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.