What would you do?

[RP]

Here's my stock true story for when this topic comes up:

It was the late 1970s, and I'd befriended a guy about my age who had a small hole-in-the-wall guitar shop just south of Richmond, VA. It was a pretty rural area then, and a rural woman came into his shop carrying what appeared to be a child's coffin. She'd been cleaning out the attic and found the box and its contents and was curious if he'd give her some money for it. He put on his poker face and asked her how much she wanted for it. She said $40, he countered at $30 and the deal was struck.

I only saw it once before he shipped it off to Nazareth for the Martin historians to take a look at the guitar, obviously a small one but I can't remember what model, that had been built sometime in the 1830s. I don't know what happened next...

Was the guy a jerk? Maybe. Would I have done different? I probably would have given her the $40 she'd requested...

[saxonblue]

I'm also in the camp that it will probably never happen but if a 60 yr old vintage guitar that wasn't properly stored or looked after presented itself to you it would possibly need as much if not more spent on it as a new one plus a mile of hard work & elbow grease to bring it back to a shadow of it's former glory.

A bit like vintage cars, motorbikes or anything else so any "discount" that seems too good to be true may be appreciated later on down the path of restoration.

[blindboyjimi]

It does happen. My 1937 000-18 was brought to my attention because the man that got it for his 12th birthday tried to trade it for a garage door opener. The garage door guy called me as he knew I had some old guitars.

[hubcapsc]

No guitar stories, but a few Valkyrie ones... I've bought a lot of
used Valkyrie things, some Valkyrie things are "unobtainium"
these days. A couple of times I've seen things for sale way
too cheap, a Valkyrie Tourer windshield in particular. I mentioned
to the seller he could get a lot more for it, he appreciated it
and sold it to me anyhow...

So, I guess I'd tell the too-cheap guitar seller he could get
more than he's asking and go from there... you might still
get the good price...

-Mike

[Roksbug]

Not guitar related but similar situation. When a cousin was in high school he found a woman who was selling a 62 corvette. She found out her husband was cheating on her and she got the car in the divorce settlement.
My uncle bought it for him for less than $1000. True story. The woman said she had no use for the car or the ex.

[Fatfinger McGee]

Next time it happens, PM me for advice. Make sure to include an address and contact info for the guitar so I can check prices in the surrounding area.

[Ben M.]

I feel like the right thing to do would be tell them what they have.

On the other hand if they couldn’t be bothered to spend five minutes on google to find out their grandpa’s 90 year old Martin is worth thousands of dollars I’m not sure why it’s my job to educate them.

I could pontificate about my Mother Teresa like moral standards on the internet all day long but if I’m put in this situation I really don’t know what I would do.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I think I'd tell them what they had and still hope for a good deal.


I knew a guy years ago who told me he had a pre-war D-28. When I asked him how he was able to afford it, he told me he bought it for a couple hundred bucks from a friend who was a junkie and sold the guitar for drug money. I asked him if he was able to live with himself he said that the guy was asking $200 and he gave him what he asked and said someone was going to buy it for $200; it might as well have been him. I love a bargain, but I'd think about that every time I picked it up.

But if you’d given him the actual amount it was worth the guy would have od’d and died that night.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by Roksbug

Not guitar related but similar situation. When a cousin was in high school he found a woman who was selling a 62 corvette. She found out her husband was cheating on her and she got the car in the divorce settlement.
My uncle bought it for him for less than $1000. True story. The woman said she had no use for the car or the ex.

I’ve heard a version of this story many times. The urban legend changes but usually it’s a fancy sports car for $100 in auto trader. Either the guy going through a divorce is selling that low so he doesn’t have to give half of that money to his wife or the wife selling it that low to spite the cheater.

[The Bard Rocks]

Here's an "in-between". Pay them their price and let them know you intend to sell it. When you do, give them a sizable cut of the profit.

[Fatfinger McGee]

I guess it's fun to imagine, but seriously - this just doesn't happen anymore. Everyone can use Google, and with Antiques roadshow and American Pickers and all the rest, usually they come up with some wildly inflated idea of the value of their junk. And that's mostly what it is, junk. If you sort through enough of it you might find treasure, but by then you'll have paid your dues. I've bought, fixed up, and sold a lot of old tools and motorcycles, and I've gotten some great deals, but I've more than made up for it on all the ones I restored and sold for less than I had in them, just for the fun of getting them useful and back out into the world. It's a great 'get poor slowly' scheme. If something falls in my lap and the other party is happy with the sale, hell yes I'll buy it, with zero guilt. You should too, it's doing nobody any good where it is.

[tonyo]

Similar to a previous post, I'd ask them why they were selling it for that price. If they were rude about answering the question, I might still say that it looks like a very nice guitar for the money. It would also depend on the state of the rest of anything else for sale. I would like to work out if it was cheap because it was stolen as well.

[Cool555]

Interesting thread! So many different perspectives, views and opinions!

On a Carousell website in Singapore about a month or so ago, there was a Taylor 614 listed and selling for S$400 (US$296). It looks to be in reasonably good condition. Not much details mentioned regarding the guitar. When I saw that listing, I knew it would be gone in a few hours. The next day, it was SOLD.

I guessed that it was probably sold by the owner's family member while he was overseas. Probably the poster didn't know the cost of the guitar.

[EZYPIKINS]

There is another option that nobody's considering. Buy the D35 for $100. Spend some time talking to the seller. Getting to know them a bit. Letting them get to know you a bit.
Sell the guitar. And split the profit.

[KalamazooGuy]

A couple years ago I saw an ad on craigslist for 2 guitars for $100. 1 was a 70s Alvarez D28 copy and the other was a 50s National lapsteel. The guy lived half a mile in the woods too! After looking around his other stuff he was selling, I got those guitars and got him to throw in a little woodstove too for $140. I sold the lapsteel for $200 and still play the Alvarez.