Dilemma Solved & NGDish

LionAquaLooper · September 17

If the guitar didn't have a blemish I doubt he'd have listed it at a discount, and you'd have maybe moved on because of the higher price.
Worst case scenario is you'll just make your money back if or when you decide to sell it and declare the blemish. I highly doubt you're going to lose money on it as long as you maintain it well.

Haych · September 17

The blemish looks more like a beauty spot to me and you can't play a certificate.

Voxman · September 17

With that discount the minor blemish really wouldn't have worried me as its out of sight, the guitar looks great, 8.1lbs is really light, and as long as it plays and sounds great it's a keeper. Two suggestions:

1. see if Gibson will send you a duplicate certificate
2. If the sellers a nice guy and is willing to refund you, why not have a friendly chat and see if he'd be prepared to give a modest reduction say £100-200 or 5% or something. That way you'll feel a bit happier & he won't have the hassle of dealing with a return & relisting it and should Gibson charge you for a certificate (hopefully they won't) you've got any cost covered.

Offset · September 17

Keep it - 100%. And I've never understood the obsession with CoAs.

guitarjack66 · September 17

Offset said:

Keep it - 100%. And I've never understood the obsessions with CoAs.

Aren't there serial number tracers online anyway? If a future buyer had any qualms I'd imagine they'd be able to take 30 seconds and do that,wouldn't they?

gatheredinsong · September 17

Beautiful guitar! Totally understand your mixed feelings and irritation with the seller. However, assuming that bit to the right of the fret is just light reflection, I don't think that dark blemish takes away from it at all. It's just added character and will help you identify the guitar if one of us decides to nick it

The COA issue probably would affect resale value. It might be worth printing off the communications with Gibson just to mitigate that a bit. That would probably stop it being a deal breaker for most buyers, but absence of the COA would no doubt affect the value a bit and gives them a bit of bargaining power. If you didn't buy it to make money though, try and let the negative emotion go and enjoy basking in all the positives of having your paws on that wonderful thing.

Wazmeister · September 17

Do you love iy, and does it inspire your playing ?

If so, keep it

Panama_Jack666 · September 17

I'd keep it and see if you can get more of a discount for the stuff that wasn't disclosed!

guitars4you · September 17

Voxman said:

With that discount the minor blemish really wouldn't have worried me as its out of sight, the guitar looks great, 8.1lbs is really light, and as long as it plays and sounds great it's a keeper. Two suggestions:

1. see if Gibson will send you a duplicate certificate
2. If the sellers a nice guy and is willing to refund you, why not have a friendly chat and see if he'd be prepared to give a modest reduction say £100-200 or 5% or something. That way you'll feel a bit happier & he won't have the hassle of dealing with a return & relisting it and should Gibson charge you for a certificate (hopefully they won't) you've got any cost covered.

Whilst Fender Custom Shop will offer a new certificate - Albeit with a fee attached and for some reason today’s date and not the original date - But as far as I’m aware Gibson don’t offer any replacement

As @gatheredinsong suggests above - If you have any positive info via messages with Gibson Customer Service then print this off and use it accordingly

OilCityPickups · September 17

You got it for cheap, take it out and gig it ... you'll soon have some nice dings in it and you won't worry. It's a musical instrument not a piece of expensive furniture. :-)

Fifty9 · September 17

Yep Gibson checked the serial & that it matched with the photos then sent me the specs for this model - like they would post on their site. V helpful actually

OilCityPickups · September 17

Fifty9 said:

Yep Gibson checked the serial & that it matched with the photos then sent me the specs for this model - like they would post on their site. V helpful actually

Gibson customer care is not as bad as some would have you believe. One of my customers used to work for them!

cm01 · September 17

100% keep!

Kurtis · September 17

Surely though, given the reduction in price, you wouldn’t expect to get full second hand price should you choose to sell it?

And, if you did sell it with a similar reduction, then I'm sure someone, like yourself, will snap it up.

Keep the receipt!

BlueStrat · September 17

Never understood the obsession some people have for a piece of card or (yuk) case candy, even the phrase is irritating.

You have a great guitar at a massive discount.

Play it and enjoy it, and be happy that you could afford it.

As you bought it 30%discounted you won’t be taking a huge loss if you move it on

ICBM · September 17

carlos said:

Isn't poor quality control a Gibson feature at this point? Anyway, I'd send a Harley Benton back if it had that, let alone an expensive guitar.

I don’t think it’s a QC issue, it looks like a typical stand mark. There may be a couple more in the back edge of the body at the bottom - also where you don’t see them.

My Gibson Dove has a brown stain right across the logo where the previous owner left a capo clamped on it. However, it’s the best Dove - maybe the best acoustic guitar - I’ve ever played, and it was cheap. I’ve never once considered selling it. I also… er… sometimes put my capo on the headstock

.

WezV · September 17

I agree it's likely a stand mark.

I would try some T-cut on it as the stains from contact start at the surface and it may not have migrated all the way through yet. Sometimes they come off with a light buff, sometimes they don't.

It's the nature of nitro guitars and inappropriate stands. I wouldn't question it on a vintage one.

Revolutions · September 17

Beautiful guitar!

Three options imo:

If if doesn't spark joy: return it or ask for more money off
If it does spark joy: play it & don't worry about things that don't affect playing
If you want to waste money: get a refin to open up the tone more?

Kurtis · September 17

WezV said:

I agree it's likely a stand mark.

I would try some T-cut on it as the stains from contact start at the surface and it may not have migrated all the way through yet. Sometimes they come off with a light buff, sometimes they don't.

It's the nature of nitro guitars and inappropriate stands. I wouldn't question it on a vintage one.

If that's what it is, and it'll rub off, then you've surely won a watch!

It wouldn't even really bother me personally.
My own guitar is in very much used (abused) condition.

Fifty9 · September 17

Kurtis said:

Surely though, given the reduction in price, you wouldn’t expect to get full second hand price should you choose to sell it?

And, if you did sell it with a similar reduction, then I'm sure someone, like yourself, will snap it up.

Keep the receipt!

Not thinking about actually selling it, just a concern if I did would it get hit which no one wants do they.

I just pulled the trigger on a good looking bargain then got a couple of surprises post purchase that left me with mixed emotions so sought the wise advice from the brain trust on here. On the plus side it’s an, ahem, absolute banger in person/in the hands.

On the downside was really more about the transaction / price & whether I’d been duped into buying a factory second as opposed to my feelings about the guitar itself.

I really don’t mind the blemish/stain that much - I see it as individual/character more than a negative tbh and really don’t care about the CoA personally.

This one is all I’ve been after in a LP for a couple of decades since I first saw pearly gates so don’t intend to sell whatsoever. If I ever did need to sell it’ll be worth what someone's happy to pay won’t it. If I sort the blemish and print all the details then I expect most would be happy with a couple of hundred knocked off for lack of CoA but proof it’s genuine. I know how I feel about it so if someone really would walk away because of a CoA theyd be bonkers

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Dilemma Solved & NGDish

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