Everyone wants a vintage guitar. Vintage guitars have irreplicable sound, look cool, and cost a fortune. Fortunately guitar companies have noticed that there aren’t enough guitars leftover from the fifties to go around, and have started selling “Vintage Reissue” models, commonly abbreviated as just RI on auction sites or music stores. Also, certain big names offer relics, or artifically aged guitars that are their best attempt at recreating a vintage model guitar. These guitars are quite nice, and often play wonderful, giving you vintage tone you can’t find in newer guitars, but be careful not to buy one of these used thinking it’s the real thing. (more…)

You might be wondering how different defects in used guitars may affect their value. Vintage guitars are valuable, but newer guitars are like cars: you take them out of the store and they lose value. Depending on a guitar’s condition, you can decide whether or not it is worth the money to buy used, or if you should just go for a new one.

Note: Vintage Guitars

• Vintage guitars are their own special breed. Good old guitars are hard to come by, and those that you do find are often very valuable since a lot of the manufacturing properties of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s just aren’t in existence today. Because of this, a good vintage guitar is generally going to be worth the repairs you will need to have done. The price of repairs won’t exceed the $2000 price tag on an old Strat, but wouldn’t be worth it on a newer model that is worth a fraction of the vintage price tag. We aren’t saying every vintage guitar is valuable, or that every repair is worth it, but age and quality of a used guitar are important factors in determining whether or not you want to fix it up. Also, please note that replacing parts on a vintage guitar may lower their value.

Scratches and Dents

(more…)

You may be wondering where exactly the best places to buy used guitars are. We’ll give you some of the best places to look in different terms of price and spots to find rarities.

• Ebay - Ebay is a common place to search for guitars, but you won’t necessarily be able to find the best hands on deals here. One of the most important factors in buying a guitar is knowing how it sounds, and Ebay gives you the ability to see a guitar, but not to play it. On Ebay your best finds will be in middle ranged guitars, like say your cheaper Fender Strats, like MIM (Made in Mexico ones) because the collectors aren’t bidding on these, and neither are the cheap-o’s. If you’re a cheap-o, Ebay is crawling with imitation guitars which may look like more expensive guitars, but sound like a box of cereal with strings on it. (more…)

The most important thing to know about buying a used guitar, is what makes a guitar. Sub sequentially, you want to know what makes a guitar good. We’ll take a look below at a guitar, each of its parts, and discuss briefly the kind of impact they have on your playing and style you’d like to achieve, as well as the quality you should expect in them. (more…)