New workshop service ....would anyone be interested?

FelineGuitars

We were thinking of adding a new kind of guitar set-up service aimed at those about to sell their guitar, but who wanted to sell them on with a clean bill of health and supply a disc of 10-12 decent quality photos to show the guitar off - just ready for ebay & forum adverts.

We thought this might be good for those who hate taking pics or only have a dodgy camera phone to do so.

1> do a clean up and service for anything that was needed - including frets and electrics etc

2> Professionally photograph the guitar  and offer a burnt CD with the pics in Hi res and Forum and ebay friendly sizes

We have good photographic facilities and the high res images are about 40mb (5000x2500 pixel) each & web friendly ones would be smaller (either 1024pixel or 800 pixel size)

We would charge for workbench and photo studio time at the same standard rate that we charge for repairs

Just an idea...don't know if it appeals

benmurray85

Great idea

xwolf5150

Not just a great idea for a seller.
Great idea for anyone with a guitar that's special to them.

monquixote

wolf5150 said:

Not just a great idea for a seller.
Great idea for anyone with a guitar that's special to them.

True, I could Imagine doing it with a guitar that was important to me. 

FelineGuitars

Would come in handy for insurance purposes should you ever be unfortunate enough to need to claim

octatonic

Good idea except the 'burn to a CD' bit.

User supplied memory stick or cloud storage is the only way to do it IMHO.

None of my computers even have CD drives anymore.

FelineGuitars

wolf5150 said:

Not just a great idea for a seller.
Great idea for anyone with a guitar that's special to them.

and nice pics to show off on forums and facebook etc.....or to share with friends

FelineGuitars

octatonic said:

Good idea except the 'burn to a CD' bit.

User supplied memory stick or cloud storage is the only way to do it IMHO.

None of my computers even have CD drives anymore.

I could see if i could get some cheap 1-2gb memory sticks perhaps

p90fool

I'd be far more likely to use it for a guitar I'm fond of rather than one I'm selling, although it does sound like a great idea for higher end sales.

meltedbuzzbox

What is your standard hourly rate?

FelineGuitars

We have kept our prices static at £40 per hour for about 5-6 years, but we have been forced to add VAT now as we are having to register for VAT as we have crossed fop the threshold. So end price to customer equals £48 per hour.

Roland

Handy service for a guitar you've just bought too.

johnnyurq

Sounds like a fantastic service and if I was closer would use it for certain.

ThePrettyDamned

If I had a guitar that I wanted to sell for over £1000, that would be excellent and well worth a couple of hours of your business.  

I think it's a great idea - probably not a huge seller of yours, but certainly a service worth offering

Iamnobody

This is a great idea, but as others have said only really worth carry out on guitars at a certain price point.

eBay and PayPal already relieve you of £100 on a sale over £700 so add another £100 and that's a big hit to a seller.

Still if you sell a Les Paul for £1200 and walk away with a quick sale (because your ad, photos and info is head and shoulders above the competition)and £1k in your pocket it's quite an attractive proposition.

However on a vintage instrument or a custom shop that's costs several thousands is where I think that service would really enhance things for both buyer and seller - it's all relative and a couple of hundred outlay to facilitate the sale is less consequential.

Not sure what you can do in 2 hours?

Would the service include an independent written appraisal which gave the new owner confidence?

Something like (off the top of my head)

Overall condition - 8/10

Fretware - minimal on top 3 only

Dings - none

Bucklerash - light

Action - measurements?

Manufacturers Documentation - All there

Case - odd scuff

Etc etc. Not sure exactly what you would rate and some things are of course subjective. I've seen sellers rate there own gear in similar ways but a third party appraisal would be preferable to any buyer.