TubeNet

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/ar ... r_for_19b/

These are the guys who now own WWBW, right?

It just gets interestinger and interestinger...

The Bain of the tuba world...

Wonder if this means that you'll be able to buy a Miraphone at Home Depot?

Chuck(G) wrote:Wonder if this means that you'll be able to buy a Miraphone at Home Depot?

Could be quite interesting in the plumbing section... until First Act sues them!

Why can't I find any old clips of the Rodney Allen Rippey "Jack in the Box" commercials?

"Crank up the kids, pack up the car..."

It's a conspiracy. Bain Capital was founded by Mitt Romney. He is trying to run the country AND control the mail-order musical instrument business.

ringnebula wrote: Guitar Center - well it sucks.....

When my daughter was shopping for a new acoustic guitar we spent about an hour with their "Wall of Guitars" in Raleigh, NC. We played some very high end / high price "beautiful looking" guitars from a lot of the big names. We walked out simply amazed that they had such a large number of "lemons" and the strong absence any "players". I'm talking about the $1k-$2K price break.....absolute crap with no resonance or scale at all!

We eventually found a lovely used Alvarez in a small second hand shop for $400 that played circles around all of those high-end factory seconds and thirds.

I would have no interest in crossing their door-way again.

dmmorris wrote:When my daughter was shopping for a new acoustic guitar we spent about an hour with their "Wall of Guitars" in Raleigh, NC. We played some very high end / high price "beautiful looking" guitars from a lot of the big names. We walked out simply amazed that they had such a large number of "lemons" and the strong absence any "players". I'm talking about the $1k-$2K price break.....absolute crap with no resonance or scale at all!

Maybe they were just set up incorrectly. I have some understanding of adjusting things on an electric bass and on a banjo, but not a regular guitar. My wife and I were poking around in one of the stores at Dollywood which sold Appalachian musical instruments. They had several lines of decent banjos. My wife can no longer play a banjo with a big resonator because of a problem with her spine, so we were looking a traditional open-back banjos.

I strummed a chord on several, but one just jumped right up and said "ME!" I started checking the intonation on them, and found that the good was perfectly set up--the bridge placement was spot on, every string tuned a perfect octave at the octave fret, and so on. You would have though $1000 should separate it from its neighbors.

In talking to the manager, I asked who set up the instruments. She knew the answer, and it turned out that their old codger part-time guy set up the good one, and the others were set up by the distributor's technician when they were delivered.

Uh-huh.

Rick "who never thought he'd buy a musical instrument at a theme park before that day" Denney

I have a cheap Epiphone EB-4 bass in my arsenal. The bass has always played poorly. I didn't realize I was having trouble improving until I got myself a better bass. I went to a local shop that was reputed to be the best, and forked over some money to have this thing set up. It's now as comfortable as my Fender. The electronics suck on it, so I will be gutting them soon.

Many of my electric guitar students play on First Act guitars. They don't sound half bad for a student just starting out. I make all my students go to this guy to get it set up, though. The factory, of course, sets these things up as fast as they can to get them in the boxes and out the door, so the action and intonation is atrocious.

By the way, I think Guitar Center is a great place to find instruments. You just have to know what you're doing when you go in there. A few months ago, there was a '65 Fender Jazz bass there, and I would've bought it. Problem is, I could never afford an instrument like that right now, and it was a tad overpriced. However, I do go there for strings and accessories for my equipment. It's much cheaper than smaller stores, and has a wider selection. I just take my basses to another store for work.

For what it's worth, in Jax, I have different music stores for my different needs. I go to Rhapsody music for my euph and trombone (though it's much like a small winds store that doesn't carry much), I go to Chip's music for my electric basses, The Violin Shop for my upright, and Guitar Center for accessories for my instruments, should they sell what I need there. I may, however, buy this really nice SWR Working Man's 15 bass amp there. It sounds great, and it's really nicely priced.

Nick