Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

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Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by behenny »

Looking for a decent guitar to use temporarily while I save up and research for the ultimate one that I will eventually splash out on. My current guitars equilibrium is all out of whack and isn’t really viable for recording anymore. I’m looking for a decent £400-£500 one to keep me going for a couple months or so. Some retailers do the whole free returns within 30 days policy but that isn’t really enough time and I would be worried about damaging it. I was wondering if it’s risky to buy it flat out, keep it in perfect Knick and then sell it on for the same price after a couple of months with it? Is this risky, are there any other secure strategies? In short I’m just looking for a decent guitar for a bit without losing much money. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by Wonks »

Any new guitar is going to loose value, so you'll never have a hope of selling it on in a few months for a similar price. Any guarantee is primarily with the retailer, so many people would much prefer to buy new rather than nearly new and so loose the guarantee (I'm not one of those people, but a lot of people who'd buy in that price range are).

You really need to go with a used guitar if you want to sell it on for what you paid for it.

There's not a lot that can't be fixed on a guitar and pretty quickly, so unless you've got a cracked headstock or something else major, a good setup would get your current guitar going again and should cost less than the hassle of buying and then selling a guitar would cost.

It would also get it ready to sell for a good price if you need to do so to fund the dream guitar.

What sort of guitar are you looking for, and where are you in the UK?
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by Kwackman »

Wonks wrote:There's not a lot that can't be fixed on a guitar and pretty quickly, so unless you've got a cracked headstock or something else major, a good setup would get your current guitar going again and should cost less than the hassle of buying and then selling a guitar would cost.

This seems the best solution if it's possible.

If you're confident with a few tools, I've had help from learned people on this forum (including Wonks) that allowed me to fix a few easy faults myself.
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by CS70 »

behenny wrote:Looking for a decent guitar to use temporarily while I save up and research for the ultimate one that I will eventually splash out on. My current guitars equilibrium is all out of whack and isn’t really viable for recording anymore.

Do you mean you have half a dozen dreadnought acoustic and three different versions of the ES335 but no Stratocaster? :D

I’m looking for a decent £400-£500 one to keep me going for a couple months or so. Some retailers do the whole free returns within 30 days policy but that isn’t really enough time and I would be worried about damaging it. I was wondering if it’s risky to buy it flat out, keep it in perfect Knick and then sell it on for the same price after a couple of months with it? Is this risky, are there any other secure strategies? In short I’m just looking for a decent guitar for a bit without losing much money. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You try do that trick with an used guitar, but it has to have the right badge to have any chance at all. Only someone a bit high on the blood alcohol level would buy a used guitar the same price as new, even if "used" simply means unpacked... manufacturer warranty, order history and other intangibles often don't follow with the physical item but are why you buy new.
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by behenny »

Yh those are all good points maybe it’s worth looking for a used one or going for the dream one now. I’m from London. I’m not really sure what to go for yet but looking for a guitar that is mostly an all rounder but I mainly play post-rock post-punk kinda stuff. I’ve been thinking maybe a telecaster.
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by CS70 »

behenny wrote:Yh those are all good points maybe it’s worth looking for a used one or going for the dream one now. I’m from London. I’m not really sure what to go for yet but looking for a guitar that is mostly an all rounder but I mainly play post-rock post-punk kinda stuff. I’ve been thinking maybe a telecaster.

Well it's nothing of my business so I apologize in advance, but fact is that any good guitar, in the proper hands, is an all-rounder. At least within the obvious broad classes. In other words, there's zero problem to play bebop on a seven strings Schecter and speed metal on a Byrland.. assuming one can play jazz or speed metal. It might be marginally difficult, but nothing compared of mastering the form.
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by behenny »

Yh of course it probably won’t make a huge difference but leaning towards a tele or strat
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by Wonks »

Or both. :D

Both very versatile guitars, the Strat probably more so than the Tele, especially if you do the mod so you can witch the neck pickup in with the bridge for a more Tele-like both pickups on sound.

I'd also have a look as the Yamaha Revstar range. I've slowly grown to like the looks and you get a very well made guitar for a lot less than a US Strat or Tele, and which looks that bit different as well. The downside is that a Fender will loose a bit less money if you decide to sell it, but that also makes a Revstar a good used bargain. Ideally you'd never sell a guitar and be put into that situation, but sometimes needs must.

What is your current guitar and what needs doing to it to make it play nicely?
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by dualtubE »

Wonks wrote:Or both. :D
Both very versatile guitars, the Strat probably more so than the Tele, especially if you do the mod so you can witch the neck pickup in with the bridge for a more Tele-like both pickups on sound.

Agree. Strat, maybe with humbucker at bridge or some similar combination would be very versatile axe against Tele, but that's just an opinion. The are very comfortable for sitting & practice, probably more than a model based on les Paul shape, but it depends.
Have you perhaps thought of any ESP Ltd model, I have looked at some very attractive offers for what these guitars offer.
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Re: Risky to buy and sell a new guitar from retailer?

Post by Watchmaker »

Tone is one thing, and guitars are as versatile as the player generally speaking. One thing often overlooked is how does the guitar feel when you play it? I was just chatting with one of my brothers today about how I - a sworn tele advocate - tend to play my strat a lot lately with one of my bands. The trouble is, I'm so used to tele's that I'm always whacking switches or the volume knob on the strat and my tone goes out the window.

As I'm usually off in lala land when this happens, it's very disorienting!

My advice is find a guitar that's a friend and stick with it. Also, I collect guitars, have over $60k invested so far, have sold many more than I own and the only thing I ever made money selling was a Behringer BCR2000!
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