Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

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fyre4ce
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Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:29 am

Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by fyre4ce »

Long story, but I'm in a position now where I need to help a family member sell a lot of guitars and some other instruments/accessories. I don't have any particular experience with them. They (and their owner) reside in a medium-size city on the east coast. Unfortunately, I'd both like to have a quick and easy sale, and extract close to as much money as I can from them, which I realize are in conflict with one another. Maybe there is some happy medium, or for instance sell the more expensive ones individually and the cheaper ones as a lot to a music store or something. Here's the list of items:

1978 Guild Artist Award
1968 Guild AF 110
1977 Gibson S-G
1966 Fender Jazzmaster
1985-6 Celebrity (by Ovation) CC65
1978 Ovation 1117-4
Custom Stratocaster built by a local music shop circa 2010
Dean European Custom Select (bass, unknown year)
559-1477 (bass, unknown make or year)
1967 Gibson ES355
1966 Fender Pro-Reverb AA165 amp
Pintech EX v2 electric drum set

The first two Guilds, and the amplifier, are each in the four-figure range I think based on some initial research. The rest, I'm not sure. Any suggestions on how to best liquidate these?
London
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Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by London »

Do some research on reverb and put them up for sale on that site. Guitars take a while to sell, and generally get less than you’d expect. Quicker options exist but will cut into price.
Jack FFR1846
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Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

For the Guilds, I'd very much recommend joining and selling on LetsTalkGuild
https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php

I have not sold a Guild there (my 69 Studio 302 my parents bought me when I was 12 is under my bed) but have dealt with purchasing and it's been very good. As with anything, use your own cautious judgement.
1978 Guild Artist Award
1968 Guild AF 110

The following might do well on Reverb. None are super valuable. You can always try Facebook marketplace or Craigslist. I've sold dozens of guitars below these values on Craigslist and the meeting and being handed cash is always anxiety relieving compared with shipping a guitar and hoping all goes well (did that once with a guitar selling for about $700)
1977 Gibson S-G
1966 Fender Jazzmaster
1985-6 Celebrity (by Ovation) CC65
1978 Ovation 1117-4
Also be super cautious or don't use eBay. I have a friend who sold a partscaster based on a 60's Jazzmaster and make it quite, quite clear in the ad what everything was and that it was not a Jazzmaster, but a JazzPartsMaster. The buyer was local but had the guitar shipped. He then complained to eBay that it wasn't genuine. eBay sided with him and said he did not have to return the guitar and got all his money back. As my friend was local and had young, big friends, when the guitar showed up on Craigslist, they went to "see" the guitar. If you don't have several big friends willing to help and a local buyer, if you get a scammer buyer, you'll get nothing and have paid for shipping out of your own pocket. I don't use eBay at all anymore.

"Partscasters" tend to bring close to nothing compared to what they cost to build. Even parting it out (name brand pickups, loaded pickguard, tuners) can bring more.
Custom Stratocaster built by a local music shop circa 2010

Can't help with a bass. I've acquired them and sold them all on Craigslist after researching what they sell for.
Dean European Custom Select (bass, unknown year)
559-1477 (bass, unknown make or year)

Ooooh, a semi hollow. So this will be another good money guitar like the Guilds above. I'd look for a pertinent Gibson forum. Sorry, I'm big on Strat Talk and TDPRI but never clicked with Gibsons.
1967 Gibson ES355

Sorry, don't know amps.
1966 Fender Pro-Reverb AA165 amp

So to give you an idea with shops, I've bought/sold with Guitar Center, Music Go Round and back in the day with Daddy's Junky Music. In general, they sell them for 1/2 what retail new is. You can figure they will offer you 50-60% of that. Yes, you can sell for more on marketplace or craigslist but if you want to carry the guitar in and carry a check out, they're certainly the most convenient. Be aware that any problems are going to reduce the value of the guitar/amp. If you were trading for something, they tend to allow more, but not a lot.

I have found that nearly everyone buying wants to try it out, which is reasonable. I would bring a small battery amp (think School of Rock, Jack Black) and that way they can see that the electrics all work. If someone wants to meet at a Guitar Center, that's fine but tell them you want to try out an amp with your guitar. Let the buyer know to be cool. Do NOT exchange cash in the store.
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Sandtrap
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Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by Sandtrap »

fyre4ce wrote: Wed Oct 30, 2024 3:40 pm Long story, but I'm in a position now where I need to help a family member sell a lot of guitars and some other instruments/accessories. I don't have any particular experience with them. They (and their owner) reside in a medium-size city on the east coast. Unfortunately, I'd both like to have a quick and easy sale, and extract close to as much money as I can from them, which I realize are in conflict with one another. Maybe there is some happy medium, or for instance sell the more expensive ones individually and the cheaper ones as a lot to a music store or something. Here's the list of items:

1978 Guild Artist Award
1968 Guild AF 110
1977 Gibson S-G
1966 Fender Jazzmaster
1985-6 Celebrity (by Ovation) CC65
1978 Ovation 1117-4
Custom Stratocaster built by a local music shop circa 2010
Dean European Custom Select (bass, unknown year)
559-1477 (bass, unknown make or year)
1967 Gibson ES355
1966 Fender Pro-Reverb AA165 amp
Pintech EX v2 electric drum set

The first two Guilds, and the amplifier, are each in the four-figure range I think based on some initial research. The rest, I'm not sure. Any suggestions on how to best liquidate these?
Find a reputable guitar store that sells high end guitars, and specializes in high end quality guitars.
Ask them if they can take all of your thgings on consignment.
Sell it that way. You will have the exposure of a high end shop vs doing it yourself.
Also, if some of the guitars are in demand, they might offer you a good price as well instead of consignment.
You might be surprised at how some guitars hold and exceed their original sales value.

The Guild's have a strong following. They were made well in the early years and have a unique sound.
j
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Strummer
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Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by Strummer »

As mentioned above, your best source for comparable prices will be Reverb.com. Make sure you're comparing apples to apples — don't compare a mint guitar that's been in a case in someone's closet for 40 years with one that's been through the wars.

BTW, a quick look at Reverb reveals that genuine 1966 Fender Jazzmasters can be pretty valuable.
SpaghettiLegs
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Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2022 8:20 pm

Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by SpaghettiLegs »

Wink, wink if they are left handed, send me a message. (Sorry delete if it offends rules mods, even though I’m joking, mostly)

My 1985 lefty Gibson SG is worth about $1500 I guesstimate. I don’t buy and sell many guitars but I do with old bicycles and to get a rough value for a bike, I search sold listings on EBay. Search the item on eBay, then on the left had side click on the box for sold items. I then subtract 10-20% from that price, more if shipping was included in the price. In the case of a guitar I would do the same on reverb as well as eBay. My guess would be the custom Strat isn’t worth a whole lot as a lot of people make and sell those. I’d really start though, by seeing what you could get for the lot, as it will be tedious work most likely selling individually to add probably 20% to the bottom line.

Edit: Also I had a Celebrity Ovation guitar from mid late 80’s as well, my first acoustic. Not a very good guitar and if you can’t find info on it, my guess is worth very little. The non celebrity Ovations were (are?) nice and we’re hot in the 80’s but I couldn’t afford one.
Dufus
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Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2023 8:35 pm

Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by Dufus »

Does the relative have musician friends that could help get the word out locally to guitar minded folk?
SueG5123
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Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 7:41 pm

Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by SueG5123 »

Try the web site Lets Talk Guild for Guild enthusiasts. Those guitars may be highly sought after.
Topic Author
fyre4ce
Posts: 2763
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:29 am

Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by fyre4ce »

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Most likely I will sell the two Guilds to a local guitar shop because there is an urgent need for cash. Assuming that happens, the others can most likely wait a bit and or probably makes sense to sell them on Reverb.com.
LISD
Posts: 360
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:52 pm

Re: Selling guitars and accessories (some expensive)

Post by LISD »

FYI - consignments usually charge a 20% of selling price fee.
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