Does Walmart even have guitar strings?

WE JUST HAD an older guy come in and look for guitar strings. We should have known something was up when he said he wanted acoustic strings for his vintage 1960s Les Paul. You know, an electric guitar. He insisted on getting acoustic strings. Fine. The customer is always right.

He wasn't happy about the price of our strings. "I should just go to Walmart and buy a set for five bucks," he groused.

Now. You can do many things in Second String Music. You can question prices, or wonder about certain items being in stock, ask to consign your old cymbal, or even question the sanity of opening a music store. You can complain about cats and dogs being in the store. You can bitch about us not carrying Fenders, Martins and Gibsons. We understand.

But mention Walmart in our store? Or buying it online after trying it out here?

Nope. Nope. NOPE.

Sheryl calmly took the strings out of his hand and said, "Well, you should go to Walmart then." And that was that. He left quickly and I presume he went across town.

Does Walmart even have guitar strings? I wouldn't know. It's been a long time since I've shopped at Walmart.

We get tons of great customers in our store and we love helping them. But I could write a book about some of the more interesting people who have wandered into Second String Music. Like the guy who started cursing like a sailor when he was told our awesome Kyser capos were $20. "I suppose you gotta make a living," he grumbled.

Nah. We are just doing this for fun, and to have Happy Hour on Fridays, and huge store parties like the one we are having this Saturday. Let the good times roll, baby. The mortgage on our historic Fifth and Maine building will pay itself.

Bombs dropping in Second String Music

Then there was the young man who started a "Let's get a Guitar Center in Quincy" petition. That didn't go over very well with us, though it was laughably silly to think about - Quincy isn't big enough, and Guitar Center has trouble keeping its stores open where they are, much less in our little town in the middle of nowhere. Eventually the guy came in and apologized. Then he asked if we could make a donation to a charity he was maybe sort of possibly supporting. "Heavy sigh," I said. "Heavy heavy HEAVY sigh."

We have a lot of local musicians who have supported us, and a lot of people we've made happy with affordable instruments and great service. So that's what I'm thinking about.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta call Frank Haxel and tell him to get us some "supplies" for our big store bash Saturday. All I know is, he ain't going to Walmart for those supplies.