Buy before you play it?

[jklotz]

I've got a couple of guitars that I strummed one chord on and knew they would be following me home. Of course I played them a lot more than the 1 chord before the purchase, but they pretty much had me at "hello". They are still with me, and will be until I die or am forced to sell - hopefully a long time from now.

I have a few others that I bought online. Some are now gone, a few still here. Some were great guitars, but I've yet to get one online that I will put into the same category as the one's mentioned above.

I'm curious; do you guys regularly buy guitars you've never played? What's your take on this?

[The Bard Rocks]

You will find this varies with each person and where they live. Some of us do not have shops carrying what we want that are viably near and those folks are more likely to buy sight unseen and unplayed. Others of us want guitars that no shop is likely to carry - and again are more apt to buy over the internet or phone. And then there are others who would not consider buying an instrument they have not played; they'd rather do without than do that.

We all have our own priorities.

[jspe]

For me, rule #1A is...always play the guitar before you purchase it.
Rule #1B is give the guitar two weeks of solid playing attention, all the while making sure the set up is exact and the strings are a good match. During the two weeks, get the guitar out to some other guitarists to hear it played by others and to compare it with other people's gems...then you'll know if its got you by the heart! Also by then it should take you into the "zone"...the one where time disappears...then you know you've got a keeper!

[TBman]

My last guitar I bought online based on owners reviews here and videos online. I hit the jackpot because the guitar sounds great.

I'd rather play before I buy, but sometimes that isn't possible.

[Scolaguitar]

I definitely believe in love at first strum as that just happened to me a week ago with the least expensive guitar in my collection. And it happened when I wasn't even looking.

I'm lucky, (or maybe unlucky,) to have some good shops near me. So ideally that's the way to do it but not always possible.

My Northwood, I had to get online and it exceeded my expectations.

[bkepler]

It’s funny because the advice I give is to always play the guitar but in thinking about it, I haven’t done that in a really, REALLY long time. It’s due to a couple of different reasons.

First, I love buying a wreck of a guitar and fixing it up. There’s a thrill in giving something life again that was written off. It’s how I got my Lowden for $100.

Another part of it is that I enjoy somewhat unique instruments. I bought my Pono from an AGF member without playing it because I had done so much research on it that the gamble wasn’t too much.

The final part of it is that I LOVE a good deal! It’s difficult to find a really good deal in a guitar shop. I think that as you know your preferences better, you can narrow your search quite a bit and make pretty well-informed decisions without playing the instrument first. There’s always the gamble that it won’t work out.

Then there’s always the one that you DO happen across in person that reaches out and grabs you...

[DenverSteve]

I always prefer to play before I pay. However, as I've looked into, and purchased, less available guitars that aren't plentiful, I've purchase unplayed. However, when doing so I get sharp-focus, hi-res photos that I can inspect top, bottom, sides, neck, fretboard, headstock...... and sound clips as well as a lot of investigation on the make/model. Diligently investigating a prospective remote guitar has ended in about the same love/keep ratio as buying them in person.

Even after playing a guitar locally for 30-60 minutes and thinking it's great doesn't guarantee a long-term keeper. Sometimes you have to play a guitar for a week or month to find that the neck profile combined with the nut width, scale and totality of the guitar's elements work - or don't. If and when they don't, they get sold to someone who will love and/or attach with the guitar better than I.

[stevemc]

I'm sure any of us would prefer to play and inspect before we buy, but with all that is available online that severely narrows your options. The best guitar I've ever owned (and still do ) is a used one I bought off of Ebay sight unseen 17 years ago. It is a risk though. Sometimes they turn out to be great and sometimes not.

[Slothead56]

Ive done both. But the digital age makes it attractive to buy on line without playing. I’ve only had 1 or 2 surprises that I had to deal with. I’ve been delighted several times. My OM 42 Koa is my absolute favorite and I bought it blind.

[vintage40s]

Originally Posted by jklotz

I've got a couple of guitars that I strummed one chord on and knew they would be following me home... but I've yet to get one online that I will put into the same category as the one's mentioned above... do you guys regularly buy guitars you've never played? What's your take on this?

Bought one new guitar online. Having tried a few at GC, I paid the vendor for a low setup. When it came, I had to pay a luthier to further lower the setup, and the guitar did not have the all of the sound that I expected.

Bought another new guitar at an independent local dealer who had already set it up. I was not even looking for this guitar when he asked me to try it. Action was effortless, with 2mm at 12th, and playing without a capo feeling same as with. And the sound was amazing. I would not have looked for or noticed this guitar online, yet actually playing and hearing it caused an immediate sale.

I would rather not buy online again.

[RP]

I think that playing before you purchase is highly desirable in theory but quickly becoming an outdated notion. Why?

1) Greater online selection
2) Generally better prices
3) Relative ease of purchase
4) And dare I say it, saving on taxes

[rmp]

Similar story for me, online seems to be the only good way.

Hard to find things I'd be interested in, stocked in any stores I could drive to.


I did come across one incident where we were 5 hours from home for a long weekend. Stumbled into what happened to be a pretty large music store, picked up a few new (at the time) Taylor Grand Symphony models - this was back in 2006.

They had a rosewood/spruce, a maple/spruce both nice guitars, but when I start playing the Mahogany/Cedar, that was it, bonded instantly.

No intention on buying another guitar that day, but I left the store with that one.

[rokdog49]

I've done it both ways. I have never been unhappy with the guitars I bought online unplayed before the purchase. All but one were used and were purchased from individuals on Reverb. They were as described and sounded great. The other was new and it came from Ted at LA Guitars. It was as described and it too, sounded great.

[bkepler]

Even when I’m playing a guitar in-person, there’s so much speculation that goes into the sound of the instrument. Yes, I can feel it and inspect it, but I’m nearly always guessing what it’s going to sound like after I get some half-decent strings on it.

My Eastman mandolin was the last instrument I bought after playing it. I had been looking at Loar and Kentucky mandolins because I needed something solid and cheap and could find better prices on those brands. I was at an educator event at a company’s warehouse - buying band and orchestra equipment - and this Eastman was the only mandolin they had for sale. It had a well-repaired side crack and it became pretty much “name my price”. I had a really unfortunate experience with an unplayable Eastman mandolin at a conference a few years before so being able to play this one, as well as the bargain price helped seal the deal

[Mbroady]

As long as there’s a good return policy I see no reason to not buy and try. All the guitars I now own (except my Rainsong) were purchased new, long distance. I would not have purchased them had it not been for the generous return policy. Also, though it is not the best way to ***** a guitar, I had access to good audio/vid samples of each prior to the purchase

With that said out of the 4 acoustics I own now, there were 3 others that were sent back.