Guitar Center — Local services in Peoria

With the exception of one salesman who is always helpful, I still have issues with this business in general. I say this because I'm not sure if its just the store or the way all guitar centers are but I'm not interested in paying new prices for used gear. Just because a guitar or amp or pedal has never been purchased doesn't make it new! If a guitar or amp has been played/tested 100's of times and a pedal has been stomped on over and over by many people, why would I pay full price for this? I wouldn't pay new price for a car that has been test drove 10000 miles why would I buy a guitar at new cost that has visible wear on the fret board or was bought and returned and shows evidence of repairs and was obviously just hung back on the rack as a "NEW" guitar. Example, I bought a Schecter 7 string and it looked pre-owned but I was assured that it hadn't been so I bought it, it was cheap enough. Got it home and about 3 days of playing I started to get issues with the jack so I pulled the cover off and I am very experienced in electronic repair/soldering and this had been "Fixed" by someone who obviously had 0 experience. So my suspicions were confirmed. I returned it pointing this out as why I am returning it. One day later I go back in and there she hangs...Like brand new. Every time I go in there to look at getting something, they never have anything in box, its always the display they try and give to me. I don't want your used junk at the cost of new. I no longer visit guitar center because every visit is worse than the last and if I wanted this kind of gear I would just go to a pawn shop, Ive had better luck...

I hate to say it, but I don’t really like going to guitar center anymore. I’m usually there on average maybe like 5 times a month and each and every time, the employees are always very condescending and never any real help. I only really shop there because it’s usually cheaper than my local music store, but just the employees lack of care and their rudeness bum me out whenever I go. Sometimes I just go to buy strings and sometimes I just go to look around: but no matter what, If you’re not buying a multi thousand dollar guitar or amp or whatever, you’re going to be ignored guaranteed. I’ve been playing guitar for 9 years and just the other day, I was buying a part for my Strat and the employee was rather unpleasant and before that, I stood at the counter being ignored for 5 minutes…then the guy thought I was going to steal…a pack of screws. It just makes me sad to be honest. The employees all use to be so nice and cool and it was great and a nice place to be. I’ve been using Sweetwater more lately and I think I might be buying from them from now on. The shipping is a little inconvenient compared to a store like Guitar Center, but their staff are top notch and show genuine care for a passion I’ve stuck with since I was a little kid. I hate to leave such a low score, but literally every visit in the last 3 months has not been great and I bet next time won’t...

Terrible selection of instruments. The staff took up all the speakers, jamming the entire time we were there, couldnt test anything let alone talk over each other. When testing a dwa with a maudio keyboard, a staff member asked us "can I help you with something" NOT with a friendly smile, but instead with some serious attitude as if saying "why are you here". All the dj equipment was on but not set up, nice to look at but couldn't test anything. Most keyboards were unplugged and upon trying to test the synthkeyboards they were also all unplugged, but I spent half an hour setting one up, effectively doing the employees job. Acoustic room had the majority of guitars severely out of tune, which not only is damaging to the neck of the guitars but again forced us to do the employees work by tunning them whenever we picked on up. Didn't visit the percussion section, but it looked like a mess from far away, the drums not spaced out but instead uncomfortably smashed together.

Honestly most depressing guitar center I have ever been in. Wanted to look for a new guitar, now I'm so turned off by these stores that I think I'll just stick to the internet for my next purchase. Manager should take a long hard look at his staff.

Absolutely...