Last Mouthful - Friday Lunch Report

It's quiet at work for the first time in months, so time for a lunch report.

Lunch: Lunch today is traditional ham sandwich with smoked leg ham, thick crusty sourdough bread, Dijon mustard and fresh greens from the garden.

G&L Question: Does anyone have a local G&L dealer? How helpful/enthusiastic are they about the product? Are they your first port of call for service and support?

My experience is that the local G&L dealer is completely indifferent about what they sell, and will direct you to almost any other brand hanging on their wall. They don't have an attached or affiliated repair shop so after sales support is pretty limited too. I don't know how they ended up being an authorised dealer, or why they continue.

Contrast this with the small guitar shop near my work, owned and run by two guys that love their guitars, and Leo guitars in particular. Paradoxically they are PRS and Tokai dealers, but always have a couple of good quality second hand strats or teles on the wall. One of the guys is really into his G&L, and raves to anyone who'll listen about his signature edition ASAT Specials. In a more balanced universe these guys would be the local G&L dealer! They do their own repairs and set ups, so you could guarantee the G&L's on the wall would be presented in their best light, not left with rusty strings and dust on the fretboard.

Non G&L Stuff: I mentioned in a previous post that my son has taken up birdwatching with 7 y.o. enthusiasm. He'll probably be over it in a month or two. What kind of wildlife do you all have in your neighbourhoods?

Here's some photos of local birds we've snapped in the last week or 2. I wouldn't have known about most of these birds 3 months ago, so kids can make you smarter. Thanks for reading.

A Southern Silvereye


A Cheeky Kookaburra in the backyard


An Eastern Yellow Robin


A male Lyrebird


A juvenile Crimson Rosella


An adult Crimson Rosella


A King Parrot

Philby, it is still Thursday evening here and I love these early lunch reports.

First as for G&L dealers, there are some that are pretty pathetic. I have visited those who don't know the product and will not stock them anymore because they claim they couldn't sell them. I am surprised about the sparse network that G&L has for dealers. ow I happen to have one of the best G&L dealers on the planet just 21 mile away. They are a boutique guitar dealer and know how to market and sell guitars. They are also very good in customer service. I would guess that I have bought at least 18 guitars from them in the last 4 years. I think that G&L needs a better marketing organization but they are probably trying to survive in this economy like many others. The first thing to go is marketing and advertising. They still have to build a product. If I had the answers they would probably hire me!

Phil, I am really a bird watcher myself and just love to sit at our summer hideaway and watch them while sipping a cold one. I have several feeders but I have never seen such spectacular birds as those in you pictures. They are unbelievable and we don't have anything like that in Minnesota. The more tropical birds seem to have the color. Great photos and thanks for sharing. You son is setting the pace! As for wildlife we don't have much in our back yard as the cats have been tough on them. We do have birds as the cats don't get them very often. I leave the door open so they can go in and out and Ginny doesn't like it when they bring rabbits and mice in the house. I just tell her that life is good. I am sitting here enjoying life tonight. I just finished testing and cleaning up my new 77 Fender Vibrasonic amp with a 15. It is my fix as I haven't recovered from selling my Custom 15 until tonight. More on that later and have a great day in the Oz! -- Darwin

A G&L dealer? I've been to one once, back in the late 90s. They were also a Fender dealer, and had a good stock of used instruments of all types. I walked in and asked what their best deal on a used Fender was. The salesman asked why I would ever consider buying a Fender when G&Ls were available. I've been asking myself that same question ever since. Everything they had was out of my price range at the time, but a year later I found my first G&L - an '83 SB-1 - there.

My favorite local shop sounds a bit like yours, except that they don't sell new instruments. It's definitely a throwback to pre-Guitar Center days. My last time in there (about two weeks ago) they had a '63 Precision, Chinese generics, and just about anything in between that you could want. They usually have at least one G&L on the wall.

Local birds: I was just thinking this afternoon about snapping a picture of a grey catbird that's been hanging around my back deck. As far as songbirds go, we get a lot of robins and cardinals around here. The woods sound like they're full of thrushes, but I have yet to spot one. The neighborhood's best bird IMO is the osprey. I've tried to get photos of nesting pairs from my kayak many times, but they let you know when you're too close to the nest and that's usually too far away to get a tight shot. Here are a couple of random shots from the web:







Ken

Hey Phil, great photos for a 7 year old ! I'm yet to see a lyrebird in the flesh, they are beautiful things, as are Rosellas. Where's this shop you like? Since 555 shut it's doors I have no regular shop, and I'll be damned if I go to that local G&L dealer, the guy that runs the place is a jerk.

The wildlife in my backyard consists mainly of possums, pigeons and, in summer, bats. We've had new neighbors move in in the last few weeks and they've brought cats with them, and they've started visiting too. I'm of the opinion that the best kind of cat is a dead one, so chase them away any chance I can get. I don't want them digging up and crapping in my vege garden, the builders did enough of that while they were renovating

Darwin - I love those Vibrasonics, that 15 is killer!

G&L Question: Does anyone have a local G&L dealer?

My local G&L dealer closed four years ago.

Non G&L Stuff: What kind of wildlife do you all have in your neighbourhoods?

I live in the country and there is plenty of wildlife. My pond has become the local watering hole for the deer. They come and go all day long. It's not unusal to see 8 or 10 at deer at a time. I enjoy watching the fawns run around and play in the pasture. I have plenty of rabbits and raccoons too. Occasionaly a fox or coyote can be seen. There are all kinds of birds here too.

I took this picture through a window screen so it's not the best quality. These two are twins.

.

Nice bird pics, Phil.

As to local G&L dealers, there's one here in Asheville, NC, but they sell few G&L's. For 8 years I tried to convince G&L to let me do a clinic here to raise their profile, but my requests always fell on deaf ears, so I gave up. G&L likes to spread the word thru word of mouth I guess. Whatever works....

I too really like to observe birds from my deck. I wish I had more colorful ones like you have. We have a lot of flying squirrels at night on our bird feeders, and our share of bears.

Will

We have a very dedicated G&L dealer about 20 miles away, but he stocks and promotes Tributes primarily. He is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

In Charlotte, NC we have a dense tree canopy and a good bit of wildlife, mostly nocturnal: deer, possum, raccoons, etc. We have a ton of grey squirrels and many species of birds, including a fair amount of red-headed wood peckers, falcons, hawks, turkey buzzards and so on. This is also home to bright red cardinals. The birds sing loudly beginning around 4:30 AM, generally all day long in the spring and summer.

RE: G&L DEALERS

I don't spend a lot of time in music stores. Right now I'm pretty well set for what I want'/need.
According to the G&L site, there are 4 dealers in my general vicinity. I've been to 3 of them.

One is a very small mom & pop type store--usually stock maybe one or two U.S. and one or two Tributes. I haven't spent any time there to speak of and can't really say much about the owners.

One of the stores is a real oddity--I've never seen anyone in the store except a "receptionist" at the front desk who knows nothing about the products.

The store I ordered my guitar from has a very enthusiastic G&L supporter--I haven't been back to the store since I picked up my special order in the summer of 2011, so I don't know if it has changed any.

I did visit one store in Everett, WA while I was doing my shopping for the ASAT and the owner was very enthusiastic about the G&L brand--he had the largest inventory of G&Ls that I had seen.

Darwin: How is the bass refin coming along? It's the weekend here now so I intend to have a cold one in your honour in a couple of hours.

Ken: You get ospreys near your house? That's cool! Ospreys are a cult bird in our house since my son got a book from the library about birds of prey.

Jamie: I didn't know 555 Music had closed down. That's a shame. It was an excellent shop run by good guys (for a change). The little shop I go to is called Syndal Music. It's in (surprise, surprise) Syndal, just opposite the railway station. I should fess up and say I took most of the bird photos.

Sprinter: Coyotes, deer and raccoons wins. At least for someone like me who has only ever seen a deer on a deer farm.

Will: Flying squirrels and bears trump birds in my book! I didn't know you're in Asheville. I'll likely have to go there for work in the next 12 months to visit a pharma manufacturing site (Catalent). Good to know there's a local G&L dealer there if I get a spare couple of hours. Shame about the clinic falling through. This month we've got Yngwie promoting Fender and the local big music chain. Let's just say I'd go to see you demo'ing G&L's before I got in the car to see Yngwie.

Tim: I've never been near your shop, but drooled over your stock electronically via the website. I could tell right there that you ran one of the best dealerships in the U.S. The trade in policy was an excellent idea for people like me that occasionally get GAS but can't keep accumulating guitars.

Ldavaz: Sounds loud with all that birdlife in the trees! How does anyone sleep?

Eddie: That shop with the receptionist sounds like some shopfronts and restaurants I've seen around Melbourne. They have really limited opening hours and there's never any customers. Yet they don't go out of business. I've always assumed they're dealing drugs out the back or it's some kind of money laundering front for organised crime.

Hi Will!
When I had the shop, I loved G&L's and frankly, did everything I could to expose their brand to customers. A lot would walk in asking for F-brand or G-brand. I carried neither ~ G&L and Heritage were my two versions of that. Since I personally liked G&L's it was easy to be enthusiastic. While I eventually added the F-brand, G&L continued to be the bulk of the sales in that category. Again - I blame personal love for them!
Tim

Tim - that's why Buffalo Bros remains my all-time favorite G&L dealer of all time! You guys knew how to run a store, and knew how to treat customers right.

Will

G&L Question: Does anyone have a local G&L dealer? How helpful/enthusiastic are they about the product? Are they your first port of call for service and support?



Non G&L Stuff: I mentioned in a previous post that my son has taken up birdwatching with 7 y.o. enthusiasm. He'll probably be over it in a month or two. What kind of wildlife do you all have in your neighbourhoods?

I have a G&L dealer, very enthusiastic about G&L, working hard to modernize his selling with online store and also expanding the building itself for more floor space. He's really mainly an acoustic store, but with electrics he sells Jackson, ESP/LTD, Parker, Gretsch, and G&L. As far as USA made stuff, G&L takes up most of the wall space. I'd love to see him get his website to go live- he has really unique stuff, even as G&L's go.

As far as back yard wildlife, we have quite a lot given the Illinois suburbs- Mammals include squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, red foxes (all claim the backyard as home), even the occasional opossum passing through. Birds include your typical songbirds- robins, sparrows, swallows, etc. Blue Jays, Cardinals, wood peckers. We have a couple different raptors- red tailed hawks being the most prominent. Buzzards- eastern turkey vultures, love to rook on the roof tops of homes right on the lake and stare at beach goers in summer.

Will: That is just dumb businessmen running that store. You ever find your way up here in Lake County, IL north of Chicago, we will make certain a guitar clinic occurs!

I remember a post here some time back about G&L dealers here in England; well, I just found a shop and a man I thoroughly trust.

I have been fiddling with the spec for my wide-necked custom Will Ray for what seems like forever, and just last week finally pressed the launch button.
The only G&L dealer I had previously known went under a couple of years ago, and I began phoning round trying to get a feel for how the few dealers here would handle my order. Initially, this was rather depressing, and I wasn't feeling encouraged that my order would be in safe hands.

I then spoke to Howard, at Oasis Music, Ringwood, Hampshire, and immediately felt much better.
Howard liased with Tony Owens at the distributors' office as I sent him specs (and didn't flicker when I {or was it my Mrs?} changed the finish spec at the last minute), and kept me informed so as to confirm that all my various custom specs were getting through to G&Ls correctly.
He reassured me that when my WR does arrive, he will check it over tech-wise and then it will stay in its case until I get to it.
Oasis also distribute Huss & Dalton here in England. They've been a really good discovery.

I must agree that G&L seem to get somewhat rock'n'roll treatment / presentation here, and while I realise that that's the majority marketplace for electric guitars, it's not how I do it. But these guys are proper. It sounds like Buffalo Bros have the same rep over in USA. I'm looking forward to my WR coming in to land safely.

Ken: You get ospreys near your house? That's cool! Ospreys are a cult bird in our house since my son got a book from the library about birds of prey.

We have about a dozen nests that I'm aware of in the river that our neighborhood is on. The birds were nearly wiped out by pesticides, but since a ban went into place they have made a big comeback. We also have commercial fisheries for Chesapeake Bay oysters and blue crabs rebounding.

Every navigational marker I've seen on the river has a nest. They will also nest on boat docks or even on boats at anchor if they get a chance. A lot of people with docks will build a nesting platform nearby to give the birds a more convenient option. Here's the best shot I've been able to get so far from the kayak, about 50 yards from a navigational aid:



If you get any closer than this they start warning you away. I never remember to carry a camera on the kayak, so I've only ended up with distant cell phone shots like this one.

The osprey normally stay out over the water hunting, or perch in trees along the shoreline watching for fish. I usually only see them over land in the springtime, when they collect dead branches to rebuild their nests. I did have a close encounter this morning though. I was planning to take a picture of one of my basses outside, and went into the yard to see whether the grass was dry yet. I heard a commotion from small birds overhead, and just as I looked up an osprey buzzed over with a large fish in his talons. He must have caught it in a creek on the other side of the neighborhood, and was taking it back to his nest on the river.

BTW, here's something your son may get a kick out of: http://www.chesapeakeconservancy.org/Osprey-Cam. If you don't see the birds in the nest on the Osprey Cam, just check back later.

Ken

Excellent link Ken!

We checked it out over breakfast, and one of the ospreys was tucking into a freshly caught fish live on the webcam.

My local G & L dealer doesn't stock any G & l's anymore ..... he is knowledgable on the product and he is a good luthier and has Mark Keiser's fret repair out of his store , they haven't stocked any G & L's since 2007 when the economy tanked ..... when I went down there to order my first G & L he was very nice , he didn't try to talk me out of G & L and sell me a "in stock" PRS , Musicman or Tokai , they don't stock any tributes because they usually have used Fenders , used G L's , ect that fill that price range , my only complaint (but I'm not really complaining) would be no G & L's in stock to try out ,

nice LR

a couple different species of wood peckers in the backyard , pictures were taken through a glass sliding door