The problem is, when people have a good experience at a store, they may tell 2 or 3 people. When they have a bad experience, they'll tell 20 to 30 people.

After the bankruptcy announcement I saw a Facebook ad that was obviously a scam. It linked to a site using the name of Sam Ash in the domain and copied the graphics, but was clearly not the real Sam Ash site. If I needed more proof, it was offering Gibson Les Pauls for ~$200. I reported the ad as a scam to Facebook. A few days later they responded to me and said they found nothing wrong with the ad and that it adhered to their policies. I guess it is Facebook's official policy to allow scammers to advertise on their platform.

Here in São Paulo/Brazil we don't have Sam Ash, Guitar Center, Manny's or anything like that. We have a street called Rua Teodoro Sampaio where there are dozens of the best Music Gear Stores of the city, where you can find the same condescending attitude from employees who didn't make it as musicians, pissed off with their own lives, being rude to anyone. It looks like failed musicians tend to end up as Guitar Stores pissed off employees.

I see a common thread here with customer service that could happen in any specialty store. You can hire people who are great in their own pursuit using the product, have great product or technical knowledge, but you cannot teach people skills if it doesn't first come from the heart. Wouldn't hurt to hire the odd retail generalist people person; don't even have to be a musician, they can learn about the product and defer to someone more knowledgable when needed. Going into a speciality store, many customers already have knowledge & skill.

At SA (Hawthorne, CA) about 5 years ago I took a vintage guitar in to get set-up and, a few days later, was politely informed by the repair guy that the guitar deserved better than he could give and I went and got it back. While I was checking out, the young guy that fetched it told me that it was valuable as if I didn't know it (I'm black) and skeptically asked me where I got it. I took a deep breath and informed him that I've had it since the early 80s (which was probably 10 years before he was born) and I left it at that. Never went back.

I was treated poorly at Sam Ash stores in 3 different states. To this day they are only musical instrument stores that have treated me like that. I made it point to never purchase anything from them again.

This was back in 2016. I purchased brand new American Strat form the 34th street store in Manhattan. After dropping close to $2K in the store they wouldn't let me use the restroom while they "setup" my new guitar.

Sam Ash's luthier fucked up my Yamaha Revstar, but the company replaced it, no questions asked. While their luthier was brain dead, their local management was great.

The guy who works closing at the Southfield, Michigan Guitar Center helped me. He greeted me, left me alone when I said I was just looking, and then was helpful when I needed a bass tuned and finding a case.

I just fell victim to the Sam Ash credit card Scam - it’s so rampant, my credit card company pro actively cancelled the card and sent me a replacement card. That said - one of the last few days the local store was open I did get a killer deal on a Michael Kelly hybrid guitar for like $300 - new the guitar listed for $1,000 - so it was a killer deal, and I love the guitar …. My neighbor works for Sam Ash as a manger for the past 3 decades and is now unemployed, seeing the real impact the bankruptcy has had on real people and their livelihood, gave me a much different perspective. Hey Max - I ran into you and your girlfriend at Knott’s last Year and you were super gracious and nice - you are the real deal man - keep up the great work and good content !!!

I will not miss them. Rarely did I ever shop in there store. Never online. Employees were clueless; just like at G.C.

I never shopped Sam Ash but how in God’s name could they be worse than GC? I used to slam a door on my hand just to see if I was not transparent.

I can honestly say that I really liked the Sam Ash that was in my town for a little over 3 decades. I was very lucky to have some really cool people to work with when i was in there as a customer.

The COVID years were guitar boom years to the companies with great website sales. Since everyone was stuck at home, learning guitar became a thing and sales went crazy. Having a cash business was the death knell for Sam Ash.

I'm glad I got to live through the big box music store era. We had Mars Music in Albany, it was the size of a Macy's. If I can help it though, I'm always going to buy at my local mom and pop, they've been there my entire life. A good music store employee is a player him or herself, and is enthusiastic about playing, not stuck up

The unwritten signs in SA & GC are : all sales are final. We have no service dept.

I ordered a Schecter before any store closing was announced. It arrived in a Epiphone box with a warped neck and corroded strings. I refused the guitar on the spot. An uppity employee tried to force a final sale. Eventually I got my refund. Brilliant idea, offer anniversary sales, then announce store closings and change the return policy in the middle of the sale.

Without saying what I was doing and for who, I dealt with all the large music chains in New England. I had to deal with employees and management 6 days a week. Absolute nightmare from the top down. Majority of employees were okay to me, but treated their customers like garbage. It started at the top. Majority of management were absolute pos. Shoutout to Natick Guitar Center and Steve for being one of the biggest c'ntz I've ever met.

I’ve got stories as a customer AND an employee… Most of them bad. Mismanagement by the family all the way down the chain. Problems decades before Covid.

The problem with these stores is customer service. My local GC wouldn’t unlock the locking tuners on a guitar I really wanted to buy but it was so out of tune the fine tuners wouldn’t do it. They said the “didn’t have time”, and they wouldn’t let me do it. This is a store I’ve spent thousands of dollars in.

we used to call them "Sam's Ass" for good reason

Around 4 years ago I went into a Sam Ash looking to buy a Strat. I found one that had a button next to the volume and tone knobs. At the time I didnt know what it was for. Great looking Strat. So as a Sam Ash associate was walking by I asked, "Hey, Im interested in this Strat. What does the button here do?" The associate looked at me and said, "Dont know. Im a Gibson guy." And walked away. So, I took my money somewhere else.

Not surprised. I retired a year ago in FL and needed to find a guitar store. There was a Sam Ash 10 min from me. I had never been to one but certainly heard of the me so I went. I thought GC has the worse customer service. Nope Sam Ash out did them. What these guitar stores really don’t get is they are in the customer service business not the guitar business. My guess is there is little to no training on customer service and if there is it’s very ineffective at best. And hence why Sweetwater a company that you can’t even touch a guitar before you buy one is dominating the industry-it’s not the gear of course it’s important- it’s the customer service experience- period. End of story. Every time I email my Sweetwater Rep I get an answer very quickly and it could be the simplest question. Ya see they “EARNED” my business!!!

I bought a Jim Root jazzmaster from the website and it came with a Jim Root Jazzmaster neck that was falling off and the pickups that weren't screwed in. They replaced it but it was a very very sad moment for a 22 year old me.

I have the opposite experience with costumer service at Sam Ash and Guitar Center as the Going to miss Sam Ash E-Mail. Whenever I go into one or the other I always make a purchase, I have spent thousands of dollars at Sam Ash and many times not even an hello from the sales person that made the commission, in the beginning of June in Springfield N.J. I went to buy a Casio key board and I couldn't try the floor model because they didn't have a power source for it, instead they just said sorry about that and I left and went across the Ave, to Guitar Center played a Casio 400 and bought it at the same price as Sam Ash's closing the store sale, the Guitar Center employee's are always friendly there, the sale person even carried it out to my car for me gave me his card and told me to just call him if I have any questions. All the employees are friendly there at Guitar Springfield.

I worked at Sam Ash from 2001 until 2006 in their stock department. I met a lot of cool people who worked there and some are still friends of mine but that place was run horribly even back then. The Ash family were so cheap and they treated all the employees like crap. I remember they bought this new POS system and rolled it out right at the Christmas rush and it kept crashing when the lines were long. I still remember the name it was GERS. They probably got it because it cost 5 bucks less than the competition they were looking at.

My only experience with Sam Ash is through Reverb, and it hasn’t been good. 3 purchases: 1) Squire Bass IV, advertised as mint condition, but was defective. I returned it. 2) Michael Kelly Patriot Decree OP. Sam Ash canceled the order four days later, without informing me. 3) another Michael Kelly Patriot Decree OP, advertised as mint condition, but was far from it. I returned that too. The return process was slow and cumbersome both times, but they did pay for return shipping and issue full refunds. (Beware of Reverb listings that use stock photos for “Mint condition” items.)

I commented on your last video, but watching this one made me think I should share my experience with the Sam Ash in Clearwater as well. This was years ago, but one day I walked into the drum room at that crazy building Sam Ash was in there. There was a 70s clear Ludwig Vistalite there. It was in VERY poor condition. It was missing several lugs, mounting hardware, heads were all horrible, bass drum spurs missing, and even had some cracked shells etc... However, I never had a Vistalite and I wanted to see if I could make a deal and put some work into it. I talked to the guy working in the drum room and offered to trade my almost brand new Gretsch Catalina Birch on the condition that he would order the missing hardware for me and give me a set of new heads. He agreed and told me to bring in the Gretsch in a week or so and he should have the parts. I brought in my Gretsch but he said the parts haden't arrived yet, but I could take the Vistalite and he'd take the Gretsch and assured me the parts would be there in about another week. I took his word and left my Gretsch there and took the completely unusable Vistalite home. A week went by and I kept calling, only to be put on hold and never answered. Two weeks went by and the same thing. Nearly a month later I was furious at this point and loaded up the Vistas back into my car and just decided I'd take them back and get my old drums back. I went into the drum room and I could see a look of panic on the guy's face. We got into an argument and I reminded him that he hadn't even given me the heads yet. Then he was like, oh don't worry it's all good, follow me. Then walked me to the back and started sneaking out heads and other drum gear from the store to load them into my car!!?! I was like what are you doing? I am not comfortable with this at all! I just want my old drums back and you can take back these. Then he admitted that he had already sold my Gretsch. I was super angry and told him that I wasn't leaving there without a functioning drumset, and not one he steals out of the back of the store! I ended up having to settle for a used Ludwig Accent worth 1/3rd of the price of my Gretsch. I did manage to get him to give me a full set of new heads with it though, and an actual receipt to prove the transaction was legit. It was completely insane and one of the worst shopping experiences I've ever had. The good news is, I didn't actually hate the Accent. It sounded better than I thought it would, and I ended up playing that kit for a few years.

I got one guitar from them over 15 years ago. Bought a small amp from them 3 years ago. I'm not much of a brand new musical equipment buyer. I did not have a bad experience at Sam Ash Columbus,Ohio. It's the times, online buying is King. Most people know what they want and do their homework on a musical product. Also thanks to KZfaq channels like yours it's a complete examination, pros and cons.

IDK where all these negatives are coming from - I had a Sam Ash rep that called me regularly and helped me return things that didn't fit. The nearest store is where I bought my first drum cymbal and online they always had better deals than anyone else 15-20% off anything. Don't get the hate

Went to Sam Ash a few years back to purchase a really nice Epiphone Les Paul that I'd seen on one of the floor stands. I noticed a small crack in the neck pocket and took the guitar up to the counter to let them know that it should be discounted or taken off of the floor. They sold me a brand new one from the back and stuck the cracked one back on the floor stand, full price, just waiting for the right sucker. Never went back.

I have to chip in here. I shopped for many years at Sam Ash on Lee Road in Florida and I have to say that the service/help I received was always a great experience. I always got a discount for any marks or dings on the guitar and every time I asked if they could throw me a freebie I either got a strap or a lead thrown in without any question. I've worked in retail for over 47 years (clearly, I didn't make it as a pro musician Lol!) but many of those years I was a manager and I have to tell you folks, it all comes down to the people that you hire.

I agree with the Guitar Center hate. I play bass, and if you go in there for bass gear, they just stick their nose up at you. I had one guy say to me “This is Guitar Center, not Bass Guitar Center”. I haven’t shopped there since.

We never had a Sam Ash in Phoenix Arizona is just only GC and some independent guitar retailers.

The one experience that I can remember was like being in a “boutique “ snobby retail store with mostly high end gear

I've bought quite a few pieces from Sam Ash in Richmond, VA over the years, and had pretty good service. A Zoom 505 when I was in high school, three Fender instruments I've since let go of, a Moog Matriarch when they just came out and I traded my Moog Voyager rackmount towards it, and a Gibson 2010s J-35 that's my only acoustic. Now I'm closer to DC, and Chuck Levin's blows away any Guitar Center, it's too bad that I'm in Northern Virginia so it's a real hike.

My most recent Sam Ash experience was back in 2011 when I was shopping for a Marshall amp. After seeing a few prices being offered, I called the Sam Ash phone order number (perhaps it was NYC?) and asked the sales guy who answered what his best price was. He quoted a discount of about 15%, and I said I'd have to think about it and would call him back. When I decided to go for it, I called again and asked for that guy by name, but he was busy, so I asked this 2nd guy what his best price would be. He quoted a 30% discount, so I went with him. I got the amp brand new and in great shape in a timely way. I guess my experience is somewhere between an in-person visit and an internet order. My impression was that their sales people were able to independently make deals to achieve their sales for commissions. I was pleasantly surprised with how this particular sales went.

It's funny that I ran across your video about Sam Ash. I literally just got back from their store here in Vegas. I was taking back a brand new pickguard I purchased last week. I did not realize that all sales were final. The pickguard was still in the plastic Fender bag it came in. The idiot at the counter said, " Didn't you read your bloody receipt? All sales are final. We are going out of business. " I mean, it's only a $40 pickguard, but the service there was always horrible.

I don't think I ever bought more than a couple of cables and strings there, but I think it sucks when any competition closes.

I had a fairly decent experience at sam ash. I was asking about getting a fret polish and the guy working told me not to do it in their store because the tech would takes months and probably just do it wrong. It was weird to hear but I appreciated the (brutal) honesty.

That’s why I shop at these little mom and pop’s music stores every new town we play at I’ll try to find one, you’ll be surprised on what you might find.

I bought 2 guitars a bunch of pedals and other gear plus countless patch cables etc from the Sam Ash in San Diego. Always had a great experience with the employees and am going to miss it. It sucks that another physical music shop is going extinct. I personally have never had a good experience at Guitar Center in San Diego. It always feels like your request is someone else's responsibility, on one trip I picked up a random Jackson, plugged it in, gave the Floyd a wiggle, all the strings came out. I pick up another one, go to plug it in, the whole input jack falls out. Brand new gear is just not set up or even properly checked for quality issues. You can never get any help and it takes 2.7 business days to do anything in there.

Sweetwater has become my new favorite. Being a west coaster we had GC and Musicians Friend (same co) and it was like that guys manbun experience. Now they only stock "this is your first guitar" inventory in the stores, they'll fail too

We never stop talking shit on guitar center either tho and they go bankrupt every other year BUT they keep that used guitar site going and tons of product goes through there which is their saving grace....Sam Ash couldn't be assed for the website

I was surprised when I heard they closed recently because I thought they went out of business decades ago. When our local store went under in the early 2000s, I figured the whole company dumped because I never heard any mention of them online or among local musicians again until a few weeks ago.

I'm no experienced musician and my Sam Ash here was my main store for 24 years. Yeah, the sales people were uneducated but since they were right around the block, when I ran my basement studio for the public, I was happy they were there.

I bought my first amp at the white plains NY location but the 48th street location would profile you as soon as you walked in. I was there to buy a guitar and the guy asked me if I was buying or just looking cause he didn’t have time for games. I looked at him, showed him my wad of cash and said now you can suck mine and walked out. I was so happy Guitar Center had opened up a store in queens. It was 2 hours away from my home but well worth the trip. I spent 3gs on gear!

I grew up right next to the Forest Hills, NY Sam Ash. I bought my first instrument there, an Alto Sax. I also bought my first guitar there, an Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow, along with a Vox Pathfinder 15R combo. I fully agree with all the negative sentiment. I've had the tech/cashier complain I was taking too long to tune my guitar. Most of the time I've gone in there, I was treated like I was wasting somebody's time. There are good branches out there, but that one was horrible.

The thing about any store or company or doctor or Enterprise or restaurant what have you is that you're going to see good reviews and bad reviews. That's just normal. You could have a perfectly good experience at a store and give them a good review and two days later someone else will give them a terrible review. Maybe you got the good sales staff and they got the worst. And then it creates a stigma. So you have to kind of look past people's comments inform your own opinion in conjunction with what other people say. The truth lies somewhere between.

I very much prefer Sam Ash over guitar Center. I went to guitar Center to buy some drums and couldn’t get anyone to help me so I went to Sam Ash, was immediately helped, and dropped six grand.

I was a Sam Ash customer since 1978 when I took up the guitar. My first real amp, 1966 Super Reverb, Gibson Hummingbird, Strat Plus, 1960 Custom Shop Strat, Shell Pink Strat, etc, etc ALL purchased from Ash. In the day, they had the best managers and staff. Met Jeff Beck at 48th St. Location. They always worked with me concerning cost and support. Fast forward to post 2000. Their customer service dropped dramatically, and they never seemed to grasp the new reality of their market. Post Covid was the final nail in their coffin. StilI, I will miss them.

I loved Sam Ash! But it was very hard to get a deal from the manager at my local SA.

Last guitar I bought from Sam Ash (new) was sold to me as is about 2 years ago, and looked to be halfway through a setup when I purchased it (loose screws, action was all over the place, strings were tuned but intonation was non-existent). I brought it back for a setup and maybe a fret level and was told it would be at least 3-7 days before it would be finished. I brought it home and set it up myself and haven't been back since.

In any big box store management focuses on credit cards and extended warranties. When you buy stuff online there is no pressure to buy add ons.

The Sam Ash in Atlanta was terrific! There was a guitar tech who I would spend time with and actually installed a Floyd Rose on a Les Paul for me! The guys & girls there were ALWAYS friendly. They'd hold the door open for me when I was leaving. They didn't treat me like I was robbing them blind when leaving the store by checking all my receipts, etc. I haven't been in years because there were two new guitar shops closer, but I'm sorry to see them go.

Customer service in music stores is always an issue anywhere. I think that the only company that is overcoming that in someway is sweetwater, with great customer service and great stock.

Never had an issue with them. The only problem I had was the location of the store, the traffic around there is horrific. The web site was incredibly slow and barely usable.

I am sorry to hear the Sam Ash closed, but, to be honest, I was only in a Sam Ash (Vegas) once and the staff were all about one other customer and 99% ignored me. When I entered the store, I told them, "It was my first time in the store and looking to see what you had." Once that was out, I wasn't there in their eyes. My experience is similar to what you mentioned in the video. If they failed in business, it was their own doing.

The last time I had a good experience there was in 1988. When I bought a brand new 57 reissue USA made Stratocaster. The only reason it was good though was because I knew I wanted the guitar even before I tried it out. They were basically like “do you want it? Do you want it? Do you want it?” .

I can only share my experience: I never bought anything from one of Sam Ash's brick and mortar stores. A few weeks after they became an online-only retailer, I bought a new guitar through them. It arrived in pristine condition, well set up, and ready to play. The follow-up has been great. I then bought a used guitar thru Reverb that ultimately was handled thru Sam Ash. One phone call with a 20‐something doofus was amusing (but at 60, any interaction with anyone under 40 typically amuses me) - same "canceled order" issue. But ultimately, the guitar arrived just fine. So, no complaints.

I never had any problems with getting help in the guitar department at sam ash but other departments the associates did not have time to wait on customers. If you went to buy a cheap piece of gear they did not want to be bothered. Guitar center is the same way so I just purchased a les 50s les paul stanard through reverb. Seems the online stores push customer satisfaction. sweetwater for me is the same way. I was interested in a new interface and was asking questions when the sales rep hung up and never took my calls so I did some research online and bought the unit from amazon !

OT, my Max Guitar arrived and it is amazing. Only downside, I had to enroll at the community college, in Floyd Rose 101. Barely made it in, class was almost full.

First off ..you have a great speaking voice. Perfect for radio. Second, Been playing and buying guitars, amps, ukes etc..for 50 years. This experience is NOT limited to Sam Ash. There’s a local shop in Petaluma, California I stopped going to. They let you touch nothing. Big signs "Do not Touch". Many stores understaffed, and arrogant sales people. I tried to buy local - but no more.

Man....I visited one Sam Ash in my life - in Las Vegas. I was blown away, BUT.....I live in Iowa and we are now stuck with one Guitar Center. That and the Internet totally destroyed every private music store here.

Worked there cause a friend worked there, I quit after the second day. A mismanaged company to say the least

I agree with what was said about Guitar Center taking forever just to get checked out. I bought guitar strings not long ago and it took 15 minutes to get out of there. There are some local guitar shops I thought about shopping more at. However, most shops I see have their guitar strings almost double the price of Guitar Center is offering so I still tend to go there for strings. My Sam Ash (Cincinatti) didn't seem that bad. I did notice their selection was dwindling like guitar center. Honestly, it's depressing going into a Guitar Center know what it was like 15 years ago.

My local store (New Haven, CT) had some attentive and knowledgeable staff throughout the years. I will miss them.

Earlier in June, a brief colleague of mine in a band that I’ve been in since May 2021 allowed himself to be swindled by one of the online fixtures pretending to be the Sam Ash website. He saw an ad for a Gibson SG costing less than $150. I should’ve warned him not to do it. Now, he’s out that money.

I believe it also depended on the area the store was in

I did business with Sam Ash in Clearwater Florida for over 20 years. During all that time I had a good relationship with the company and many of their great employees. I am sorry to see them go.

Guitar center won’t go down anytime soon. Not even in the next decade. Sam ash had 42 store locations when they closed. Guitar center currently has over 305. Sam ash didn’t expand like GC. The closest Sam ash to me was a 17 hour drive away. Closest guitar center is less then 30 minutes.

There is nothing better than your calm voice in looking at situations. Always cool.

back in the 90s they were a decent company and I preferred them to Guitar center, but after 2010 service really went down, may be because pressure of new companies and on line retail growing stronger.

Great, simple discussion. Thanks - speaks to many’s experiences.

I worked at Sam Ash in Torrance, Ca. from 2004-2006. It was fun. I worked in the guitar department. I knew my stuff and had a great experience with my customers. Sorry to see them go. Sad

Tried Sam Ash once, never even thought about going back, haven't been in a GC in 15 years. I'm lucky enough to have some excellent high end shops near enough. The Tone Shop in Addison TX has been great.

I live about an hour and a half away from the Sam Ash store in Cincinnati, and always wanted to visit it. Never got to go. Maybe i didn't miss out on much.

I went one time to my local Sam Ash. The sales guy promised me one thing over the phone, then denied it when I got there. That was it for me.

In the 80s, no one could beat Sam Ash for pricing. Music Emporium was ok, but Sam Ash was better.

Before I ordered my guitar and case I took numbers down of stores that had this guitar in stock that the sales person had provided me on the phone. I called a couple stores to check the condition of the guitar before I ordered. I called the sales person back and gave him the store number I wanted the guitar from. Checked my account page the next day to see if it shipped, and the order was canceled. The phone sales person could not explain why. He said maybe the guitar was out of stock? an hour on the phone I got the order replaced from the same store so we shall see if get my guitar or if my order gets canceled.

I had mixed experiences at SA in Canoga Park. There was a time I returned an amp that was defective and I caught them putting it back on the floor. Their warranties for guitars that came with set ups was useless since their tech was terrible and screwed up my Rickenbacker 4003. But I did make some friends with the manager at the time and got first dibs on my Taylor before it was put out on the floor. I am not sorry their closing. But I don’t like buying guitars online without playing them so music stores are still needed.

Their customer service was crap. I remember waiting 25 mins to buy a set of guitar strings. I seriously thought they should have had a vending machine for strings and small items like picks and whatnot.

I've had good experiences at Sam Ash over the years. It was the only place that carried Regal Tip drumsticks and kept them in stock. They were always nice to me. I will miss them.

While I was still in New York and before Guitar Center Camden New York Sam Ash was the favorite for all the local musicians, including myself.

I shopped at Sam Ash for 30 years in White Plains, 2:52 NY,and they had a great top salesman named Spyder,on one sales to me at 14 in 1974 who sold me a Marshall Superlead 100 new but he said I'd have to wait even though they had them in stock he told me to wait a month or two and when he called and said it was in he had specially ordered me a red Marshall.Spyder was a great sales even to young kids.

I had a guitar on order from Sam Ash that I cancelled days before they announced their closure because the order was taking too long. Glad I did!

Obviously not everyone hated Sam Ash. Pretty much every business is gonna' have customers who have had a bad experience or feel they were "wronged" in some way. And of course, the internet is the perfect platform to bad mouth a business to millions of people.

I grew up buying from and hanging out at the Sam Ash store in Hempstead, NY in the 60's and my friends and I made most of our musical equipment purchases from them. I have moved around the country quite a bit over the years and have shopped regularly at a few Sam Ash stores. Since I moved to FL in the mid-90's I had the pleasure of shopping at the Clearwater store quite often (after they bought out Thoroughbred Music). Apparently, lots of people have had bad experiences at many of the Sam Ash stores, but I have to say that I don't remember ever having a bad experience or being treated badly. Since I became very familiar with the Clearwater store and a few of their sales people, I will say that I was always treated nicely and a couple of times the sales people went out of their way to accommodate my needs. I for one am sorry to see Sam Ash go!

Funny thing about being ignored by the sales staff for 20 minutes, anywhere, I like them not bothering me until I'm actually ready to deal with them. Hopefully, they aren't prepared for me though.

Ive been playing for 30 years and i wish i had of taken maintenance more seriously from the start. Or at least had someone say to me to do my own maintenance.

I ordered a Michael Kelly guitar just a few months before they closed. I received the guitar in extreme poor condition. It wasn't even playable with the strings resting on the frets. After I did the setup I noticed two of the tuners loose and it was because the little set screw was broken off in the head. After some slow and serious work, I was able to repair the guitar and installed locking tuners. That was the first and last time I will ever order anything from Sam Ash.

I worked in a music store back in the 80s and then went into motorcycles for 28 years. I opened a music store 3 years ago. It's been an experience, to say the least. I worked in a motorcycle shop as a GM and went on to work with one of the manufacturers. The problem with the big box stores in all industries is the corporate structure and how they have a disconnect from the customer. Some companies are better than others but once they go public it's only a matter of time before things start to get bad. But honestly between the amount of products and the internet running a business is not an easy thing to do. Companies push and push the employees, underpay them, and don't train them. This is why the consumer gets a bad experience at these stores. It's the same thing on my end as a store owner, some of the manufacturers have great gear but are a complete pain to deal with. I just took on a very big brand and 6 months in they are really close to being dropped. I don't have time to babysit my rep and keep watching everything they do to make sure they do what they are supposed to. Personally, I think the days of the big box music stores are over other than the really big markets. Small privately owned shops will come back. I get shopping online is easy and convenient but geez, there is a whole big world out there. Sitting in a house looking online day in and day out is just depressing. Get out and support these small shops.

I have only been to two Sam Ash stores, both were a good experience. The Indianapolis store treated me well every time and were fair on trade ins. I bought both guitars and amps from that store. I will miss them.

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with GC, SA, ( not anymore permanently), because since 1992 ALL my basses have been custom made by Kiesel/Carvin. Family owned and operated since 1946.. I know the owners personally and have toured the factory a hand full of times. For accessories, strings, stands, pedals, straps, etc... I'll use GC online, but mostly Sweetwater.

I loved Sam Ash. They were a nice alternative to Guitar Center, and them being across the street it expanded the available inventory on Sunset Blvd. Whenever I went to Guitar Center (I live right behind it on Hollywood Blvd) I would also go across the street to see what Sam Ash had. It made the trip so much more interesting and fun. And Sam Ash always had an amazing inventory of guitars, from the Tailor room, to the Martin D-45's sitting on the wall on the other side. Guitar Center never had the variety of relics, and Gibson Explorers that Sam Ash had. And the upstairs at Sam Ash, they had the raddest keyboards, as well as things you don't usually find, like flute and saxophone microphones. I bought my Taylor from Sam Ash, as well as my wireless mic/headphones set. I absolutely miss it. I drive by it almost every day. Seeing it all closed up almost brings a tear to my eye.

Hi Max 😢. It's a shame that another retail guitars store has gone bust. I used to visit the one in Clearwater and Tampa, Sarasota as well.Its okay 👍 for everyone to voice their opinions. but at the end of the day there will be less choices for musical instrument fans. Someone or company needs to put the shops back on the map and diversity the guitar business. Such as having 😺 open mike nights at some stores with cafes and food shops a bit like a community meeting point, where they could have celebrity guests and clinics to show people techniques and maintenance. It's very hard for me purchase a guitar online 😹 unless I've tested it in real life. Anyway all the best 👍 to you and your sonic adventures.😊John. 😊😊😊

I never had a bad experience at Sam Ash Ontario California or Las Vegas Nevada, and they also had a good selection of guitars, basses and amps. I prefer Sam Ash over Guitar Center, so I am sad to see them close.

FYI-My experience with Sweetwater was awful. My order for a Brian Setzer Gretsch was cancelled. I called customer service and heard the guy over the phone mumble "no way we are selling it to him"??? I asked him why. He suddenly said the guitar was not available. Fool me once is enough for Sweetwater. Overall I had decent experiences with Sam Ash.

That's a pretty broad statement - I wouldn't say 'everybody'. I accompanied my son to the Ontario, CA Sam Ash were he ordered a Fender American Ultra Strat. We both had a great time and the people were really nice, professional, etc.

Most of my experiences at the store were good ones, employees were mostly friendly and would help me out if I needed it, and they always had strings and picks I was looking for. My one big gripe was just how bad their inventory got even before COVID, I used to have tons of brands to choose from, but they just started stocking less and less to the point where my only options were Michael Kelly or Squier, maybe once in a blue moon I'd see an Ibanez or Jackson come in, same problem with the amps, there were maybe like 3 amp models to look through on a good day. Very sad to see what they became before going out of business, this is the same location that would invite musicians like George Lynch and Mike Portnoy to sign autographs and give workshops there. They had an open mic night and metal guitar players meetup every week, it was loads of fun to attend these events while also having plenty of gear to choose from, that's the version of Sam Ash I'm truly going to miss...