How Are Guitars Bought Off The Internet?

Buying off the internet means one of two things. Either you know what you want and you're looking for a good deal on it, or you're taking a bit of a chance on it being ok. Either way, you might still need to take it to the tech guy for a setup or to fix little irritations (burrs, proud frets etc). You also need to be very clear about the returns policy in case what you're buying turns up damaged in transit.

I don't think you can beat going down to your local shop and trying out a few guitars before you decide. I know some of the Japanese electronic companies are starting to charge the same price off the net as they charge in the high street to try and prevent you taking up a salesman's whole day and then getting it cheaper off the net, but not everybody's so evil.

Best,

A :-)

try the same model at a nearby store first, then shop for a less expensive one online. check out the stores return policy and take a chance. it worked for me several times without a problem.
i highly recommend Annies guitars in savannah Ga. http://www.anniesguitars.com/ or Musicians friend, also Rondo music is reported to have an excellent return policy and service http://www.rondomusic.net/

MercyMe,

Another approach is to try out everything in all the nearby guitar shops (the FUN part!), check around the internet for the range of prices, and then go back to the local shops and DEAL! The local shops may not be able to match the internet price exactly, but you may be surprised how much they will come down and how hard they might work to win you as customer.

That way, you're still building a relationship with a local shop (valuable when you need a repair, a special order, advice, etc), supporting your local economy, and saving some bucks.

And by bargaining and buying locally, you can usually get some extras thrown in, such as the set-up, tuner, capo, lessons, extended warranty, package deal on guitar and amp, etc.

I'm a chicken when it comes to bargaining, but my husband is an expert. He even bargains on shoes, for pete's sake. And has saved us some real money, especially when it comes to bigger ticket items.

As long as you are willing to "walk away" (at least until tomorrow), you have some leverage to bargain. If you are so smitten that you know you are not leaving without that sweet instrument in your hands, your bargaining power is over. :)

Good luck!

Margaret

I purchased 2 guitars from the internet and couldn't be happier with both of them. I bought an Agile 2000 LP and a used Squier Strat and both play great. The strat needed a setup but the Agile came perfectly setup. With the Agile I just went on what others have said about Kurt at Rondo and I always check his site. The Squier I already knew what to expect since you can play them in any music store.

I am always shopping eBay for deals. I know I will get burned someday but so far most of my gear is from eBay and I couldn't be happier

When I had just started playing, and was very naive, I bought everything off of the internet. Now, however, I realize that when buying wooden insturments, especially used ones, i'd like to play the EXACT instrument that i'll be getting. That doesn't mean that i'll take a chance now and then, however.
As far as new stuff goes, and expecially with amps and horns and more durable stuff like that, i'm usually willing to use the internet.

ive found that when it comes to electrics, i can handle not plaing my actual instrument. acoustics is a whole other story.

i know with an electric, i can tweak the setup to my own needs. i recently got a Fender Strat that i didnt pick out personally, and it was "eh" out of the case. but, i spent a 3 hour afternoon giving it some TLC and it's turned into one of the best guitars ive played. it now rivals my martin as my favorite guitar. so if you know what you're doing, and what you want out of the guitar, it's fairly easy to turn a solid, decent electric guitar that you've never touched before into one that you want to play regularly.

i own 2 acoustics, the martin and a fender, and the fender i have now is a replacement for one that i picked out myself. i got this current fender sight-unseen and it's not exactly what i'd like. but, it's still a nice guitar, and i use it for the electronics.

still, check them out in person, but don't necessarily hesistate to buy online...especially if the place has a wonderful return policy.

Well I'd never buy a little known brand off the net, you dont know wat your getting. But I've bought 2 Jackson off the net and am very happy. So long as you do your research, into reveiws and what the guitar's specs are etc, and your happy its for u, go for it

I live in a rather small city, and the local music store is good about matching or even beating intrnet prices if you ask them. This has let many of my muscician griends to deal exclusively with the local shop. We still shop the internet to compare prices and then tell the local store what the online proice is. They have never failed to be competitive. This is a good deal in that you get to develop a relationship with the people in the store, a place you can go to to have work done or whatever. If you can find a local store that will do the same it would seem like the way to go.

You can easily bet on brands like Fender , squier , epiphone ,agile from rondo , marshall , martin , etc etc online.They make quality products and usually the stores give you free shipping and a good return policy too.

Go for it !

sometimes I've found that if your prepared you can talk down the price of a guitar in a store till its about the same as the exact same guitar would cost online. The trick is in the preparation. Some of the things you may want to know are,

1. what is the guitars current official value? blue book or sometimes a manufacturers website should have this.

2. what is its price online? what price does this kind of guitar get on ebay or some other website. (remember that guitar prices will go up drasticly near the end of most auctions.)

3. how much is the store in question selling it for? compare this to the first two prices you found.

4. how long has this particular guitar been in this store? generally the longer a guitar has been at one store the more eager they are to sell it. after all they only make money on stuff that gets sold not stuff that sits on thier floor.

bassicaly the more time you put into it the better your chance of driving the price lower is. :)

i think buying off the internet is great...its somewhat cheaper then buying in the store, but the downside is, you dont get to try it out..so you might get stuck with something that isnt good.

try music123.com, i bought my ibanez off their for like $240.

I buy lots of gear off the net. What I like is the selection. You may not have any shops in your area that carries what you want.

I have only bought one guitar online, a Squier Standard Telecaster. I was very surprised by the good quality of this guitar. I did have to tweak it though, it had a little fret buzz on the A string. It took me about 2 weeks to adjust the truss rod and for the neck to settle where I had low action and no fret buzz anywhere.

So, this is a disadvantage. You get what you get. And you have to be careful with return policies. If you play that guitar one time and your belt buckle scratches the back of the guitar, you may not be able to return it.

For me it is not too big of a problem. I know I can set up just about any guitar to play well. But for a person who hasn't learned this yet, it can be a problem.

I read lots of reviews. There was a thread on that recently. Many find them useless, but I think they are very helpful. Many reviewers are not afraid at all to tell you what they didn't like about an instrument. So, if you read 20 reviews and 8 of them say the guitar had burrs on the frets, that is what you can expect to get. But if everybody says the frets were great, that is probably what you are going to get too.

So if you plan to make a buy online, read lots of reviews first. This will give you a very good idea of what the guitar is going to be like.

Hey Wes,
How about how every so often, when reading reviews, you hear of someone who got a lemon off of the internet. Some horror story like a $1000 Fender from musiciansfriend with a bowed neck that couldn't be returned. I've always been afraid of that, even though I guess the chances of getting one are low enough.

I bought an Ibanez hollowbody off the net last July. It was a "blem". Nothing was wrong with it really. It may have been a returned guitar, because the movable bridge was not exactly where it needed to be. I guess somebody replaced all the strings at once and then could not get it back in tune and sent the guitar back. Also, I just received an SX 57 strat copy today from Rondo. This guitar is totally sweet. For $117 I got an awesome guitar. The sound is really nice. The playability is excellent, although, I may lower the action a touch. I already replaced the cheap plastic tone and volume knobs with some chrome ones for cosmetic reasons. I'll also replace the pickup covers with chrome ones ASAP. Then, I will have to say that it will have been a wonderful experience and definitely not the last guitar I buy from Rondo. I already have a list of other guitars from them that I will be keeping my eye on. So, in conclusion, buying online can be a great experience. Research is the key to buying online!