Sticker shock!

OK, it's been awhile since I bought picks or a guitar strap. I went to the local Guitar Center today just to kill time at lunch. I needed a strap of my Messenger guitar which I want to play some Grand Funk songs in the band.

I checked out what I thought were cheaper straps. I bought a leather one for my Les Paul last year at the same GC for about 45 bucks (which I think is still high). The strap I chose was like the ones I bought years ago for about 10-12 bucks. Not now. There was no price on it and an employee named Luis scanned it for me. 23 bucks.

Hmmm. OK, I need it so I put it around my neck and picked up a Mexican Strat to noodle around with. Played through a small Marshall. Since our band had no practice this week, I played the songs on our set list. I got bored after some time, put back the guitar and wandered around checking out their Gibson stock.

Luis found me and I decided to check out. I asked for two sets of Ernie Ball blue label strings and a pack of Fender medium picks. He rang me up and said $42.56 please. Damn! There must be a mistake, the strap was 23 buck, how much was the rest? I scanned the receipt. The strings were $5.49 per set and the picks were $5.99 for 12!

Now bear in mind I'm always surprised by the receipt no matter where I go. Home Depot, the grocery store, doesn't matter. I can't add it up in my head and I always think it should be a lot less.

But here's a case where I remember when strings were a couple of bucks for a set and picks were three for a quarter. But 50 cents a piece? WTF! Maybe I'll check out eBay for cheaper picks! It's not like the picks have changed over the years. The same crappy plastic! Anyway, rant over, I'll have to deal with it. Come on over to Electric Guitars Rock! Got a new page on patch cords.