Your best guitar buying experience

[Fatfinger McGee]

I could use some feel-goods these days, as I’m sure could some of you. What’s the one that stands out, and why?

Mine was a D-35 I bought from a guy on CL. Price was right, seller was 15 minutes away and seemed nice on the phone, so I went over with the cash to check it out. The guitar was perfect from the first strum, but I somehow ended up spending 3 hours there anyway. Finally, after we’d tried all his other guitars, traded song tips, jammed, and talked non-stop, I left with the guitar and a new friend. Been hanging out and playing together ever since.

[The Bard Rocks]

I bought a D35 from the Martin store at the factory (I suspect they no longer have the store). I was the only one in there and we bargained for quite a while. I ended up with a better case, a Martin T shirt and some other stuff as part of other deal. When we were all done, the salesman said, "Boy, I enjoyed that. Most people won't bargain and they take all the fun out of the selling process."

Turns out the guitar was a dud, a beautiful dud though. Everything they had in there were seconds and after I played it against better guitars I discovered why it was in there. But I only bought it to have something to play while my M38 was getting one of its neck resets. When it came back home, I hung up the D35 and years later traded it for a D12-20. But I still have the experience and it was a lot of fun for me too.

[Parlorman]

I pre-ordered my Schoenberg Soloist based on Eric Schoenberg’s concept. For those unfamiliar, these were built by Martin from wood selected by Dana Bourgeois (and, later, other fine luthiers) who voiced the tops and did final setups. Martin sent the first 25 or so in two batches to Dana’s shop in Maine. A few were already spoken for but most were available. Eric and I met at Dana’s house (where his shop was located back then) and spent several hours with them. I would play them and listen to Eric playing them until I found the one that spoke to me. Eric and Dana signed the paper label to me and pasted in the guitar and I took it home. It was a memorable and wonderful experience.

[Dbone]

2

My first guitar as a younger guy 20+ years ago...A Seagull...Was an exciting time being my first venture into guitars...

My 2nd being my Yamaha LL56 in recent months, and my first high end wooden guitar. Came in flawless, sounds to die for...Superb...

My RainSong was not the best buying experience with the first guitar received having problems, and the second one received still not meeting my expectations.

Hoping an upcoming higher end electric guitar purchase/delivery will go the way of the Yamaha.

[UncleJesse]

I contacted Mark at Reno's Music about how I was ready to purchase my first expensive acoustic guitar. Every guitar I had owned until that point was less than $700. I told him I wasn't sure what I wanted and would like to try several dreadnoughts. He told me to come on over (about a 4 hour drive). I came on a Friday afternoon and he had 6 brand new dreadnoughts on stands for me. D18, D18 Adi, D28 Adi, D28 Modern Deluxe, HD-28, and an HD-35 were the ones I'd picked ahead of time to try. He left to me to play all of them back to back as long as I wanted. I was in there over an hour playing them and never did I feel rushed. Ultimately I chose the HD-28 and he definitely has earned any new Martin business I'll ever have.

[roylor4]

My best experience was buying through Elderly's. They were running a sale at the time, and I was considering a Recording King RO-10. The salesman told me to get an ROS-10, said it was just a better guitar. Played it over the phone for me. Got a free setup in the deal. 6 years later and it's still my go-to guitar for acoustic gigs.

[H165]

Around 1990, I bought a '39 Martin D-28 from a retired member (hired gun, I think) of the Sons of the Pioneers. That guitar is now owned by a member of the UMGF, but I doubt he knows its provenance. It was advertised in our local throw-away paper "The Recycler" as a "Used Martin D-28 guitar". When he opened the case, I about ripped my pocket getting out the money to pay for it. Fairly beat up; it had a volume-control hole drilled right through the top.... nice job, fellers. Looked bad, sounded incredible.

[6L6]

In 1991 I bought a 1953 blackguard Telecaster in its original tweed case for $300.

Just answered a newspaper ad that said, "Guitar for sale" with no other info other than a phone number.

I played that guitar in our band for 15 years and loved it. However, people I didn't know started taking notice at gigs and I became worried it would be stolen, so I sold it on for many thousands of dollars.

I used that money to stock up on cool acoustics I'd always wanted to own.

[Methos1979]

Generally speaking, most all of my guitar buying experiences have gone well. Two stick out for different reasons so I'll detail those here:

1.) Cole Clark Fat Lady 2 bought brand new from a small online retailer in Australia via Reverb. I ordered it on a Monday evening (so Tuesday morning Australian time) and he shipped within a few hours. I had that guitar in my hands on Thursday morning. From Australia. To New Hampshire. I've never gotten a guitar that fast, ever. From anywhere!

2.) Martin D-1 Custom bought brand new from a small online retailer in upstate New York also via Reverb. This one stands out because it was the first time I've ever used Affirm financing. While I could have afforded the full guitar price and I generally don't like and never (until this one) finance guitars, I decided to give it a try just to see how it went since the financing was free.

It could not have gone more smooth. I simply clicked on the Affirm option at payment, filled out a few details on their site, got immediate approval (I have an excellent credit rating) and the deal was done. They take payments directly from my account and it couldn't have been easier. I'll surely use them again. It's nice to break up that $4k purchase over 12 months.

[Pickcity]

I've had some very good buying experiences, and can't single out any single one as the very best, but my most recent purchase of a 2008 Gibson AJ was pretty awesome.

If you don't mind me breaking the theme a bit, I will tell you about the best sale I ever made. I sold an Alvarez silver anniversary classical guitar to a man who had immigrated from Poland and became a citizen. He was a classical guitar teacher in the north ATL area and needed a good guitar for loaning to students. Great guy, and he asked me a lot of questions about copyrights and publishing. We spent about an hour and a half talking in our local Sam Ash parking lot. That was 9 years ago and he still emails me at least once a month just to say hello...LOL...No purchases or sales have ever resulted in such a cool friend. Music is the best.

[David Rance]

Definitely a very hot day July 2018. Beautiful early morning drive from Lincolnshire then Norfolk, then Thetford Forest and on via Suffolk to Peach Guitars in Colchester to buy Martin OM28 Reimagined. Had to fix a flat tyre on my Mitsi in Colchester then baking drive in non-air conditioned car back home hoping my new guitar wasn't baking too. Playing the Martin at home in the evening the nicest instrument I had been lucky enough to own at that point. A revelation. Bit of a magical day all round really. Just a shame wife not there but she was otherwise engaged. We are lucky that our love for music and the guitar gives us so much joy.

Hope that's cheered you up Fatfinger. Stick with it !

[DaveForAries]

Just bought a Breedlove Organic Artista a few days ago from Harry's Guitar Shop in Raleigh NC. The salesman (Mike), took it down for me to play and it played like a dream! Then he comes over and says "If you like that one, these other 2 play kind of the same, see what you think." He spent time with me, we talked guitars and music (I'm 68, started playing again after a 45 year hiatus), stayed in the store for about 2 hours, it was just a very enjoyable experience.

I also have a 73 Framus Jumbo that I bought at a little store in Mannheim Germany (in 1973). I think it was a good experience, but I was 19 and full of good German beer when I bought it so I can't say for sure. :-)

Love this Breedlove!

[justonwo]

From a non-commissioned guitar, my best experiences have been with Schoenberg Guitars in Tiburon, California. Eric and James are fantastic.

[rokdog49]

They were all good. Lucky me.

[brianlcox]

I was contacted over the Lowden Facebook group by a member who had read that I was looking for a guitar. He had a large collection (over 50 acoustics if I remember correctly) and was looking to downsize. We phoned for about half an hour that afternoon and talked about what type of style I play and what I was looking for. That afternoon he gave me a list of 10 or 15 guitars that might fit my requirements. The next day his wife was driving near my house anyway, so she filled up the car with my most likely candidates and brought them to my house so that I could test and compare with my other guitars all afternoon!!!

After testing some very nice guitars I ended up getting a very good price on a Blazer SJ built just before they became Blazer and Henkes. A great guitar, but I got buyers remorse pretty quick because it was more guitar than I had ever owned. I wish I had it now, I could appreciate it much more!

The second best experience was when that same Blazer was traded for a Goodall TROM. I was contacted over a local "for sale" platform by a guy who told me that he was interested in my Blazer and had LOTS of stuff to trade. He wasn't joking. I brought a couple guitars over and we played together for a couple hours and had a great time. We made that trade, and then another a few months later. We almost traded a couple more times - a cool guy and GREAT player. I wish he lived closer!