What percent of used guitars on Marketplace, Craigslist or even Guitar Center are in good playable condition? Go on. Take a guess.
We don’t have to guess at Hank’s Guitar Shop because we’ve been buying, reconditioning, repairing and selling used guitars for over a decade in Clearwater – Palm Harbor, throughout Pinellas County.
Let’s start with what we’re gonna call “good playable condition”, cause that’s a very subjective matter right there! For instance, back around 1970, when I started playing guitar on a used Fender Acoustic, my string heights (i.e.: action) at the 12th fret was probably a quarter inch! That there’s slide territory!
The neck was bowed enough to be nearly useful in archery for launching arrows! One of the tuner keys required pliers to turn and I thought the grooves in the frets were to help keep the strings in their lane!
“But you still learned to play on that guitar, right?” Well, actually, no. I got a couple of chords down but my friend, who did play, told me that the chords didn’t sound right (high nut slots, worn frets and neck bow can all contribute to sharp notes and discordant chords). It hurt my fingers even after several weeks of practicing and eventually, it got retired to a closet.
I’ve bought thousands of guitars over the years, and I’ve had hundreds of customers bring me guitars they’d just gotten off of Marketplace, Craigslist and even big-box stores. The best of them required about an hour’s work to put in “good playing condition”, aka proper specs and intonated.
But the average used guitar took closer to two hours of work. Keep in mind, I’m talking about the time it takes a professional guitar tech, not how long it would take the average DIY guitar player, if they even knew what all to do.
Jason’s Player Series T-Style
A recent example is Jason. He proudly brought in a “deal” he’d gotten off Marketplace – a beautiful Player Series T-Style, for just $300. No one can argue that that’s not a good deal…or can they? Well, if it’s a guitar with a decent setup, that’s a great deal, right?
Jason wanted to have the guitar properly setup and, as part of our procedure, Josh, one of our techs, check the guitar over. The first seven frets were shot and the crowns of the rests were worn flat. The nut slots were low enough that open strings buzzed on the first fret, and we learned later that the truss rod adjustment nut was stripped.
Let’s add that up – Basic Setup: $60; New Bone Nut Installed: $75; Truss Rod Nut Extraction & Replacement $75; Total Refret: $299
That’s $435. Add that to Jason’s purchase price of $300 and he could have bought a brand-new T-Style, including sales tax! Yeah, it would still need a setup, he’d have a new guitar.
We sold our last Player Series T-Style for $399 and that included checking everything out, giving it a professional setup, new strings and setting intonation. Oh, and that includes a 90-day warranty!
Bob’s Squier
A few weeks ago, a customer named Bob brought in a Squier S-Style he’d gotten from GC for $120. He just wanted it restrung with new strings ($15 + cost of strings).
As per our procedures, I checked the guitar over and found the nut slots were high, the neck relief was two-and-a-half times more than it should be and the guitar was badly out of intonation.
Bob opted for our Complete Setup which also takes care of up to four high frets and eliminates light fret wear. That includes a restring and takes care of those nut slots and intonation, but at $89 plus strings, he was now over $200 into a used Squier.
We sell used Squiers that we’ve previously checked over and set up, installed new strings and set the intonation from just $139. Oh, and that includes a 90-day warranty!
When Buying Used Guitars, Skip the Lemons!
In my eleven years experience of buying, selling and repairing guitars in Clearwater – Palm Harbor, I’ve found that the odds of buying a used guitar that doesn’t need work is less than the odds of winning the lottery!
So here’s how you win – take the money you were going to spend on that used guitar and buy lottery tickets instead! When you hit the jackpot, buy a brand-new guitar and bring it to Hank’s Guitar Shop for a good setup.
Or, you could just buy your guitar from Hank’s and skip all the excitement.
