strives to get what no one else has. He tells recently of an order with Schecter of 24 or 36 of a model in a certain color – essentially all of them – so that if you want that BlackJack ATX Avenger in that unusual green, you’ve got to get it from him. In fact, sometimes Kae has them make a model in a specific color just for him. “When you’re the only one with a certain Schecter, people go nuts.” Same with ESP, though he keeps his eye on what’s happening in Japan: “I find models not available here, and then I order six or 12 at a time, and put them on
my Website. “I’ll just forecast a year from now,” Kae explains. For example, he just ordered 18 ESP guitars that are a standard model in Japan, but not available in the States. “I’ll get them in 10 months, and hope I can sell them then. But because our Website is known for that sort of thing,” customers look for these deals. But not always: “Sometimes I order 18, and they are gone in a week; sometimes they sit forever.” The Website works because he is dedicated to it. “I update it hourly.” Kae’s heard stories of a customer saying they
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tried to order something from another, bigger Website, only to be disappointed that it was out of stock in spite of being on the site as in-stock. When he gets calls asking if something online is in stock, he’s able to say, “it’s online, isn’t it?” More than just selling that additional guitar, it creates great word of mouth. It Takes One to Know One? MacAulay is livin’ the dream: he’s in the premier punk band Teenage Head. “I’m just getting my rock star license at 55 frickin’ year’s old,” he laughs. “That’s the cool thing about music. Nobody is getting called into the NHL at that age!” But he adds that demographically, it is younger people who gravitate to metal, mostly – though that’s not exclusively the situation for everyone. There are some surprises. “Oh, no – I’ve got 55 year-old-guys who are working at the nuclear plant coming in for these instruments,” states West emphatically. “If you grew up playing that [80s style metal], and if you’re good at it, that’s what you still play. We still have radio shows around here with Dee Snider [of Twisted Sister] screaming through it all night, so there’s still a group for it. Now I never thought the 1980s were the best time for music, but then again, I never played Warrant.” And the kids who are coming in to buy heavy metal guitars are likely playing (gulp!) their “dad’s” music. “I just turned 50, and my dad’s music was Hee Haw. But it’s a beautiful thing to have that 40 or 50 year-old guy come in with a kid who wants to play Zeppelin and AC/ DC and also learn Green Day and the Foo Fighters.” Reardon’s had the same experience: “Many of the adult males who take lessons from the store grew up on ‘80s metal,” he says. “The crazy guitar shapes are iconic and instantly familiar to them. But we get plenty of younger players into heavy metal, as well.” “I had a guy come in last week who was turning 45 and always wanted a guitar, but couldn’t afford one,” Kae says. “He spent a lot of time on our Website, and had a list of nine he wanted to try out. I showed him all of them including a $2,500 ESP.” He came into the store not knowing how to hold a guitar, but walked out with that one. “We try to figure that out all the time!” laughs Jen Curci. “It’s kind of all OCTOBER 2011