Guitar Deals

I have been selling off my gear to make room in my house and to give my gear a chance to be used. In the midst of this I've been looking at Taylor acoustics and just hadn't found one I was willing to buy. But then on Craig's list I found a 712ce, small body guitar with a short scale -- right up my alley! Lest you think I was spending more money on yet another guitar I have been saving my proceeds from my other gear sales to finance this purchase, plus I got my bonus from my job. The guy wanted $1850. I found out I could get a brand new one for $2169 so I figured I'd just save up the money and get a new one. So the guy dropped his price down to $1500. That I thought was a good deal, but just couldn't pay that much. I agreed to see the guitar because I figure I can get the $1500 if I really liked the guitar. So when I finally see the guitar in person I found a finish crack on the bottom bout binding. It looked really bad. I have dropped my acoustic guitars and even had one fall off stage and I have never seen a crack in the finish that looked so bad. I didn't feel good about it so I passed on the guitar because I was concerned about the integrity of the guitar. The seller assured me that it hadn't affected the wood under the finish or the integrity of the guitar. I figured as much, but was afraid to take the risk. He then offers the guitar for $1200. I stand there and think about it with a scrunched up face and finally decide to take the guitar. $1200 is what I offered in the first place. I was assured by others on the Acoustic Guitar Forum and Acoustic Guitar Community the cracks in the finish are nothing to worry about. So that was a GREAT deal. I already have equity in the guitar even with the flaw in the finish.

My next coup was a Squier Classic 50s Vibe Duo-Sonic for $184. Something about this little guy was calling me. I've wanted one since they came out, but I have several electrics and really didn't need another one as I'm sure I had all of my sound needs covered. I have read glowing reviews about this guitar and haven't seen one bad one. The worst I read was that the frets needed to be filed down. So I go to the local music store and they have two, one used and one new. I figured I'd go for the used one, but most used prices in music stores are very close to the new price, so I wasn't getting my hopes up on saving that much money. The new one actually had paint chips (more like divots) and a thumb-sized dent in the body (WTF). So I looked at the used one and was happy to see the price, $200, $129 below new. The used one had no flaws whatsoever accept that it wasn't as clean as the new one. I asked if something was wrong with the guitar and the sales guy said no. Someone just bought and returned it. So I asked if he could do better than $200 and he offered to make it $200 out the door so the guitar cost $184 + tax. Awesome deal! The guitar is great. It has a 24" scale and a very nice neck, which is easy to play. It looks and sounds good too. Though the middle position and the neck position don't sound that different to me. The simplicity and style of the guitar makes it stand out.