Ordered a $1,500 guitar and got a $5,600 one instead

Very interesting story.

Good luck selling that guitar. It's one of the more expensive ones I've ever heard of. Don't think I've ever seen one either.

Unless you would really prefer the Dragon Fly ........ why not keep it. Who cares what it cost? Question is if you like it or like the Dragon Fly better. Price or your percieved ability shouldn't enter into it. :)

The neck is like soft butter, the tone is good (Duncan pickups and a Fishman), it's as light as a feather, it's comfortable against the body, and it resonates nicely.
What is the problem? You are describing THE guitar.

I've played Parkers, a friend of mine has one. I only was able to find a wrong thing: the price.

+1 on TR's comment.

Unless you would really prefer the Dragon Fly ........ why not keep it. Who cares what it cost? Question is if you like it or like the Dragon Fly better. Price or your percieved ability shouldn't enter into it. :)

i have to disagree. there's a whole of things i could do with $3500, and i don't think i'm unusual in that.

edit: i guess it's technically 2 grand, and not $3500, since he's buying another guitar with the difference.

I'm with TR on this one. If you like it better than the other guitar I'd keep it. You seem very serious about playing guitar (not to mention all those forum posts!), take this as an incentive to get even better. I don't think you have to earn the right to get great gear, as a newbie I just had the chance to buy a $2000 acoustic for 600 (had very experienced players look at it) which I decided to do. It's not the quality of your playing or the price that should be the ultimate deciding factor. I believe it's the amount of joy you get from having this that really matters. I'd seriously think about keeping it, a guitar with a story, it has to be a keeper.

Yes, lets not forget that Notes is a professional musician and not a hack like a lot of the rest of us. He actually makes money doing this.

Two reasons why I decided to sell the guitar and get the DragonFly that I originally ordered.

1) The DF has the pickup configuration that I want. 2 single coils, a coil splitting humbucker, and a Fishman. The Mojo Fly has two splitting humbuckers.

2) The Fly is dark brown (I'd guess walnut) and I wear black on stage. It won't show up very well. Since I play sax, wind synth, flute, guitar, percussion controller, and sometimes keys on stage, people notice how many instruments I play and they talk about it - that results in free promotion for my duo (it IS show-biz after all).

The show-biz aspect of a pro musician cannot be underestimated. More people listen with their eyes than with their ears. I put looks secondary to the ability to express yourself musically in a way that relates to the audience. Professionalism comes next (that includes promotion) and tone lags behind the rest.

I figure if I sell the $5,600 guitar for about $3,500, it will pay for both the mistaken shipment and the new DF, and I'll end up with a free guitar.

I've thought long and hard about this. I've flip-flopped a few times too. But now that I've ordered the DragonFly, there is no going back.

Anybody want the ultimate guitar for $2,100.00 UNDER list price? (use that figure when convincing your wife :D ) Merry Christmas?

The Fly looks a little like this:

The weather is bad for taking pictures today. I'll try to get some out soon and then post it in the classified section.

Notes ♫

It must be karma for all of the help you've given people on the forum. A similar thing happened to me, but my karma isn't as good. I ordered a guitar stand and received a snare drum stand. The on-line store wouldn't even ship me the guitar stand until I sent the snare stand back to them and they received it. Between that and other problems, I don't order from them anymore.

So, despite being a more expensive axe, it is not the one you want. I understand that. I agree, sell it. Happy Guitarmas!

If the weather is nice, I'll take pictures tomorrow. I don't want to take them indoors because the flash on the camera will create a flare on the shiny surfaces.

I'm definitely going to sell it. It's a beautiful guitar, but it isn't the one I wanted.

It will be a great deal for someone who wants a brand new top-of-the-line guitar at a wholesale price.

Notes ♫

I got the final word from the Federal Trade Commission site:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/products/pro15.shtm

Q. What should I do if the unordered merchandise I received was the result of an honest shipping error?

A. Write the seller and offer to return the merchandise, provided the seller pays for postage and handling. Give the seller a specific and reasonable amount of time (say 30 days) to pick up the merchandise or arrange to have it returned at no expense to you. Tell the seller that you reserve the right to keep the merchandise or dispose of it after the specified time has passed.

I wrote and posted the letter today. Now comes the waiting game.

Since it's a Federal Trade Commission site, I have confidence that the information is correct.

I feel much better now, knowing I did the right thing, and in the proper way.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

Whether they want it back, or if I put it up for sale next month, either way is OK with me.

Further developments. I went through Funky Munky Music (by advice from the Parker Forum) and the guitar I actually want is supposed to be being shipped directly from the Parker Factory to me today via 2 day air!!!

Notes ♫

Glad you're getting it squared away with the original supplier. Funky Munky Music is a just a few miles from where I work. Great bunch of people.

Jim

I'm glad I found the "official" correct way to do the right thing.

If they want it back with pre-paid shipping, it's no loss to me.

If they really don't want it back, I stand to make a few bucks.

Either way I get the guitar I wanted in the first place, at a good price, so I can't lose.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

The DragonFLy from Funky Munky arrived yesterday, about 2 hours before we left for our gig. So I didn't have much time to play it before going on stage.

First impressions:

It's beautiful (pictures will come as soon as I have time)

It's as light as a feather. A few ounces more than my full hollow-body Epiphone Casino and Gibson ES-330

It's well balanced - stays put when both hands are off the guitar

It's very comfortable to hold against my body

Positions 1 & 3 (neck and middle only) sound very strat-ish and 5 (humbucker only) sounds very Gibson-ish

The fishman pickup gives it a very realistic acoustic sound by itself -- plus blending the acoustic with the magnetic pickups makes it sound like a flat top with a pickup in the round hole

Positions 2 and 4 (and 4 with the humbucker in both hb and coil tapped) positions sound great too, but I don't know how to describe them (although position 4 with the humbucker in sc mode sounds a little like a tele only fatter). I'll get into this more after gigging, when I can play with it more off the gig without the rest of the band

The fit and finish of the guitar are excellent and the frets are dressed well. It came in a decent hard case (not a flight case though) and was set up well - intonation is great, although the action was a little higher than I prefer.

I haven't played with the whammy much yet, and didn't on the gig. I've never had one, and it's a skill that definitely needs a little off stage work. I put the handle on before the gig (it came in the floating mode), and as per the instructions tuned the guitar, wiggled the stick, retuned, wiggled the stick and then checked intonation. It didn't go out of tune after the second tuning. (it has Sprezel locking tuners and a graph-tech nut).

This will be my gigging guitar for a long time to come.

I eventually want to replace the humbucker with a P-Rail so I can also have P90 tones too. Then it will be an "everything" guitar.

I still haven't heard anything on the Mojo, but it's too early to sell it.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫