FrugalGuitarist.com - Adrian-Webb

How to Find Great Guitar Gear Deals Part Three

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:12:00 -0500

So you're back for more great guitar gear buying info? Glad you did and welcome to my part three installment of "How to find Great Guitar Deals". Again, if you want to go back and read my previous articles just click on my name that links you to my previous articles. As always I welcome your comments and thanks for visiting FG.

CRAIGS LIST, the "other" internet buy/sell site - Like eBay, Craig's List (CraigsList.org) is another national buy/sell internet site where you can find great deals but it works very differently. Yes, Craig's List services on a national level, coast to coast but 1- unlike eBay there is no auction. You list your item, set a price, and prepare to haggle with the potential seller/buyer who answers your ad. Also 2- unlike eBay, 99% of the transactions are done on a local level. In other words you literally meet the seller. By the way the upside of Craig's list is that I don't think there are fees for buying or selling. Not sure how they make their money but OK, and like eBay to set up an account is free. Here are a few tips when making a deal on Craig's List:

When you find the item you're interested in buying make sure the asking price is within a reasonable price range to what its actually worth. If you read my other articles you'll know that research is KEY to knowing what to pay. If the seller is priced way out of the ball park don't bother, it just shows they aren't in-touch with reality and the interaction with the seller will probably be negative. Let it go.
Beware of the crazies out there. If you see an add yelling at you in ALL CAPS that they are VERY firm on the price, and they will curse out anyone who tries to haggle with them I have two words for you - STAY AWAY. Maybe the seller is just frustrated but why take a chance on meeting someone unstable.
Speaking of unstable ALWAYS meet in a public place. If the seller (or buyer) insists on going to your place or insists that you go to their place - STAY AWAY. Keep it public, keep it in the open, keep it safe. All the transactions I've made via Craig's have ALWAYS been in the parking lot of a busy local mall, and Yes, I've definitely made some killer guitar deals through Craigs List and lived.

One of my most recent Craig's List acquisitions is a NOS (new old stock) still in the box Fender Deluxe Lonestar™ Stratocaster®, Rosewood fretboard, HSS pups, Brown Sunburst finish that I scored for $225.00 with case. At that price it's of course the MIM version but still nice. As the shopper guru do I always get the deal? Hell No!! Here's what just happened to me last week and I'm still feeling the pain. I have been toying with the idea of getting back into drumming and I started browsing for a vintage set of Slingerland drums ((fyi, vintage Slingerland and Gretsch drums are like the "gold standard" in used drums - a good investment). Mid-life crisis you say? Maybe but cheaper than a candy apple red Corvette. So I finally found a great set at a great price on Craigs List and I immediately called the seller only to find out the Slingerlands were sold the day before. Oh well, we can't win 'em all but we can always try... Moving on to Retail Stores - Before we get into "chain" super stores and the internet retailers I want to remind you that there is a strong possibility to find great deals in the Mom & Pop stores too. A few months ago I was looking to buy a tribute guitar in memory of my Father who passed away. He loved all the jazz guitar greats and I thought how cool it would be to learn some jazz chords and buy a hollowbody jazz box. I decided on an Epi "Swingster" but when I couldn't find the exact color I wanted a friend of mine suggested I visit one those local Mom & Pop Music stores . Low and behold they had one in the transparent cherry stain finish with hard shell case I've been looking for. What a great experience, the very knowledgeable sales person was actually the owner and I not only bought a guitar but made a friend. I still stop in every now and then to say hello and look over their inventory.

OK, back to the big boys let's start with: Sam Ash Music who has 45 stores in several states as well as a strong retail internet presence (SamAsh.com). Sam Ash is where I scored a great deal on the Crate V50 tube combo amp. Another music company I've had good experiences with is Musician's Friend (Musiciansfriend.com). They are a 100% internet based retailer and what impressed me about this company is IF you let their mgmt staff know about any problem or concern you may have, they will bend over backwards to make the situation right to keep you as a happy customer. Read below how the "Deal God" was smiling at me with an unbelievable deal on a Epi LP. In a past life I was CEO of a national QA & Operations consulting firm with a 27 year success track record so I look at how customer service is handled VERY carefully. One of the largets retailers is Guitar Center. Like Sam Ash is both a brick & mortar and internet based music store. They have 225 stores and has the best and maybe the only retailer that takes used instruments seriously. If you go to GuitarCenter.com and click on "Used Gear" you will be amazed to find they take the time to list all the used gear on-line in all of their 225 stores across the country. Also, I believe if you are not happy with any used gear you buy, you can return it to any of their retail stores or ship it back. I personally recently bought a used Blackstar all-tube amp head and my overall experience was excellent! I would definitely do it again.

Another internet music stores I recommend is Music 123 (Music123.com), actually Musician's Friend, Guitar Center, and Music123 are all the same company. They were consolidated by Bain Capital (along with Brasswind & Woodwind, Music & Arts, Harmony Central, and a few other companies). While each brand runs independently with each offering different deals, they all share the same warehouse and call center. I've heard that Music123 coupon codes are the only of those companies which do not seem to have the laundry list of company exclusions and occasionally allows stacking of discount codes too. Other cyber retailers to name a few include: American Music Supply, ZZounds, and Same Day Music which are also a conglomerate.

OK, now it's time for the good stuff with hands-on buying tips:

GET ON THEIR MAILING LIST. Trust me, it's really worth it. You never know when they'll shoot you an email saying the item you've been hunting for is having a blow-out sale and selling at a ridiculously low price. Show the retailers a little love by signing up for their news letter and you'll get it back tenfold.
DO COMPARISON SHOPPING. If there's one retailer you like better or prefer to do business with for whatever reason, such as reputation, or not charging tax or shipping and you find the item you want selling for less somewhere else, ask the sales associate if they will price match. If they say no DON'T GIVE UP, in friendly tone just ask for the manager. Most of the time the manager will do more to provide a pleasant customer experience.
LOOK FOR COUPONS. Sometimes with the right coupons you will get a sale price on top of another sale price on the same item. My next real-life example actually combines tip # 1 AND tip #3. I live in one of the areas that was heavily hit by Hurricane Irene. In preparation of the storm my wife and I batten down the hatches and took all the needed precautions in our home and waiting to hear if our area was going to be evacuated. We weren't but with nothing else to do but wait out the storm I was bored and stressed. My readers already know that I find browsing the internet and shopping for guitar gear very relaxing and for whatever reason I decided I needed to find a deal and buy an LP with P-90 pups. Maybe a little stress related insanity? Probably, but it kept my mind off the impending doom. As if on cue Musicians Friend sent me an email (read Tip #1) two days before Irene hit saying they were having a blow-out sale on a really nice Epi LP Custom 1956's reissue with P-90's which regularly sold for $549.00 now on sale for $299.00 WITH A BONUS GIFT - a deluxe Epi LP hard shell case. NICE!!, but do I leave well enough alone? NO!! I googled "Musicians Friend discount coupons" (read Tip #3) and again like magic I find $45.00 OFF on all purchases $299.00 and greater coupon. So the whole shebang cost me a total of $254.00 with no tax and free shipping. It was like the Deal God himself came down from the heavens and said; "ADRIAN, buy this guitar NOW!!" and so I did - Take my advice, never argue with the Deal God.
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS JUST ASK! My wife wanted to buy me a bicycle for my birthday and I decided on one of those retro looking beach cruisers. Hey, if I'm going bike riding - I gotta look coool doing it! So off we went bike shopping at our local bike shop. They had a beauty with old style double bar frame, heavy padded quilted triangle seat, a front basket for our little Chihuahua; "Mr. Peppi", and all the extras. It was just what I wanted except for the price. Even though it was a gift I would not, and could not let my wife pay retail, it just goes against my grain. So after a few weeks went by we decided to stop by the bike shop again just to see if the bike was still there and it was. The sales associate told me the bike's been on the sales floor for a while and the store manager would definitely work with me on price. I'm in my comfort zone because I love to haggle and all in all, after the carnage I got the price down 25% off the already discounted price. Like I said, when all else fails it just pays to ask because as we say in New York; "If you don't ask, You don't get". If you're too shy or embarrassed to ask, no problem - Just whip out your charge card and pay retail!!

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ: Here at The Frugal Guitarist we try to offer something for all our readers BUT we need to hear what you want to see more of. Reviews?, How to's?, or whatever. Feel free to contact me Adrian Webb, or Will Chen and let us know. We want to hear from you! Thanks.

Future articles & reviews include:

Low cost mods to get the best million dollar tone out of your current gear.
Head to head review with Blackstar vs Blackheart 5 watt all tube amp heads.
How to find Guitar related FREEBIES on the net and from retailers too.

Again, thanks for visiting FG and stop back often because we constantly have great, new content. See you next time, Adrian Webb

How to Find Great Guitar Gear Deals Part Two

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Friends, Romans, Guitarists, and Gear junkies - lend me your ears... or should I say lend me you "time" while you read this. Hi everyone, this is Adrian Webb back again for a second installment of my buying gear guide. To recap Part One in a nut shell (you can check it out here), I offer and review several different buying strategies to get the gear you want at a price you don't mind paying. In this article of Buying Gear Guide Part Two I am going to get into the meat and potatoes with not only specific sites to browse but hands-on tips on how to get the prices lower than advertised discount prices.

EBAY SETS THE PRICE

Ebay is an auction style internet site (ebay.com) that has grown to international levels. It allows both buyer to browse and the seller a huge exposure in a multitude of markets and countries to sell their wares both new and used. How big you ask? Let's talk guitars!

This PRS was bought from a guy who won it in a poker game for half what its worth on eBay.

In the USA market alone there are between 50 and 75 thousand guitars available for purchase at any given moment and that's only guitars. Also at any given moment and not counting actual guitars, there are over 200 thousand guitar accessories such as fx pedals, strings, amps, stands, anything and everything guitar you can think of. You say you want guitar jewelry or a guitar ball cap and t-shirt and I don't mean to beat a dead horse but that's another 250 thousand items classified under non-musical instruments. This all sounds great but there a downside in a huge market place like this…it’s expensive. To the seller on average between the listing fees, selling fees, and PayPal fees you are looking at approximately 10% of the selling price to go towards fees. And to the buyer, that marvelous steal of a deal you thought you found most likely has hefty shipping charges attached to it. On the upside, Ebay has an extensive customer service staff to assist in any way to help make the transaction go smoothly. They even act as mediators to settle disputes. One time I bought an item from a seller in China and it arrived without the needed manual and instructions. It took about a week, but in the end Ebay customer service settled the issue to my satisfaction. Why am I going on, and on, and on about eBay? Because this is where you will find most of your deals, and that's what I'm here for…to show you how to find great deals. Another good place internet alternative for deals is Craigs List and I will cover that for you in part three.

OK, so we established that eBay is an important player, if not the most important player when it comes to finding deals. I have been an eBayer (learn the lingo - short for eBay member) for seven years and I must have bought and sold over 50 guitars, along with countless other "stuff". So yes, I would say I know my way around the eBay circuit.

Here are some important tips to follow when using eBay:

It's assumed that you already have an eBay and paypal account, both are free so do it today.

Browse for the item you have in mind to buy and browse often. Luckily I find it relaxing. It's like play time for my brain. When you found the item you need to check on two things:

The Seller - check the seller feedback score. Check for any Negative Feedback on the seller, read the reviews given by other eBay members who have dealt with that person. Watch out for a low feedback score or a high number of negative feedbacks. If the seller has a low feedback score, the seller has nothing to lose to scam the buyer especially if it's a high ticket item and later simply get a new eBay account. So don't be so excited about making the deal of the century that you lose sight of possible red flags!!
The Item - It's important to search other sites for the item you want to buy to make sure you aren't paying too much. Also important is to check their shipping fees. Just today I wish I followed my own advice. I bought a new microphone on eBay for my home studio and for whatever reason just for the heck of it I looked it up on the net and the exact same Mic went on sale at Musicians Friend. I actually saved five dollars buying from the eBay seller but I would have preferred paying the extra five dollars to buy from a large, supply house like Musician's Friend than from an ebayer selling items out of his garage.

If you found a deal but it's still more than what you want to pay and it has many bids on it - let it go. The one take-away "deal making tactic" I got from Donald Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal" is the best negotiating stand a deal maker can make is prepare to walk away. This is so true on so many levels and not used just for buying guitar gear. In other words you will enjoy your guitar gear so much more when you know you got it for the best deal possible. If this deal isn't quite the deal you thought, what do you do? Walk away because there will be other deals. Patience is key.

If you found a deal but it’s still more than what you want to pay and it has no bids on it, let the auction run out. Then contact the seller and either make an offer, or ask what's the lowest they are willing to take for an immediate sale. Keep in mind that contacting the seller through eBay for a private sale is against eBay rules. Alternately you can try what I did just last week - I asked if the seller wanted to make an even guitar trade and I was shocked to hear him say yes. I always wanted to add a Switch Vibracell guitar to my collection. The Switch Guitar is a 100% unibody made of a polymer graphite similar to that of a bowling ball. There isn't a bit of wood on the entire guitar and yet the tone & sustain of this guitar is amazing. This one was a top of the line Signature model in mint condition with high end pickups and came with a fitted hard shell case. I in turn had a Hamer double cut gold top with P-90's I was tired of and willing to trade. I suggested an even trade and he agreed. YAY!! We both get new "toys" to play with and the only expense was shipping... Let me make it clear that although this particular transaction turned out fine in all fairness to my readers I have to be the first to admit this kind of deal is against the eBay rules and can go wrong in the following ways.

No protection from eBay.
Descriptions of used guitar gear is very subjective and when you get the trade it more often than not won't meet your expectations.
The other person may just keep your trade and not send you anything at all and what can you do when that person is thousands of miles away? So I don't advocate this sort of deal. I am thankful that this particular one-time trade went smoothly THIS TIME but I'm not sure if I would do it again. Actually Craigs List is the better way to go for this sort of transaction

Although I made $500 net profit when I sold this Ovation 12 string w/ case, it still hurt having to buy a box and then pay $62.50 to ship it.

How to Avoid Costly eBay Shipping Charges - another great eBay feature that I'll mention here is Ebay lets you set many search filters to find just the item you are looking for. They also allow you to set filters for WHERE you are buying the item from. Under DISTANCE, you can set how many miles from your zip code you are willing to travel for LOCAL PICKUP. This way you avoid shipping charges that can sometimes be significant. I once sold a Ovation deep bowl 12 string with Original hard shell case and my shipping charges were $62.50, Oooouch! So watch your shipping charges both buying and selling eBay items. Back to local pickup, just so you know - the item will most likely need to be fully paid for before the eBay seller agrees to a local pickup.

Free Selling and Buying Software Tools - When selling, the most crucial listing time frame in a eBay auction is the last 5 minutes of your listing. Ebayers usually spot what they want to buy, and they watch, and they watch until just before the listing ends and go in for the kill and unless you are using the right software that allows you to list multiple items at the same time, you have the frustrating task of creating your listing one item at a time and as you will learn - there is a specific window of opportunity for optimum selling. Do you want to miss your prime time to sell by having your listing end at noon on a weekday when everyone is at work (or school), or do you want your listing to have maximum exposure and end at prime time when your potential buyer is home for the evening, has already had supper, and now watching your item!?! Ebay offers free software that you install on your computer and it gives you complete control of how and when you list your item(s). It's called Turbo Lister. Just go to ebay.com and search "TURBO LISTER" and all the information you need to download, install, and use Turbo Lister will be right there. I use it myself and has worked well for me!

When buying, the most crucial time is the last 5 minutes of the listing, exactly the same as when selling. Most people including myself wait for the very last minute to bid. However, a better way to give the best possible bid to win the item you want is through a software called sniping. How sniping works is you tell the program the maximum bid you are willing to offer for the item you are bidding on and it automatically bids for you. Just like a hawk circling overhead it literally posts the best bid on your behalf within nano-seconds of the listing auction end. I have literally seen a guitar that I was interested in shoot up five hundred dollars in a matter of seconds. Needless to say when I saw how high it finally sold for I didn't feel bad because the price tag was way more than my budget would allow. Most of the time this is not a free program but I go the extra mile for my readers and scored not one but a couple free versions of sniping software. I'll leave it up to you to read up on them, check their reviews, and make sure there aren't hidden costs. 1- GIXEN.COM, no download required, places best bid for you at the very last minute, and your computer doesn't have to be on. My only caution on this one is that all your ebay information is on their servers. 2- BAYGENIE.COM offers a fully functioning FREE version, and a PRO version that offers more functions and flexibility. Again my only word of caution is for you to do due diligence. Check it out carefully and see if the program parameters works for you.

If you like my articles or can add additional information that your fellow FG readers could use, send me in your comments I would love to hear from you. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this "Buying Guide" series covering getting the best prices from CraigsList and even brick and mortar retail stores too. - Adrian Webb

How to Find Great Guitar Gear Deals Part One

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:02:00 -0500

Do you love getting a deal on something you bought as much as I do? Do you take the "hunt" for bargains seriously? Can you feel that tone monster tube amp you wanted, or that Olympic White, Fender Strat ala Hendrix taunting you? Challenging you to find it for a super marked down price somewhere out there in the great abyss?

If your answer is yes to any of the above, then you either forgot to take your meds today or you're a bargain hunting gear junkie JUST LIKE ME! As such, there are times you buy something you don’t really need OR just buy something because you're bored with your old toys and wanting a new "toy" to play with. No problem either way because whenever you buy something at the right price you can always sell for what you paid or even make a profit on it. So if you want some bargain hunting tips, read on.

Before I show you how to find the deals let's clear the air. Make no mistake, great deal finding comes from dedication and patience. If you aren't willing to put in the time you may as well just whip out your over extended charge card and drive down to your local music store and pay way too much for whatever it is you're looking for.

Keep in mind my buying fundamentals in this article will help you get the best price in ANY buying situation, not just guitar gear. Most buying situations fall into three categories; the spontaneous transaction, the planned transaction, and what I term as the lateral transaction.

The spontaneous transaction

You are out and about and minding your own business when suddenly you see something you absolutely have to have. It could be at your local guitar shop where you bought a pedal board when you only intended to buy strings. It could be a yard sale you passed selling vintage guitar gear. As long as you go by the following rule in whatever you buy - You can't go wrong! "Only buy what you can sell for at least what you paid"!! In other words, know your products and prices before buying or 99% of the time you will pay too much.

For example my wife dragged me along to browse the local antique shops (free marriage advice: "choose your battles wisely" so I went) and at one of the shops I start drooling and twitching and my wife asks in an alarmed tone; "Honey, what's the matter?" I asked her what she sees. She said an old broken down guitar with no strings. I said NO, that's a 1957 Kay Archtop Blues Guitar in excellent condition that just needs a few parts. I bargained down the price to $45.00. All it needed was an easy to add bridge & tail piece. I bought it and my total investment was $85.00 for a guitar worth five times more. One of my readers asked me if this rule works for new gear bought in music stores. Absolutely! More often than not, there are little known deep discounted sales and clearance items of inventory that hasn't sold well. Keep reading below to see how I landed a super deal at Musician's Friend and Sam Ash.

The planned transaction

There's an item you want and you do your homework. Look at the specs, read the reviews, know the market and the going prices…then the hunt begins looking for those deep discounts I keep talking about. One place people don't think of looking for deals on new items is on craigslist & eBay, but they are there. Like I said, you need to have patience to "browse" if you want to find the really good deals. One day I looked through my guitar collection and noticed I didn't have a dedicated solid body electric with P-90's. To make a long story short, I found a factory fresh, new Epi LP Custom with hard shell case at Musician’s Friend on clearance for the unreal price of $299.00. Then, I found an active M.F. discount coupon for $45.00 off $299.00 and bought this $700.00 P-90 guitar & hard shell case for $254.00. You just gotta love Musician’s Friend. Another example is when I found a new Crate V-50 112 all tube combo amp on clearance at Sam Ash for half of the regular street price. So the bargains are definitely out there. You just gotta get into the game and start looking. And yes, I have to admit that luck is also a factor.

The lateral transaction

The lateral transaction is actually a planned transaction on steroids because you are planning through your first transaction as a stepping stone to get the item you really want in the second transaction. Now, before you look at me like a confused Irish Setter let me explain. Say the item you want is a really hot item that is relatively new to the market, or a rare, vintage gem and no one, nowhere is discounting the price and its more than you can afford. The solution is use your buying skills to find a killer deal on an easy to sell item you can make a profit on, sell it and use the profits towards your target purchase. Some people actually make a living doing this.

Here is my story using the lateral transaction. I always wanted to own the legendary vintage Epiphone Genesis in mint condition. They called this great electric solid body the "LP Killer" because it was everything a Gibson Les Paul is and more. It appeared on the market in the late 70's and only sold for 3 years. It's on the pricey side if you can even find one because only a few were made! Even with my connections, I would say that only a half dozen of these vintage gems are available each year. You never know where your treasure will appear and while browsing craigslist one day I found a Genesis for sale in the rare wine red transparent finish. It was in pretty rough shape so I cleaned her up and sold her on eBay as a "project" guitar and made $150 on the deal. And yes you guessed it, I placed my profits in my little "wish-list" fund to buy the Genesis in mint condition that I was originally looking for. I saw, I conquered, I sold, and bought something else...

I plan on writing a part two of this article where I will cover how to find and buy the best deals on eBay and Craigs List, and how to surf the net to find other great deals too.

Future articles I am working on include: "Simple Mods for that million dollar sound", and "New VS Used and the transition of quality", and "Where to find FREE essential information every guitarist should know from free lessons for any playing level to free how-to guitar maintenance. I also plan to review several excellent, undervalued guitars, amps, and F/X pedals that can be found at very reasonable prices.

Until next time - Adrian Webb