Buying guitars online. Trustworthy?

Hey,

I've never bought a guitar online, and am not sure if I want to in the future. I mentioned this before in another thread, but I just put a KH sig (lower-end model) on lay away, and whatnot.

It looks like the music shop I've been buying from doesnt carry any of the higher-end guitar models, which was what I was looking for. The guitar I'm getting will definitely suit my needs, but I was hoping it was the higher-end model.

That being said, this is really the only music place around me that has any decent guitars at all. I'm not planning on getting another guitar or gear for a long while, but I'm considering going online for my next purchase. I've heard both good and bad things from buying from the likes of Musicians Friend, which is where I would head to.

I've heard a few experiences, where the received product wasn't exactly up to speed as advertised. I believe you can return it for another, though. Just not wanting to have to deal with getting a not-as-good-for-the-price guitar. Has anyone here ever purchased through them that could help me resolve this issue. Thanks, GT. You're the best! ;)

I don't think my uncle has purchased a guitar from a store since the early 80s. He has purchased two epiphone semi-hollows, an ovation legend, a parker fly, and a carvin (which I in turn bought from him) through either catalogs or online, and he has never had a single problem with any of his guitars.
I was actually all set to buy my Ibanez online last May until I found a store near me that carried it.

I've ordered a couple of guitars online with good results. That said, I still prefer to play before I buy. Production techniques have reached a point where there seems to be less variance between individual guitars of the same model, but it still happens. I picked up two Jackson RR3's last year, hanging right beside each other and got a completely different feel off both of them.

I would be reluctant to order a guitar online if I had not at least played another guitar of that model. But you should be OK if you order from one of the online dealers with a generous return policy. I think Musician's Friend gives you 45 days to try and return the instrument, so even if you hate it, just pack it up and ship it back.

there are pros and cons to buying a guitar anywhere even in a store. the biggest thing with buying online is sometimes you get a big price cut of the same guitar in a store.


if you do plane to buy a guitar online do research first. go to your local shop or other shops and try out the guitar you plan to buy online. every guitar is different even the same model but that helps give you idea of what your buying. also after you buy the guitar online be sure to get it pro setup either by you or a shop.

and what ever happened to saving money by buying used gear?

Originally Posted by: BrokenJera and what ever happened to saving money by buying used gear?

Used gear depends on where you live. I live in a rural area and most of the used gear around here is crap. It was cheap stuff to begin with, and now it's been beat to hell and back. The one store around here that sells decent used gear likes to use the word "vintage," which means you can buy a new one cheaper than anything you can buy in there. :p There's always eBay, but if you do any guitar shopping there at all, you know there are a lot of scammers. If you don't have some guitar knowledge, it's easy to get taken.

Personally, I spent most of my life to this point buying used gear and settling for what I could get rather than what I actually wanted. The end result is I've got a half-dozen crap guitars in the closet that were "close" to what I wanted that I'll never play again and are worth next to nothing if I wanted to sell them.

Not saying it's a bad deal to buy used, and not saying that I won't ever buy used again, but based on my personal experience, I'd advise against buying a guitar that's "almost" what you want.

Sorry for bring the thread back up !

but i wanna buy an apiphone LP ultra II
the list price is $1165 but musicans friend is offering it for just $700

now im **** confused on what to do

can anyone tell me for sure that they wont send me a fake or a defective piece. i mean 40% discount is a LOT. PLEASE HELP ! i dont wanna end up buying it for the list price and then come to know that i cud have bought it cheaper !!

PLEASE HELP

THANKS!!!

First of all, you're probably not going to pay "list price" for an instrument anywhere. It's kind of like buying a car. The price on the sticker isn't the actual price. Retailers throw the number out there so their actual price looks better. You're not really getting a 40 percent discount from what you'd get at any other store. Depending on where you live and what stores are around you, the online price could save you quite a bit of money or not much at all.

If you're more comfortable buying an instrument that you've played, you may want to price around at your local stores first. You might find that the price isn't that different from the online price.

Musician's Friend is a reliable dealer, and I've had really good luck with them. You're not going to get a fake from them, but bear in mind that you can get a defective guitar from any retailer. Lemons happen. It may be a little less likely that you'll get a defective one if you've held it in your hands, but most reputable online dealers have very good return policies.

I'd say shop around a little locally and see what kind of price you can get on it, then make up your mind. Musician's Friend isn't likely to sell out of them.

i have bought a few guitars from musicans friend. i have never had a problem with any of them. but you might want to find a guitar like the one yourre buying near by to see if its what you want. the online discount come from the fact that musicans friend is a volume bussiness, meaning they sell alot of stuff. guitar centers is also a vloume bussiness so their discount will be close or right on musicains friend with out shipping costs. most mom and pop music store cant match the discounts of gc or mf because they dont make enough sales.


and about the used gear i guess it depends where you live. i live in the sf bay area so there is about 500 music stores at least within a bart ride distance.

Originally Posted by: BrokenJeraand about the used gear i guess it depends where you live. i live in the sf bay area so there is about 500 music stores at least within a bart ride distance.

Ah, that would be nice, but I couldn't stand living in a city. Not for me. We've got the music store that sells Fenders and band instruments, the music store that sells Gibsons and caters more to gigging musicians and the little "vintage" music store that's rarely open and wants too much money for everything they have. Beyond that, you're pawn shopping. :o

I do think the mom and pop stores have adapted somewhat to the competition of online. Guitars around here are one of the few things that are actually a little cheaper than they were when I was growing up. When I was pining for an HM Strat in the early 90s, the catalog stores (no online then) stocked them for about $600. Locally, they were $850-$900. Now, if they think you're serious about buying, the local stores will often give you a price quote of about $50 or less more than the online price. If I really like the guitar, that makes it worth buying locally for me.

thanks so much!

you have no idea how much this helped

actually i live in india and unfortunately we dont have many guitar stores here and the one which we have dont even carry new models or anything

so online purchase is my only option

I've ordered many guitars online without a single problem. I've ordered 3 guitars from samedaymusic (and subsequently returned them.) I won bids on ebay on...5 or 6 guitars without a single problem also. When dealing with ebay, always check the sellers' feedback and pay with a credit card, which affords you a bit of consumer protection.

I only returned the guitars I bought from sameday because I ended up not liking them, not due to anything sameday did, like giving me a lemon.

On the ebay purchases, the guitars were exactly as described and exceeded my expectations. So, I have no problems in buying not only guitars online, but pretty much anything. In the past 2-3 months, I've bought 2 guitars from ebay and 3 effects pedals. I bought a Peavey amp and stompbox from samedaymusic. From musiciansfriend, I bought a 2 button footswitch for the Peavey amp. All sales went through withought a hitch.

I've bought all of my guitars from Ebay, mostly from the US and had them shipped as repair items to Europe (saves 21% VAT) plus the US list prices are about 40% cheaper than in Ireland. Always go for the high feedback sellers only, also there are tools that will allow you to see all of their negative feedbacks to helps make the decision. I only had trouble once but I went after the guy big time. Discovered he had a guitar shop, found the website and found a big testimonial from the local newspaper - so I wrote to the editor telling him that his paper was being used as a referral by a criminal. Then I contacted the local sheriff department - also found out who the guys parents were (they had a chain of businesses with the same name) and sent a copy of all communications to his dad. I also went to everyone who left him a negative feedback withint he previous month (all this happened around the same time) and had them write to the newspaper and sheriffs office too. Eventually I got my money back in full but it took 3 months after I got him struck off EBay along with a signed apology. Should have seen the signs though, a guy with 2000+ sales that has 98% feedback is not that good - especially if the negative feedback is more recent.

^^^^
Remind me to never tick you off. :D

I've always been a little leery of buying big ticket items off eBay because I've run across a lot of things out there that I know to be scams. I've bid on a few guitars, but they always go for more than I'm willing to gamble with.

I tried out many acoustics at my local music shops, and then bought one of Musiciansfriend. Very happy!

Or, if you don't want to buy off the internet, take a trip to guitar center.