Question for guitarists

[Len]

Hey guys.

After more than 40 years of guitar playing, teaching and performing, I have to hang it up. The hands just won't cooperate anymore. Arthritis is making it very difficult to keep on playing.

I have been out of the inner circle of guitarists for quite a while, and want to sell off a rarely used mint D28 [among others]...but don't know where to go to sell it.

Here are the options I've already tossed out: First, Craig's List. Around here, it's just an easy way to get scam emails, and have real shady types come around. EBay is out....since they are hostile to the sale of firearms, I don't feel like doing business with them.

I searched for places online. Can't find anything that looks reliable. The really good guitar shops around Michigan are offering about 50% or less than appraised value. I know they have to make a profit, but they don't get to make 50% from me!

I did find one place that will sell on consignment. They charge 10% of the final sale.

Is there a better way/place? Or is the consignment deal about as good as it gets?

If all else fails, I'll just take the collection and donate them for tax value to a music school that needs them!

Thanks for any input,

Len.

PS...and yes, it is difficult to admit that this wonderful avocation is over. It was a great ride!

 

[drfunk]

You might want to look into the unnoficial Martin guitar forum for more help. A bunch of very knowledgable guys and they have a buy and sell section. And isn't Elderly Guitars in Michigan? I've heard nothing but good things about them. Is this a vintage D28?
Sorry to hear that you have to give it up.

 

[Krell1]

I also had to quit playing due to arthritic hands. I still have one guitar that I'm toying with selling but can't bring myself to do it. It's not extremely special, a Gigson L50 from the late 40's. I bought it back in the late 60's for $25. I had it in for a little repair last year and was told it's worth about $1800 in it's current condition (very good). This was from Cow Town guitars in Las Vegas (the same people used by The Pawn Shop guys). This is actually sort of how I feel about my guns. I just can't sell any no matter how lucrative the deal may be.

 

[moe smith]

Hey guys.

After more than 40 years of guitar playing, teaching and performing, I have to hang it up. The hands just won't cooperate anymore. Arthritis is making it very difficult to keep on playing.

I have been out of the inner circle of guitarists for quite a while, and want to sell off a rarely used mint D28 [among others]...but don't know where to go to sell it.

Here are the options I've already tossed out: First, Craig's List. Around here, it's just an easy way to get scam emails, and have real shady types come around. EBay is out....since they are hostile to the sale of firearms, I don't feel like doing business with them.

I searched for places online. Can't find anything that looks reliable. The really good guitar shops around Michigan are offering about 50% or less than appraised value. I know they have to make a profit, but they don't get to make 50% from me!

I did find one place that will sell on consignment. They charge 10% of the final sale.

Is there a better way/place? Or is the consignment deal about as good as it gets?

If all else fails, I'll just take the collection and donate them for tax value to a music school that needs them!

Thanks for any input,

Len.

PS...and yes, it is difficult to admit that this wonderful avocation is over. It was a great ride!

I know a place. PM sent.

 

[kozmic]

Have you put the word out to your buddies? I get calls and inquiries about guitars for sale from the somewhat small network of musicians in this area all the time.

Consignment of vintage pieces to the right shop could ultimately yield you more money and quicker. Elderly, Rumble Seat and the very cool Cow Town would be good choices to name a few.

I'm so sorry you have to give up playing. It's so therapeutic and rewarding.

Good luck and well wishes Len.

Koz

 

[federali]

Guitars

I've got arthritis in my thumbs but it's the loss of brain function that's affected my guitar playing. I used to be able to play a tune a few times and know it cold. Now, I can play something to death and it's forgotten by the next day. Very frustrating.

My feeling about ebay is that they fear civil responsibility if a gun passing though their web site ends up in a tragic shooting incident such as Sandy Hook. As ebay allows many firearms accessories such as magazines, reloading components, holsters, etc., I won't boycott them.

You might try the following: UG Community @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com - The Pit

It's a guitar forum very much like this forum but centered on the ax.

 

[cemeteryman]

Does Elderly in Lansing do consignment? That might be a decent way to go, if the percentages are right. They get a lot of foot traffic (plus web traffic) for good instruments, and there is a good music scene in town so the market is good.

I wouldn't rule out CraigsList. I have generally had good luck selling instruments on there, and would do it again, even net of having to cull through the BS emails that come in.

 

[Len]

And isn't Elderly Guitars in Michigan? I've heard nothing but good things about them. Is this a vintage D28?
Sorry to hear that you have to give it up.

Drfunk, Elderly is here in Michigan, and they were one of the places I've been to. They are on the "back burner" for now, unless I can come up with something better. The guitar is a spotless 1998 D28, so no, it's not vintage, it's just a very nice guitar.

Have you put the word out to your buddies? I get calls and inquiries about guitars for sale from the somewhat small network of musicians in this area all the time.

Consignment of vintage pieces to the right shop could ultimately yield you more money and quicker. Elderly, Rumble Seat and the very cool Cow Town would be good choices to name a few.

I'm so sorry you have to give up playing. It's so therapeutic and rewarding.

Good luck and well wishes Len.

Koz, thanks for the reply. The oldest guitar I have is never leaving the family....too much laughter, tears and hours invested in it!! Being out of the "player loop" for several years has left me out of touch with the local musicians!

Also, thanks Federali and cemeteryman, your experience and information are helpful, and I appreciate it!

Thanks to Moe, too, pm replied....

Len

 

[Len]

I also had to quit playing due to arthritic hands. I still have one guitar that I'm toying with selling but can't bring myself to do it. It's not extremely special, a Gigson L50 from the late 40's. I bought it back in the late 60's for $25. I had it in for a little repair last year and was told it's worth about $1800 in it's current condition (very good). This was from Cow Town guitars in Las Vegas (the same people used by The Pawn Shop guys). This is actually sort of how I feel about my guns. I just can't sell any no matter how lucrative the deal may be.

Hey Krell,

Yeah, I hear you. I'm keeping the "darling" of the bunch, even if I never play it again, it's a one in a million instrument.

Len

 

[rwsmith]

I have two good instruments......

I have two good instruments at a shop on consignment. They aren't moving. I agree to find a community that would appreciate what you have got.

Sorry you've got to give up something you love. Maybe you can find a new instrument. If I want to 'play around' I have an electronic keyboard where blending the voices and altering tones is a real kick and doesn't require the strength and dexterity a piano does to get some good stuff out it.

 

[RobertJ.]

Do you have any really good friends that play? You might want to consider giving it to one of them, since you were considering donating it to a worthy cause anyway. Someone who would keep it as the prize that it is, and use it the way it should be used.

One of my favorite sayings has always been "That which a man sows, that also shall he reap". I've found it to be true again and again!

 

[drfunk]

Len, any D28 is a very nice guitar! I have a Santa Cruz and love it but I always keep an eye out for a Martin.
You've piqued my curiosity. What is the "darling"?

 

[blackdeuce]

You might try selling it on this forum. I sold an American Deluxe Stratocaster on here recently for my son.

 

[vigil617]

Len, I don't play and I'm no musician, but I sense the sadness with which you've posted here. I don't know what to say about it, except that you've put a lot of notes out there over the years, and I'm sure brought a lot of pleasure to many people. Your gift of music is a blessing from God, and I hope you'll be able to continue to share it with others in the future. I know this isn't a help to you in finding a place for your guitar, and I don't intend it to be, but I just want to say to you that you have a gift that I wish I had been given too. I've received others, and am thankful for them, but would love in this lifetime to have been able to do what you have done. Keep the faith, brother, and good luck to you on the next phase of what is surely to come. Peace.

 

[A10]

I know how you feel, I suffered nerve damage in my left hand about 5 years ago and can't do much more than bar chord now. I've sold everything but my 1975 Epi FT350 I bought with my first real paycheck. It's one of the Norlin Japan marked ones, but as I understand it they were only made in Nashville (please let me know if you have any other information).

Sorry for the drift, when I sold all of mine I lost money on them, with the exception of an early G&L, so I'm not much help.

 

[ProgressiveTruth]

PM me and we will talk if you have a moment. My name is Kimberly.

 

[Len]

Len, any D28 is a very nice guitar! I have a Santa Cruz and love it but I always keep an eye out for a Martin.
You've piqued my curiosity. What is the "darling"?

Drfunk,

In 1985, I picked up a brand that at the time I had never heard of. It's a Alvarez Yairi series, DY 73 CS [concert series] in a sunburst finish. It was 525.00 at a little guitar store in Rolla, Missouri. The shop owner told me that this particular guitar was "something special." I picked it up, began playing, and he was right.

The brand doesn't have the value that the bigger names have, so the price hasn't really increased. It's the one that I've had the longest, and if anything, it looks better now than the day I bought it!

Handmade in Japan [go figure], lifetime warranty, paired with the right strings, it sounds like an angel. Quality rosewood, no laminates...it's the "darling."

Only thing I did to it was to lower the action a tad to make it a perfect fingerstyle instrument, and I swapped tuners to gold Schallers. Everyone that has ever played it has wanted to buy it from me.

It's been with me through decades of use, kept me sane when I was a poor starving student, and been the vehicle for teaching dozens of students.

This is the one that I won't sell...it'll probably go to one of my nephews when it's time.

Len

 

[Len]

Len, I don't play and I'm no musician, but I sense the sadness with which you've posted here. I don't know what to say about it, except that you've put a lot of notes out there over the years, and I'm sure brought a lot of pleasure to many people. Your gift of music is a blessing from God, and I hope you'll be able to continue to share it with others in the future. I know this isn't a help to you in finding a place for your guitar, and I don't intend it to be, but I just want to say to you that you have a gift that I wish I had been given too. I've received others, and am thankful for them, but would love in this lifetime to have been able to do what you have done. Keep the faith, brother, and good luck to you on the next phase of what is surely to come. Peace.

Vigil,

"To everything, there is a time..." It's a little bummer to not be able to play, but I can do everything else....like shooting and working with my dogs! It's just another milepost experience.

As Dr. Seuss said, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened!

Thanks for your kind words.

Len

 

[kozmic]

Drfunk,

In 1985, I picked up a brand that at the time I had never heard of. It's a Alvarez Yairi series, DY 73 CS [concert series] in a sunburst finish. It was 525.00 at a little guitar store in Rolla, Missouri. The shop owner told me that this particular guitar was "something special." I picked it up, began playing, and he was right.

The brand doesn't have the value that the bigger names have, so the price hasn't really increased. It's the one that I've had the longest, and if anything, it looks better now than the day I bought it!

Handmade in Japan [go figure], lifetime warranty, paired with the right strings, it sounds like an angel. Quality rosewood, no laminates...it's the "darling."

Only thing I did to it was to lower the action a tad to make it a perfect fingerstyle instrument, and I swapped tuners to gold Schallers. Everyone that has ever played it has wanted to buy it from me.

It's been with me through decades of use, kept me sane when I was a poor starving student, and been the vehicle for teaching dozens of students.

This is the one that I won't sell...it'll probably go to one of my nephews when it's time.

Len

You're lucky to have happened across an instrument like that.
Some might call it fate!

 

[macbullet]

You might try The Steel Guitar Forum. They have a separate section for selling guitars. A lot of them guys play everything.