The longer someone "Test Drives" a guitar, are they less likely to buy it?

I see more of this lately. And it's not young people looking for an excuse to play an expensive guitar. Seems the more they play, compare, look at, the less likely they are to buy it. Recently had a R. Taylor sell on Reverb that a number of local guys came and played and the average session was like an hour each. Everyone loved it and were going to be right back to me. LOL
I usually know within about 5 minutes whether an instrument will work for me and would never think of wasting my time or someone elses if I wasn't serious.

I'm with ya my man and agree it shouldn't take light years of time to figure out if you like a guitar. I have a friend kinda like that. He'll take one of my guitars and a couple times came back 2 to 3 weeks later and said, it wasn't working for him. He's a friend so I let it go but I don't like or appreciate it much.

I can tell pretty quickly if I like the guitar, it just takes me a lot longer to decide I can AFFORD it. I would probably "test drive" a cheap guitar a lot less than an expensive one. I really, really need to be sure I need it that badly to pry open the wallet.

I tend to buy them within minutes. The playing/sound test takes about 2 minutes, then I look the piece over for structure, geometry and condition.

I can tell pretty quickly whether I like a guitar; and, if I ever like a guitar a lot, I pretty much always like that guitar.

For me, I don't really want to have a lot of guitars, though, so if I am playing a guitar for a long time, what's going through my mind is not simply "do I like/love this?", but, "what guitar would this replace?" or maybe, "how often are you going to pick this up, given what you already have, and, if you would be picking it up all the time, what guitar would be out of the rotation?"

So, for me, whenever I have played longer, it's because I am thinking about these things.

If I don't know within five minutes then I'm probably not going to buy. That said, sometimes I know I want something and will play it for much longer while I ponder whether I can afford it or what I have to sell to make room for it. So while it may take me a while to make a decision most of that time is spent thinking about related issues and whether I am playing the instrument, or not, is no longer influencing the decision. And I have been known to feign an interest just to try something but I have only done that in a retail (not private sale) setting.

I call it the 10 second test. If it fits feels and sounds great that's all it takes. Then comes the structure and condition inspection. Then comes the money decision. I dare say that a lot of less experienced buyers may be surprised to encounter the realization that they don't really play any better on a really expensive guitar than they do on a moderately priced one.

I totally agree. The more I play a guitar, if i dont buy it by the 2nd "date", i am not buying it. I played the Santa Cruz for 15 minutes. had i put it off another saturday, i would have passed, due to $ factor.

guitarslinger said:

I dare say that a lot of less experienced buyers may be surprised to encounter the realization that they don't really play any better on a really expensive guitar than they do on a moderately priced one.

Click to expand...

I personally believe that's true even for many experienced and really good players as well (and that's not me by the way)

I'll add to this that sometimes a string change is all that's needed to make you realize how good a guitar really can be. When I first received the Orpheum Slope Shoulder RW, it was very thin and ho hum with the OEM Guild "Balanced tension" (whatever that is) strings. I thought that some extended time on the Tone-Rite would help, as the guitar had zero hours on it when it arrived, and Adi topped guitars are notorious for being tight when new . After a week straight, it was no different, so I decided to swap the strings for some Martin FX (flexible core) strings I just had lying around, and it completely transformed the instrument. I never saw that coming, but sometimes it's something as simple as that.

I certainly don't fit the description you gave, TJ. I must've test-driven my F-512 at least 5 times (god knows how many hours) before I bought it. I had bought a few Taylors online and was just starting to get back into guitars. The F-512 took me completely by surprise, and I was smitten. But, it took me a long while to seal the deal.

Of course, since then, it's a different story.

It can easily take me half a day or more to seal a deal.

First of all, I live 80 miles from the big city. I don't want to get home with the instrument & have a change of heart.

Second, my purchases often involve a trade-in. Some negotiating will inevitably take place, and then decisions need to be made as I ponder whether to let a certain piece go for the offered price, vs the price of the instrument being purchased.

Third, if I'm sampling more than one guitar in consideration of a purchase, the A-Bing process can take forever, and the instruments might even be at different stores!

I'm at BOTH ends of the spectrum.
I have purchased guitars without ever seeing them in person! I played two Guild F-50's in two local stores, and I loved the tone and feel of both!
(it's REALLY hard to find them here in So Cal!) One was an older Westerly, R.I, and one a newer New Hartford, CT. But I played each one twice, for about 10-15 mins. They were WAY overpriced, the older one in need of a neck reset, the newer one mint condition...but neither had a pickup. And neither dealer was willing to budge off the price, because "they don't make 'em anymore". Not being in a hurry, I did a TON of research online and found exactly what I was looking for at a decent price from an online retailer (with an outstanding reputation and a reasonable return policy)...even though it took months to find! (and those other two guitars are STILL at those stores!) But I could not be happier! Got a better guitar than either of those and with the DTAR!

On the other hand, at one time I was on the hunt for a new or used Gretsch , went to a few stores. played a bunch of guitars, didn't find anything that really "spoke to me"...then on the way out of one of the stores, my g/f says..."hey, look at this". It was a gorgeous hollow-body electric guitar, very much like a big-body Gretsch, but the name on it was Carlo Robelli, and I didn't even want to touch it! (what a snob!). But I noticed that it still had all the protective clear vinyl on the pick-guard and TRC, and a no fret-wear wear and not a mark on it anywhere.

So, to humor her more than anything, I pick it up, strum a couple of chords, did a real quick bridge re-set (floating bridge) and action tweak...and I was just flat-out AMAZED! Sounded and played just amazing, both acoustically and electrically...and this was with old strings! When I asked about it, no one in the store knew much about it, other than it came as part of the inventory when they bought out another store (it was NOS from the back room). I still didn't buy it...cuz of the name on the headstock.

Continued on looking at other things, but THAT guitar kinda haunted me! LOL! So when I got home I started to do a bunch of research on the Carlo Robelli RB-1955...which turns out to be made by Peerless and was actually designed as a Gretsch 3131, but when Fender took over Gretsch, they nixed it, so Peerless offered it up and Sam Ash (Robelli), Peavey (Rockingham) and several others snapped it up. An amazing guitar. In fact, Peerless STILL makes this guitar under their own name, the Peerless Gigmaster Custom.

I went back the very next day and bought it! That guitar is my main electric at all my gigs and here at home. Its a dream to play and I get SO many comments at the gigs!

So...sometimes it pays to wait, sometimes you just gotta "go with your gut"!

Teej, I think there is a whole GROUP of people who fall into the category that you describe. These are people who have trouble making a decision, period! It's just agonizing for them to make a decision. And one way they tend to deal with that is to just FAIL to make a decision. As an ex-waiter, these people used to drive me crazy. Everyone has decided what they want to eat and there's that one person that just CAN NOT make up their mind. You'd think they were deciding the fate of the world, when in reality it's crab enchiladas or Yucatan Pork. They're so afraid they're going to make the WRONG decision, that they fuss, and worry and fuss and worry.... and many times in the end, just decide against deciding. Especially for something as expensive as a guitar. So I'm sure the person who plays and plays and plays, longer and longer..... probably falls into that category.

Me? I usually know very quickly and I can just echo what's been said above. Sometimes there's the "But I wasn't planning on buying a guitar" thing to wrestle with. But sometimes the guitars choose YOU and .... you just have to go with it.

So I think you've identified a specific type of PERSON, rather than a phenomenon that occurs with a majority of the guitar buying public. At least, that would be my guess. :encouragement:

Tom, You may be right on the mark. Regardless of the buying decision, there is a whole bunch of people out there who are, "ready, aim, aim... " and then the target is gone and they never fire. What is the expression, paralysis by analysis? I spent a long time in real estate and have seen many people who are always looking because things "just weren't right".

davismanLV said:

So I think you've identified a specific type of PERSON, rather than a phenomenon that occurs with a majority of the guitar buying public. At least, that would be my guess. :encouragement:

Click to expand...

Myers Briggs J vs. P perhaps?

frono, EXACTLY!! I'm a definite J. And someone who is overly P makes me crazy. I wish I was a little more P sometimes, but that is not the case...... :encouragement:

I have no idea what a J or a P person is but I'm going on record that I am one of them!!!!!

Speaking of test drives, particularly longer test drives:
"A customer walked in to Midnight Racing Auto in Pennsylvania last Saturday and asked for a test drive of a 2009 Mercedes-Benz C-Class, CBS Pittsburg reports. General manager Jennifer Butler acquiesced, using the man's Lexus as collateral when she handed over the keys. She also got a copy of his license, as is standard procedure. Test drives normally last about 15 minutes, she told the man, who played the part by asking where potential customers usually go for these things. Well, after 30 minutes Butler was worried, and after an hour she called the police. Sure enough, the information left in the Lexus was not the man's, but that of the owner of the Lexus, which was also stolen."

Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/car-new...e-collateral-steals-another-car#ixzz44W6kUupN

The longer I sit "testing" a guitar the more obvious it becomes that I don't know what I'm doing.