World Guitars- yay or nay?

PVO_Dave

Twinfan said:

I find his setups terrible though so I always have to do my own unless it's an out-of-the-box PRS!

Same experience for me when he ran Machinehead (this was over 10 years back mind), after a long break from guitar, I'd decided to get back into it, so I bought a new Mex Strat from him, he offered to set it up for free, it came back worse than when I demoed it in the shop, action was sky high.

Ended up costing me more to get a decent setup from Coda.

Fretwired

axisus said:

Jeff's a bit 'marmite', but a real character. I live near the old Machinehead shop so I used to drop in a lot when Jeff ran it. I found him pretty uncomfortable at first as I'm the quiet, retiring type in a guitar shop, but I warmed to him as time went on.

He did a better job of running the shop than those who came after, and I missed him after he went!

World guitars - very expensive!

I agree .. I used to shop at Machinehead as it's not far from where I live .. Jeff's great when you get to know him but he has a nose for time wasters and tyre kickers and can be blunt. I always got first class customer service though as I spent a fortune with him .. :-)

Strat_a_tat_tat

Fretwired said:

I agree .. I used to shop at Machinehead as it's not far from where I live .. Jeff's great when you get to know him but he has a nose for time wasters and tyre kickers and can be blunt. I always got first class customer service though as I spent a fortune with him .. :-)

Maybe his 'nose for time wasters' wasn't totally 100%. I visited Machinehead a few times... but soon decided I preferred to drive past, without stopping on my way to Coda - where I went on to spent a fortune over the years. One shop's 'tyre kicker' is another shop's 'long-term customer'.

EdGrip

Or, one shop's "tyre kicker" is another shop's "future customer with less disposable income than they'd like right now, but who nonetheless is interested enough in the high-end guitars you're selling to come into your shop to look at them".

fretfinder

I only visited GW once and it was enough to put me off Jeff for life. I'd never buy from there unless it was something I really wanted that wasn't available anywhere else, and a decent price. The first one might come about but never the second, they always look expensive to me. At Coda the people are miles friendlier, they have much better Gibbo and Fender stock, and they price much more keenly. The funny thing is, if Jeff were to read this thread I suspect he wouldn't give a toss, which says it all really.

Evilmags

His adverts kind of scream "knob". And as much as I want to fight prejudice, he looks like a knob. And the shtick is cringe as fuck.

Dave_Mc

EdGrip said:

Or, one shop's "tyre kicker" is another shop's "future customer with less disposable income than they'd like right now, but who nonetheless is interested enough in the high-end guitars you're selling to come into your shop to look at them".

That's also what I often think. Especially (though not exclusively) when they're rude to teenagers. Because, you know, penniless teenagers stay that way forever. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can remember if a shop was rude to me (and conversely, when a shop was nice).

Loobs

Dave_Mc;391095" said:

EdGrip said:

Or, one shopr's "tyre kicker" is another shop's "future customer with less disposable income than they'd like right now, but who nonetheless is interested enough in the high-end guitars you're selling to come into your shop to look at them".





That's also what I often think. Especially (though not exclusively) when they're rude to teenagers. Because, you know, penniless teenagers stay that way forever. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can remember if a shop was rude to me (and conversely, when a shop was nice).

Nail on head.

In my case, I actually had the cash in my pocket and he literally snatched the guitar out of my hands as I was playing it and said " sorry, we're very busy, someone else wants to try it". I was about to buy it.

randomhandclaps

Although World Guitars is expensive if you go across there and the shop is busy then while you are waiting if you speak to other customers you can usually find someone to do your tax returns, someone to help you sell the London apartment your Grandma left you, someone to do your wife's breast augmentation and someone to represent you in court against those indecency charges.

Fortheloveofguitar

randomhandclaps;391112" said:

Although World Guitars is expensive if you go across there and the shop is busy then while you are waiting if you speak to other customers you can usually find someone to do your tax returns, someone to help you sell the London apartment your Grandma left you, someone to do your wife's breast augmentation and someone to represent you in court against those indecency charges.

You forgot someone to fix your teeth.

Dave_Mc

Loobs said:

Dave_Mc;391095" said:

EdGrip said:

Or, one shopr's "tyre kicker" is another shop's "future customer with less disposable income than they'd like right now, but who nonetheless is interested enough in the high-end guitars you're selling to come into your shop to look at them".





That's also what I often think. Especially (though not exclusively) when they're rude to teenagers. Because, you know, penniless teenagers stay that way forever. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can remember if a shop was rude to me (and conversely, when a shop was nice).

Nail on head.

In my case, I actually had the cash in my pocket and he literally snatched the guitar out of my hands as I was playing it and said " sorry, we're very busy, someone else wants to try it". I was about to buy it.

Wow, that's crazy )

Fortheloveofguitar

WG is 10 mins up the road from me.

I've not been there for nearly 2 years but when I was there last Jeff was very nice to me and couldn't do enough for me even though I left empty handed without spending any money with him.

sunshinewelly

 I had a very satisfying experience there on Saturday. Went to trade a PRS for a masterbuilt and found Jeff and the team to be very very helpful. There was no questions asked about my PRS (seemed happy to accept my description - they certainly did not try it out when i was there). Jeff set me up in a room with the strat and offered me tea and biscuits. There was no rush. I was there for over an hour and had a good chat and found him to be very funny and enjoyed the no pressure sell policy. I have been to stores before and they try try to flog you straps, cleaning kits etc. There was none of that at World Guitars. Had a general chat about his stock and he had plenty of time to chat even though there were others there and he wasn't getting a lot of cash from me. He said that he wouldn't make much of a profit from the trade and i believed him. He even had time to carry out a set up on the strat for me and made sure that i played it again to make sure i was happy. (we had a friendly argument over the action of the strat - he said it was perfect, his team said it was perfect , i felt it was high so he  agreed to lower it until it felt right). However upon getting home and using a rule i could see that it was a lot lower than my other guitars - it had felt high due to the guage strings on it and the chunkier neck. So Jeff was right as i had to raise the action slightly. There was a family there from Rugby who had traveled down to pick up a R9 for their son (they must have a lot of money in that neck of the wood).

The shop itself is amazing to behold - i have never seen anything like it - dont go there looking for a squire or an epiphone but if you want a custom shop/high end guitar i wont go any where else

57Deluxe

Chappers jumped from being annoying there to Andertons...

ROOG

I spent a couple of hours+ trying out three different instruments at World Guitars in Stonehouse just a couple of weeks ago, the boss was out but the guys running it on the day were very helpful, both on the phone before I travelled up there and in the store.

I also had a similar experience in PMT in Bristol, perhaps its me being 50 something that makes em more tolerant. But good experiences all round recently for me, :0)

I rarely make a big purchase 'on the hoof' so I often leave empty handed, but I will buy eventually, problem is they don't know that at the time!  

SquireJapan

ROOG;408347" said:

... perhaps its me being 50 something that makes em more tolerant. 

I certainly get far more respect from guitar shops ... i was out of guitaring for a good while, so the last time I really hung around guitar shops was in my teens. The difference now is pretty marked

sunshinewelly

I am 43 - i assume they know that us of a certain age will more likely have more disposabla income 

RaymondLin

Note to self, dress older when go to WG.

ROOG

RaymondLin said:

Note to self, dress older when go to WG.

I think the tufts of white hair give it away for me!

MoANjAm

Come highly recommended, they do leave you to browse, and they will go that extra mile for you.

But...I got the impression that they feel they can charge what they like and so you wont get any bargains there. For that reason I didn't buy a PRS from them.