Guitar shop pricing gone mad!

Dixiethedog said:
I spotted a luthier hand-built LP junior-style guitar on Reverb a little while ago, so bookmarked it so that I could find the advert and double-check the guitar at my leisure. When I double-checked it out I liked the advertised price and decided that I needed it. I duly mailed the seller and soon after received a reply. Miraculously in the blink of an eye, the price had suddenly changed to a more expensive amount. "Eh, what?" I thought, and mailed the seller back to ask what was going on. To cut a long story short, he more or less told me that that was the price and that he had not changed it. I told him that I had a screen shot of the original advert which did not go down well. He reported me to Reverb for being abusive. :)
I was never rude to him but just thought that he was an idiot. But one lost sale for a greedy seller.
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I hate to be vindictive, or volunteer other people for unpleasant work, but I kind of really hope you pushed back on that report that you were being abusive.

HE was abusive, and if nobody calls him on it, officially, he'll just keep doing it.
 
Dixiethedog said:
What I would like to ask is, if you were selling and somebody contacted you and said, "Your guitar looks amazing, I can see that it has been for sale for weeks (or even months), I can't afford your asking price, but I have £$xxxx amount of cash in my pocket, would you be interested in doing a deal?" Would that come across as rude? The seller can always just say no and I would happily accept that, mail them back and thank them for their time, and wish them well.
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I think it depends on how long and how low.

Sellers on Reverb and other sites are bombarded with stupid, low-ball offers. If you present a good case and make a reasonable offer, there's no rudeness.

It's actually a good approach in my experience and has saved me some money, for sure.
 
yea I was grabbing some strings and picks a month or so ago and yea.
I shop at Long & McQuade here in Calgary, talking Canadian Dollars here just FYI....

I bought an ESP EII MII in 2015 for $2399.00, that exact same guitar is $3799.00 today. (37% increase)
I bought an EVH 5150III 6L6 50 watt in 2017 for $1299.99, today exact same amp $1849.00 (30% increase)
I also bought some brand new celestion speakers, I suspect it's the same, not even gonna bother looking.

.....and just for reference I bought a Fractal FM3 in 2019 for $999.00 (USD), today, with a turbo upgrade and LCD upgrade, it's only $1099.00 (USD) (that's 10% and actually getting some upgrades). Also Fractal has sales like twice a year bringing it back to to $999 IIRC.

Clearly we are all blessed to have a company such as fractal not doing what the entire rest of the industry is.... bleeding it's customers.

so Thanks Fractal. Customer for Life.
 
Severed said:
yea I was grabbing some strings and picks a month or so ago and yea.
I shop at Long & McQuade here in Calgary, talking Canadian Dollars here just FYI....

I bought an ESP EII MII in 2015 for $2399.00, that exact same guitar is $3799.00 today. (37% increase)
I bought an EVH 5150III 6L6 50 watt in 2017 for $1299.99, today exact same amp $1849.00 (30% increase)
I also bought some brand new celestion speakers, I suspect it's the same, not even gonna bother looking.

.....and just for reference I bought a Fractal FM3 in 2019 for $999.00 (USD), today, with a turbo upgrade and LCD upgrade, it's only $1099.00 (USD) (that's 10% and actually getting some upgrades). Also Fractal has sales like twice a year bringing it back to to $999 IIRC.

Clearly we are all blessed to have a company such as fractal not doing what the entire rest of the industry is.... bleeding it's customers.

so Thanks Fractal. Customer for Life.
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I saw the same thing I was looking at an old Lee Jackson XLS 1000 head just a few months ago it was listed for $1600 there is one out there now for $2000 which is insane, considering it is a PCB type construction and 30 years old.
 
Dixiethedog said:
I spotted a luthier hand-built LP junior-style guitar on Reverb a little while ago, so bookmarked it so that I could find the advert and double-check the guitar at my leisure. When I double-checked it out I liked the advertised price and decided that I needed it. I duly mailed the seller and soon after received a reply. Miraculously in the blink of an eye, the price had suddenly changed to a more expensive amount. "Eh, what?" I thought, and mailed the seller back to ask what was going on. To cut a long story short, he more or less told me that that was the price and that he had not changed it. I told him that I had a screen shot of the original advert which did not go down well. He reported me to Reverb for being abusive. :)
I was never rude to him but just thought that he was an idiot. But one lost sale for a greedy seller.
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I've seen that a lot on Craigslist. Someone lists something, starts getting a lot of hits on it because it's a good price, so they change the ad for a higher price. I guess it's in a lot of people's nature to be greedy.

I sell something when I no longer want it. While I'm not trying to give it away, I'll almost always sell it lower than any other ad I can find by a good margin. Last LP I sold for example, $2200, and sold in about two hours. Lowest price I've seen lately on Reverb is about a thousand more. Maybe I did underprice that one a little too much. Anyway, it was more than I paid, and I have wall space. I guess I'm not collector savvy.
 
spagthorpe said:
I've seen that a lot on Craigslist. Someone lists something, starts getting a lot of hits on it because it's a good price, so they change the ad for a higher price. I guess it's in a lot of people's nature to be greedy.

I sell something when I no longer want it. While I'm not trying to give it away, I'll almost always sell it lower than any other ad I can find by a good margin. Last LP I sold for example, $2200, and sold in about two hours. Lowest price I've seen lately on Reverb is about a thousand more. Maybe I did underprice that one a little too much. Anyway, it was more than I paid, and I have wall space. I guess I'm not collector savvy.
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So was the LP you sold fcor $2200 a Standard "All Original"? Just curious as I am still looking at the 2005 Gibson LP Standard on consignment at my local shop. They are asking $2,475 but the store said they would accept $2200. I offered $2000 and never heard back from the store.
 
SpudMan said:
So was the LP you sold fcor $2200 a Standard "All Original"? Just curious as I am still looking at the 2005 Gibson LP Standard on consignment at my local shop. They are asking $2,475 but the store said they would accept $2200. I offered $2000 and never heard back from the store.
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It was a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Standard HP in Blueberry Burst.
 
Hmm... my wife is out of the country and I am sitting here looking at guitar adverts. Her being away generally means it is a good time for me to buy gear. :)

I have spotted a Les Paul for sale locally, which appears to have been advertised for about 9 weeks. So it is not a fast seller. I am going to try to politely make a cash (today) offer and see how it goes. Wish me luck!
 
Dixiethedog said:
Hmm... my wife is out of the country and I am sitting here looking at guitar adverts. Her being away generally means it is a good time for me to buy gear. :)

I have spotted a Les Paul for sale locally, which appears to have been advertised for about 9 weeks. So it is not a fast seller. I am going to try to politely make a cash (today) offer and see how it goes. Wish me luck!
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I have been looking at Gold Tops really hard! I want a 60's slim taper but unwilling to pay 4K+. I have a bunch of gold tops in my watch ranging from 70's Deluxe to Classics to Tributes! A pretty wide range of price points.

I was just sent this one as an offer for $2,520 shipped!
 
Some pricing is pretty crazy but it's mostly not completely out of hand.

In 1983 I purchased my first guitar, a truly awful Peavey, for $389 (IIRC) which is about $1200 in today's dollars. For $1200 today you can get a very nice instrument that stays in tune, has decent pickups, decent tuners, etc., none of which my Peavey had back in the day. Great selection and quality in the equivalent price range today.

I saved up for a couple of years and in 1985 bought a new Jackson RR custom for $1049 or about $3000 equivalent today. Though I bought it off the rack they were all basically made to order in those days so essentially top of the builder's line. Still really great guitars to be had at today's equivalent, particularly used, but this is the range where pricing seems to be running away a bit. You're probably not buying a top-of-the-line domestic model at this price any longer.

At the higher end I don't really recall much in the way of exotic woods, extensive inlay or some of the other things that blow cost up even being available back then. Or at least not widely available. If they were I'd wager they wouldn't really have been any cheaper than now.
 
YetAnotherOne said:
Some pricing is pretty crazy but it's mostly not completely out of hand.

In 1983 I purchased my first guitar, a truly awful Peavey, for $389 (IIRC) which is about $1200 in today's dollars. For $1200 today you can get a very nice instrument that stays in tune, has decent pickups, decent tuners, etc., none of which my Peavey had back in the day. Great selection and quality in the equivalent price range today.

I saved up for a couple of years and in 1985 bought a new Jackson RR custom for $1049 or about $3000 equivalent today. Though I bought it off the rack they were all basically made to order in those days so essentially top of the builder's line. Still really great guitars to be had at today's equivalent, particularly used, but this is the range where pricing seems to be running away a bit. You're probably not buying a top-of-the-line domestic model at this price any longer.

At the higher end I don't really recall much in the way of exotic woods, extensive inlay or some of the other things that blow cost up even being available back then. Or at least not widely available. If they were I'd wager they wouldn't really have been any cheaper than now.
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The new Jackson American line are pretty good. I have the soloist and now have the Virtuoso in my possession. No complaints. 2k-2500 bucks range. Made in California. I think they’re still America.
Edit- I lost a RR student model (there were only 2 in the beginning, student and professional) first year 1983. Serial # was 000052! Ex wife never gave it back.
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
The new Jackson American line are pretty good. I have the soloist and now have the Virtuoso in my possession. No complaints. 2k-2500 bucks range. Made in California. I think they’re still America.
Edit- I lost a RR student model (there were only 2 in the beginning, student and professional) first year 1983. Serial # was 000052! Ex wife never gave it back.
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You are correct sir, pro rather than custom. It's been a minute. That one was RR 1441. I bought a student a few years later, IIRC it was RR 0944. No tragic ex-wife stories here but UPS paid a claim for a very minor crack on 0944 and took it away to sell.

EDIT: Here's 1441 circa late 80s (except it was black). A buddy who was a commercial artist loved it and, well, ....
20230914_170831.jpg
 
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When I made the comment earlier about it being a good time to buy gear (as my Mrs is out of the country) I forgot to mention the other and best benefit about her being away is that if I want to, I can leave the toilet seat up. It is almost like being a single man.

I mailed the seller of the guitar that I fancied buying but pretty much 24 hours later I have not heard back from him. I think that the answer is "No" to my generous offer. :)
 
Sixstring said:
I have been looking at Gold Tops really hard! I want a 60's slim taper but unwilling to pay 4K+. I have a bunch of gold tops in my watch ranging from 70's Deluxe to Classics to Tributes! A pretty wide range of price points.

I was just sent this one as an offer for $2,520 shipped!
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Kinda want a black '54 style reissue LP with the "Staple" P90 and regular P90, but probably won't be spending $$$$ on that for a while. Also want a '61 SG Les Paul reissue. Same deal with the spending, tho....
 
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I'm glad that for the most part I'm satiated with the guitars I have. Over the years I've landed on great deals on used ( a lot from the guitar shop actually) and often DIY'd upgrades to make them all top level. This one local store is having an annual sale on select inventory that they want to clear and there's one damn guitar tempting me just for the price drop but mind you the original price ...and keeping with this thread's title...is crazy high. Its a Charvel USA select DK24. They've knocked down $2000 of list price. gahhh. I've seen the guitar in the shop there for long time. When i think of it though, comparing my MIM Charvel DK24 pro mod...and after doing a number of upgrades to it I feel its basically on par with the USA select...but still.. God damn. I was tempted for a hot minute
 
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