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Gibson 48 months interest free financing


Tim35

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I stopped in G.C. today for a set of strings and asked if they had any j45s in back...he said yeah and its marked down to $1700 with 48 months interestfree financing from Gibson. I had my financial advisor with me and she just laughed but she picked out a neat throne/chair for me and since the j35 is only a month old that is to be expected! I thought I would pass this along in case anyone else is in the market for something new .....$35 a month for a new j45 would be a heck of a deal. Never bought a guitar from G.C. so I have no idea as to that.

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I stopped in G.C. today for a set of strings and asked if they had any j45s in back...he said yeah and its marked down to $1700 with 48 months interestfree financing from Gibson. I had my financial advisor with me and she just laughed but she picked out a neat throne/chair for me and since the j35 is only a month old that is to be expected! I thought I would pass this along in case anyone else is in the market for something new .....$35 a month for a new j45 would be a heck of a deal. Never bought a guitar from G.C. so I have no idea as to that.

 

Thanks for the tip!

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Both Guitar Center and Sweetwater have financing plans from Synchrony Bank. I've bought from both dealers that way and it's a great way to get zero percent financing. You just have to make sure the amount is paid in full before the promotional period expires.

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In my experience, any bank offering finance to working musicians on expensive guitars must be out of their minds!

 

It's the eternal world of feast or famine. I wouldn't have it any other way, but I also wouldn't buy a guitar on finance because I know the landscape of the work too well.

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I got my Martin D-15M in 2012 with Guitar Center's 0% for 18 months financing, they were offering an additional discount for signing up for their financing ("Gear Card"). Paid it off in less than a year. Then in 2013 I got a used 2008 J-50 with the Guitar Center 0% 18 month plan and also paid it off quickly. The program was only supposed to be for new instruments but the manager approved it for the used guitar anyway. When I got my 1965 J-50 there in 2015 I talked them down about 20% on the price. The manager said he would approve the vintage J-50 for the same finance deal, however they wouldn't give me the discount. So I paid cash and got the discount. :)

 

But you need to have some discipline to buy stuff on credit. If you don't pay it off during the promotional period you take a serious hit. IIRC, you end up paying retroactive interest back to the purchase date at a really high rate, as though the financing wasn't free in the first place.

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For people that are good with money, this is the way to do business. You can work things to your advantage in your own time and paying off say... A Hummingbird off in 4 years is simple enough if you have the $. I bought a Strat that way last January and asked my wife, who monitors the finances, about it. She had paid it off months ago. No fuss, no muss. Than again I have no debt other than the mortgage.

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Am I old fashioned?

 

No, it sounds like you just lack financial discipline. I don't think that has anything to do with age, I know young people who don't have credit cards because they don't trust themselves. But if that's the way you are, then it's wise to buy things with cash. :)

 

I think 4 years is way too long to finance a guitar though, lots of bad things could happen during that time. I wouldn't buy a guitar on credit unless I could pay it off in a year.

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Most of the big online stores like GC, Sweetwater, Sam Ash, etc. offer interest free payments in some form these days. In fact many smaller shops are doing it as well. I think it's great. It might not work for everyone, but most guitar buyers are not working musicians. Many buyers have a steady stream of income and this kind of payment plan works great for them. Small monthly payments probably bring higher end guitars into the realm of possibility for a lot of people that would not otherwise be buying them. But, there is some risk for the undisciplined, or those with variable or unreliable incomes. In those cases, it's probably best to stash some money aside each month for your guitar fund until can afford to pay cash.

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But you need to have some discipline to buy stuff on credit. If you don't pay it off during the promotional period you take a serious hit. IIRC, you end up paying retroactive interest back to the purchase date at a really high rate, as though the financing wasn't free in the first place.

 

This is correct for the Guitar Center "Gear Card" promotion IIRC. We used it to buy my wife's Martin several years ago. As long as you have a reliable income and can pay it off in a period of time that mitigates the risk it's a great deal. But if you miss payments or miss the final payoff date, the retroactive interest hits for a huge ding.

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No, it sounds like you just lack financial discipline. I don't think that has anything to do with age, I know young people who don't have credit cards because they don't trust themselves. But if that's the way you are, then it's wise to buy things with cash. :)

 

I think 4 years is way too long to finance a guitar though, lots of bad things could happen during that time. I wouldn't buy a guitar on credit unless I could pay it off in a year.

 

Well I wanted to offer this: As a person almost 50 years old I remember a time before credit cards. I remember the Sears catalog, my mother collecting stamps at the grocery store to fill books to redeem for merchandise later, I remember K-Mart lay away, and I remember the adults in my life feeling that the banks had a tight grip around their necks. In the olden days you either had the cash to buy something or you didn't buy it. I remember when I got my first credit card. It was a disaster. No one in my family had any financial sense to teach me and I had no idea how to manage a credit card. I just think it isn't fair to judge someone for having not been taught or having adapted to the financial circumstances of the times. I've noticed a trend that older people blame younger kids for not having been taught well. It doesn't make any sense to me, it was the adult in the room that let their children down. THAT is a truth and an important one; It's always the parent's responsibility and no one else's. Boyd, I am sorry if this comes across as rude. Honestly, I am just speaking my truth with no ill intent to you or anyone else. I believe that as long as it is common in this country to blame children for low quality parenting I can't see a way forward. I think anyone that doesn't walk around, I mean parents or the average Joe or JoAnn, not forum members exactly, thinking somewhere in their head that they don't have a sacred obligation to make their neighborhood, community, city state, country, and world a better place then all we'll have in the end is what we have now. I don't care for the world being set on fire on a daily basis and I work everyday to make it better. In 48 years on this planet I have NEVER, EVER seen a consistently happy family or person that did not follow this with deep conviction. Boyd, if this came off poorly, please let me know and I will bend over backwards to apologize.

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In 1984 I borrowed $350 from a local bank to buy my '64 SJ. The payment was thirtysomething a month.

 

In early July I bought a 2015 HD-28 through Paypal credit, no interest for 6 months. Then I started hustling, selling off junk left and right. If I sold a snow tire for $5.00, it went on the card. Not using any paycheck money, just sales of extra/unwanted stuff. I figure it's a good motivator to get rid of stuff and reap a reward. It's also a fun game, seeing how quickly I can pull it off. I'm now 48 days into the 'game' and I'm at 89%. I have a bass ending tonight on ebay that will bring another 6% or so. I can see the finish line from here.

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Boyd, I am sorry if this comes across as rude. Honestly, I am just speaking my truth with no ill intent to you or anyone else.Boyd, if this came off poorly, please let me know and I will bend over backwards to apologize.

 

No worries. Mickthemiller asked the question "Am I old fashioned" and I simply answered it. If you don't feel confident in your ability to purchase things on credit, you should pay cash. I was not complaining about kids who weren't taught properly. Regardless of payment method, you have to live within your means and not buy things you can't afford. And if you use credit, you need the discipline not to buy expensive stuff just because you can. I certainly can't afford the kinds guitar collections many members of this forum have.

 

This is it, I think that credit is just a tool and it's up to the individual to decide how to use it. If you have discipline, you won't spend more money than you have. But if you don't have that discipline, a credit card is a dangerous thing to have in your pocket. You kind of lost me with the part about people "thinking somewhere in their head that they don't have a sacred obligation to make their neighborhood, community, city state, country, and world a better place", did you interpret my post as having something to do with that?

 

Sorry if I have offended anyone.

 

BTW, I'm 68 and as far back as I can remember my parents used charge cards at department stores and Sears Roebuck - you know, the kind they put in a mechanical machine that pressed them against an ink roller. Master Charge goes back to 1966 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterCard So I think you mean that you remember a time when you didn't know anyone with a credit card, not a time before they existed. :)

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