For your guitar purchases - prefer new, used, or no preference?

[PajamasMusic]

75% new, 25% used.

[The Bard Rocks]

As of recent years, I have tended to get new. Most were made to my specs, which one cannot usually find on the market, not if you are looking for anything unusual.

Used tend to be the better buys, even when a warranty is factored in.

[musicman1951]

I prefer a used guitar that looks like new. I purchased the Lowden new because there were no used examples in my driving radius.

[zombywoof]

In 55+ years I have only purchased three new guitars - two Guilds and a Martin. The last one would have been around 1975. Never owned more than one at a time as I always traded in the one I had purchased previously. Initially it was because I could not afford anything shiny and new. As I did not know a good guitar from a can of tuna it did not matter much. But I got better and afterwards it was out of choice. Both me and the guitars I bought just kept getting older and older with a lot more years in between when that guitar was built and the year I was born.

[Colt45]

Prefer buying new guitars and used cars.

[Mandobart]

Why do we need 3 polls on this in 2 days?

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=603674

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=603676

[MJ Slaughter]

Buying an acoustic that needs to be shipped I prefer new for the warranty and ability to return it. If I found a nice used one locally and could check it out first I have no problem with that. For electrics I'm ok buying used online.

[martinhubltz]

Originally Posted by MJ Slaughter

Buying an acoustic that needs to be shipped I prefer new for the warranty and ability to return it. If I found a nice used one locally and could check it out first I have no problem with that. For electrics I'm ok buying used online.

I purchase used acoustic guitar because I absolutely want Brazilian Rosewood, and new guitars are not made from Brazilian anymore.

[Goat Mick]

I love used guitars. You can save a ton of money and they usually have a cool played in feel. But being out in the sticks of East Tennessee, we don't have access to a wide variety of guitars so sometimes if you really want a certain guitar you have to buy it new.

[mawmow]

Though I bought some brand new ones, I prefer used ones and demo sales.

[fuman]

I've never bought a new acoustic guitar. The only good electric guitar I ever bought was an Ibanez Artist drastically reduced because someone had put a gash in the top.

It was never a preference, really. We just didn't have money. Now that I have the money, I could afford a new guitar, but don't want to get rid of what I have now -- which would be a pre-condition. I have flirted with the idea of selling my two great acoustics and getting one that bridges the gap (I have a huge, long-scale Tacoma baritone and a Taylor GS). A short scale baritone might do it for me. But in the end, I'm pretty happy with what I have.

I have owned a bunch of tremendous second-hand guitars. They were usually terrific values, but it cost me more than money. I usually had to let something go. That's a pain I don't want to deal with right now -- and not just sorry-to-see-you-go pain, but having to go through the process of selling guitars.

I think this year I may buy a new Martin. But even with the market being tilted more toward sellers now, it is hard to see spending 1.5/2 times the money to get a new guitar. And I don't really "need" another one. One thing I've been blessed with is that there have been so many guitars that are "almost" perfect. And I either use that as a rationale not to buy, or I sincerely think, "If only that had [or didn't have] . . ."

[rllink]

Up until now it has been new guitars. I do often times look at used ones looking for a bang around guitar and sometimes I see one and think about pulling the trigger, but then I think that I don't really bang my guitar around and I take my finger off. But someday I might buy a used one, so I'm not going to rule them out.

[RP]

New or used doesn't really matter- I've purchased both. The right guitar is the right guitar....

[nightchef]

There are things I like about buying guitars new, and things I like about buying guitars used. Each shopping journey is unique, and I never know for sure when the guitar-buying wheels start turning in my head whether that particular journey will wind up with a new or used instrument. It depends on what turns up as I search.

[KevinH]

So far my new:used ratio is 3:1, not really from preference. Just the way it worked out.