Buying instruments unheard/ unplayed - should or shouldn't I

[sitka_spruce]

varsagod och sitka,

Did you ever see Hasse and Tage's movie The Apple War? The centaur at the end is the guy who sang Norgevisan, Moltas Erikson, who was an acquaintance of mine. He was the most brilliant person I've ever known.
Singer, actor, writer, comedian--all that in his spare time in addition to his day job as a psychiatrist.

For those around the world who might know the following people, I'd describe him as Robin Williams as a psychiatrist.

You don't mean that!? Yes, I've seen that movie a couple of times. The field which Moltas would take to like a fish to water was this radio gameshow "På minuten/ Listen for a minute" in which you are supposed to tell a story as cleanly as possible and without the other players objecting to the story the way you laid it before them - anyway, he was so good at this and could come up with such obscene and kinky stories no-one dared object against him. Pity he is no longer with us.

 

[Andy Hiwatt]

My experience in buying guitars in USA through the net, e-bay,g-base or directly contacting a guitar store and trying to get a good deal has been 100%positive up to now.
I always bought guitars that would have been impossible for me to find at affordable places here in Rome, Italy. We have an extremely sick (can't find another proper word for it) guitar market here with inflated overblown prices to say the least. The only top brands you commonly find around are Fender and Gibson at very high prices. If you want to buy a Gretsch or a Rickenbacker or a Guild you simply don't find them anywhere to check them out, they import a small number of those and sell them at absurd prices.
During the years I bought a Les Paul,(2nd hand) A Rickenbacker 360 (new), A Gretsch Tennessean (new) a Fender Telecaster( new from Japan, the non-export wonderful models made for the Japanese market),2 second hand acoustic Guilds (a 1982 D25 and recently a 1988 D50 ) , I payed all these instruments less than half the money I would have spent here in Italy,in some cases even less than that... and they were all in perfect condition, the used guitars were like descripted and like I saw them in the pictures I had been sent before buying them. The shipping wasn't that expensive (normally around $100) and customs duties around Euros 80. Of course I would have liked to check the guitars before buying them ,but it's a risk I learned to forget after the positive experiences...so I strongly recommend to take the chance if you are after some particular guitar you don't find in your place or it's a great bargain...

 

[Jahn]

i'm happy to say that i haven't bought a clunker yet, even the sight unseen ones. i did serious homework on em tho, and still was left sweating just in case. if you DO have the option, always walk in a store and try. tons of clunkers found that way - but nothing that you couldn't spot in a well described blurb or a good pic or two anyhow.

 

[guildzilla]

I understand the guys who want to play, touch, hear before they buy.

Unfortunately, I have never felt comfortable enough, sitting in a music store, to be able to evaluate and differentiate sound, music, and nuance from one instrument to another. My ear isn't good enough. I'm too distracted. It's noisy. I feel stage fright and full of inhibitions.

I have to be on my own turf, with no other sound in the room but me, and it still takes me awhile to discover the instrument.

When I bought my F-44 new in 1987, the guy let me take it home on approval for 24 hours. That did the trick. But I wasn't sure until I played it at home how I sounded on it and it sounded to me.

So the e-Bay thing works as well as a music store to me. Simply because I can't tell how much I'll like a given instrument until I play it at home.

 

[jp]

Hey Jonas,

I'm just now getting back to this thread to offer some recommendations to you. I understand how just how tough the vintage market is for American guitars in Sweden. I've been in that shop in Stockholm, and prices are in the high range of premium dealers here in the States.

There seem to be a few dealers on your side of the pond that seem pretty trustworthy if you ask the right questions. Ask about everything that concerns you, be it weight, action, neck profile, appointments, functionality, service that may be needed, etc. Hans may also be able to offer some references to some decent dealers. http://www.guitarchives.nl/guitarsgalore/

This used Guild dealer seems pretty knowledgeable, and prices seem very fair. http://www.vintagemaster.ch/ He may also help steer you to other used Guild dealers closer to you. Check with some of the UK dealers as well, because they may know of smaller shops or sometimes independent, single person dealers closer to you. Also, are you looking you buy new or used? I looked on the Fender website and I saw that there are two Guild dealers in Karlstad (nice town) and Västerås, a little closer to you. At least you could play a bunch and be more prepared when asking questions.

Perhaps you already knew all this or have already tried, but if not I hope it helps. Good luck!

BTW my wife has an uncle in Smedjebacken, whom we often visited and stayed in his sommarstuga in Ludvika (för att fiska kräftor - mums! Glad Midsommar!).

 

[sitka_spruce]

Thanx everyone for contributing to this thread. sorry if I haven't had the time to tune in here too often but I've been busy feeling sorry for myself (you don't want to know what haunts me... believe me).

I think I basically can rule out any Swedish dealer, though there might be a few. The British dealers... The Pound being rated so high the prices are even higher there. £1 used to equal 10SeK - now it's 14SeK, but the prices are still set as if the rate is 10SeK.

There could be some major Internet-dealers in Germany but I'm having a hard time finding them since my knowledge in German is far from adequate. I still have to buy it sight unseen. I'd get the best price by importing the instrument privately from the States no matter from what angle I look at it.

I feel confident from what you're saying Waverlies and Tacomas are great buys and the chance of getting a dragon's fart is almost none.

JP: I do have an uncle in Karlstad but our family and his are sort of in a fall-out. It's the older brother of my dad and not a fine example of how one of such should be like. Also it's not a place I go to frequently and not on the way to anywhere really. Thanx for the tip anyway.

Btw, we have a boat in Smedjebacken in the lake of Barken which is part of the Strömsholm's Canal. Do give me a holler when you find the time to come here next time.

 

[jp]

Hey,

Barken! That's the same lake where my wife's uncle has their stuga. Like many, it's been in the family for years and was passed on from his mother. I've rowed all over that lake and waved to the tourists that ride the little boat around.

I would guess, Jonas that if you bought sight unseen and didn't like it, and as long as there are no major flaws, you could resell it in Sweden and recover your investment. (eller?)

I don't know when we'll get back to Sweden. We've been wanting to go back, but we are a "småbarnsfamilje," a "little kid family" which makes it tough. Hopefully within the next year.

Du, maila mig om du behöver hjälp med något, fastan jag bor ganksa långt borta från Sverige. Jag menar att jag är villig att "prov köra" en gitarr åt dig och skicka den, men att frakta härifrån kommer att kosta fruktansvärd mycket.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Yay Pea, (or yej ärt)

I was right! I just won a bet with my girlfriend! I KNEW that was you in that boat.

 

[sitka_spruce]

Hey,

Barken! That's the same lake where my wife's uncle has their stuga. Like many, it's been in the family for years and was passed on from his mother. I've rowed all over that lake and waved to the tourists that ride the little boat around.

I would guess, Jonas that if you bought sight unseen and didn't like it, and as long as there are no major flaws, you could resell it in Sweden and recover your investment. (eller?)

I don't know when we'll get back to Sweden. We've been wanting to go back, but we are a "småbarnsfamilje," a "little kid family" which makes it tough. Hopefully within the next year.

Du, maila mig om du behöver hjälp med något, fastan jag bor ganksa långt borta från Sverige. Jag menar att jag är villig att "prov köra" en gitarr åt dig och skicka den, men att frakta härifrån kommer att kosta fruktansvärd mycket.

With a little luck I could resell any brand name guitar and break even or even gain a little profit for my troubles (med en smula tur skulle jag kunna sälja en märkesgitarr och gå jämt upp eller rent av gå tjäna en hacka för mina besvär)

You seem to handle my mother tongue pretty well. Much obliged! I'll keep that in mind should I find an instrument too interesting not to have a shot at. Hope I didn't seem to uninterested in your previous reply. It seems my lady mail-friend won't be writing anymore - well, she haven't for the past 3 or 4 months but I just thought she had a lot of business to take care of... it's a long story.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

tjäna en hacka

Hack ska du ta.

Guilders need to know that when they go to Sweden, they will find

1) "dubbel krapp" toilet paper.

2) cookies called "pricks."

 

[jp]

Jonas,

My wife always says to friends that my guitar is my first wife, and she is the second. Grab that Guild instead!

Darryl,
In one little town where I lived, a small grocery-carryout was called the Mitt i Prick, which translates to the Bullseye. I, however, had a different impression of it, though, since it's pronounced "meaty prick." The locals loved it when I explained what it meant in English.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Jonas,

When I first got to Sweden, I went into a bar where they were playing darts, and just as I got inside the door everybody started yelling, "Mitt i prick!"

 

[sitka_spruce]

tjäna en hacka

Hack ska du ta.

Guilders need to know that when they go to Sweden, they will find

1) "dubbel krapp" toilet paper.

2) cookies called "pricks."

... or thereabout.

1) "Kräppning" is a method by which you make small creases in paper for making the paper fluffier.

2) It's the cookie manufacturer that's called "Prick's" and a "prick" is Swedis for Spot, Dot and is slang for a Fellow, usually whom you don't know too well (so a "lustig prick" doesn't mean "lustfull prick", it means "odd/ funny guy". Prickad (past tence) means "tagged" or cautioned. "På pricken" (=down to the last spot) is basically your "on the nose" and shouldn't be confused with "on the spot". To "Pricka" something means hitting something by shooting at it or throwing something at it.

 

[sitka_spruce]

Jonas,
Darryl,
In one little town where I lived, a small grocery-carryout was called the Mitt i Prick, which translates to the Bullseye. I, however, had a different impression of it, though, since it's pronounced "meaty prick." The locals loved it when I explained what it meant in English.

With the slight exception that "meat" has the i: sound and the "mitt" has the short I sound.

Maybe I shouldn't mention this as we're knee deep in it already but the organisation of Swedish meat producers are called "Swedish Meats" in plural, which I believe have a sligth connection, in more than one sense, to that carry-out.

 

[sitka_spruce]

Jonas,

My wife always says to friends that my guitar is my first wife, and she is the second. Grab that Guild instead!

Thanx JP. I am however nothing but a knight without armour on a quest for something I do not know what it is yet. It's something life has tricked me on from my first breath of air - all I knew was that I want it more than anything. May sound to you like a drug but I'm one of those guys who live for other people. Having no friends or social life like I do and not having chosen that life, you'd need someone to becon you on. How else would I know if I was alive unless somebody else told me so?

This Eastern dating agency seemed more reliable in that it actually delivered and not only promised (these domestic sites are just full of girls who want their face shown should the perfect man show up and of course they'd recognise him in a split second :roll: ) Elena might have got cold feet or something but she promised me she'd tell if she didn't want to mail me of some reason. Boy, do I feel stupid having waited for her mails for months on end, thinking she might have more pressing things to deal with.

Having said all this what kept my boat afloat all these years have been my guitarplaying. Those of you who know Swedish or Scandinavian might have heard the song Sexsträngad Älskarinna, which implies the singer having a (fem) lover strung with six strings. I'd rather have one with six strings than one of those gadgets for mess'ing and talking into and that gives you brain tumours. All good things in life can be counted on 6 strings and on 12 frets.