Big Surprise

[j45nick]

I've been as guilty as anyone of bashing Guitar Center for all the usual anti-megastore reasons. But I got a somewhat different perspective last night when I browsed their website, looking up apparently-proprietary versions of some Gibson acoustics that members here have recently bought.

 

I wandered into the "vintage" section of the site, and was blown away by both the prices and variety of vintage Gibsons and Martins they have for sale. I assume that a lot of these are trade-ins, and it's impossible to know the condition of the instruments based on a single photograph. But to say that most of the prices seemed fair would be an understatement, based on what I see at many dealers, or in online auctions.

 

I also assume that these guitars are scattered all over the country at various GC stores, making on-site comparison shopping impossible. But the variety of late-40's and 1950's-60's Gibsons and Martins was impressive, and the prices, for the most part, seemed good.

 

Anyone here have any first-hand experience buying vintage from GC? Where do these guitars come from? Are people actually trading vintage Gibsons and Martins in for new guitars, or is GC in the business of buying and selling vintage?

 

I feel shockingly ignorant about this. Sort of like walking into your local Home Depot and finding a Chippendale desk in the discount bin.

[trvlr]

Guitar Center does have a "vintage" division of their business. I've not personally shopped it, but that site is here:

 

http://www.vintageguitars.net/

 

And I will say that the GC here in Cincinnati, does get some vintage guitars in their local GC store inventory. I was talking to the sales guy I usually talk to on that 37 L-00 they had a few months back. He said a guy just walked in the store with it and wanted to know what they'd give for it. They offered, he accepted. So that's how that one found it's way onto the rack.

[trvlr]

Nick - I think they need to make you a moderator here so you can whack these spammers at the point of entry..

 

I do IT work and recall our email system upon leaving the company used to process 24k email objects a day. 18k of those were spam...and this was back in early 2000...parasitic little creatures.

[merseybeat1963]

A Guitar Center near me had a small room with Vintage gtrs and a handfull of L5s..which I was shopping for in 2002-4 but were at top prices but all were with some serious flaw ,though sounded nice.

The few unflawed things were hanging behind counter..one of which was a original PAF Tal Farlow at about $12k whilst those were findable for $7500.

[BigKahune]

... Anyone here have any first-hand experience buying vintage from GC? Where do these guitars come from? Are people actually trading vintage Gibsons and Martins in for new guitars, or is GC in the business of buying and selling vintage? ....

 

Truth be told, I've made some careful purchases at suburban Chicago GC, including a couple of guitars. This particular one has a very nice climate controlled acoustic room that includes high end guitars, and they also have a locked glassed in room with a few vintage guitars. But I had know idea GC had the amount of vintage guitars you have turned us on to. WOW.

 

Great post and a + for you. . B)

 

 

.

[L5Larry]

I offered a vintage piece to GC through a local branch just to see how their buying process worked, and what kind of price level they were paying.

 

It seems all their "vintage" buying transactions go through Los Angeles. They photographed the guitar (in store), and e-mailed the photos and description off to LA. You then wait for a response and offer from the folks in LA. The process and procedure was pretty efficient, and fairly painless.

 

The problem.... they only offer 40%-50% of retail value. I guess I expected something more "realistic".

[DanvillRob]

Nick, you know I bought my DIF from GC in SFO....but I never laid eyes on it before it was shipped to my house.

 

I paid for it in the GC store in Concord.

 

Was as easy as you can imagine....and I had assurances that if the guitar wasn't to my liking I could simply return it to the Concord store.

 

I bought my Fender Passport (used) from GC in Boston. Free shipping...was easy as pie.

 

And of course, the proprietary version of the 'Bird Koa was also easy, but I wanted to put my hands on it BEFORE I shelled out the dollars....so I bought in online, but picked

 

it up and paid for it in the GC San Jose store.

 

All those transactions were easy and professional....and the stuff was stellar!

 

[Lars68]

I bought my 42J-45 from a GC in Miami, Florida. Living in Sweden, this was a long distance purchase by necessity. I found it through Gbase. There is no real market for these kinds of guitars here. The guitar had a couple of issues, but nothing really serious and the price was great, to say the least. I got some help from Willi Henkes of Antique Avoustics in Germany to evaluate the pictures I was sent. He told me to buy it right away or he wood :-)

 

I was incredibly nervous making the purchase since it was my first vintage guitar, and I could not see it in person. The sales person I dealt with was ok, but he missed two issues. One was a small crack that I actually had spotted myself on one of the picture. The other issue was a short split in one of the back braces. It is of course possible that it happened during shipping, but not very likely. Overall, the sales person could have described the guitar better, but with Willi helping me out I felt pretty good. I would not be 100% comfortable shopping there again If I did not have expert help to back me up.

 

By the way, GC offered free shipping at the time, and I got it for Sweden as well, which made the total price really good.

 

Lars

[tpbiii]

One of the most recent vintage pieces we bought was from GC -- also one of the most recent newer pieces. The new piece (originally built in 2005) was a CA Legacy -- because we needed a guitar we could ignore in heat an cold, play in BG jams, plug in occasionally for weird gigs, and paddle our canoe when we lost a paddle. I looked for a long time for a reasonably priced example of a CA Legacy after I played one that belonged to Shane Blackwell, and one popped up (through Google) at GC. Not a prewar D-28, but IMO the" King of Beach Guitars."

 

The vintage piece was a Gibson -- sort of -- shown at the top with a '34 Zoo mandolin we bought from the Sam Ash down the road (to say we don't usually do much business with either GC or Sam Ash would be a huge understatement, but there it is) -- all in the last couple of years.

 

 

 

It is a 1942 Kalamazoo Sport Model. It needed attention -- neck set, cracks repaired, and braces reglued -- but it was all original and all there. After all the work, IMO we still paid well less that my estimate of wholesale on this instruments -- thus I think it was a good deal. It is ladder braced (like the later LG 3/4), and pretty rare -- a bit more than 200 made. Gibson also made an L-00 3/4 x-braced model in the late 30s that is even rarer -- only 36 documented to exist.

 

Here are the two of them together.

 

 

 

It is all just a day at the1930s zoo.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[JohnnyReb]

The GC in Nashville Tennessee had a nice selection of vintage instruments last time I went. I'm sure they come in as trade ins or folks who don't want to hassle with selling them and just take a offer from GC. They had several vintage Martins, and one 40 something D18 that was really nice. Don't recall any Gibsons though.

 

I like GC myself. I've always enjoyed myself there and was always treated great by the employees. The guys at the local mom and pop store seem snobby and irritated with having to help you. I guess they don't like turning Facebook off to help customers

[stein]

I offered a vintage piece to GC through a local branch just to see how their buying process worked, and what kind of price level they were paying.

 

It seems all their "vintage" buying transactions go through Los Angeles. They photographed the guitar (in store), and e-mailed the photos and description off to LA. You then wait for a response and offer from the folks in LA. The process and procedure was pretty efficient, and fairly painless.

 

The problem.... they only offer 40%-50% of retail value. I guess I expected something more "realistic".

What, I ask, is "retial value" of a used instrument?

[stein]

I have had good and bad experience with GC. I think it really depends on who works there, or who runs the store.

 

I sold them a Mesa amp some years ago. It was easy and pleasant. I simply called them up, asked them what they might give, they gave me a price, and I took it in, let them inspect it, and that was that.

 

A little more recently, it was just the opposite. I was working nearby, so I strolled in to asked them if they would be interested in buying some guitars. They basically told me they would not even deal with me, unless I brought the guitars in(after a long paragraph of BS followed by questions on what they were). Of corse, I was stating just the opposite: I'm not going to make the trip unless they were interested.

 

"We can't quote"..."I'm not asking for one, and I wouldn't hold you to it". I asked them to perhaps look up a book value. "We don't use the Blue Book...we don't even have one". How do they determine what they will pay? "OK, dude, I get you will NOT give me full value, so how about a percentage of what you will pay?"

 

I would not have kept up the effort for a conversation had the answers not been so stupid. In fact, I think these were my words: "Is there someone here I can have a conversation with?"

[bobouz]

We all know the GC experience can vary tremendously from store to store, heavily dependent on the manager of each particular store.

 

And, in general,selling to GC will get you quick cash in hand at about 50-60% of what they'll sell it for, which is why GC ends up with a lot of good stuff (real money talks - and having a bazillion stores creates a lot of opportunity).

 

But buying used/vintage from GC is a whole different ball game, and they can have a number of gems in their inventory at one time alongside all the clunkers. The biggest issue is trying to assess the instrument, because they usually only post one grainy pic on their website. Therefore, you must call the store and ask for an in-hand description. I have done this numerous times and received good information, but have your list of questions ready & cover every structural detail. Their used/vintage inventory sits on display virtually just as it walked in the door. It can range from mint to thrashed, and many vintage pieces will have cracks, loose neck joints, etc. Hence the need to ask very detailed questions.

 

Now here's the best part, imho: A purchase from any store in the country can be returned to your local store. 30 day return on used, 72 hr return on vintage. Having a complete return option is huge in my book, as the purchase basically becomes risk free.

 

Personally, I've acquired some excellent pieces through them. They were shipped quickly, and well packed. Just be sure to get that detailed in-hand description in order to quickly size up whether or not the instrument is worth pursuing.

[L5Larry]

What, I ask, is "retial value" of a used instrument?

 

I guess I should have said "market value".

[stein]

I guess I should have said "market value".

Understand.

 

With some prices I have seen, I wonder if there isn't becoming such a thing as "retial" for used, meaning take 40% or so off that price to come up with the actual selling price as one would a new one.

 

I realize 'asking' and 'getting' are not the same, but also "retail" as understood by most is really a sort of benchmark to calculate or determine a selling price. And a LOT of prices I see at online dealers seem like retial benchmarks to me, rather than realistic asking prices.

[telemaster03]

I've purchased used gear from GC, and sold a beater guitar to a store near me. I've been a happy camper. The prices they list for used gear are much more realistic then Flea Bay and their return policy is outstanding. I bought a used SWR California Blonde amp that had issues and they accepted it back with no problem. The only downside for me is the nearest GC store is 3 1/2 - 4 hours away so I have to pay shipping back o the store or make a trip to return the item, which I did with the SWR.

 

I've been eyeing a couple vintage guitars on the GC site and wouldn't be afraid to buy them with an in-hand description from the store, knowing I could return if needed.

[zombywoof]

Never had any dealings with GC or any other guitar meglomart so have no opinions either way about their vintage and not so vintage instruments. I figure though, GC has got to be a safer bet than buying something with a fairly hefty price tag off eBay.

[BluesKing777]

It is a good idea from GC!

 

I saw a thread on AGC somewhere that mentioned the GC Trade-in Scheme in passing, but I can't find that thread again - it may have been in a guitar buying thread....

 

 

Of course we don't have a GC here in Australia, but you would have to think with the previous large music supplier going bust for their own organistional reasons and not sales problems, a foot in the door by GC must be close!

 

And I guess they didn't get rich by being generous.

 

So, for example, if I saw that vintage L-00 in a GC near me, could I say trade 2 or 3 cheaper items up towards the L-00? I would take the 50-60% to get them out of my house without : a. selling at the pawnshop; b. selling on eBay and all the drama; c. selling consignment with a 20% fee.

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

On their website, they have a few FAQs:

 

 

http://www.vintageguitars.net/FAQ/