"Oh ..."

Today I'm going to deal with a kinda touchy subject, one that I often avoid.   I want to discuss that big nationwide chain of guitar stores in the USA.  You know the one I mean.  For now let's just call that store "Banjo Depot".

That is not the real name, but y'all know who I mean anyway.

Lots of guys love to bitch about Banjo Depot, but honestly I have been very satisfied with my local Banjo Depot stores (2 of them now).  I KNOW many of you have had unsatisfactory experiences there.  That sucks but truly I can't address that.  They have dealt with me in a straightforward professional & friendly way and I feel that I have a good working relationship with the staff at both locations.

But one habit I see every time I buy a guitar at Banjo Depot makes me frown.   At both of my local stores they do the exact same thing.

When I buy a guitar with a whammy I would like the man to go in the back room and come out with the "case candy" ... "bag candy?" ... the stuff.   My damned swag!   Every guitar on the racks is cataloged in the system with its serial number or some other such inventory identifier.   Is it so much to ask that the baggie with the bar, hex keys, and whatever-the-hell-else to be affixed to this identifier?   The more expensive the guitar the better the swag, but even $99 Squier Bullets come with a little bag-o-swag.   I know they do because I've bought them online and when I open the box I get to rejoice in a cheapassed guitar AND cheapassed swag!

But at Banjo Depot when I buy that same guitar  -or any guitar- I must not fail to proclaim " ... and I need my whammy bar."   The guy invariably looks down at the guitar, pauses, says "Oh ... "  (as if I'd suddenly proved to be a disappointing individual) ...








... then reaches under the counter to produce a tray that appears to be hosting a whammy bar orgy.

   He invariably starts fumbling through a couple hundred orphan whammy bars, trying some at random until if I'm lucky one seems to fit mostlykindadosrta.








Anywhere else when you buy even a low budget guitar you get some kinda bag-o-swag but at Banjo Depot you can pay six or seven hundred bucks and still get " Oh... ".

I've even been known on very rare occasion to take a train out of cheapassland and buy a guitar upscale enough to come with a matching gigbag.   In this scenario he sends a flunkee into the stockroom to fetch my gigbag,  I look in the those bag pockets to find ... no whammy bar.  Back to the orgy tray. 






I think we've pretty well established that I'm a skinflint

so it shouldn't be a surprise that I haven't bought a guitar that comes with hardshell case included since 1976.  

Its not that I don't have hard cases.   I do, but they've been acquired at random for chump change.   For God's sake I HOPE that if I bought a guitar snooty enough to bring its own damned coffin then the original dedicated whammy bar - as well as massive other glorious paraphenalia - would be there!

I dunno.  Anyone done so?   Nobody I hang out with.


My point isn't to start another round of people bitching about Banjo Depot.   God knows we get plenty of that.   I consider myself a Banjo Depot advocate most of the time.   I guess my point is to demonstrate that I'm not really on their payroll, I'm not really a Banjo Depot patsy,  and sometimes even I find something I wish they'd do differently.








I think they just like diggin' in the orgy tray.










Until next time,

© 2016 Ray Blowers