The Chuck Wayne Visit-Summer 1980

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During the summer of 1980, Neil asked me to contact jazz guitarist Chuck Wayne to get him as an endorser. Chuck was more than happy to come aboard. When I asked him which guitar he wanted, he replied, "Love that Artist Award." Hoo boy...the most expensive guitar we make. Neil ain't gonna like this. I was right; Neil hemmed and hawed and finally agreed to give Chuck an AA. Gilbert sent a nice one down to me a week later and I made arrangements to deliver it personally to Chuck at his home in Staten Island, NY. I went out there on beastly hot a Saturday. Chuck's house was an ancient, dusty old Victorian with no A/C, badly in need of maintenance and repair. He served me lemonade and played the guitar for me. The whole time I was there, I had the creeps. Chuck was supposedly gay, and I had the feeling he was sizing me up as a conquest. It was such a strange vibe I got from him, very hard to explain. I stayed about a half hour, hightailed it outta' there and back home to Jersey...after a quick stop at Mandolin Bros. to check out the vintage guitars. I never saw or heard from Chuck Wayne again.
 

Graham

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Why would a company shy away from giving an endorser the cream of the crop? I mean you want it out there your name with theirs and you want it to look great and sound great and play great so they they not only take from you but they talk highly about it.

Sure they are expensive guitars to us, but are they that more more to produce?
 

Jeff

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Graham said:
Why would a company shy away from giving an endorser the cream of the crop?
?

The last sentence of Drumbob's post sums it up; "I never saw or heard from Chuck Wayne again".
 

The Guilds of Grot

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My company's president is a cheap a$$. He doesn't understand the concept of "It takes money to make money".

He barely keeps any inventory on the floor and never buys enough raw materials so jobs are always held up. He think he can do J.I.T. manufacturing but he's uncapable of planning ahead so everything just turns to $h*t!

Basically, he's just CHEAP!!! Sounds like Neil's problem.
 

Graham

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Jeff said:
Graham said:
Why would a company shy away from giving an endorser the cream of the crop?
?

The last sentence of Drumbob's post sums it up; "I never saw or heard from Chuck Wayne again".

Bob's job was to sign them up, Shirley signing didn't simply mean giving them a guitar? Something should have been signed, no? Contract wise what were the agreements meant to achieve?

Bob says that he never saw Chuck again, but did anyone at the company?
 

The Guilds of Grot

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Well this should answer something that I had always heard about Guild was that they refused to pay for endorsers. They would just give them a guitar to play and that's it. It was explained to me that is why Gibson and Fender had so many "name" endorsers. because they got "Paid to Play".

Bob?
 

krysh

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The Guilds of Grot said:
Well this should answer something that I had always heard about Guild was that they refused to pay for endorsers. They would just give them a guitar to play and that's it. It was explained to me that is why Gibson and Fender had so many "name" endorsers. because they got "Paid to Play".

Bob?

hmmm, I wouldn't mind just getting a guild guitar of my choice.... 8)

anyway, nowadays endorsement means you get a certain amount of percentage on the price you have to pay, when you get an endorsement. the more famous you are, the more you'll get for free.
but the good thing is, when you are not that well known yet, you will be when you have played a lot of endorsement gigs :D
 

dklsplace

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The Guilds of Grot said:
Well this should answer something that I had always heard about Guild was that they refused to pay for endorsers. They would just give them a guitar to play and that's it. It was explained to me that is why Gibson and Fender had so many "name" endorsers. because they got "Paid to Play".

I got the same story from someone who should know. I don't doubt it a bit.
 
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Graham said:
Why would a company shy away from giving an endorser the cream of the crop? I mean you want it out there your name with theirs and you want it to look great and sound great and play great so they they not only take from you but they talk highly about it.

Sure they are expensive guitars to us, but are they that more more to produce?

They didn't like giving AA's away because they were so expensive. They were hoping Chuck would have taken a less expensive jazz box. No sucj luck. And yes, they were more expensive to produce.

Oh, and by the way, the word is "surely," not "shirley."
 

BluesDan

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Laverne & Shirley.....
039_20629Laverne-Shirley-Posters.jpg
 

dreadnut

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Grot, I had a boss that operated under the same principles, and JIT usually turned out to be JTL (Just Too Late)
 

Dr Izza Plumber

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Think I would have duct taped the back of My drawers before going to CW's "munster mansion".

It's been My experience that a good percentage of bosses seem to wait until too late before they act, or as My previous employer, it was to stuff 50 bushels into a 10 bushel basket. When it collapsed, find someone else to blame.
 
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