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Sat 8/3/02
I'd say 50% of the brand new
instruments that we get from manufacturers come without cases.
In the old days (last week...) these guitars would be packed
in a quasi-triangular box which was then put in a larger shipping
box. The advantage was that after we took all of the messy shipping
boxes up the street to the cardboard re-cycling place, we'd still
have the nice inner box to offer the customer, in the event that
they didn't want to purchase a case when they bought the guitar...
Bob: "Thanks for shopping
at Pittsburgh Guitars!"
Joe Blow: "You're welcome.
I'll get a case next week, right now I need all of my extra money
to buy tickets to see the Baha Men down at Station Square on
Aug 18th..."
Bob: "No problem. In the
meantime, would you like this nice quasi-triangular box to store
your guitar in?"
Joe Blow: "Thanks. That'll
at least protect it if someone let's the dogs out..."
Wellllll, THOSE days are gone.
Last Tuesday, when we got 105 new Fender guitars, we couldn't
help but notice that they have a new packing system. They now
just wrap a "U" shaped piece of cardboard around the
guitar, and put it in the shipping box. And once you disassemble
the packaging there's no going back. You're stuck with a box-less
guitar.
For this week's email special,
we're offering a Free Fender Gig Bag with the purchase of any
new Fender guitar that doesn't already come with a case. (That
would be any of the Squier Strats, Teles or basses, or any of
the Fender acoustics.) (By the way, since I got a better deal
on those guitars by buying so many, we're passing the lower prices
along to you. So, in addition to the free gig bag, all of those
models are also cheaper...)
See you soon,
Carl
PS: We have several sets of tickets
for the Baha Men, Sunday, August 18 at Station Square. They're
free to the first few people who write back.
PPS: We also have 2 free lawn
tickets to Sheryl Crow on Friday August 9th out at Star Lake.
(The Post Gazette Pavilion.) If you're interested, write back,
and we'll pull some names out of a hat.
PPPS: On a totally different
topic, we now have more left-handed guitars than ever before.
I'm not sure why. We don't have them all on display, since we
don't have room, but currently in stock are:
a lefty Cort Strat copy
a lefty Lotus Strat copy
a lefty 1983 Fender Strat
a lefty Fender Strat Standard
a lefty Fender Squier Std. Precision Bass
a lefty Fender DG-14S acoustic
a lefty Fender DG-16 acoustic
a lefty Martin D-1L acoustic
a lefty Hofner `62 Reissue Beatle Bass
a lefty Hofner `63 Reissue Beatle Bass
If you run into any left-handed folks let `em know.
PPPPS: Just in, and lookin' good:
new Fender Paisley and Blue Floral Telecasters, plus the new
Fender Competition Mustangs (red or blue, with white stripes)
PPPPPS: Sorry about all of the
writing. I promise next week's will be shorter.
PPPPPPS: (Ok this is the last
thing...) I realize that rather that the guitar boxes are really
trapezoids (two parallel sides, two non-parallel sides) , rather
than quasi-triangular...
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Sat 8/10/02
You know I'm generally not a
complainer... but lately I've noticed that the misuse of the
word "then" is getting out of hand. And it's driving
me crazy. Please help me fight this issue before society, as
we know it, falls apart. Twice this week, in nationally published
Musical Instrument Trade magazines, the word "then"
was used in place of the correct word "than":
#1 "This small amp packs
more punch then a much larger Marshall."
#2 "Bad customer service in your store can do more harm
then the superstores."
As I'm sure you know, the word
"than" refers to a comparison in size, weight, or effect.
For example, "A Fender Twin
Reverb is heavier than three cases of beer."
And "then" refers to
time.
"I picked up a Fender Twin
Reverb. Then I realized I may have thrown my back out. Then I
had a beer."
Both in one sentence:
"Young Bob drank 4 more beers than Scott, then he fell over."
OK... thanks for letting me complain
about that...
Now, on to this week's special...
In order to get a better deal on those 100 Fender guitars we
got in last week (and of course, the better deal is passed on
to YOU), we had to buy a bunch of Fender accessories. One such
item is a cute little chromatic tuner, the Fender ST-1. It's
designed as a stage tuner. It's wedge shaped with a large, easy
to read LED display.
Ordinarily, we'd say, "Hey,
cool tuner. Let's carry it here at Pittsburgh Guitars..."
But we already have 11 different
types of tuners in the store! And since they all work well, it's
getting confusing.
My solution: sell all of these
at a ridiculously cheap price and get back to the non-confusing
days of two weeks ago.
Despite the fact that it has
a nearly $60.00 list price, for the email special it will be
priced cheaper than any other tuner in the store. (I had to get
the word "than" in here somewhere...)
See you soon,
Carl
PS: Regular tuners only read
the six open strings on a guitar in standard tuning, and they
work best if you start out close to the note you're going for.
A "chromatic" tuner shows all of the notes, sharps,
flats, etc. A chromatic tuner is handy if you are doing any alternate
tunings, or if you tune down a half-step, or if you are using
it to tune any other instrument.
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Sat 8/17/02
New York City. Summer 1989. A
Russian spy steps off the D train at the 59th and Columbus Circle
subway station. He was told to meet his contact at the north
end of the platform. He cautiously checks the other folks on
the platform... a little old lady, businessman, and two musicians,
one of whom is wearing a T-shirt that says "Pittsburgh Guitars...Go
For The Neck"... It seems safe enough. He moves into position
to prepare for the exchange. Suddenly, he's pushed up against
the wall and handcuffed, as the guy behind him, the one in the
Pittsburgh Guitars T-shirt, whispers "FBI". True story.
The FBI agent is a friend of mine.
A couple of years ago someone
came into the store and said he had just seen an episode of "Cops"
filmed in Columbus, Ohio, and the car-thief they were arresting
was wearing a Pittsburgh Guitars T-shirt...
Last month an Orthopedic Surgeon
came into the store, and said he was in Washington DC and saw
a guy on the street wearing a Pittsburgh Guitars "Go For
The Neck" T-shirt. The doctor wasn't a musician, but he
wanted to buy a shirt to wear in his off hours, since his specialty
was neck surgery.
So, there you have it... The
Pittsburgh Guitars T-shirt. The perfect attire for the FBI, TV-criminals,
the doctor on the go, or YOU.
See You soon,
Carl
PS: This is really last minute,
but we have two sets of Lawn Tickets for Sunday's, (August 18th)
Goo Goo Dolls show out at Star Lake. If you're interested, and
can come to the store tomorrow (Saturday, August 17th) to pick
them up, write back. First two folks get `em. Free, of course.
(Details: Sunday, 8/18/02 7PM, Post-Gazette Pavilion at Star
Lake, opening act: Third Eye Blind)
PPS: Customer web site:
The New Alcindors
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Sat 8/24/02
It was so hot last night I woke
up at 2AM and couldn't go back to sleep. So I played my Hofner
Bass for a while, and I wished I was a better player. But I couldn't
get too depressed about my playing because I was so impressed
with what a cool instrument it was, and how much fun it was to
play. So I did that for a while and then I decided I was really
in the mood for some Frosted Mini Wheats. So I jumped in the
car and drove to the Giant Eagle. Along the way I put in the
new CD by The Clarks, and you know, that is one fine CD. As you
may know, I have a tiny
little record label. (I haven't done anything with it for
a few years. It's that darn "only-24-hours-in-a-day"
thing... the store keeps me too busy to devote any time to the
label...) Anyway, even though Bogus Records is temporarily inactive,
I still get demo tapes from strangers every week. And I gotta
tell ya, as good as some of them are, the songwriting on these
demos is generally pretty crappy. When I played that Clarks CD
last night the songs were so good that I was sucked into every
song. The lyrics grab your interest, and the song structure and
tasteful guitar playing hold you there. I think this is The Clarks
5th or 6th album, and I'm impressed that they still keep coming
up with good material. You really have to give them credit for
doing what they do well. I admire people who can write a good
song. And people who can sing. And people who appreciate a fine
wine...but that's another story. OK, sorry for rambling in one
long paragraph...I'm so tired from being up all night. Or maybe
it's the Mini Wheats...
Rob from The Clarks does some
nice Wah Wah work on the new record. In his honor we're going
to have Wah Wahs on sale this week.
See You soon,
Carl
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Sat 8/31/02
I know what you're gonna say:
Carl, how can you say that you didn't like the rap stuff on MTV's
Video Music Awards Show last night because they were just "people
pointing, and yelling instead of singing" and then turn
around and say you really liked The Hives and The Vines? Weren't
THEY yelling instead of singing?
OK, you kinda have a point.
But still, there were two big
differences. (1) Eminem, P-Diddy and Justin Timberlake were lip-syncing
to pre-recorded tracks while doing elaborate dance routines,
and (B) The Hives and The Vines had guitars.
I found it really refreshing
to see both of those bands... just some guys with guitars poundin'
out some live Rock & Roll. It was cool to see the guitar
player in The Hives using an early 60s white Gibson SG Jr., and
the bass player using a mid-70s Fender Telecaster Bass. (In fact,
that has inspired me to change the display in the back of the
store to the "History Of The Electric Bass." I'll try
to get that done this weekend.) And it was equally cool to see
the guitarist in The Vines throw his Strat at the drums at the
end of their song. (PS: I don't recommend that, but if you are
gonna do it a Strat is the right guitar for it.)
In honor of The Vines, and their
Strat, we're going to feature a brand new model of Fender Strat
this week.
First, the details on the guitar:
Previously Fender had two main Strats available, The Mexican-made
Strat Standard, (List Price: $499.99) and the USA-made American
Series Strat, (List Price: $1141.99). Now they've introduced
a New model right in between, the Made-In-USA "Highway 1"
Strat (List Price: $859.99). It's the same body and neck as the
more expensive American Series, but with a rubbed-on satin finish
instead of the high-gloss finish. And it comes with a Gig Bag
instead of a Hardshell Case. Anyway, it says Made In USA on it
and it's several hundred dollars cheaper than the American Series.
Now,
the deal: Fender won't allow us to mention a price lower than
$595 on this guitar. (If you, personally, write and ask, we can
say, but we can't send it out in a bulk email.) So here's how
you can figure it out: Imagine you're standing on the sidewalk
in the South Side, 481 feet from a telephone pole, and you see
a pigeon on the top of the pole. And you're afraid that the pigeon
might have West Nile Virus, so you want to know how far away
you are from that bird... You remember from that time you worked
for the Dept of Public Works that the telephone pole is 60 feet
high. How far would you be from the pigeon? (in a straight line...
as the crow flies...) (except it's a pigeon...) In other words,
if you visualize this scenario as a giant right triangle, with
the distance from you to the pole as one leg of the triangle,
and the height of the pole as the other leg, what is the length
of the hypotenuse (the distance between you and the deadly pigeon)??
Well, this distance is how much the new USA Fender Highway 1
Strat is... except in dollars instead of feet.
See you soon,
Carl
PS: For more about Pythagorus
PPS: For more about the bands
mentioned:
The Vines
The Hives
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