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Post by nicholas on Jan 18, 2023 10:02:19 GMT -7
I traded some stuff in at GC and ordered an open box guitar. It says "condition 2" but no details or images of the exact guitar. The local store called the warehouse, but they couldn't give any details other than it wouldn't be anything that is structural like a busted headstock or misaligned neck. Nothing to affect playibility supposedly. I'm wondering if anyone else ever bought a condition 2 guitar and what I might expect?
I had two Les Pauls, an R9 and a Custom. I was feeling they were too similar to justify keep both as I preferred the Custom. So I sold the R9 a month ago and have been looking for a used SG Custom. They have really grown on me latley. Then I found this open box deal priced for less than used ones are usually listed. For the discount that was applied to it, I'm okay with just about any kind of cosmetic blemish. Hopefully that's all it is. I can return it if it's worse than I expected so it's not like a risk or anything. Worst case I take it back and get a check for all the stuff I traded in. But I'm really hoping it's not messed up.
What's the most likely outcome? Somebody returned it due to a pretty serious issue? Or just a few scuffs and scratches like a store demo type condition?
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Post by Rockerfeller on Jan 18, 2023 10:13:07 GMT -7
I've ordered open box from MF, Sweetwater, ZZounds and other places. Usually it's for sound equipment. I've kept every order because everything worked great and nothing was damaged. At Sweetwater, if something comes back real beat up, they'll list it as used....not as a demo unit. Not sure how MF does it.
But, they have to pay to ship it to you and pay the shipping back if you don't like it. Condition 2 seems to be a blemish of some kind. Level 3 is "Scratch and Dent". So I think you'd be ok, as long as you don't mind something that is slightly blemished.
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rudeboy
Full Member
Rudecaster into a Z...heaven.
Posts: 124
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Post by rudeboy on Jan 18, 2023 15:44:54 GMT -7
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Post by nicholas on Jan 19, 2023 6:57:36 GMT -7
Ahhh... that's what I was thinking about. I thought I remembered someone mentioning that here but looking through the recent thread titles I couldn't find it. Thanks. This is encouraging!
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Post by nicholas on Jan 19, 2023 7:05:27 GMT -7
Condition 2 seems to be a blemish of some kind. Level 3 is "Scratch and Dent". So I think you'd be ok, as long as you don't mind something that is slightly blemished. I'm down with that. For 1000 bucks off I could let quite a bit slide. Should be here tomorrow so I'll find out soon enough.
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Post by runninwiththerevil (Matthew) on Jan 19, 2023 21:16:30 GMT -7
I can't speak to your exact situation, but you'll be fine. My last Martin was a scratch and dent from Sweetwater. I think it had been on the floor. The only thing I could find was the pick guard already had the swirls I would have put on it in 3 days of playing. It also happened to be clearance because SW had ordered too many with their specs. If it had been an OM and not a OOO I would have never gotten rid of that guitar. Open box seem worth the risk.
More related to the policy you'll deal with, I got a used Martin CEO model from Guitar Center. I had it home 5 minutes and knew it was no good. I don't know if there was a brace loose or what. The guitar was the deadest thing I ever played. No high end, but even the bass was almost muffled. I took it back the next day. They were great about the return. No hassle.
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Post by nicholas on Jan 20, 2023 6:41:43 GMT -7
More related to the policy you'll deal with, I got a used Martin CEO model from Guitar Center. I had it home 5 minutes and knew it was no good. I don't know if there was a brace loose or what. The guitar was the deadest thing I ever played. No high end, but even the bass was almost muffled. I took it back the next day. They were great about the return. No hassle. Cool. I'll know pretty much right away if I'm keeping it, but they told me it has the same return policy as a new one - 45 days and there are no return shipping charges or anything. So other than possibly being disappointed because I really want it, there doesn't seem to be any catch. It was discounted 1,000 bucks from new and then an addition 10% for the trade in trade up. So this put it considerably less than any of the used ones I was looking at. I did ask what would happen with all the stuff I traded in if I did return it. I traded 1,200 bucks worth of pedals and a stage monitor, he said they just write a check for it all. I wasn't sure if they would give me my trades back, and then wondered what if some of the stuff sold before I returned the guitar. So it seems like a worthwhile chance.
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Post by zpilot on Jan 22, 2023 7:15:57 GMT -7
When I was the tech for MF's "Private Reserve Guitars" I occasionally was involved in rating high end guitars that had been returned. Guitars that showed NO evidence of use and had all original manuals, etc., were cleaned up and polished and resold as new. Those rated "2" might just be missing original packing or box or even just the COA. They also might have a scratch(s) or something that we could not quickly repair, such as a belt buckle dent on the back. We sold MANY high end guitars every day and it was just not worth our time to touch these up. $1000 is quite a bit more than what those guitars were discounted so I am going to guess that guitar is also something that is not selling quickly and/or they have an overstock of them.
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Post by nicholas on Jan 24, 2023 10:04:43 GMT -7
Ahhh...bummer. I guess it wasn't meant to be. When I first opened the case I was blown away, other than some swirls on the pickguard it looked perfect. Then I picked it up out of the case and strummed a few cords. Right away I noticed the back of the neck felt lumpy. I figured it was just some gunk build up. Then I looked at it, the back of the neck was riddled with dings from the headstock to the 12th fret. Not really sure how that could even happen. It looked like someone went berserk on it with some drumsticks or something. I didn't count them, but probably 20-30 dings speckled all over it. So I returned it.
No harm no foul. They were really great about the refund and said they'd suggest it be re labelled to a worse condition rating. I was sort of worried they'd question me for putting all the dings on it, so I called them right after it acclimated and I opened it up. They were cool about it and appologized.
The good news is that I really liked how it felt, (other than the hammered finish neck.) So the search goes on. I did plug it in and it sounded killer. Maybe I'm just being too picky. But being able to feel the dents while playing I wasn't sure I'd ever feel good about it. I'd probably always second guess keeping it.
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Post by jhen86 (jordan) on Feb 7, 2023 16:07:46 GMT -7
Bummer! Sorry it didn’t work out.
I got a $1200 Taylor for $710 from MF open box once. Probably 4 years ago. It was a Taylor 214e deluxe with hard case and pickup system. Listed online but without any pics. I thought, who buys a scratch and dent guitar without pics?!? So I emailed support and asked they take pictures. They sent the raw pics to me directly. Unpolished before they are “ready to post”. Couldn’t find a single mark on the thing. So I bought it. Literally a brand new guitar. Wound up selling it to my church for cost eventually as they were shopping for one and I had no real need of it. Just too good a deal to pass up.
There’s definitely deals to be had!
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