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Refurbished Guitars on Ebay


CRAIGARRR

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Has anyone bought a "refurbished" guitar on Ebay and regretted it? Pleased with it? Back of the headstock has a light "used" stamped on it. It is a guitar that has not even made it out of the factory but QC sent it back because of a cosmetic flaw in finish,scratchy pots, even some structual repairs.But they are repaired back in the factory and sold to certified refurbish dealers. I am sure sight unseen the dealers selling them can lie about what is wrong with them, but as an Ebay member who has 100% positive feedback.How can you go wrong, especially when you are getting up to a 50% savings and a 7 days to try the guitar out yourself? I am skeptical about this though. Thing is if you buy a "used" guitar from someone on Ebay, isn't there more of a risk? They can lie all about repairs. A refurbished guitar has not left the factory before it has been repaired and tested 100%, but they just can't sell them as "new" so they stamp used on it and it has no Manufacturer warrenty and they scratch the end numbers of the serial numbers off. I guess I am trying to talk myself into it.GC and other places scare you into buying the "extra" warrentee, Money you could have bought a hard case for. I can not find much about "refurbished" guitars in forums..People wont admit to having the "used" mark on the back of the headstock?

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Their is one HUGE problem with "Used" stamped guitars you can't part ex them if you ever plan to trade it in for another model, so its up to you to sell it privertly.

 

I used to own a "Used" stamped Chet Atkins CEC, and had those issues, fortunately it was a VERY RARE model and I found another buyer surprisingly quickly...

 

But its definately something you need to be careful with.

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Has anyone bought a "refurbished" guitar on Ebay and regretted it? Pleased with it? Back of the headstock has a light "used" stamped on it. It is a guitar that has not even made it out of the factory but QC sent it back because of a cosmetic flaw in finish,scratchy pots, even some structual repairs.But they are repaired back in the factory and sold to certified refurbish dealers. I am sure sight unseen the dealers selling them can lie about what is wrong with them, but as an Ebay member who has 100% positive feedback.How can you go wrong, especially when you are getting up to a 50% savings and a 7 days to try the guitar out yourself? I am skeptical about this though. Thing is if you buy a "used" guitar from someone on Ebay, isn't there more of a risk? They can lie all about repairs. A refurbished guitar has not left the factory before it has been repaired and tested 100%, but they just can't sell them as "new" so they stamp used on it and it has no Manufacturer warrenty and they scratch the end numbers of the serial numbers off. I guess I am trying to talk myself into it.GC and other places scare you into buying the "extra" warrentee, Money you could have bought a hard case for. I can not find much about "refurbished" guitars in forums..People wont admit to having the "used" mark on the back of the headstock?

Hi Craig and welcome to the forums, great bunch around these parts, I hope you like the place.

 

That isn't exactly how USED guitars come about, most of them have been returned under warranty and are then sent to a refurbishing centre run by a completely independent company who handles many brands of guitars, not just Gibson/Epi. There a several such companies and II can't remember their names of the top of my head, but hopefully someone who knows some of them will mention it.

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Hi Craig and welcome to the forums, great bunch around these parts, I hope you like the place.

 

That isn't exactly how USED guitars come about, most of them have been returned under warranty and are then sent to a refurbishing centre run by a completely independent company who handles many brands of guitars, not just Gibson/Epi. There a several such companies and II can't remember their names of the top of my head, but hopefully someone who knows some of them will mention it.

Thanks RaSTuS!Good to be here!

Ok yeah that sounds more like it.. It is faulty and sent back by the guy that bought it and it gets repaired as quickly and with less cost as possible (as warranties go).. and then it gets sent to the refurb. dealers.. But bottom line is, they have had the "bugs" worked out of them and repaired as new and reinspected.Right now as a New player I am not concerned with re-sale value.If I like it enough to buy it, I would want to keep it. I guess if the Refurb is not a good deal to begin with (50 dollars less than new) then it is no bargain. But if it is something that you like and its 100 dollars less than new.Think it is worth taking the risk?

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Thanks RaSTuS!Good to be here!

Ok yeah that sounds more like it.. It is faulty and sent back by the guy that bought it and it gets repaired as quickly and with less cost as possible (as warranties go).. and then it gets sent to the refurb. dealers.. But bottom line is, they have had the "bugs" worked out of them and repaired as new and reinspected.Right now as a New player I am not concerned with re-sale value.If I like it enough to buy it, I would want to keep it. I guess if the Refurb is not a good deal to begin with (50 dollars less than new) then it is no bargain. But if it is something that you like and its 100 dollars less than new.Think it is worth taking the risk?

Places like MF and GC sell returns online, and they are graded on any damages, they also have the original serial number kept intact, many bargains can be picked up this way too, and you have a legit serial number to boot. They are usually also covered by their 45 day return policy.

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Thanks RaSTuS!Good to be here!

Right now as a New player I am not concerned with re-sale value.If I like it enough to buy it, I would want to keep it. I guess if the Refurb is not a good deal to begin with (50 dollars less than new) then it is no bargain. But if it is something that you like and its 100 dollars less than new.Think it is worth taking the risk?

 

I have a friend who bought many refurbished guitars direct from MIRC. He was sort of in the musical instrument business and wanted to get "good deals". Keep the ones he wanted and sell the others. He was never thrilled when they arrived, because they never looked as good as he hoped. He wanted a diamond, but only wanted to pay for Zirconia.

 

The discounts aren't that great, at least to me. Some repairs are minor. Others can be major. Complete pick up swaps are possible, so you may not even be getting what you think you're paying for. The "Used" stamp will stare at you daily. And when you do go to trade it or sell it, it will stand out to the potential buyer. (Yes, you will sell or trade one day. We all do. My Gibson was to be my last guitar two years ago. I still have it, but I've had three other guitars move in and out since.

 

If it were me, I would get a 15% discount (coupon or negotiate)at Guitar Center and get a brand new guitar that has the full warranty and support from the store or their web-site. Ebay is a gamble.

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I picked up my Epi G400 in worn brown as a refurb off ebay.... got it for a song. Arrived in a factory box and it plays and looks amazing...no sign of anything wrong other than the used stamp. I see some on there though with cracks and major repairs...I'd be inclined to avoid them like the plague but as for mine, I'm stoked with it!

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I bought a Epiphone 50th Anniversary 1960 Les Paul V3 and all I did was put a Gotoh nickel bridge on it and it is good to go prolly one of the most stable guitars in my house and those burstbuckers rock also [thumbup] [thumbup] [thumbup]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPySJ9e5FmE

 

I did the same thing to my 56 RI gold top, got it locally, stamped used with a mostly obliterated Serial # (only letter left was a partial U starting off the #)

 

that and it had a lot of tasty mods when I got it.

 

The Gotoh Bridge and tail piece made a noticeable improvement in volume and tone.

 

It is an awesome piece and my daily player,

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