amazed

[mercy]

Ok, Ill take a lesson on responding with a thank you and I wont bother Wayne at all. Thank you all for participating in this thread. The original thought was my amazement that so many guitars are advertised without specs. I still am amazed at that if people want to sell their guitars. As I said I dont contact people that dont have specs so I guess a thank you isnt going be needed anyway.

[mercy]

I think this thread benefits this community in two ways. Put specs in your ads and if you email questions, respond.

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by bufflehead

One problem with the Google method is that manufacturers have changed specs from year to year. For example, an older Martin 000-18 will have a 1 11/16" nut width.

I think that nut width would be a good spec to include in the add. For many of us, the wrong size would be a deal breaker.

That’s a good point. I see what ya mean.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by mercy

I have been seriously looking for a guitar recently here and reverb. It amazes me how often guitars are posted for sale without specs, especially on this forum. Do people think someone is going to buy their guitar just on looks? I can understand it happening once in a while but it is very often maybe even most of the time.

Hi mercy
I suppose since many/most of the guitars posted sell, they will sell them based on pre-knowledge of the instrument maker or model.

We can always ask questions and get a dialogue going if something looks interesting.

I'm guessing more guitar players are players versus sales-people.

[MWB5007]

While I agree that it is most courteous to let the seller know that you are not interested, I can't imagine how asking for details like (for me anyway) string spacing on and instrument which is or has the potential to be non-standard is in any way lacking in courtesy.

Sometimes, if not often, a buyer is looking for something very specific and nothing else will do; I have passed on many remarkable instruments because the neck or string spacing just were not what I require - Wade, perhaps this why at least some of those "tire kickers" fade from the purchase. It is not necessarily their sport to ask questions, it might just be because they uncovered something in the newly acquired information which caused them to pass. Again, I agree it is always best to be thankful for the time others take to meet your requests - however, IMHO nothing about the seller's additional effort requires the person inquiring to complete the purchase.

Of course the seller is not obligated either. I was recently looking for something else when a little Froggy Bottom came on the market.I thought that that little Froggy might work for me in the event that I could not find what I was looking for. I messaged the Seller to inquire about the string spacings because while I know Michael Millard "generally" spaces these at 1.75 and 2 3/16ths they are not ALL spaced that way and that if you re going to find one with different spacings you might have to look a little (or a lot) harder. TO make a long story short, the Seller responded but declined providing the information I requested. The reasons are unclear to me however I exercised my prerogative to simply move on.

If it were a guitar store who acted in this manner I might marvel at just how they decided to adopt such a position - but it was just a guy and he was only selling the one guitar (as far as I know) and he was willing to suffer "the slings and arrows" so to speak ....

[TomB'sox]

OK, interesting discussions, but let's keep it on track. Thanks.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

Remember, here on AGF you are dealing with a very small and focused group of guitar enthusiasts. The vast majority out there don't care (or don't even know) about minutia like specific woods, nut width, string spacing, neck profile, bracing pattern, etc. To them it's just a guitar. They know the logo on the headstock and general size/shape. Maybe they've noticed they find one guitar is easier for them to play over another, or sounds better to them, but they've never really bothered to figure out why that is. That carries over to when they list it for sale somewhere.

All true. The large majority seem to want/sell dreadnoughts or OMs with pretty standard specs.

It took me some time to w9rk out by trial and eror exactly what I wanted in a guitar.

When I buy, I ask lots of questions.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by mercy

I think this thread benefits this community in two ways. Put specs in your ads and if you email questions, respond.

Exactly - we’re in complete agreement there. My objection has never been towards giving detailed information when asked, it’s to people asking for additional detailed information but then never replying once they receive it. Nothing more.


whm