Let me start by saying I’ve greatly benefited from the Classifieds section on here. I’m certainly not the most prolific user but I’ve bought and sold some fantastic instruments through the Classifieds over the past few years and it’s without question a valuable resource.
That said, I’ve been pretty let down on two recent occasions. Without naming names or going into the specifics of the guitars concerned, both have needed extensive work doing to them. Both needed extensive fret levelling and crowning. One was unplayable and needing work on the nut (which wasn’t the material described in the ad) and neck relief adjustments; and the other was dead on arrival, pickups not working and, again, neck relief all wrong. That’s not my diagnosis - they’ve gone to a local tech that comes highly recommended on The Fretboard. Total cost for the works will be ~£250.
I wouldn’t (and couldn’t) complain if these were set-up issues related purely to a preferred action or changing from 10s to 11s, etc. But they’re not. More to the point, both guitars were described in their adverts as having been to a tech or having great playability, etc.
I don’t know what to do, if anything. Maybe I should just suck it up. Caveat emptor and all that; and there’s bound to be a few bad apples when distance buying. Maybe I’m only annoyed because my other experiences of buying/selling through the Classifieds have gone so well! Maybe I should ask the sellers to contribute to the repair costs given that the guitars weren’t as-described. I suppose this is what the Feedback thread is for, as well.
Anyway, mini-rant over; comments and advice welcome!
Comments
A bass guitar that I sold via this forum had an action to suit my fairly hard-hitting playing style. The purchaser needed the action and relief to be much lower and straighter to suit his extremely light touch.
In this instance, the instrument had not had very much playing. Hence, its frets were in good condition.
The worst thing was that the thing reeked. I'm not fussy about a bit of tobacco smell, but this came wrapped in brown bubble wrap. It was once clear bubble wrap that had become caked in tobacco residue. It took a whole year of periodic cleaning to fumigate it.
You just cant foresee every problem...
It takes hours and adds no value, but it makes for happy buyers and that's important to me.
I've had this issue with two guitars I bought on eBay - both needed refretting as the frets were so worn. In each case I sent a polite message to the seller expressing my disppointment, with quotes for the work needed. In each case they offered to pay half or more of the work needed, which was okay by me. I would suggest that your seller pays you £150-200, or you return the guitar.
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Exactly this. I recently bought a PRS SE from @mikeyrob73 and a damn fine guitar it is too. Picked it up from him and could see it was as described.
As soon as I got it home I changed up a string gauge and lifted the action to my taste. Another purchase dropped the gauge but again lifted the action to my taste.
One mans nice low action is another mans too low action.
I’m more in line with what @danny_777 has written. But usually prefer buyers play the guitars for themselves first
This Forum, imho, is based upon honesty and trust. Its unwritten, but its there...
It has to be there if we use Paypal Family & Friends.
To the OP, you can suck it up, but the first step is to contact the seller amd kindly explain the problem (as you probably have). After that, I would expectbthe forum (unwritten) ‘code of honour’ to kick in,
I see loads of e-mails, or receive many phone calls, from customers with a potential trade in, or a guitar for sale and their perception of condition, set-up is so different to mine/others
I appreciate that a host of adjectives can be used to describe the condition - But I'm amazed how many say mint, as new etc, only to find a host of compression marks from buckle wear, etc - Granted many are slight, but slight enough for it not to be mint - Mention it to the customer and you normally get 'I didn't notice' - Probably genuine comment - Same applies to fret wear and/or other slight issues - I think it is often based on ignorance and/or their opinion and not something that is done deliberately
I have to be be careful commenting on such issues, as I dare say the odd time or two, a customer has probably had some issue with my web site comments - But you try to minimize such issues and handle any 'negative comments' accordingly
I know more sales today are on-line - But even so I wish to present all guitars for sale, with a sensible set-up that will hopefully entice a potential buyer to purchase the guitar - No use offering it for sale with dirty strings, dirty frets and a host of negative issues that will either a) mean the customer can't correctly evaluate the guitar, hence no purchase and/or b) want a hefty discount to correct - In short, I believe the guitar is the salesman and not me - If presented for sale correctly you are more likely to sell it
What you have there sounds a bit extreme though and hard to believe the seller wouldn't have noticed
Then again I also find bringing unloved guitars 'back to life' extremely cathartic. I'm never happier then when I'm sat there on a Sunday, surrounded by my tools, taking a guitar from shitfest to player!! It's so rewarding.