With the constant lamenting that Good Customer Service is impossible to find nowadays,
I offer this;

I've been in guitar shops in several states and dozens of cities.
New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Tennessee...
I live in the Phoenix AZ area, and the one that tops them ALL is Bizarre Guitar. This place must be seen to be believed! 

There are kinds of other places you can go, all the advertising will lure you in just like a car dealership....
I'll admit I enjoy going to Guitar Center on occasion because they usually have something to look at, and now and then something really cool comes in.
Other than small items I rarely purchase from them though.
I accept them for the warehouse they are and don't expect much else, therefore it's hard to be dissappointed.
For the level of service I expect from high end guitar shop, I go to a high end guitar shop.
That shop is Bizarre Guitar in Phoenix.

I have been around enough and dealt with enough stores to use BG as a shining example of how it SHOULD be.

I spend time in many guitar forums on the internet, and discussion often includes opinions on everything under the sun. 
I used statements by another member - in defense of GC and other crummy retailers - to drive my point home in one.
Loosely quoted, and with his permission, I put his words in bold here.

Pimple faced, know-nothing kid working there probably making $6/hour and plans to go back to college in the fall...
Bob Turner has owned that store for 32 years.
Mike Patruno was a pimple faced kid when he went to work there 25 years ago, He's the manager now for the last 18.
He was also building guitars in another shop and giving lessons. He KNEW HIS SH!T when he was 18 years old.
The other 3 guys that work in the store have all been there at least 4 years - not much turnover there.


Sales people should be diligent about dusting off merchandise on display. No excuse.
That's probably the first thing they do after they unlock the doors every morning. 
The owner hates dust. Take one look at his personal cars or guitars and it will be very clear what he expects.


Setup: It is impractical to set up every guitar that comes in just to put it on display.
Mike himself checks out EVERY guitar they get before it goes on the wall.
On his two days off, they often wait for his blessing until he returns.


Why have a tech spending his time setting up guitars for display?
You will just have him do it all over again when somebody buys those guitars.
That's how they do business - sort of.
Mike sets them up - if they need it - with a low action.
Guitar guys who know what they are looking at appreciate lower action and recognize the integrity of the neck and overall build quality required to give that. If their personal preference is something different (and minor), Mike will take care it before the guitar leaves the store.
Anything radically different he will forego, and recommend a luthier three blocks up the street.
Mike will do more in depth work on your guitar under certain conditions;
He must have a very good understanding of EXACTLY what you want, and have time aside from his normal duties.
This probably means 2 or 3 days.
If he knows you as a regular customer, your odds rise dramatically.


Missing parts: Customers STEAL parts off display guitars.
I've asked Mike about this.
He can count the number of times he's lost a part off a guitar on one hand - over 25 years!


They will take stuff if they think they can get away with it. It's very easy to grab a toggle switch cap or knob and stuff it into your pocket. The only other explanation is that the store is taking those parts off before displaying the guitars because... customers steal them.
Guitar Center is legendary for this. No matter how expensive a guitar is, it will be scratched up and missing parts.
When you walk in to Bizarre Guitar you will find a card in the strings of EVERY SINGLE ONE of over a thousand guitars.
Count next time you go to Guitar Center and see if you hit 300 - BG has almost that many GIBSONS alone.
That card in the strings designates the guitar as new or used and says
                                           DO NOT TOUCH
                                        Please ask for help

They will NOT allow you to grab guitars off the wall.
There's a story Mike will tell about the time he had to be a bit forceful with a customer who would not cooperate.
The guy had a few buddies with him and was banging Les Pauls into each other - generally being an ass.
Mike finally told him in no uncertain terms to keep his hands OFF the guitars - allow staff to take them off hangers.
Customer got mad and stomped out with his entourage, with one asking "Do you KNOW who this is?"
Mike remarked something like "Yeah, he's the guy beating up the owner's guitars!"
Turned out to be one of the guitar players in the band Ratt. 

They have primarily ONE job at Bizarre Guitar, unlike GC, and that job is to hand you any guitar you want to play, answer any questions you may have, and give you personal attention.
I've heard people say they watch you like a hawk.
So? You will find service like that in very few retail outlets of ANY kind these days, except maybe car sales.
Oh, this might be a good time to mention they do NOT work on commission at BG.

I've bought nearly $30k in gear from them, and sent many customers to them.
They know me and my wife very well, we talk about our kids, etc.
They will allow me to get a guitar down myself if nobody else is in the store, though I rarely ask.
Out of respect for my friends working there, and the owner of all that gear, I'll wait until they are not busy and get help.

This is the way it USED to be everywhere.
It would be still if not for Guitar Center, and an overall coarsening of our society where people have no damn manners.
I challenge anybody to tell me the world is a better place because of it. 


Many of my friends have been in the store, ask any of them what their impression was. 
Often they have remarked that every guitar they tried was in tune. 
Golly, how could that be possible?

Because the owner cares, the employees care, the customers that buy regularly care. An ADULT guitar shop... 

Oh, because this is my website I can put pics of my OWN guitars up. Check it out, here's what I've added so far.

http://flickr.com/photos/11455727@N08/sets/72157602102764955/