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I went to the local guitar shop on Wednesday to buy a set of strings. (That's always how it starts, lol.) They had a barely-used guitar on the wall that caught my eye. It was a brand I'm very familiar with, since I already own several other models of the brand. Told the friendly guy behind the counter I thought it was a beautiful guitar. He reminded me that they take trade-ins. On the drive home, I'm saying to myself "Self, does a guy really NEED 5 Stratocasters? How about some of the other decent guitars you have taking up space that never get played?"
I worked in a music store for a few years when I was younger, so I know how their pricing and markup work. In general, an honest and fair store will offer about 50% of the used retail price for trade-ins. (One local store offers 30%, so I don't do any trades there.) It doesn't take much time on the Internet these days to figure out what the going used retail price is for just about any brand or model, so I knew about what it would take to walk out of there with a (nearly) new guitar and no money out of pocket. So on Thursday I gathered up a few guitars to go talk trade-ins. Turns out this store offered me a little bit more than I'd expected, so I ended up also adding a good ATA-approved flight case to the deal. In the end, I did spend a little bit of money, but I think both the store and I got good deals out of the transaction. Yes, I could have sold my guitars for about twice the price as what I got trading them in, but I don't like the idea of having strangers coming to my house to buy things like guitars (or guns), and don't really want to do any parking lot deals either.
Here's the result...it's a PRS SE Zach Myers signature model. Made in Indonesia at a factory owned by PRS that has been putting out some of the best <$1000 guitars on the market. (American-made PRS guitars start somewhere north of $2500 and go up into five figures.) Manufactured in 2022, and it has no signs of ever being played. It has a semi-hollow mahogany body with a maple cap and flame maple veneer. Quarter-sawn mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Plays and sounds great, as do all my other PRS SE models. (This one brings the total tofour five.)
I worked in a music store for a few years when I was younger, so I know how their pricing and markup work. In general, an honest and fair store will offer about 50% of the used retail price for trade-ins. (One local store offers 30%, so I don't do any trades there.) It doesn't take much time on the Internet these days to figure out what the going used retail price is for just about any brand or model, so I knew about what it would take to walk out of there with a (nearly) new guitar and no money out of pocket. So on Thursday I gathered up a few guitars to go talk trade-ins. Turns out this store offered me a little bit more than I'd expected, so I ended up also adding a good ATA-approved flight case to the deal. In the end, I did spend a little bit of money, but I think both the store and I got good deals out of the transaction. Yes, I could have sold my guitars for about twice the price as what I got trading them in, but I don't like the idea of having strangers coming to my house to buy things like guitars (or guns), and don't really want to do any parking lot deals either.
Here's the result...it's a PRS SE Zach Myers signature model. Made in Indonesia at a factory owned by PRS that has been putting out some of the best <$1000 guitars on the market. (American-made PRS guitars start somewhere north of $2500 and go up into five figures.) Manufactured in 2022, and it has no signs of ever being played. It has a semi-hollow mahogany body with a maple cap and flame maple veneer. Quarter-sawn mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Plays and sounds great, as do all my other PRS SE models. (This one brings the total to
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