Yesterday, I walked into Sam Ash’s Manhattan location fully intending on buying the 6.0 upgrade only to find that Sam Ash doesn’t carry the Cubase Upgrade.
So I decide to putz around since I don’t go there as often as I did when I worked at the other end of the block. I go to the bass section because I’ve been jonesing for a fretless and like to dream that I’ll be able to justify the purchase, and as I’m looking for the (few) fretless basses they have I’m asked if I need some help by an older gentleman who is tuning a few Fender basses.
“Sure,” I say and he gets me a cheap Squire fretless (I might as well buy cheap for my first one), tells me about the features (esp. the good pickups on it), and hooks me up with an amp to fiddle with it. We start chatting about things, and after a good 5m of conversation then he tells me that he’s Larry Hartke.
I was blown away since he was so down to earth I thought he was a store employee. After he told me that, then we started talking about the fun stuff like when he built Jaco his first cabinet; how he worked with Miles Davis; etc. He and I were the only ones in the bass section of the store, so it was a very good chat.
I never respected Samson much as a quality brand, though I own their headphone amplifier. (After all, for my purposes I don’t need a high end piece of equipment for this.)
I go to the bass section because I’ve been jonesing for a fretless and like to dream that I’ll be able to justify the purchase, and as I’m looking for the (few) fretless basses they have I’m asked if I need some help by an older gentleman who is tuning a few Fender basses.
Good thing you didn’t get to the haggling before he ID’ed himself! 
:applause: