Uke Shopping at a Guitar store

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AQUATOPAZ

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I decided to try out a radiused fretboard since so many people rave about them and went to Rudy's music in Manhattan as they are supposed to be a good store. The ukulele collection seemed low and I was admiring, without touching, an antique, handpainted Martin Mandolin, when a salesperson rushes into the room. I guess he was nervous I might try to remove the locked $20,000 Mandolin. It looked expensive enough that I wouldn't have dared get too close.
I then asked him if they had any ukuleles with a radiused freboard and he informed me with a superior air that they ALL have radiused fretboards. Immensely surprised I looked down the neck of the Martin OX's fretboard, which of course looked perfectly straight, and was told I wouldn't be able to tell that way as it would appear flat, though it wan't. I asked what the radius was, so he took a look at the neck and announced that it looked like a 12. I reminded him that the higher the number, the flatter the fretboard, to which he tried to correct me by saying the lower the number the greater the curve. I repeated myself and he realized I was correct. I mentioned that I had heard that Ponos gave a 16 inch radius, to clue him in that those would be flatter than the completely flat fretboards on his ukes. I also mentined that most ukes don't have them as they are more expensive to make. He repeated that they appeared to be 12 inch radius so I whipped out my phone and announced that I would just look it up. He then said he would look up the specs himself. While he was gone, since Martin's site listed no radius, I called Martin. When he came back in he announced he couldn't locate the radius number. I then told him that I just called Martin and that they verified that they are flat. The look on his face changed to sheepish so fast. I only wish I had remembered to get his name for my yelp review. What completely upsets me is that I know they would never take back a uke they tricked someone into buying by outright lying to them. I might a well have gone to Guitar Center. I should just go back to USpace, but I hate driving downtown.
 
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Wow, that sounds like an awful experience. I'm not familiar with that shop or any others in New York, but it sounds like that's one you should cross off your list (I guess you already have). Finding a good ukulele store or dealer is great, when you can. There is a lot of generalized knowledge about guitars among lots of shops out there, but not nearly as widespread expertise in ukes.
 
Sadly, we do occasionally talk to sales people with little to no knowledge about an instrument, but don't want to admit it. They bluster when challenged and adamantly insist they they are correct. Most really good salespeople will check the specs or ask the expert if they don't know the answer.

Unfortunately, in many states, the customer is not able to rely upon a salesman's verbal promise or statement about features. It has to be written to be valid if you want to return due to misrepresentation. That being said, most reputable stores will take the item back within their's store's return policy time limit.
 
The three musical instrument stores in my town of 90K will all shake their heads and admit to "not understanding" ukuleles or "really getting the uke thing" and only consider them a hopeful gateway to REAL instruments called guitars. They don't really set up any ukes as the factory probably did it good enough. To be fair, one shop does have a on again/off saturday uke lesson for free and you can borrow a uke. That is cool. Overall selections are limited to the very lower end of Kala,Ohana and a couple of Cordobas, which is pretty good but the shops don't want to order anything higher end for you either. I have 11 ukes, 3 guitars and only one was purchased locally, the first one at $159.00 The internet is not killing their business, they are killing their business. If this is normal around the US, then Mims, HMS, Uke Republic, etc have earned their job security and my purchases.
 
The local acoustic guitar shop that I frequent is very ukulele friendly. They’ve always had a decent selection of entry level ukuleles, and have recently started carrying some mid-level ukuleles. They have done some work on a few ukes for me (install pick-up, change tuners, work on frets). They offer ukulele lessons, and sponsor workshops. Guitars are their main focus, but they do make an effort to be helpful to ukulele players.
 
Friend from San Deigo was in town for a workshop and stayed the weekend so we could have some fun. After picking him up Friday PM we decided to head to Willies American Guitars....it was on the way home so to speak......in the back room with the acoustic guitars were the ukulele's.....chairs, stools, tuners, picks, assorted necessary paraphernalia...the fine folks at WAG were actually bringing us instruments to play....my friend likes soprano's.....WAG had no problem bringing him a brand new Kamaka, the price on the tag was north of 2K......they brought me a 1940's Martin....I had some trouble tuning it so I was taken to a fine gentleman who tuned it, played it a little, gave me some history on it, and let me know they had plenty more in cases in the back if I was interested.....I went back and noodled around a little on the Martin.....I'm more of a concert or tenor player but that Martin was nice......

I'll go back an buy from WAG someday. Service goes a long way in my book!
 
Sorry about such bad experience. Some guitar techs work as salespersons in some shops. They are very good to talk about guitars and ukuleles. They have technique and wisdom as well as knowledge. I know two such shops locally.
 
Been there, done that! (Not literally that store, but you know what I mean!) We were lucky in a way to have a local music shop that covered every instrument I could have thought of; when talking Ukuleles, there were always two or three of the staff who actually could play a ukulele, and knew their stuff! They may have been caught out on specialist areas, but overall, they gave a good service, and never in thirty years of dealing with them, have they ever lied about anything. I was a guitarist in a prvious life, so these statements hold good for that too! It certainly makes a difference in your buying experience, when the sales person is open and straight with you. Give me one who admits they 'do not know, but will try to find out...' rather than a 'car salesman' type, who is full of their own inflated BS just to try and complete a sale!
 
AQUATOPAZ said:
I decided to try out a radiused fretboard since so many people rave about them and went to Rudy's music in Manhattan as they are supposed to be a good store. The ukulele collection seemed low and I was admiring, without touching, an antique, handpainted Martin Mandolin, when a salesperson rushes into the room. I guess he was nervous I might try to remove the locked $20,000 Mandolin. It looked expensive enough that I wouldn't have dared get too close.
I then asked him if they had any ukuleles with a radiused freboard and he informed me with a superior air that they ALL have radiused fretboards. Immensely surprised I looked down the neck of the Martin OX's fretboard, which of course looked perfectly straight, and was told I wouldn't be able to tell that way as it would appear flat, though it wan't. I asked what the radius was, so he took a look at the neck and announced that it looked like a 12. I reminded him that the higher the number, the flatter the fretboard, to which he tried to correct me by saying the lower the number the greater the curve. I repeated myself and he realized I was correct. I mentioned that I had heard that Ponos gave a 16 inch radius, to clue him in that those would be flatter than the completely flat fretboards on his ukes. I also mentined that most ukes don't have them as they are more expensive to make. He repeated that they appeared to be 12 inch radius so I whipped out my phone and announced that I would just look it up. He then said he would look up the specs himself. While he was gone, since Martin's site listed no radius, I called Martin. When he came back in he announced he couldn't locate the radius number. I then told him that I just called Martin and that they verified that they are flat. The look on his face changed to sheepish so fast. I only wish I had remembered to get his name for my yelp review. What completely upsets me is that I know they would never take back a uke they tricked someone into buying by outright lying to them. I might a well have gone to Guitar Center. I should just go back to USpace, but I hate driving downtown.
Click to expand...

Thousands of people have the same problem with the earth. It looks flat, so it must be flat. I saw an ad for the Flat Earth Society. It said they have members "all over the globe." That must have been referring to a flat globe. :D

Whatever the item, most salesmen know very little about it.
 
Straying a bit... I was in a Guitar Center yesterday and "Walking on the Sun" by the Police was playing on the PA. I commented to my wife jokingly that it sounded like Sting's attempt to copy the music of The English Beat.

The salesman, a 20 something, commented that he had never heard of The English Beat. While I was explaining who they were, Save it For Later, by The English Beat came on the PA.

That's all... :D
 
I watched a review of a guitar by a couple of Sales guys who work at a particular Music Instrument Store in the UK.

They digressed off the topic of their reviews and started making derogatory comments about the choice of song that gets played by customers and about the standard of playing.

Talking about biting the hands that feed them.
 
Col50 said:
I watched a review of a guitar by a couple of Sales guys who work at a particular Music Instrument Store in the UK.

They digressed off the topic of their reviews and started making derogatory comments about the choice of song that gets played by customers and about the standard of playing.

Talking about biting the hands that feed them.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know what you mean. It's like when a car passes by a hitchhiker, and the guy turns and gives him the finger. That's not very encouraging for other cars approaching him.
 
AQUATOPAZ said:
I decided to try out a radiused fretboard since so many people rave about them and went to Rudy's music in Manhattan as they are supposed to be a good store. The ukulele collection seemed low and I was admiring, without touching, an antique, handpainted Martin Mandolin, when a salesperson rushes into the room. I guess he was nervous I might try to remove the locked $20,000 Mandolin. It looked expensive enough that I wouldn't have dared get too close.
I then asked him if they had any ukuleles with a radiused freboard and he informed me with a superior air that they ALL have radiused fretboards. Immensely surprised I looked down the neck of the Martin OX's fretboard, which of course looked perfectly straight, and was told I wouldn't be able to tell that way as it would appear flat, though it wan't. I asked what the radius was, so he took a look at the neck and announced that it looked like a 12. I reminded him that the higher the number, the flatter the fretboard, to which he tried to correct me by saying the lower the number the greater the curve. I repeated myself and he realized I was correct. I mentioned that I had heard that Ponos gave a 16 inch radius, to clue him in that those would be flatter than the completely flat fretboards on his ukes. I also mentined that most ukes don't have them as they are more expensive to make. He repeated that they appeared to be 12 inch radius so I whipped out my phone and announced that I would just look it up. He then said he would look up the specs himself. While he was gone, since Martin's site listed no radius, I called Martin. When he came back in he announced he couldn't locate the radius number. I then told him that I just called Martin and that they verified that they are flat. The look on his face changed to sheepish so fast. I only wish I had remembered to get his name for my yelp review. What completely upsets me is that I know they would never take back a uke they tricked someone into buying by outright lying to them. I might a well have gone to Guitar Center. I should just go back to USpace, but I hate driving downtown.
Click to expand...

I've been to that Rudy's, doing guitar research. I injured my wrist from tons of years playing guitars way too low with way too much effort and, as a result, playing guitar for more than twenty minutes or so introduces quite a bit of pain to my fretting wrist. I started troubleshooting the issue, trying to identify things that did/did not irritate the condition and eventually found myself in New York talking to a salesman there. He sympathized with the problem and started pulling all sorts of guitars off the rack. He knew there wouldn't be a sale - he was just helping me out, trying to narrow down whether nut width, fretboard radius, neck thickness and carve, etc. I was super impressed by how helpful he was and would definitely go back.

That said, an awful lot of guitar stores are pretty dismissive of ukuleles for a variety of reasons and too many guitarists just try to transplant the facts they know one-for-one. And they're salespeople who are trying to make sales. I'm not saying that's an excuse to lie or anything, but everything a salesperson says should be taken with a grain of salt.
 
Just Russ;2150864 everything a salesperson says should be taken with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE said:
I am sure that there is a decent sales person there, however, the insistence by the salesperson that there was a radius, despite the many opportunities to correct himself shows he would do anything to make a sale. If what the salesperson says about an item has to be taken with a grain of salt, that isn't a good store. It shows that the best interest of the customer is not a consideration, which is the definition of poor customer service. I would also dare to say that your salesperson couldn't have known you wouldn't make a purchase as people often walk out with an item they had no intention of buying when they walked in, so his "help" wasn't necessarily selfless. I cannot imagine Mim's or HMS or USpace saying anything that I would have to take with a grain of salt so that they could make a sale because they actually want me to be happy with my purchase. That honesty and concern for me is what good customer service is about, and what is lacking at Rudy's.
Click to expand...
 
Swamp Yankee said:
Straying a bit... I was in a Guitar Center yesterday and "Walking on the Sun" by the Police was playing on the PA. I commented to my wife jokingly that it sounded like Sting's attempt to copy the music of The English Beat.

The salesman, a 20 something, commented that he had never heard of The English Beat. While I was explaining who they were, Save it For Later, by The English Beat came on the PA.

That's all... :D
Click to expand...

Continuing with the straying... great timing when the English Beat came on! That must have felt like one of those Magic Moments (that would be the Drifters, then Jay and the Americans).
 
My wife and I spent nearly 25 years running a small music shop and studio in Honolulu and, I can say, it is really difficult to hire good employees. Our situation was fairly simple as we specialized in classical and acoustic guitars and ukuleles. Even so, it was rare to find somebody with both people skills and any knowledge outside of their musical niche, and Guitar Center is infamous for their undertrained workers and high turnover (all rockstar hopefuls). Plus, the pay isn't exactly encouraging workers to seek long careers and additional musical training... As a consumer it is best to do your research before shopping, have clear goals and take along an experienced friend to help keep you on track. With that said, there are knowledgeable and skilled salesmen but they tend to work in the speciality shops and HMS is among the best in this respect.
 
That’s the nice thing about my local acoustic guitar shop. They seem to be genuinely interested in their ukulele customers, and in gaining knowledge about ukuleles. It’s nice to be treated as a fellow musician whenever I go in there for something.
 
Same here. I've got two shops within a 15-minute drive that are very knowledgeable about ukuleles, and a third shop about an hour away that is a dedicated ukulele store (Ukulele Source in San Jose). I've been able to get advice and info from all three.
 
Bill1 said:
If your goal is to try out a lot of ukes in a shop and find one to buy, arguing about something like the fretboard radius may not be the best strategy to use. What is the point of taking your time to go to a shop if you just set yourself up to walk out in a huff?
If you want to access the good ukes you need to work with the staff and ignore their ignorance, its not a quiz show. So don't make it a quiz show, just do what is required to access the good ukes and find the one you like and buy it or don't buy it.
There are endless stories on UU about members purchasing the best ukes from sellers who have zero ukulele knowledge. It makes no difference how much the seller knows about the ukulele, what is important is what the buyer knows and whether the price reflects current market value. Don't expect find a ukulele expert in a shop which sells an amazing range of instruments, it is very hard to be playing jazz on a trumpet at night and then to be a ukulele expert at the day job in a music shop.
Click to expand...

I don't have UAS, so my goal is NOT to try out a lot of ukes UNLESS they have radiused fretboards, and there was no argument, just my allowing him the opportunity to correct his misinformation in order to give him a fair shake and not rush to judgement. My point in taking the time to go there was to buy a ukulele with a radiused fretboard if it worked well for me, which was impossible as they didn't have any. As I don't have UAS, I have no need to work with deceptive staff. Asking if they have any ukes with a radiused fretboard does not qualify as a quiz show. It is simply what one asks if they know what they are looking for. It makes a difference to me if a seller is being deceptive, though I understand that someone with UAS might feel differently as they have a need to acquire which I don't. I also can't imagine that one would need to be an "expert" to know if a uke has a radiused fretboard. They can simply look at the specs on their computer.
 
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