Playing a guitar before you buy

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Unless you are willing or able to float several guitars on a credit card, buying online quashes the biggest plus, that of comparing guitars. I'm very fortunate to have stores where I can play six or seven different models and brands of guitars, each of witch on its own are really great guitars. One of them is usually the winner. Buying one guitar online will likely get you what in a store would be an also ran. It is only the high quality of the also rans that enable online commerce. Sure, you can say yea or neigh, but saying this over that is so much better.

In certain price ranges there are literally no bad guitars. 'd still rather have my pick of them, though I also realize the ignorance is bliss reality many must live with. Long ago I vowed not to play very expensive beyond my pay grade guitars. I just don't want to know.

Your condescension is insufferable.

[TBman]

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away there were guitar stores where you could walk in, relax and play a bunch of guitars and then maybe (and often did) buy one of them to take home.

Now anything of any real value is locked up and you need someone (who generally is no where to be found) with a key just to try one guitar.

My 4 daily players were all bought online. I was however able to hear and see the exact guitar I bought in two instances - Furch and Pellerin due to the seller's videos.

I'm glad the OP hasn't been sucked into a wormhole and transported to that place (yet)

[BluesKing777]

I love trying them before buying!
And very, very unlikely to buy anything again without playing it...but you know, never say.....

Want some stories?

There is one shop that rolls out the red carpet when they see my money, whoops I mean ME, walkin' in! Line up the guitars on stands to try them etc...excellent...

Then there is this fave pawn shop I haunt. Let me tell you it is a TRIAL! Luck of the draw getting a park anywhere near it, anytime......walk in and don't get served. Have to find the guitar from the online ad yourself somewhere there....then wait for an attendant to finish his five course lunch to unlock it.....not one thing to sit on to play, grabbed the dirty stool they stand on to unlock the top shelf stuff, started to play my Gibson find....and a woman started...yep...vacuum cleaning right next to me! Somehow I play the guitar and it sings even though it needs the guitar hospital urgently....go to buy it! Wait - it is on consign and they have to contact the owner. Wait more, yeah just give me the...whoops...

Bought! Carry back to my car somewhere far, far away and I look like Jerry Lewis in that movie with his stretched arms hanging down. .........etc.

Persistence REQUIRED!


BluesKing777.

[FingahPickah]

Like many of us, I've

- gone out of my way to visit dealers who had certain makes/models I was interested in

- made internet and/or order though local dealer purchases on specific models not available locally (most worked out)

- made a couple of unexpected purchases by sitting down with guitars just for fun (until the thunder bolt struck).

[kizz]

I think most people want to play and feel the guitar before they buy, but my experience is that it usually takes a few weeks before you actually have a sense of whether it's a guitar you want to keep. You can buy a guitar online that doesn't really say anything to you from the first note but slowly grows on you and conversely, you can buy a guitar in a store where you first think wow, but after a few weeks when the honeymoon is over it's not a guitar you keep.

[TomB'sox]

I am not disagreeing with the premise to play before buying, however, even going into a brick and mortar, you are limited by playing only what they have there at the time which is often a limited selection.

The advantage of online sales is it is pretty much unlimited in finding any model you wish to try. With the return policies, it can be fairly risk free to try them. You could wait an awful long time for your local store to get in the model you are looking to try.

So I think there are enough pros and cons of each to make them both viable alternatives.

[Monty Christo]

This topic comes up a lot, and I think most of us agree that, all things being equal, it's preferable to play a guitar before buying it.

But all things are never equal. In a shop, you're limited to auditioning it with whatever strings of whatever age are on it, and you're bound by the acoustics and environment of the store.

Sometimes buying online and having a return period in which you can play it in your own home gives you a more accurate reflection of what a guitar really sounds like in your specific world -- and the choice of available models is nearly limitless.

[BluesKing777]

Looking from another angle - swimming against the tide, though......

If we don't go to a guitar shop to try their wares, there won't be any shops to do this soon, already happening, isn't it?....just a warehouse somewhere you can't go to.....with just warehouse workers without any people skills or guitar skill.


BluesKing777.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

I am not disagreeing with the premise to play before buying, however, even going into a brick and mortar, you are limited by playing only what they have there at the time which is often a limited selection.

The advantage of online sales is it is pretty much unlimited in finding any model you wish to try. With the return policies, it can be fairly risk free to try them. You could wait an awful long time for your local store to get in the model you are looking to try.

So I think there are enough pros and cons of each to make them both viable alternatives.

Originally Posted by Monty Christo

This topic comes up a lot, and I think most of us agree that, all things being equal, it's preferable to play a guitar before buying it.

But all things are never equal. In a shop, you're limited to auditioning it with whatever strings of whatever age are on it, and you're bound by the acoustics and environment of the store.

Sometimes buying online and having a return period in which you can play it in your own home gives you a more accurate reflection of what a guitar really sounds like in your specific world -- and the choice of available models is nearly limitless.

I wish I would have thought of that Great minds as they say...

[Monty Christo]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

I wish I would have thought of that Great minds as they say...

lol ... Just singing the chorus with ya!