Best trade in

ThePrettyDamned

gazrichards said:

I got a les Paul bfg for £350. It was trashed and took a day to sort it. Swapped it for a g&l asat special (which is in the classifieds now but I dont mind keeping)

Bloody hell. That's two excellent finds wrapped up in one. I always fancied a bfg and was dead set on one but all the ones I played were a bit shit compared to the ltd H1001 on the wall, which I eventually went with. 

Stevepage

Best trade was when I traded in my Washburn Dime333 for a Japanese 68 reissue Strat. I'd love to have the Dime again but that Strat has been with me for just over 20 years now and I'll never sell it.

thegummy

The only trade I've ever done seems great to me:

I traded in a PRS SE Custom 24 for a Musicman Ray4 bass.

I was never going to play the PRS again because I disliked the 24 fret neck pickup thing and I really wanted an MM bass so instead of having to go through the hassle of trying to sell the guitar privately, I asked GuitarGuitar and got a surprisingly good offer so traded the guitar (which I got new for £570) for the bass which, despite being MM's budget option, definitely gives me the Stingray sound I wanted and there's nothing lacking in the quality that I can tell.

dazzajl

boogieman said:

dazzajl said:

SPECTRUM001 said:

When I worked in a secondhand record shop, it was absolutely the protocol to inform sellers if they had a valuable or collectable item.

We really enjoyed being able to tell a punter that their X-ray Spex LP was a thirty quidder - rather than surreptitiously ripping them off...

As a snapper I often get asked the question ‘do you know much about cameras?’ About ten years back now a properly lovely old gent I was getting some house sale shots for tips his uncles old camera gear out onto the table and asks me if this old stuff is still worth anything, or if he should just bin it now it won’t get used again. 

My first job out of school was in a vintage camera dealer and what he had was one of the finest pre war Leica collections I’ve ever seen. The look on his face when I told him he needs to get in touch with an auction house and he could expect a sale well in excess of £30k still makes me smile. 

My dad had to clear out his uncle’s house when the old guy had to go into a care home. Dad sold a custom fitted case, containing a vintage Leica rangefinder camera, several lenses and various accessories, to a dealer for the grand total of........£500. He was immensely proud. I nearly burst into tears when he told me. 

Boy, that’s really tough! Did you manage to fake it and not burst his bubble? 

DrJazzTap

My friend who painted the Rossi Tele for me, told me about some bloke who ran a guitar shop who would proudly brag that he had bought a 72 Deluxe Tele for £15 from a car boot sale. Apparently he would parade it around, just because he could. I'd always ask him if it was worth going to the car boot, he said 99% of the time it's a load of shite.

boogieman

dazzajl said:

boogieman said:

dazzajl said:

SPECTRUM001 said:

When I worked in a secondhand record shop, it was absolutely the protocol to inform sellers if they had a valuable or collectable item.

We really enjoyed being able to tell a punter that their X-ray Spex LP was a thirty quidder - rather than surreptitiously ripping them off...

As a snapper I often get asked the question ‘do you know much about cameras?’ About ten years back now a properly lovely old gent I was getting some house sale shots for tips his uncles old camera gear out onto the table and asks me if this old stuff is still worth anything, or if he should just bin it now it won’t get used again. 

My first job out of school was in a vintage camera dealer and what he had was one of the finest pre war Leica collections I’ve ever seen. The look on his face when I told him he needs to get in touch with an auction house and he could expect a sale well in excess of £30k still makes me smile. 

My dad had to clear out his uncle’s house when the old guy had to go into a care home. Dad sold a custom fitted case, containing a vintage Leica rangefinder camera, several lenses and various accessories, to a dealer for the grand total of........£500. He was immensely proud. I nearly burst into tears when he told me. 

Boy, that’s really tough! Did you manage to fake it and not burst his bubble? 

Nope. I had to tell him he’d been completely ripped off. 

Kittyfrisk

gazrichards said:

I’ll add a tale I heard when working in guitar shops many moons ago. 

Old lady brings guitar case into the store. Shows it to owner of shop and says it was her late husbands. He had it, never played it and she wanted rid of it. 

Inside was a pristine 50s or 60s strat 

It had the original purchase receipt showing £60 and she said she had  heard that old guitars held their value well so if she got the £60 back she would be happy!!!
dude haggles her down to £55 

I think that the shop owner was probably the late racing driver James Hunt's brother, Warwick.

idiotwindow

The story of the £55 Strat and the dealer haggling down the elderly widow is almost certainly apocryphal. There are countless variations on it and the source of the story is always someone that somebody else knew.

Hurling_Fruitmig

idiotwindow said:

The story of the £55 Strat and the dealer haggling down the elderly widow is almost certainly apocryphal. There are countless variations on it and the source of the story is always someone that somebody else knew.

I’m glad I read to the end of the thread. I was going to say that has all the hallmarks of an urban myth. That said, I always cast an eye over junk shop guitars on the off chance (okay, no chance now we have google) that there’s a mega bargain to be had.

Hurling_Fruitmig

Back in 1991 when I was a student, I’d been reading my brother's copy of The Ultimate Guitar Book and decided I fancied an arch-top acoustic to stand out from the crowd. Luckily I found a pristine blonde 1954 Hofner Senator in a local music shop which I paid £165 for.

After about a year of happy bedroom strumming I fell out of love with it and in a fit of madness traded it plus £50 at the same store for a 1970s Saxon SG copy which was for sale at the same price I paid for the Senator.

When I recently decided I fancied another Hofner I was dismayed to discover I couldn’t find one in as good condition as my old one for under a grand. At least the SG is still worth what I paid for it.

gazrichards

Hurling_Fruitmig said:

Back in 1991 when I was a student, I’d been reading my brother's copy of The Ultimate Guitar Book and decided I fancied an arch-top acoustic to stand out from the crowd. Luckily I found a pristine blonde 1954 Hofner Senator in a local music shop which I paid £165 for.

After about a year of happy bedroom strumming I fell out of love with it and in a fit of madness traded it plus £50 at the same store for a 1970s Saxon SG copy which was for sale at the same price I paid for the Senator.

When I recently decided I fancied another Hofner I was dismayed to discover I couldn’t find one in as good condition as my old one for under a grand. At least the SG is still worth what I paid for it.

I once swapped a hofner senator for a Morley wah pedal!!!

grappagreen

Paradoxically mine is both the best and worst at the same time depending on your perspective.

I swapped a CS Telecaster for an Ulbrick Arena amp and cab. Financially it's the most stupid thing I've ever done. I did say yes after about four strums into the amp though as it sounded amazing and I still think it holds its own with any of the other boutique stuff I have. On the positive side I'll always keep it because I'd take a bath if I sold it so at least that temptation is avoided

I hated the Tele anyway....We live and learn

Si

SteveRobinson

gazrichards said:

Hurling_Fruitmig said:

Back in 1991 when I was a student, I’d been reading my brother's copy of The Ultimate Guitar Book and decided I fancied an arch-top acoustic to stand out from the crowd. Luckily I found a pristine blonde 1954 Hofner Senator in a local music shop which I paid £165 for.

After about a year of happy bedroom strumming I fell out of love with it and in a fit of madness traded it plus £50 at the same store for a 1970s Saxon SG copy which was for sale at the same price I paid for the Senator.

When I recently decided I fancied another Hofner I was dismayed to discover I couldn’t find one in as good condition as my old one for under a grand. At least the SG is still worth what I paid for it.

I once swapped a hofner senator for a Morley wah pedal!!!

I sold my Höfner bass in 1974 for £10. The buyer beat me down from the £15 I was asking.

gubble

Line 6 Flextone 3 - traded it in a direct swap for a Fender Twin Reverb.

During the late 90's Nu Metal boom i also traded some pointy guitar (i want to say it was a charvel, but it cost me £200 a few years prior) for a Fender Sambora Strat.