution than a return
The GC in Virginia Beach currently has a pink Jackson Dinky(?), that has the biggest body crack behind the neck joint across the entire body. It’s bad enough that if you grabbed the neck and put a foot on the body, you could probably pull it in half. I mentioned it to an employee and they kinda laughed it off without saying much, but when I went back a few weeks ago, they had it back on the floor listed for a couple hundred less. It’s sad.
I bought one of those new when I was in high school. The neck broke in the case on the way to band practice, had it repaired and it broke 2 more times after that right next to the original break. it was probably a 1989 or 1990 year. It was my first real guitar too.
I have a 92 EX 270. it also has a crack at the locking nut allen bolt hole and it goes all the way down to the scarf joint. I have played mine in drop C for the majority of the time I have had it (since 1994 ish) with no problems. The cracking seems to be common with the EX guitars. I have seen 2 other EX guitars, and both were cracked in one or the other bolt hole..
Hey Taylor, just wanted to let you in on an open secret that's been around for years. These EX series guitars pop up all the time on Shop Goodwill for cheap (amongst many other models from many brands big name and no name alike) so I'm confidant you can get a good deal, although good luck finding one in playable condition with the trem bar and locking nut not missing! I've seen at least 20 of them for sale since the start of the year on that site. I just picked up a cool First Act ME553 (yes, really) that is pink with a white splatter design that looks suspiciously like some 80's big hair rocker finished his guitar like he finished the groupies backstage! It even has a flame maple neck on it, a nice bonus. Hopefully I can get some upgrade parts for it soon so I can put it together and play some big hair riffs of it! \m/
This is exactly why I wish Sweetwater would open a chain of retail stores to replace GC. Just in the past 5 years alone GC has gotten so much worse than anyone thought possible. No quality checking, disappointing selection unless you're going for fender or Gibson. Haven't seen a new amp outside of a marshall origin or boss Katana in a GC in a very long time. Please help us Sweetwater, you're our only hope.
I bought a H.R. Giger Ibanez Bass and it showed up with the top cap of the body separating from the body and it was missing the H.R. Giger truss rod cover, and since I have all the stuff I buy from them sent to my local GC store and what do you know I have had no problems since. Yeah I know don't feed the beast but I get really good deals as opposed to Ebay and Reverb.
I want a carved H.R. Geiger RG so bad! I just pre-ordered a Boss SDE-3 pedal from Guitar Center... I had a $40 off coupon that would have gone to waste had I not used it.
@@scramblesthedeathdealer Yeah I am always looking for those Ibanez Giger guitars and bass. Besides the messed up bass. I got the Ibanez ICHRG2 the Iceman Giger guitar.
i had the red flame top ex350, with the red branding... my headstock did the same thing when it was dropped by a teenager who didn't know what he was doing (me)... it was repaired... and then a teen who didn't know what they were doing dropped it again (son)... and it cracked again... current fate unknown. I miss that tremolo, probably the best one for palm muting ever made.
Dude, I have this same guitar and the headstock was cracked in the same place and looks like some repaired it. It is well worth repairing it. The guitar shreds.good mod platform as well. Keep it and fix it.
Is it a wizard neck? I love the way it feels but it makes my hand hurt after a playing for a couple days. I had an rg5320 prestige and i traded it for a pretty much brand new ltd m-1000 and an Ibanez Q52 also in great condition. The ltd seriously plays just as nice, but it doesn't make my hands hurt and the Q52 punches WAY above it's weight.
I have a couple friends who work at or used to work at guitar center, and they were severely overworked and under compensated for that work. Most of them either switched over to giving music lessons or quit altogether.
Na, Eff that man. You didnt get what was advertised and what you paid for. They need to either do a partial refund AND fix the guitar or refund and return. Also, whoeve packed that needs to get the taste slapped out of their mouth. I have a 2006 Epi Zakk Wylde that I bought from them. It was advertised with the OG case. Good condition. The guitar showed up wrapped in bubble wrap. 2 windings, and shoved in a box. No case. I can't believe the guitar survived but it did. The assistant manager at the store was really cool to me. She was a young lady. I triedto be as nice as possible to her explain my situation and frustration. She looked around the store for the case and could not find it. Since it was advertised with a case she offered to send me a hard case to make up for it. She went above and beyond and sent me a gator flight case. I ended up being very happy with that. But the idiocy of how things get shipped from their is astounding.
And just as a side note, whenever I get used gear from Guitar Center I always get the extended warranty. I've had to use it a few times and it's always came through perfectly.
So I purchased one in blue back in 92 and the neck broke in the same spot after three months. The neck was also loose in the pocket even after tightening the screws. I sent it back and Ibanez warrantied it. They didn't have the blue so they sent me the desert yellow and I like it even more. Well two years after that the neck broke in the same spot again. I sold it and the guy repaired the neck and it was still killer. I was looking online for the yellow one a few months back and decided not to get it. The broken necks form the last two made that decision for me. The EX-350 was a killer economy guitar.
My first Ibanez (and my third electric overall) was also an EX! Except... it was the Euro market version of the EX270 from 93', and it was an impulse buy my dad purchased me used for 150$ back in 2013 when I was 10. It was love at first sight, I don't keep it anymore but it started my obsession with Ibanez guitars and especially the early 90's ones :) Parts were crap, body was plywood, but the neck was unique and the fit and finish still holds up today!
Hello Taylor , You must fix it , it's not a no return situation . If you glue on the neck with titebond and joint it with many clamp , your neck be strong and no crack after ! And for the electronic , a little soldering on jack and refixe the jack tight and the problem is over . It's not a big deal to repair it . The guitar center are not professionnal about the guitar and the shipping ... Anyway keep it and repair it ! Thanks for the video.
GC really fucking sucks sometimes. I bought like three amps all around the same time. All three showed up with issues, including the last one showing up with the transformer completely broken from the brackets. After returning the last one to my local GC, they told me to fuck off and that they wouldn't accept another return from me.
These guitars look really nice. Especially in that blue and red finishes. It’s a shame that there are cracks on the neck, but it does play nice when you demoed the guitar. I’ve always liked ibanez guitars and basses. My personal favorites are the rg and s series guitars. And the soundgear and btb basses. Anywho, awesome video, Taylor. Those ex series guitars looks nice and sounds radical 😎🤘🏻🎸
A GC regional GM told me a few weeks ago they'll be closing a lot of stores and moving to a higher-end model. Rough economy to make a branding pivot but store closings are happening all over in retail anyway.
Wood glue and some clamping will fix that cracking. Yes, the wood glue will hold. GC being shit seems to be a regular occurrence for everyone but me, Reverb is where I have had nothing but issues. Still ass though.
Hey! Im a huge fan of the channel, and the videos. I recently subbed a couple days ago, and I really liked the reviews on gear and stuff. I was wondering if you could review a Jackson pro series king v kv. I can’t decide between the king v or the Jackson Randy rhoads RRx24. And I don’t really see any honest reviews on UA-cam of the king v. And I thought you’d be able to help me decide
I just replaced the trussrod in a old Fernandes after GC packed it with almost nothing in the box and it arrived snapped (you could hear it rattling when you shook it). They told me they wanted to make it right and asked for my phone number after I left a review, and then never reached out.
Ohh man what a bummer! I myself have been after another model of my 2nd guitar for awhile now (90s Fernandes Revolver X) I feel for you here bro, big sad.
Have that guitar, no pick gaurd, it’s in pieces as I was going to fix it up. Has the red letter ex neck/headstock, black body. It was my second guitar after my Aria Pro Strat Cat. It was 30 plus years ago. Honestly was going to make it a single hum. At one point I traded mine for a Gibson sg and then was dumb and traded it back lol.
I don't regret returning my new Gibson SG Gothic back in the day. I do regret selling a beat to sh*t purple sparkle Ibanez RG with huge paint chips missing, rusted hardware, etc.
Guitar Center is known for not packing their used gear very well. If you have a store near you, when you order a piece of used gear, you can have it shipped to the store for free. Then you can go to the store and pick it up and check it out at the store. That way if you are unhappy with it, you are there already and can return it on the spot.
I bought a Phil Demmel Demmelition Fury Red Tide Jackson from guitar center online. It arrived unplayable. It was advertised in excellent condition. I had to return it to my local guitar center. A week later it’s on their website and in store. I hope they repaired it before listing it. Shady as hell.
Guitar center did this before, i orded an genuine Wilkenson locking vibrato, but recieved my guitar back with a Gotoh non locking trem! Now the judge may tell em what they are waiting for! 👺😤
This is exactly what happened my to Epiphone Les paul guitar my brother didn't notice the crack in neck and it was painted when he bought it, the tune doesn't stay in for a minute!
Great video man, by the way I know that nobody is going to agree on this but I liked the entry Ibanez's sound more than the expensive one and it seemed to be more playable as well. Heck even the pickups sounded better (not considering of course this guitar's issues)
There's a reason we prefer Sweetwater here in Canada. They have S tier customer service and accommodate us Canucks when we can't get gear here the Great White North
i bought a P-bass couple years ago in Guitar Center, i went home, open up the box and there was a big fat chip of paint on the body of the bass. i took it back the next day lol
My first guitar was the light blue EX360 in the catalog next to Blues Saraceno 😅 I replaced the bridge pickup with an emg and somehow wrestled with the shitty licensed floyd rose to tune it down to B.
Fucking Guitar Center man. That's a bummer. I've gotten some decent guitars at my local store (which is probably your local store too), but that was buying in person.
Yes but I do like Musician's Friend and Woodwind & Brasswind both, and ever since I started having used gear shipped to the local GC store instead of to my home, I haven't gotten a single piece of broken stuff - *imagine that* lol We never got a Sam Ash here and unless they brought one soon there isn't a Sweetwater...but yeah, the answers over the phone were "we'll send you some tubes" when amps would show up with broken glass or "we'll give you a discount" which I allowed once because I really like this Peavey Mystic and the neck was more loose than the pocket cracked, until, I paid the shipping but said "let's do interstore" which is a radio button you can press during checkout, and anything since, perfect. I was really upset about having to give back the Cropper Classic in Onion Green but everything else aside, once I jacked in and one of the pickups was dead, and it was the special triple coil blade bridge pickup, I had to take it back. That part just doesn't come up used and there's no aftermarket replacement.
In my experience with GC "good" means damaged. Last thing I got was a randall rh200. It was packed so bad and the output transformer looked about to snap from it's feet. I returned it and they relisted it at the same price and condition.
I only buy guitar related accessories from Guitar Center, never actual guitars or amplifiers. I don't let them work on my stuff either. Learned my lesson long ago. Good luck bro.
Got a "great deal" on one of those really nice Epi's with the long tenon. Same thing, cracked head stock. I am convinced they just ship out all their broken crap hoping people will keep it lol
Wow I can't believe they wouldnt work with you? I have received multiple guitar in similar or worse shape then yours and always got at least 50% off and repaired them myself. Were you talking to the manager? Also sometimes it helps to contact the purchase from store and they can help you even if the local store can't?
Return it for a full refund. Also watch out for this. Found used pedals I liked on the GC website at a local store, then I go to the said store and find out that it is marked as new but being sold on "Clearance" or tagged as used at a higher price than what is on the website. This has happened to me a few times. I then show the sales guy the website price on my phone and in turn he goes to ask the manager. I ended up getting them at the lower website price and with the last one I saved myself over $60. I don't fall for the BS tactics that the management tries to pull on unsuspecting customers because I show proof.
BRO! SAME! I got a 2003 Ibanez shredder and the headstock came cracked the same about a month ago. WTF.they gave me 50$ back and that was cool. My fault for buying a 20 yo instrument online. Still they could have said something there was finger oils in the crack.
My brother bought an amp from gc online and it showed up with the speaker baffle split in half and partially glued back together so obviously he returned it and they immediately listed it for sale again in good condition, I bought an amp from them that died on me within about 15 minutes of powering it on and needed to be recapped. With that one I knew I was buying a piece that was a little over 30 years old at the time but was assured that it had been teched. Also on that one I bought and paid for it and when I went to pick it up they tried to tell me it had been sold... Like yah... To me...
I just went into a guitar center earlier today - they didn't want to buy the guitar I wanted to sell because it was a Chinese brand and they thought it wouldn't sell, and then I found out that I couldn't put the guitar I wanted on layaway (since I couldn't afford it as I couldn't sell mine). Not a great customer experience tbqh
@@27retrodaze I did. I feel like that movie is gaslighting me because everyone keeps praising it, and I thought it was a half finished movie they tried to tie together with a clever marketing campaign. I’m fairly sure that when they were cutting the movie together they got towards the end and realized “this doesn’t make much sense” so they show horned in a monologue exposition dump just to try and explain the story to people. Idk maybe I’m just overly critical, but it really bothers me when a story is just “left open to interpretation” to that amount Everything else was awesome, it’s just script and the pacing I thought were bad
I own a few vintage Ibanez RGs that’s unfortunately kinda the thing with the Wizard necks my 770 came with a cracked neck my luthier glued it all up and it plays like a dream. Don’t return it make it yours with the pickups you want.
That's why I go with Sweetwater but unfortunately they don't got some of the stuff that guitar center has. But still I do business with SW all the way 😎
Unfortunately that is an inherent problem with maple necks. I ve repaired several in the past. Wick some ultra thin CA in the crack and then loosen all the strings. Repeat the process as necessary j/s
I’ll try to keep my very last guitar center story very short. Bought a duesenberg star player TV Custom on musicians friend. Received it, there was a chip in the headstock(it was brand new, $3500). Found out it was sourced from a guitar center Oklahoma. Called to talk to the manager, and as I start feeling the story, the manager (who WAS really nice) goes “**siiiiigh** OHHHHH you got the one with the chip in it.” He KNEW it was fucked up and shipped it anyway. He said “take it to a local shop and we’ll take the return.” I take it to the local one, they process the return. However…..days went on and I kept getting the runaround on why my money hadn’t been refunded. I finally call the shop I returned it to and the manager said they weren’t supposed to do that for this new process, he clicks a button, says it should be returned. Mind you, this was 30 days of me being without ) $3500. I’ll never do business with either company ever again.
i just quit GC last week after being absolutely taken advantage of for years, nothing surprised me about this video, SHOULD OF BOUGHT THE PRO COVERAGE TAYLOR, HOW ELSE IS GC GONNA GET OUT OF DEBT, IM SURE SITTING ON THE PHONE WITH ASURIAN JUST TO BE TOLD YOU'RE NOT COVERED WAS WORTH THE EFFORT!
Im visiting them with my sister to check out guitars, anyways this video has taught me not to ship if I like something from em. Hell why buy from them lol
You can start the metal noise version of Sunn o))) with the state that guitar is in... Sorry that it arrived that bad man... Hopefully you will find a good one, one day. :)
I've had too many bad experiences with Guitar Center in Ogden and Salt Lake City Utah. Problems with warranty coverage, time it took to repair the item, ignorant low paid employees not giving customers service for someone walking in to buy thousands of dollars worth of gear and they require a $60 payment to set up a bass I purchased that store where my local store does this for free.
I've bought many used guitars from G.C. and never had a problem but they have to let you return it for a refund within 30 days. However it can be repaired by someone who knows what they're doing. If I really like it I'd fix it.
IMO the used prices at GC are high enough that they could take some better pictures so at least you could see rather than having to rely on that seriously inconsistent grading system. It's a shame, too, because there have been a lot of hard-to-find things that have shown up there, but the pics weren't good enough to take the chance.
Guitar Center is unfortunate! My brand new acoustic showed up with the entire headstock cracked all the way through as well! Definitely sticking with “Sweetwater” from now on.
I've had problems with Sweetwater as well. Their "55 point inspection" is a lie, you have to pay for return shipping, and sometimes a 20% restocking fee. At least at GC I can drop of returns for free at local store and no restocking fee.
Go to GC show them the video and then the guitar and then I am sure they will defund you like 50 %. That seems reasonable. Then have it fixed by a Luthier. Really cool guitars made in Korea.
Guitar center wouldn't buy my guitar just this morning because they have to many guitars. I was ready to take the loss knowing you get half what they are worth. They passed on my gretsch Nashville. Guess they need the whole wall of $100 guitars more
Typical guitar center, I’ve found a guitar on the wall being sold as new with a hole in the body, another one being sold used for more than it was new and it looked like it was used as an ashtray, rusty, missing strings 😂😂😂
@@lowtunedg9211 rude!!
@@lowtunedg9211 I regularly see used items priced higher than new on their website. I don’t get it
LOL dude one time i got like 300 bucks off of a jackson slx dx because someone bought it, didnt like it, and returned it. absolutely 0 issues with the guitar!
@@blureed sometimes them being terrible at their jobs actually pays off 😂
Those are USUALLY demo models, NEVER buy the one off the wall unless its PERFECT. They always keep one extra in the back at my local store and have for 15+ years
Guitar Center ruined guitar retail over 30 years ago, you are are just dealing with the legacy of that
Dead accurate.
@@KidNato yeah, you’re definitely not wrong 😔
Then and the merger of musicians "friend" with magazine and online orders as well ruined it as a whole
How? I’ve never been in a guitar center. Aren’t they like a Walmart for guitars?
Are they cheap guitars or just cheaply built guitars?
@@TeensierPython the comment is more about the negative impact guitar center has had on the industry as whole, which arguably negatively impacts everyone. Manufacturers, consumers, and separate dealers alike.
I have a 1990 Ibanez rg570 that i bought in 94 sort of by accident. Locally owned guitar shop had what looked a box of random guitar parts sitting on the counter. Looked in it and thought for right price some extra parts. Guy sold me the box for $60.
I thru that box in the corner for weeks before i finally went thru it. I was amazed it was complete guitar with all paint and markings sanded off, chunks of wood missing and such. But they left the serial and model number on back of headstock. I restored that guitar and its still my favorite to this day. Everyone tries to buy it but no.
Shipping with the trem bar on😂😂😂
I recently bought a white Ibanez 350DXZ with the Edge Zero 2, and I cannot believe how well it plays. The neck is unreal. One of the best guitars I have ever played.
@@WarlanderTV Ibanez trems are way underrated
Taylor, or anyone else reading this, example why you ALWAYS have it shipped to the nearest store and have employees unbox in front of you. In this case, you simply deny acceptance of item and refund is processed. Plus it’s fun watching employees reaction to packing.
@@deskducker It's true for my location. I usually ask people if they wanna crack the box open before leaving to make sure everything arrived safe
I always do this. It is used GC best practices!
Yep, I recently ordered a Jackson 7 string bass and the guy at GC said, "send it directly here, that way you can open and check it out before you take it". The bass was perfect. But, yes, in the future if I buy used...send to the store, meet it there and inspect it.
I have this guitar and im doing it now for 4 months and im just a beginner but its a real good guitar the neck is awesome and you can have great sounds from it
Sell it to Taylor. 😆
I buy my GC used stuff through Musician's Friend - that way they cover any sort of nonsense that GC ends up doing within the sales process. If anything shows up and I don't like it - no matter what the issue is - I can just take it to any GC and drop it off and they have to take it and return it at no charge to me. Done it with a bunch of stuff.
I have 7 RGs and a JEM Jr... I have OCD and fell in love with Ibanez as a teenager. My favorites are my Frankenstein RG and an RGR320EX in Arctic Frost with a Seymour Duncan Dimebucker and Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell.
I do own a Schecter C-7 Diamond Series 7-string I might sell to put money towards a Boss Tone Bender TB-2w.
In 2022, I had a similar experience with Guitar Center during their Thanksgiving sale. I bought a brand new Line 6 HX Stomp. I chose to pick it up in-store instead of having it shipped. The box looked new, so I didn’t check it closely at the store since I was in a hurry. But as I walked back to my car, I heard things rattling inside the box. I couldn’t wait to open it, and to my shock, I found an extremely old, heavily scratched unit in terrible condition. The manuals were missing, and the cables were in bad shape. I immediately rushed back to the store, questioned them about my order, and asked why I was given an old unit instead of a new one. They had no explanation, but eventually, they found a new unit and handed me a blue HX Stomp.
Overall, I felt very relieved that I checked the box before getting home and was able to exchange the unit right there. However, the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. It was such a negative ordeal that I decided not to buy anything from Guitar Center again after that day.
@@DD08905 shady!
yikes!
Dealing with used stuff from Guitar Center is so weird. New items have their standard company wide policies but used almost seems like it varies from store to store. Bought a guitar used from them that very obviously didn’t arrive as pictured because I took screenshots since the listings disappear after you purchase an item. The guitar had these chunks missing but was listed in good condition. Called tried to get a partial refund like you did and was told well those weren’t there when we shipped it but you can just return it because we know we can still sell it at the price it was listed for. Sent it back and recently bought a Solar A1.7 that arrived dinged up and condition not matching its description. Called the store and they were super cool gave me a partial refund and refunded my shipping cost. There whole listing process just sucks too. They make their employees take pictures using what seems like a MySpace era digital camera.
@@Seth_metal haha I’m sure they have a store camera that’s from that era they use 😆
yup and they take 1-2 bad pics in poor lighting too lol
i can relate, my first guitar i ever pay for was an ibanez grg121 and they were super super cool for a $200 brand new at the time..
although i never brough an ibanez since, they are always solid guitars.
I once purchased a Mick Thomson Warlock from Guitar Center listed as good condition and it also had a broken headstock. It split from the top of the headstock all the way down to the nut. I literally can’t understand the negligence, when they pack a guitar up to ship. Listen I know it was a warlock, I was expecting some chips and dings, but for the headstock to be split all the way through, it’s just ridiculous😅
The fact they wouldn’t even offer to give credit or partial refund for you to keep it sucks. It would be a super easy fix and those old Ibanez necks are rock solid even after repairs. I had to epoxy inject a cracked RG neck once and it was probably stronger after I fixed it.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio yeah that’s what I thought! I’m like 🤔 you’d rather take back this unsellable guitar?
@@TaylorDanley oh.. it will probably get re-listed for sale somehow. 😂
That last riff you played was awesome! On an awesome looking guitar!!!
I used to work at gc customer service and sales via phone like the person you spoke to, they def can use email and view pictures i did all the time. As for resolving the issue, typically they will just have you return the guitar like they told you, however, in very few instances if you reach out to the local guitar center this guitar was shipped from and ask the manager, SOMETIMES they will throw the customer a bone and do things that the corporate offices wouldn't let us do to reslove issues like this, like a partial refund. Im sorry this happened, unfortunately most agents dont have the ability to do the right thing in these scenarios like we would want to because our overlords who would give us our pay checks dont like doing brain dead simple ways to fix things. Hopefully something will allow you to get a better resolution than a return
Bro since this is a reminiscent purchase I would definitely take this to a luthier for repair. It is 100% repairable.
That's what GC is hoping for. Eff that.
@@smeemusic I would love to! But I also don’t want to pay 3x what the guitar is worth in the condition it’s in. I’ll have to hunt for one
@@TaylorDanley okay. Fair enough. Besides the color is wrong anyway. So yeah keep looking bro. Best of luck to ya. I hope you find one.
The GC in Virginia Beach currently has a pink Jackson Dinky(?), that has the biggest body crack behind the neck joint across the entire body. It’s bad enough that if you grabbed the neck and put a foot on the body, you could probably pull it in half. I mentioned it to an employee and they kinda laughed it off without saying much, but when I went back a few weeks ago, they had it back on the floor listed for a couple hundred less. It’s sad.
I have one from 91. 22 frets. I love that thing. Plays amazing.
FORCE TO SHUTDOWN SCAMMERS’ SHOPS!
BY THE WAY, ESP IS BETTER!
@@DJCD92162095
Yep got a new blem 2003 Kamikaze 3 from
Musicians Friend in 2004 for $1750.00.
Best guitar i have ever played.
no coa is that the blem?
I bought one of those new when I was in high school. The neck broke in the case on the way to band practice, had it repaired and it broke 2 more times after that right next to the original break. it was probably a 1989 or 1990 year. It was my first real guitar too.
@@rvburbank1 in the case? Geez!
I have a 92 EX 270. it also has a crack at the locking nut allen bolt hole and it goes all the way down to the scarf joint. I have played mine in drop C for the majority of the time I have had it (since 1994 ish) with no problems. The cracking seems to be common with the EX guitars. I have seen 2 other EX guitars, and both were cracked in one or the other bolt hole..
Hey Taylor, just wanted to let you in on an open secret that's been around for years. These EX series guitars pop up all the time on Shop Goodwill for cheap (amongst many other models from many brands big name and no name alike) so I'm confidant you can get a good deal, although good luck finding one in playable condition with the trem bar and locking nut not missing! I've seen at least 20 of them for sale since the start of the year on that site.
I just picked up a cool First Act ME553 (yes, really) that is pink with a white splatter design that looks suspiciously like some 80's big hair rocker finished his guitar like he finished the groupies backstage! It even has a flame maple neck on it, a nice bonus. Hopefully I can get some upgrade parts for it soon so I can put it together and play some big hair riffs of it! \m/
thanks for the tip dude!!
Just ordered a 1991 RG550. I hope it arrives safely!!
This is exactly why I wish Sweetwater would open a chain of retail stores to replace GC. Just in the past 5 years alone GC has gotten so much worse than anyone thought possible. No quality checking, disappointing selection unless you're going for fender or Gibson. Haven't seen a new amp outside of a marshall origin or boss Katana in a GC in a very long time. Please help us Sweetwater, you're our only hope.
I bought a H.R. Giger Ibanez Bass and it showed up with the top cap of the body separating from the body and it was missing the H.R. Giger truss rod cover, and since I have all the stuff I buy from them sent to my local GC store and what do you know I have had no problems since. Yeah I know don't feed the beast but I get really good deals as opposed to Ebay and Reverb.
I want a carved H.R. Geiger RG so bad!
I just pre-ordered a Boss SDE-3 pedal from Guitar Center... I had a $40 off coupon that would have gone to waste had I not used it.
@@scramblesthedeathdealer Yeah I am always looking for those Ibanez Giger guitars and bass. Besides the messed up bass. I got the Ibanez ICHRG2 the Iceman Giger guitar.
The 2016 s series in dark purple doom burst is pretty much my dream guitar. Love the s series sooo much
i had the red flame top ex350, with the red branding... my headstock did the same thing when it was dropped by a teenager who didn't know what he was doing (me)... it was repaired... and then a teen who didn't know what they were doing dropped it again (son)... and it cracked again... current fate unknown. I miss that tremolo, probably the best one for palm muting ever made.
Dude, I have this same guitar and the headstock was cracked in the same place and looks like some repaired it. It is well worth repairing it. The guitar shreds.good mod platform as well. Keep it and fix it.
I mostly only pick up the bass anymore but I have an S series that I absolutly love and will never depart with.
Is it a wizard neck? I love the way it feels but it makes my hand hurt after a playing for a couple days. I had an rg5320 prestige and i traded it for a pretty much brand new ltd m-1000 and an Ibanez Q52 also in great condition. The ltd seriously plays just as nice, but it doesn't make my hands hurt and the Q52 punches WAY above it's weight.
Those EX played themselves ... Super easy to play fast with super low action. Beautiful guitars.
I have a couple friends who work at or used to work at guitar center, and they were severely overworked and under compensated for that work. Most of them either switched over to giving music lessons or quit altogether.
Na, Eff that man. You didnt get what was advertised and what you paid for.
They need to either do a partial refund AND fix the guitar or refund and return.
Also, whoeve packed that needs to get the taste slapped out of their mouth.
I have a 2006 Epi Zakk Wylde that I bought from them. It was advertised with the OG case. Good condition.
The guitar showed up wrapped in bubble wrap. 2 windings, and shoved in a box. No case.
I can't believe the guitar survived but it did. The assistant manager at the store was really cool to me. She was a young lady. I triedto be as nice as possible to her explain my situation and frustration. She looked around the store for the case and could not find it. Since it was advertised with a case she offered to send me a hard case to make up for it. She went above and beyond and sent me a gator flight case. I ended up being very happy with that.
But the idiocy of how things get shipped from their is astounding.
And just as a side note, whenever I get used gear from Guitar Center I always get the extended warranty. I've had to use it a few times and it's always came through perfectly.
@@joeyvanostrand3655 yeah it kind of blew me away when I opened it and saw the bar still in the bridge lol
So I purchased one in blue back in 92 and the neck broke in the same spot after three months. The neck was also loose in the pocket even after tightening the screws. I sent it back and Ibanez warrantied it. They didn't have the blue so they sent me the desert yellow and I like it even more. Well two years after that the neck broke in the same spot again. I sold it and the guy repaired the neck and it was still killer. I was looking online for the yellow one a few months back and decided not to get it. The broken necks form the last two made that decision for me. The EX-350 was a killer economy guitar.
My first Ibanez (and my third electric overall) was also an EX! Except... it was the Euro market version of the EX270 from 93', and it was an impulse buy my dad purchased me used for 150$ back in 2013 when I was 10.
It was love at first sight, I don't keep it anymore but it started my obsession with Ibanez guitars and especially the early 90's ones :)
Parts were crap, body was plywood, but the neck was unique and the fit and finish still holds up today!
Hello Taylor ,
You must fix it , it's not a no return situation .
If you glue on the neck with titebond and joint it with many clamp , your neck be strong and no crack after !
And for the electronic , a little soldering on jack and refixe the jack tight and the problem is over .
It's not a big deal to repair it .
The guitar center are not professionnal about the guitar and the shipping ...
Anyway keep it and repair it !
Thanks for the video.
GC really fucking sucks sometimes. I bought like three amps all around the same time. All three showed up with issues, including the last one showing up with the transformer completely broken from the brackets. After returning the last one to my local GC, they told me to fuck off and that they wouldn't accept another return from me.
These guitars look really nice. Especially in that blue and red finishes. It’s a shame that there are cracks on the neck, but it does play nice when you demoed the guitar. I’ve always liked ibanez guitars and basses. My personal favorites are the rg and s series guitars. And the soundgear and btb basses. Anywho, awesome video, Taylor. Those ex series guitars looks nice and sounds radical 😎🤘🏻🎸
A GC regional GM told me a few weeks ago they'll be closing a lot of stores and moving to a higher-end model. Rough economy to make a branding pivot but store closings are happening all over in retail anyway.
Wood glue and some clamping will fix that cracking. Yes, the wood glue will hold.
GC being shit seems to be a regular occurrence for everyone but me, Reverb is where I have had nothing but issues. Still ass though.
@@riffsnoleads oh for sure, but fixing it for the price I paid when it was listed in good condition puts a bad taste in my mouth
@@TaylorDanley yeah, I can understand that
Omg I’ve been wanting an s series Ibanez. I don’t even play metal but more of a blues guy. I love listening to metal tones though.
Hey! Im a huge fan of the channel, and the videos. I recently subbed a couple days ago, and I really liked the reviews on gear and stuff. I was wondering if you could review a Jackson pro series king v kv. I can’t decide between the king v or the Jackson Randy rhoads RRx24. And I don’t really see any honest reviews on UA-cam of the king v. And I thought you’d be able to help me decide
I just replaced the trussrod in a old Fernandes after GC packed it with almost nothing in the box and it arrived snapped (you could hear it rattling when you shook it). They told me they wanted to make it right and asked for my phone number after I left a review, and then never reached out.
Ohh man what a bummer! I myself have been after another model of my 2nd guitar for awhile now (90s Fernandes Revolver X) I feel for you here bro, big sad.
Haven't watched the whole video yet but that break can be fixed with no notice of repair. Such a easy fix. Come on fix it!
Have that guitar, no pick gaurd, it’s in pieces as I was going to fix it up. Has the red letter ex neck/headstock, black body. It was my second guitar after my Aria Pro Strat Cat. It was 30 plus years ago. Honestly was going to make it a single hum. At one point I traded mine for a Gibson sg and then was dumb and traded it back lol.
I don't regret returning my new Gibson SG Gothic back in the day.
I do regret selling a beat to sh*t purple sparkle Ibanez RG with huge paint chips missing, rusted hardware, etc.
Guitar Center is known for not packing their used gear very well. If you have a store near you, when you order a piece of used gear, you can have it shipped to the store for free. Then you can go to the store and pick it up and check it out at the store. That way if you are unhappy with it, you are there already and can return it on the spot.
I bought a Phil Demmel Demmelition Fury Red Tide Jackson from guitar center online. It arrived unplayable. It was advertised in excellent condition. I had to return it to my local guitar center. A week later it’s on their website and in store. I hope they repaired it before listing it. Shady as hell.
Guitar center did this before, i orded an genuine Wilkenson locking vibrato, but recieved my guitar back with a Gotoh non locking trem! Now the judge may tell em what they are waiting for! 👺😤
This is exactly what happened my to Epiphone Les paul guitar my brother didn't notice the crack in neck and it was painted when he bought it, the tune doesn't stay in for a minute!
Great video man, by the way I know that nobody is going to agree on this but I liked the entry Ibanez's sound more than the expensive one and it seemed to be more playable as well. Heck even the pickups sounded better (not considering of course this guitar's issues)
There's a reason we prefer Sweetwater here in Canada. They have S tier customer service and accommodate us Canucks when we can't get gear here the Great White North
i can totally believe it..
Collab with Phil McKnight on the repair. We need it!
i bought a P-bass couple years ago in Guitar Center, i went home, open up the box and there was a big fat chip of paint on the body of the bass. i took it back the next day lol
There's a ex270 for sale on Facebook marketplace with the ex logo headstock. Idk if that helps in any way
Ooof, I just sold my EX350s like a month ago, no EX headstock, but 24 fret.
My first decent guitar was an ibanez ex360 in purple. 1992
I think u should keep it and try to repair the back of the head stock and output jack
Depending on what you paid for it, seems like a good guitar to do the repair yourself. Its not hard. You can do it!!!
My first guitar was the light blue EX360 in the catalog next to Blues Saraceno 😅
I replaced the bridge pickup with an emg and somehow wrestled with the shitty licensed floyd rose to tune it down to B.
Fucking Guitar Center man. That's a bummer. I've gotten some decent guitars at my local store (which is probably your local store too), but that was buying in person.
my fun experience with GC was when i purchased an 82 silverburst and it got lost transit... rather never left GC.. thieves! lol
Yes but I do like Musician's Friend and Woodwind & Brasswind both, and ever since I started having used gear shipped to the local GC store instead of to my home, I haven't gotten a single piece of broken stuff - *imagine that* lol
We never got a Sam Ash here and unless they brought one soon there isn't a Sweetwater...but yeah, the answers over the phone were "we'll send you some tubes" when amps would show up with broken glass or "we'll give you a discount" which I allowed once because I really like this Peavey Mystic and the neck was more loose than the pocket cracked, until, I paid the shipping but said "let's do interstore" which is a radio button you can press during checkout, and anything since, perfect.
I was really upset about having to give back the Cropper Classic in Onion Green but everything else aside, once I jacked in and one of the pickups was dead, and it was the special triple coil blade bridge pickup, I had to take it back. That part just doesn't come up used and there's no aftermarket replacement.
I always have my guitar's sent to the store that I ordered them from. That way if something is wrong they see it right away. 😊
In my experience with GC "good" means damaged. Last thing I got was a randall rh200. It was packed so bad and the output transformer looked about to snap from it's feet. I returned it and they relisted it at the same price and condition.
Forgot to mention no sound came from the amp*
I only buy guitar related accessories from Guitar Center, never actual guitars or amplifiers. I don't let them work on my stuff either. Learned my lesson long ago. Good luck bro.
Got a "great deal" on one of those really nice Epi's with the long tenon. Same thing, cracked head stock. I am convinced they just ship out all their broken crap hoping people will keep it lol
Hey man there's an EX1500 with the EX headstock for sale locally, it's yellow, dude wants $200 for it, not sure if he'd ship it though
Wow I can't believe they wouldnt work with you? I have received multiple guitar in similar or worse shape then yours and always got at least 50% off and repaired them myself. Were you talking to the manager? Also sometimes it helps to contact the purchase from store and they can help you even if the local store can't?
Return it for a full refund.
Also watch out for this. Found used pedals I liked on the GC website at a local store, then I go to the said store and find out that it is marked as new but being sold on "Clearance" or tagged as used at a higher price than what is on the website. This has happened to me a few times. I then show the sales guy the website price on my phone and in turn he goes to ask the manager. I ended up getting them at the lower website price and with the last one I saved myself over $60. I don't fall for the BS tactics that the management tries to pull on unsuspecting customers because I show proof.
8:45 what song is this?
@@edgyswordsmanmanga4051 some really old song from a local band I played in 😆
BRO! SAME! I got a 2003 Ibanez shredder and the headstock came cracked the same about a month ago. WTF.they gave me 50$ back and that was cool. My fault for buying a 20 yo instrument online. Still they could have said something there was finger oils in the crack.
My brother bought an amp from gc online and it showed up with the speaker baffle split in half and partially glued back together so obviously he returned it and they immediately listed it for sale again in good condition, I bought an amp from them that died on me within about 15 minutes of powering it on and needed to be recapped. With that one I knew I was buying a piece that was a little over 30 years old at the time but was assured that it had been teched. Also on that one I bought and paid for it and when I went to pick it up they tried to tell me it had been sold... Like yah... To me...
You should hit up Phil and see if maybe he’d set you up and repair it in his channel and then you could review it when it’s done. It’s a win win lol
Or maybe the Scar My Guitar homies. It’s a good bet either way.
that's a gorgeous Ibanez S. that a s5470TKS ? That's my dream guitar ever since I couldn't afford one in college when they came out. Treat her right.
I just went into a guitar center earlier today - they didn't want to buy the guitar I wanted to sell because it was a Chinese brand and they thought it wouldn't sell, and then I found out that I couldn't put the guitar I wanted on layaway (since I couldn't afford it as I couldn't sell mine). Not a great customer experience tbqh
Yo TD... Have you seen "Longlegs" yet? Curious what you think of it... I like it... Nice work, btw man. GC sucks.
@@27retrodaze I did. I feel like that movie is gaslighting me because everyone keeps praising it, and I thought it was a half finished movie they tried to tie together with a clever marketing campaign. I’m fairly sure that when they were cutting the movie together they got towards the end and realized “this doesn’t make much sense” so they show horned in a monologue exposition dump just to try and explain the story to people. Idk maybe I’m just overly critical, but it really bothers me when a story is just “left open to interpretation” to that amount
Everything else was awesome, it’s just script and the pacing I thought were bad
I own a few vintage Ibanez RGs that’s unfortunately kinda the thing with the Wizard necks my 770 came with a cracked neck my luthier glued it all up and it plays like a dream. Don’t return it make it yours with the pickups you want.
That's why I go with Sweetwater but unfortunately they don't got some of the stuff that guitar center has. But still I do business with SW all the way 😎
Unfortunately that is an inherent problem with maple necks. I ve repaired several in the past. Wick some ultra thin CA in the crack and then loosen all the strings. Repeat the process as necessary j/s
I’ll try to keep my very last guitar center story very short.
Bought a duesenberg star player TV Custom on musicians friend. Received it, there was a chip in the headstock(it was brand new, $3500).
Found out it was sourced from a guitar center Oklahoma. Called to talk to the manager, and as I start feeling the story, the manager (who WAS really nice) goes “**siiiiigh** OHHHHH you got the one with the chip in it.” He KNEW it was fucked up and shipped it anyway. He said “take it to a local shop and we’ll take the return.” I take it to the local one, they process the return.
However…..days went on and I kept getting the runaround on why my money hadn’t been refunded.
I finally call the shop I returned it to and the manager said they weren’t supposed to do that for this new process, he clicks a button, says it should be returned.
Mind you, this was 30 days of me being without ) $3500.
I’ll never do business with either company ever again.
i just quit GC last week after being absolutely taken advantage of for years, nothing surprised me about this video, SHOULD OF BOUGHT THE PRO COVERAGE TAYLOR, HOW ELSE IS GC GONNA GET OUT OF DEBT, IM SURE SITTING ON THE PHONE WITH ASURIAN JUST TO BE TOLD YOU'RE NOT COVERED WAS WORTH THE EFFORT!
Im visiting them with my sister to check out guitars, anyways this video has taught me not to ship if I like something from em. Hell why buy from them lol
It would be sick to restore it. Would make for some great videos.
You can start the metal noise version of Sunn o))) with the state that guitar is in... Sorry that it arrived that bad man... Hopefully you will find a good one, one day. :)
I've had too many bad experiences with Guitar Center in Ogden and Salt Lake City Utah. Problems with warranty coverage, time it took to repair the item, ignorant low paid employees not giving customers service for someone walking in to buy thousands of dollars worth of gear and they require a $60 payment to set up a bass I purchased that store where my local store does this for free.
There are a number of years that are common to have cracks in that area on Ibanez guitars. But yes, the description and packaging wasn’t right.
I got a cabinet from GC covered in patchouli
I've bought many used guitars from G.C. and never had a problem but they have to let you return it for a refund within 30 days. However it can be repaired by someone who knows what they're doing. If I really like it I'd fix it.
IMO the used prices at GC are high enough that they could take some better pictures so at least you could see rather than having to rely on that seriously inconsistent grading system. It's a shame, too, because there have been a lot of hard-to-find things that have shown up there, but the pics weren't good enough to take the chance.
Dam i also started on an Ibanez Ex... 27 years ago 😅
Send it back bro , they started with a crappie job of packing it to begin with.
Guitar Center is unfortunate! My brand new acoustic showed up with the entire headstock cracked all the way through as well! Definitely sticking with “Sweetwater” from now on.
I've had problems with Sweetwater as well. Their "55 point inspection" is a lie, you have to pay for return shipping, and sometimes a 20% restocking fee.
At least at GC I can drop of returns for free at local store and no restocking fee.
Fix it I got that same exact neck for a great deal to repair mine with a busted neck(from previous owner abuse).
Put in crack some glue like red titebond and be happy with it❤
Step parents: Introducing kids to the guitar since the 1970's!
Go to GC show them the video and then the guitar and then I am sure they will defund you like 50 %. That seems reasonable. Then have it fixed by a Luthier. Really cool guitars made in Korea.
Guitar center wouldn't buy my guitar just this morning because they have to many guitars. I was ready to take the loss knowing you get half what they are worth. They passed on my gretsch Nashville. Guess they need the whole wall of $100 guitars more