Guitar Center Vintage

[mikeswals]

They have definitely gotten better with scrutinizing the incoming gear.
I bought a '73 Gibson guitar from a local vintage dealer (but I'm not a guitar player). About 8-9 months later I traded it on to GC. They checked it over and consulted the Hollywood Vintage Room over it.
Lucky for me though, they offered me more than I paid for it .

 

[Hydraone]

Source- I work at a GC in SoCal

With vintage gear, GC guys are instructed to contact the vintage department team. Most of the people in vintage are relatively knowledgeable. Of course, they are people too, and I've seem some bad calls.

If I'm frank, the most common "bad call" is giving someone far too much money for their old, beat up guitar, and subsequently tagging it for way too much.

Vintage isn't like regular used gear sales, where the seller is going to get about 60% of what the store is going to charge for it. Usually it's closer to 75%.

As for an idea of how the examination process works, an example. 1980s Flying V. A little rough, but passable shape.

Before I bought it in, I:

Checked pot codes

And verified pickups

Customer wanted $1000, but I figured I'd be able to sell it for $600 or so in it's condition. Maybe $700 if I was willing to wait around. The guys at vintage came back with giving him $500, tagging it at $700. The customer wasn't happy at all at $500, so they pushed it to $600 and $800. He left disappointed that he didn't get $1000, I was left a little disappointed that I was probably going to be stuck with this thing a while.

And another. Last month I bought in a vintage Fender Coronado II, in the old love-it-or-hate-it "Antiqua" finish. The customer was trying to get some trade value to get into a new 335.

Unfortunately I don't have all of the disassembly pictures still, but one of the blacklight photos I took to check for repairs was so striking that it's my phone wallpaper now.

So yeah, there's a lot that goes into it, and generally the guys pricing stuff are pretty good at what they do. The majority of horror stories I hear from people about the GC used buy system are jsut from people who have no grasp on how the concept of economy works, and are miffed that the resellers didn't give them 75% of MSRP for their 4 year old ****** Ibanez .

 

[bassie12]

Source- I work at a GC in SoCal

With vintage gear, GC guys are instructed to contact the vintage department team. Most of the people in vintage are relatively knowledgeable. Of course, they are people too, and I've seem some bad calls.

If I'm frank, the most common "bad call" is giving someone far too much money for their old, beat up guitar, and subsequently tagging it for way too much.

Vintage isn't like regular used gear sales, where the seller is going to get about 60% of what the store is going to charge for it. Usually it's closer to 75%.

As for an idea of how the examination process works, an example. 1980s Flying V. A little rough, but passable shape.

Before I bought it in, I:

Checked pot codes

And verified pickups

Customer wanted $1000, but I figured I'd be able to sell it for $600 or so in it's condition. Maybe $700 if I was willing to wait around. The guys at vintage came back with giving him $500, tagging it at $700. The customer wasn't happy at all at $500, so they pushed it to $600 and $800. He left disappointed that he didn't get $1000, I was left a little disappointed that I was probably going to be stuck with this thing a while.

This looks to be made of Korina wood. If verified, the guitar would be worth a bit more than $1k to the right buyer.

 

[collicsws6z28]

Source- I work at a GC in SoCal

With vintage gear, GC guys are instructed to contact the vintage department team. Most of the people in vintage are relatively knowledgeable. Of course, they are people too, and I've seem some bad calls.

If I'm frank, the most common "bad call" is giving someone far too much money for their old, beat up guitar, and subsequently tagging it for way too much.

Vintage isn't like regular used gear sales, where the seller is going to get about 60% of what the store is going to charge for it. Usually it's closer to 75%.

So yeah, there's a lot that goes into it, and generally the guys pricing stuff are pretty good at what they do. The majority of horror stories I hear from people about the GC used buy system are jsut from people who have no grasp on how the concept of economy works, and are miffed that the resellers didn't give them 75% of MSRP for their 4 year old ****** Ibanez .

Good info. I just wish the listing had a detailed description. If the store is going to dig in, why not list that info on the site. I am unsure if the bass has original pickups, bridge, pots, or case!

 

[jason_cfh]

The words "experts" and "Guitar Center" shouldn't ever be in the same sentence.

 

[Bassdirty]

........ He left disappointed that he didn't get $1000, ...

Well, he coulda sold it on his own..ebay, craigslist..
If he's dissapointed, It should be at himself.


(don't get me wrong, I've also been "voluntarily robbed" by my "friends" at GC.. and felt violated after leaving, but nobody to blame but me.)

"Luck" is what happens when opportunity meets preparedness.

 

[Hydraone]

Well, he coulda sold it on his own..ebay, craigslist..
If he's dissapointed, It should be at himself.

In any case he wasn't getting $1000 for that guitar. It was more a case of him not having any idea what the value of his instrument was.

Good info. I just wish the listing had a detailed description. If the store is going to dig in, why not list that info on the site. I am unsure if the bass has original pickups, bridge, pots, or case!

Call or email the vintage department in Hollywood.

 

[Hydraone]

This looks to be made of Korina wood. If verified, the guitar would be worth a bit more than $1k to the right buyer.

It's absolutely korina. As were all Flying Vs of that year. Doesn't make it any more valuable or desirable on a base model in solid black.