Honesty in Dealing with fellow musicians

[Nicholasim]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share something with you guys and to get your opinions on this matter.

So i came across this post on guitar4christ forum of someone selling his Maestro guitar. Here is the post: http://www.guitar4christ.com/index....&t=39933&sid=28bf1a82a12c6c9007667186e5c18bab

We came to a deal and met at a MRT station. I just finished work and was dam shag, so i wanted to make it a quick deal since on the post and sms, he told me the condition is 9/10 and the guitar is about a year old. What would you guys expect of the guitar? Probably some hairline scratches and small cosmetics only right? Thats what i thought so too.

So i just took the guitar out, looked at it and strummed a few chords and it was a done deal. I know here its partly my fault that i didnt really check the guitar properly but as i said earlier, he told me 9/10 and a year old. I have kept guitars and i know what 9/10 is and my guitars that i have kept for 2 years are still in a 9/10 condition, so somehow, i took it for granted and didnt really check.

When i got home, OMG...... i didnt really noticed because the lighting where we dealt wasnt really gd

1) Mould mould mould on almost ALL the frets
2) all the washers except 1 on the tuners were missing
3) Frets were mostly damaged, playing bends were rough

There are still some other small cosmetics that are forgivable like the pegs missing the abalone inlays.

So i was obviously furious! I msged the guy and it was quite a long conversation but it basically ended with him saying "this argument is going nowhere, im not giving you a refund and we are done here"

Hmm... as im writing this, im looking at the guitar, im going to clean it up the best as i can and maybe see how it is and decide if im going to sell it or not.

Can i have your opinions on this matter? I know its my fault that i didnt really check the guitar, this is a lesson learnt for me. But shouldnt there be basic and mutual trust when dealing with fellow musicians?

 

[Nicholasim]

Also, in his post he mentioned JUST restring? Well, i think his JUST is like a year ago. Strings were also damaged, gold coatings were coming off. dont know how he handle his guitars at home...

 

[Schtauffen]

Though I'm a drummer and not a guitarist, but it sounds like a 6-7 / 10 condition to me.
Well at the end of the day, when you deal with people as the buyer, never give your full trust especially if you don't know the guy.
Always always always, check through your purchase, especially for major faults. Replaceable stuff like washer and nuts can close one eye, but if the item is damaged, bend, etc. Well, then seller should seriously reflect on himself.

Now you know, never make a deal if you're damn shagged out or in a rush. I still do the rush part sometimes and missed out some minor details on my purchase. Take this as a lesson.

And oh, you might wanna do your part and warn other guitarists about this dishonest seller.

 

[blueprintstudios]

sorry to hear about your deal with the devil at guitar4christ.

Tip :
1) never deal outside.someone won't show up.either at his house. or at yours. if not, buy brand new.

2) all you can do is appeal to his good nature to refund, or just resell it at $120 try to recover as much back and stop spoiling your own market in public.

3) all I can really see from his ad is "It is really a value buy for beginners" translated to "it is a ripoff item to be sold to people who don't know (noobs) or people who don't care (or rather in your case careless.)

4) brand new one costs $300+ , he sold for $180, in a mathematical formula, you're really just getting the 50%++ condition worth of the guitar.

5) you're lucky it's only $180. which is 20% of an average teenager's intern/partime job income at $1000/month (According to Tharman Shanmugaratnam you can buy a flat! heh). take a deep breath, get over with, you're easily bigger than this.

6) I have this positive thinking that whenever I get ripped off by anyone or accidentally bought something at a higher price. it's just the nature of luck that what comes up next is you'll get a sweetass deal (subconsciously actually your brain has learned a lesson) or the bad karma will happen to that person and his luck is "transferred" to you. and I gotta say I've been pretty freakin' lucky so far ever since heh.

 

[Nicholasim]

Yeah, i guess its a lesson learnt for me and i hope that all you guys out there learn from my experience and dont make the same mistake as me. Always test and check your guitar before buying!

Well, i cleaned up the guitar (my cloth was greenish after cleaning the fretboard ), polished the frets and everything. At least it looks good now but the problem is still the damaged frets. Whenever i play a bend, its so rough i can hear the gritty sound :/

Was thinking of replacing the damaged frets but i heard its not recommended to just replace a few frets but instead its recommended to change ALL the frets at one go because if you just change a few, something about the leveling of the frets will be off?

 

[relinquish69]

when you buy used stuff, always check them. even I get bad deals myself from time to time.

 

[alvinkubi]

yeah. i guess it'll be great if everyone could be honest with each other and not try to rip each other off. But i guess thats idealistic.