How many people buy new?

guitarjack66

Ive only had six in the roughly two years of my playing. Two new and four second hand.

enjo

grungebob said:

Madness I know to most folk on here but my aim is to get down to having just the one guitar. 

Of each type, colour and year surely?

Now owned:
2 Self built
3 New
1 Used

All time purchases:
2 Self built
8 New
3 Used

Generally the new ones have been cheaper than the used ones.
The real surprise is that I've sold so many guitars!

skullfunkerry

I have four guitars at the moment, and two were bought brand new, two second-hand. I was going to say that on the whole most of my purchases have been new, but now that I think a bit more about it, I suspect the split is roughly 50-50... I don't particularly have an ethos or anything, it just tends to be what's around at the time I'm looking.

Mattharrier

I own four guitars. Three I bought used, one I bought new. The new one was because I got a particularly good bonus from work, and was unable to visit guitar shops at the time to try anything, otherwise I would have spent many hours trying many guitars. As it was, I bought a guitar that was similar to one a friend of mine had bought, from a retailer that was local and offered a good set up within the price.

For clarity, I bought my first electric (Focus by Kramer S type) used for £75 with amp, stand etc (Gumtree), my second (Hohner Arbor Series LP type) for £30 plus some additional parts (eBay), my acoustic (Aria something or other ) from a friend of my FIL for £50, and my new guitar (Vintage V100) for £340 from Richards in Stratford.

I don't expect to buy many brand new guitars, as I can get more guitar for my money buying used in most cases (I am not blessed with high income, and I am pretty crap with money so don't save particularly well either), and don't mind something that's not pristine (in many respects I prefer something that isn't pristine, as I don't then have to stress about scratching it.

duotone

All 8 of my guitars I have bought new, varying in price from £175-£370. Am definitely shopping at the cheaper end of the spectrum.

duotone

duotone said:

All 8 of my guitars I have bought new, varying in price from £50-£370. Am definitely shopping at the cheaper end of the spectrum.

Lestratcaster

I have 9 guitars and 8 of them were bought new as I dislike the idea of someone else having played them first. The one that I didn't buy new was given to me by a mate who I've known for ages for a modding project which turned out really nicely.

Will I buy used if I get another guitar? I don't know, maybe but I kinda been toying with the idea of having a guitar built for me instead. Whether or not that will happen who knows.

JMS96

I pretty much only ever buy used. Only 1 of my current guitars was bought new (by my wife as a present). I generally find that there’s a good market for used guitars, and I like the idea of a guitar being passed around. It started with guitars, but I now have that approach to other things in life - I’ve become quite a fan of charity shops!

kentuckyklira

Rocky1991 said:

I had a random discussion this weekend and realised over my guitar buying life, which is probably lean compared to some on the forum. I have never bought a new guitar, not even my first a Squier affinity or whatever the 2005 equivalent was, was new.   

So wondered how much of peoples stables were bought new compared to used?

I can´t buy new unless it´s a seriously irresistable blow out sale.

Logie

Always used. Even now, with the used prices high, it makes no sense to me to buy new. Putting the first ding on a new guitar would piss me off no end so I'd rather pay a lot less and have it done for me.
I did buy my Pod Go and Digitech Drop new but that's because there were no used examples of the Pod Go on the market at the time and the cheapest used Drop I could find was £70 when a new one was £79 from Amazon.

thegummy

All the people who only/mostly buy used - do you just buy things that take your fancy when you see them advertised rather than choosing something specific?

Got a weird feeling I asked this question on here before but can't remember the answers if I did...

LordOxygen

I've bought 3 new guitars and lost loads on them, I don't believe I will ever keep a guitar long term, so financially it makes no sense to buy new. Never say never but I can't see me doing it again any time soon. 

Logie

@thegummy ;

I'm generally looking for something specific so I keep an eye out on the usual sites and if there's nothing visible I'll put a want ad up. I do trawl through the ads occasionally without any specific goal if I'm bored. I've had some right bargains just through sheer luck.

Jetsam1

Years ago I only ran with a maximum of 3 guitars. I think that when i first started buying for myself I di generally stay new. I have had used guitars and amps and my US Strat was bought used. But the Telecaster was new in 2007 and I still have it, the Tokai "ES335" was also new as was the Furch accoustic (but that will be the last accoustic I own).

I seem to keep things for much longer than a lot of people averadging 4 or 5 years of ownership. I am considering selling most of the kit and streamlining it to maybe the accoustic, Tokai and Telecaster...............

thegummy

Logie said:

@thegummy ;

I'm generally looking for something specific so I keep an eye out on the usual sites and if there's nothing visible I'll put a want ad up. I do trawl through the ads occasionally without any specific goal if I'm bored. I've had some right bargains just through sheer luck.

Cheers man, do the want ads come up with much?

I've always pessimistically thought that if anyone was happy to sell the item they'd have actively put it up for sale. Maybe I'm way off.

SPECTRUM001

Great question that raises a number of thoughts.

Between 1981 and 1991 I bought two new and two secondhand guitars (I still have one of the secondhand). Since 2017 I have gone crazily enthusiastic about trying/searching for different guitars and sounds. 

Therefore have (I think) bought six new (four have been sold) and fourteen secondhand (eleven have been sold).

I have learned that I don’t like how shiny new  poly dings, and I don’t enjoy buying secondhand unless from a trusted source - hence my last new guitar was a Custom Shop and my last secondhand from these very pages.

I am also pretty happy with what I now have - all the buying and selling worked well to find out what I needed to know. 

All that said, if my ‘ideal’ spec was brought out, I would certainly consider buying new.

chromatuna

A mix of both really. i have bought high value guitars new and I value the opportunity to try different ones in a shop and buy (or not) what I feel will be a keeper for me. Having said that two of my faves were bought unplayed and were £500  and £600 ish so there’s that theory debunked. 

DoctorX

I’ve bought 9 new guitars over the years. Never sold a guitar (have given a couple away) and never bought used.

sev112

I’ve got 4 acoustics and 4 electrics 
Only the most recent acoustic was “used”
the key is the increase in price, and once I got over £700, it seems used becomes best / good value

Blueingreen

Pretty close to 50/50.

Slightly surprising because I think of myself as more of a "buying used makes more sense" type, but when I add it all up half are new.