Early Lunch Report February 7,2011

Hello,

Thank you for letting me do the Lunch Report this week.I hope I do everyone good

Lunch today is early I have service calls to make all afternoon.

I am having leftover noodles and beef.

The G&L Question is some what of a carryover from a older questions.
Should G&L start marketing to the big boy outlets like Guitar Center?



General Music Question

Has commercial radio become too corporate and is destroying creativity?


General Question

What did you think of the Super Bowl? Not who won or loss but the Super Bowl in general?


Chet

The G&L Question is some what of a carryover from a older questions.
Should G&L start marketing to the big boy outlets like Guitar Center?

Well, I think Fender has a pretty good lock on GC, but yeah, I would love to see G&L's hanging in more of the big box stores.
The more G&L's that are out there in the store, the better chance of some open minded guitarist taking a chance, and viola, another
G&L fan is born!



Has commercial radio become too corporate and is destroying creativity?

Oh definitely. It was never totally about putting out good music for the big corporate music guys, but at least they did for a while.
Now the "record" industry is the equivalent of fast food. Get the product out there quick, make it shiny and appertising, non threatening, and with wide appeal.
Once that flavor of the month is old, find the new one, lather, rinse and repeat.

They used to nurture talent, and did what they could to promote new talent. Now it's sink of swim. God help you if you aren't a hit off the bat.
I think creativity is going the way of the dodo for most mainstream music. It all sounds the same, no chance taking, just tow the line
and crank out the same old songs. How boring!






What did you think of the Super Bowl? Not who won or loss but the Super Bowl in general?

Well, to be honest I really don't care about football. I usually watch the commercials the day after, and will tune in if the halftime musical guest is someone
I want to see. Last night I didn't..but I saw the Black Eyed Peas performance this morning on You Tube............


Off to a great start!!!
Look forward to the rest of the week.............

Shawn

Chet, good questions! I am going to opt out on the G&L marketing question, I like what they are doing.

Commercial Radio? I don't think commercial radio has been a creative force for quite a while. There is nothing inherently wrong with commercial music, a lot of my favorite acts are very commercially successful. You know, like The Rolling Stones. But for every great innovative act, there comes a long 100 over produced copy cats. Creations, really, of the record company. It seems to me that I hear cool stuff that is slightly out of the mainstream on community radio or from friends via youtube way before I hear it on commercial radio.

I thought the super bowl was a good game. I like sports, but NFL games are getting so long I can't sit through them. Three and a half hours? For 1 hour of football? There are just two many other things to do.

Lunch today in the cafeteria was chili dogs and potato salad, I feel exactly as I thought I would after eating them

G&L at big box stores: I'd love to be able to walk into a store and try out some G&L's, the only local store that carries them only stocks Tributes (sometimes) so if that's what it takes to be able to do that than yes. I'd be a little concerned that the added workload of supplying a huge chain like that might have an impact on quality or require a larger facility. For me, the fact that G&L is in the original Fender Ave facility adds to the allure.

Commercial Radio: Ditto on what Shawn said, most of it sounds the same to me, I must be getting old because sometimes I turn on the radio and it takes a min or two for my brain to arrange the noise into a song

Superbowl: Well, I didn't watch all that much of it, I don't have cable and the antenna signal was glitchy, stopped to check the score a few times, half time show looked strange, the team I thought should win did.

Great start Chet!

-Dave

For me, the fact that G&L is in the original Fender Ave facility adds to the allure.

Yeah, that's one of the many cool things about G&L.

Once, I had an aquaintance of mine play my S-500. He thought it was cool, but said something like "Pretty cool, but you should get a REAL Fender, not a copy"
I just looked at him with a puzzled expression, and then explained to him how my S500 was more of a "real" Fender then his Fender.

Hi Chet,

Thanks for picking up the LR duties. Looking forward to your contributions.

Should G&L start marketing to the big boy outlets like Guitar Center?

Only under one condition. At least here in the Seattle area, all Paul Reed Smiths have their own, admittedly small, wall space close to the guitar department desk. This is how they can stand out from all the Gibsons that crowd the floor space and, for high-priced models, have adjacent wall space behind the desk. That is what G&L would need too to stand out from FMIC produced instruments proper and knock-off/copies produced by other brands. If they are just mixed in I don't see the purpose. One would still not be enticed to do an A/B comparison.

Has commercial radio become too corporate and is destroying creativity?

I haven't listened to commercial radio in 16 years and hate it. In The Netherlands there is no 'format radio', at least not in my time. I like to listen to alternative stations (KEXP here in Seattle) and to the music programs (think World Cafe, Sound Opinions, etc) on the local NPR stations.

What did you think of the Super Bowl? Not who won or loss but the Super Bowl in general?

Great game with the right team winning and the proper MVP. At least Pittsburg didn't get much help from the zebras this time

- Jos

Lunch today is early I have service calls to make all afternoon.

I am having leftover noodles and beef.

I'm having leftover home made clam chowdah. Made it myself yesterday.

Should G&L start marketing to the big boy outlets like Guitar Center?

While it would be nice to see the Fullerton instruments in the big box stores, a lot of the customer/shop ambiance will go out the door. So will customer service. Plus, G&L would really have to ramp up capacity to be able to handle it. So, no. Let's keep it small(er), friendly, and with good customer service. The big boxes are convenient, but you just can't beat the feel of the independent shops.

Has commercial radio become too corporate and is destroying creativity?

Oh hell yes. A L O N G time ago.

I now fill my classic/album rock appetite with The Flying Eye Radio Network. Having had my rock & roll education come partly from KLOS and KMET, being able to podcast Michellini is cool. And I get to bang the drum with each one.

What did you think of the Super Bowl? Not who won or loss but the Super Bowl in general?

Ahem...

If I was king, it would be a Federal Crime for any vocalist (or so-called vocalist) to hose up the lyrics to the national anthem at televised sporting events. Additionally, said vocalists would be required to sing the song straight up without all the modern inflections & crap. If a proper vocalist cannot be found that will sing the song straight up with screwing it up, then the sponsoring sporting league shall bring in a local high school marching band or local college wind symphony, and said ensemble shall play it using a classic arrangement. The sponsoring league will make a financial contribution to the performing ensemble equal to what they'd pay some celebrity lyrics screwup.

The game was good, and I rarely watch football.

Ken...

Gee Chet, you join the forum and a day later you receive the second highest honour available - LR duties!! Well done!!!

G&L in big stores. No thanks. Big stores here, and I'd imagine they're much the same in the states, are horrible. None of the guitars are set up well and the staff are generally dumb-ass hipsters with no clue about what they're selling. Like others have said, I'd prefer production to remain small to keep up the high level of quality.

Commercial radio.. I don't like it at all, not only is the 'music' pretty awful, but the ads drive me mad. I don't listen to it, but it's unavoidable if you work on building sites, which I do sometimes. We have a great radio station here called PBS which has a lot of great themed shows, from death metal to gospel, even a 'Carolina Beach Music' show called 'Shaggin' The Night Away', which is one of my favourites. You can stream past shows too from their website which is great. And the only ads are for gigs/venues that sponsor the station and they typically last less than 30seconds at a time.

Superbowl. They didn't show it here. I have little interest in Football of any variety, with the notable exception of Rugby union. Now there's a game! I've read a lot of stuff about the poor quality of the half time show and people forgetting the lyrics to your national anthem, which reminded me of this:

[youtube]MZrK_kOk8Lw[/youtube]

Gee Chet, you join the forum and a day later you receive the second highest honour available - LR duties!! Well done!!!


[youtube]MZrK_kOk8Lw[/youtube]

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.....Micheal Bolton!!!!!!!

Yeah, I figured we'd give the job to a young blood, see how he does! (off to a good start Chet!)

I enjoyed the game and the commercials. Steelers gave it away. Christina WAS awful! Didn't much care for the BEPs, but loved the production and staging. I could live on that budget comfortably for a long time, I'm sure.

I'm finding I enjoy the Sirius radio that I got in my new Town and Country van. But I listen to local sports talk, and the Classic Rock FM station too.

As for marketing G&L in the big box stores, I think it is a losing proposition. You have to create the demand, and G&L advertising hasn't done that. I'd like to see some print ads demonstrating why they are technologically superior instruments, like the pre-BBE ads. Guys eat that up.

Got to create more interest and demand--spread the knowledge--and THEN hit the big box stores.

Bill

Chet, welcome aboard as LR and one of my favorite guitar pickers was named Chet.

Lunch was leftover ham and veggie soup that Ginny made a week ago and it is still as tasty as ever.

G&L in the big box stores. The big boxes have to buy a lot of low end Fender stuff to get the high end guitars that many are interested in. We have four GCs in the twin cities and only one stocks Fender Custom Shop gear. That store has a seasoned employee to handle that dept. There are many young musicians working at the GC to make a living and they are into shredding and some other stuff that I don't understand. The closest store to me has a couple of young fellows who know quite a bit about guitars. One of the things I like about the GC is that you run into some rare finds and no one there knows about them. Always a set up for a good deal. G&L would have to have a separate area like PRS and feature the American Models. If they had a good salesman they could sell them. You can't sell one if you cannot show them. Many people do not want to wait for a guitar. The big box stores have a ton of low priced guitars go out the door for every one above $1000. There marketing plan is based on quick turnover. They have LPs that have been hanging for 2-3 years. I would bet that Gibson does not allow them to be discounted unless they are being discontinued like the Robots.

I think that especially country radio had really taken a hit. The artists all sound alike and if they were asked to do a Strait song they would probably say "who's Strait? I am the first to admit that I am in a rut. I am an old Rock guy and so are a lot of others by the reaction of our audiences.

Ken, you hit the National Anthem issue dead on. I have heard many of these young artists sing it at sporting events and it is not a country, rock, or anything in between song. It is our National Anthem and should be sung as it was written to sing. It surprises me that sports organizations would settle for anything less. Can you imagine anyone singing Love Me Tender unlike Elvis did in his movie back in the 50s/ early 60s? I think Scrooge has a hold on me today. -- Darwin

The G&L Question is some what of a carryover from a older questions.
Should G&L start marketing to the big boy outlets like Guitar Center?

..............................................I'd love to see G&L at guitar center but it ain't happenen Fender won't let em.


Has commercial radio become too corporate and is destroying creativity?

..................You'll hear nothing creative on the radio, that's why we have the internet, Thanks AL!


General Question

What did you think of the Super Bowl? Not who won or loss but the Super Bowl in general?

Great game, thought it might turn into a blowout but Pittsburg kept it interesting.

gary

Guys,
Thanks for the words of encouragement. It means a lot.

On G&L at big box stores. My ASAT was bought at Guitar Center. I got it for a heck of a deal. The salesman told me He wished they sold G&L because they have a demand.
I am afraid if G&L sold at GC all you would see is Tributes along with the Epiphones and the Mexi Fenders. Thats all everyone would buy.
If G&L sold to GC or Sam Ash I wish they would only sell USA models.
But does G&L want to sell with that type of demand

Music on the Radio I think we are on the same page.

With the Super Bowl being in Dallas and having some business that was related to the Super Bowl. Well ...I regress.

I am cooking up something for lunch tomorrow.



Chet