Condition of guitars you received,

xmrchi

Hi all,
I have done some trading recently, some totally amazing guitars. A butterscotch strat deluxe, Gibson chet atkins sst and a gibson l 50 archtop.
When received the strat and sst, they were dusty smudged and badly set up, the l 50 as great tho.

All three guys were lovely and clearly had a passion for guitars.

Before I trade, I always give the guitar a proper once over Polish, nice setup and if needed new strings, but rarely over the last year have other people done the same. It's not really a gripe as I love setting up cleaning them anyways but, am I alone in the cleaning before trade stakes?

What do you guys do?
What's the worst condition you have received a guitar in?

LooseMoose

I bought a bass from ebay and I swear it was actually covered in some kind of excrement. It was so disgusting that I coated it in Jif for an hour (literally soaked it) before attempting to clean further. Yuck.

ThePrettyDamned

I clean mine before I send them on, admittedly it's not very often. But I don't go nuts on it, just make sure they don't get a fingerboard covered in grime

Not new strings as they'll usually want their own gauge and brand on.

DrJazzTap

Hmm most of mine have been brand new. The PRS wasn't too bad, could have done a with a clean before hand. But it wasn't horrendous. Personally speaking I can't sell a guitar on, unless I've given it a once over. I don't do set ups (idiot with that sort of thing), but I pony up the extra £20 or so to get one carried out by a local guitar shop. It's what I'd want if I were to buy a guitar, i do the same with pedals and anything else to be fair. I think selling something covered in crud is just rank tbh.

richardhomer

I've only ever sold pedals but have always made sure they are clean and are posted with the box and instructions, whenever I've still had them.

To send something out dirty is just the height of disrespect to the puchaser in my view. Most people would 'mint up' their car before selling it - I can't see why you wouldn't do the same with a guitar.

capo4th

Send as you would like to receive simple

jd0272

Nice and clean. I have tended to send unstrung (yes, I know the debate....) but put a set in the case so the new owner can set up as desired.

chrisj1602

I was selling a mint 72 Tele reissue, thought if give it a quick clean, then caught in on the lock when putting it back in the case! Luckily it was on the back and the buyer was happy with a tenner knocked off!

xmrchi

chrisj1602;384686" said:

I was selling a mint 72 Tele reissue, thought if give it a quick clean, then caught in on the lock when putting it back in the case! Luckily it was on the back and the buyer was happy with a tenner knocked off!

What a bugger! So your the one who now keeps send me dirty guitars

xmrchi

@richardhomer totally agree, it's also a 5th of the work compared to cleaning a guitar☺

drwiddly

I keep my guitars pretty clean anyway so a quick polish is all they need if I sell one. I bought a PRS SE on eBay a few years ago from a guy in rural Wales. I think he was using it to dig the garden! I've never seen so much crud on a guitar - took me hours to clean it.

Philly_Q

I always give them a quick polish to get rid of any fingerprints etc, but I wouldn't go so far as to fit a new set of strings, that's money down the drain.

Darren

I always clean and polish a guitar and fit new strings before I have sent it out.. I have bought several guitars on this forum and the old MR forum.. One that stands out for me is when I opened the case the guitar was caked in dust and was filthy rotten and the strings were all but black.. After a couple of hrs it was lovely again but I would never dream of sending a guitar out in that kinda condition..

Chuffola

Yep - I'd always give them a quick clean, nothing too extreme but removing dust and fingerprint smudges, cleaning fingerboard...

The one's I get are usually dusty, smudged, dirty fingerboards.

Tsk. 

Sambostar

Worst was  a Jackson Stealth, from Jersey, that unbeknownst to me at the time, I got stung on the tax on.  Described as VGC, being a basswood body, of course the Floyd posts were rocking and falling out and the ultra thick lacquer had cracked.  Put it down to experience as it was a bad design in the first place and never bought anything from Jersey again.

I've never sold a guitar, but I imagine if I did, I would wire wool the neck and oil it if it was rosewood and clean the strings and polish the body as a minimum.  If it were high end I would change the strings. It is nice to get something instantly playable without others gunk on it I guess.  But I do this cleaning thing regularly anyway.  If you are charging any sort of money for it, it is just bad show to send it out covered in pizza and dog hair with rusty strings on it.  It is disgusting.  Most people who have guitars like that are actually blind and can't see how disgusting they are.

Receiving doesn't bother me that much I guess, as I take them all apart anyway.  But don't like opening cases to find a million fleas hopping out.  Set up is a very personal thing.  So usually I give them a thorough clean when I do it.  I sometimes like the challenge of getting vomit off a case.  It makes me feel wholesome, like I have achieved something.  People who expect new from an item that is sold for less than a quarter of the reduced retail price kind of annoy me though.

I have a special Henry vacuum attachment for cleaning guitars that I specifically use for them, so it doesn't get sand etc on it.  But you just don't know.  Some buyers must be pretty anal.  The best guitars I have got have arrived in pieces with spiders in them and starches from being kicked about on the garage floor.  I like crap like that sometimes, but then I would never pay big bucks for it.

boogieman

I always at least clean and polish stuff that I send out, whether pedals or guitars. I don't usually bother restringing guitars though as I reckon most people will want to put their favourite gauge on and set up to taste.

I've only had one minging guitar sent to me, most sellers have been pretty good with cleaning things before they send them out.

57Deluxe

ermm...no...sorry...

usedtobe

I always send them nice and shiny. Mostly received them in good order, but I've had a couple that weren't. One in particular had black strings and was greasy as a very greasy thing. I sent him a polite message saying I thought he could've given it a bit of a wipe..

axisus

I prefer to clean them myself to be honest. Shiny new guitars are usually OK, but usually with secondhand stuff I dismantle the whole thing anyway.

zenzeypher

Setups are preference, i have em' setup to my taste. i won't set them up before sending unless stated in the ad it's had a pro setup.. but again to my tastes.

always clean them, usually have fresh strings most commonly associated with the brand of guitar. I've received some honkers and 90% of the time need to get them setup or a pot replaced or something but thats part and parcel and it never bothers me.  

horse

In general I agree - you want the new owner to be pleased when they first unpack the guitar.

I did get one guitar though that had had its natural finish polished with something very strong smelling (not a 'bad' smell, but you knew when you opened the case) - and that kind of put me off the guitar until it lost the smell!