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pre order guitars sight unseen


ihavenofish

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i posted this on agf, but im going to make it more generic here to remove some variables. the basic question is:

 

would you pay for a guitar on a preorder basis from a small unproven company?

 

i know lots of people buy gibson models before theyve hit stores, as well as customs from carvin and others, but theres alot of security buying those. you know that if they screw up, youll get your money back without much hassle and have something to rant about on HC :)

 

with a small new company though, the risk factors are much higher.

 

the hypothetical situation here is a guitar worth about $600. you like said guitar on paper, and the photos, videos and marketting make it seem a good deal. the payment has some security to it, such as paypal, so its not a 100% shot in the dark.

 

so, to be clear: you want one and have the money on hand.

 

answers are:

 

1: yes, i would buy the guitar and pay in full up front.

2: yes, i would buy the guitar but would only be comfortable with a 50% deposit.

3: no, i would not buy the guitar until i get feedback from others who own it.

 

so there you have it. thoughts?

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I might consider it if I had some sort of return option or test period. But otherwise, from an unproven builder I would not take the chance unless it truly BLEW away everything else spec-wise on paper. There are enough other options out there that there really isn't the need to take the the risk on an unknown brand unless it really offered something compelling or gave some protections to the buyer.

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I'd do it. Pay up front 100%, but with some conditions:

I'd want to see pictures of the finished product.
I'd use a credit card, so I'd get protection from fraud/theft.
I'd talk to the company decisionmaker...if it is a small company, i.e., a company of one, you can get a good feel of the person's trustworthiness.
I'd need a short acceptance/trial period. If it just isn't as advertised, I would need some recourse w/o bringing in the fraud accusation.

I've bought sight-unseen from Jon Kammerer w/ no problem or worries. But the guitars were already built.

If the question is to have a guitar or other device built for a certain amount of money, then I think 50% down, 50% on delivery is fair to both sides. Maybe even 30% down, 70% on delivery (depending on the price, materials should only cost about 30% of the final retail price).

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absolutely not...i will order amps and pedals and all misc crap, but guitars I wont buy until Ive played them...too many variables, you can pick up 10 ebony gibson 2010 les paul standards and play them, and actually find one or 2 you like, the rest not so much...EVERY guitar is slightly different...

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I wouldn't but then I don't even want to buy instruments on eBay. I want to have the instrument in my hand and THEN I'll make the decision to buy it or not. I'm just super paranoid about being ripped off or something going wrong, though.

 

If you are going to pay for an instrument without seeing it, make sure you have a safety net and if you're buying directly from a new and somewhat unproven source, GET REFERENCES. There has to be that trust there first. It's kind of like choosing a new tattoo artist... you'd want to be 100% before you pulled the trigger so talking to someone who's been there themselves would be the absolute LEAST you could do.

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I would and have. Bought an Ovation from GC that they did not have in stock. Strat from Musicians Friend. Both turned out excellent. Strat needed setup, but other than that was perfect. Gonna do an Agile next.

 

I would of course check out the review of a particular guitar that I am interested in. Forums like this make that a much simpler task.

Thank you!

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Complete NO! from me. I bought my Gibson LP online from a highly reputable dealer but you're in dangerous territory here.

 

If it's a new start-up company surely there will be a way for you to go to their workshop and try out some guitars? If not, then they're trying to hide something.

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This is why Carvins are such a hard sell. They're fantastic guitars, beloved by almost everyone who has played them and sold at a very fair price, especially given the fact that they're cheaper and better built than many Gibsons... and yet... people want to be able to shop and take them for a spin first. I believe Carvin even offers a fair trial period after you buy but it's just easier to fall in love with a guitar you've held in your hands rather than ordered factory-direct.

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I'd do it. Pay up front 100%, but with some conditions:


I'd want to see pictures of the finished product.

I'd use a credit card, so I'd get protection from fraud/theft.

I'd talk to the company decisionmaker...if it is a small company, i.e., a company of one, you can get a good feel of the person's trustworthiness.

I'd need a short acceptance/trial period. If it just isn't as advertised, I would need some recourse w/o bringing in the fraud accusation.


I've bought sight-unseen from Jon Kammerer w/ no problem or worries. But the guitars were already built.


If the question is to have a guitar or other device built for a certain amount of money, then I think 50% down, 50% on delivery is fair to both sides. Maybe even 30% down, 70% on delivery (depending on the price, materials should only cost about 30% of the final retail price).

 

 

i think all your criteria would be met in this case. minimum deposit would have to be 50% for a few reasons. materials and labour cost a bit, but theres also some up front overhead that has to be covered wich really is the primary reason for the preorder - otherwise you could just make and sell one at a time.

 

the guitar in this case is a mid priced ($600) made in canada small production run. its a different dynamic than a small custom builder selling a handful of expensive guitars. it needs about a 200 piece preorder to get things rolling.

 

selling out 200 is a no brainer under normal circumstances, but this situation isnt quite normal as the entire guitar from body to tuners are made in house and theres some specialised equipment involved.

 

the venture will go ahead regardless of this poll as soon as the prototypes are presentable and a payment system is setup. the survey is to figure out what one might expect in numbers. if 1 in 10 will buy in early, then we know there needs to be a customer base of X to get rolling.

 

the way this is supposed to be set up is that a goal is set - 200 guitars at 50% of $600 for example. if in an alloted time of 60 days 200 orders come in, the money is used to do the run. if the minimum isnt met and thus startup costs cant be covered, all money is refunded. the payment system will handle this in a secure fashion - basically the bank or paypal or the like holds the money until the terms are met.

 

if you want a reference for how the system works, go to kickstarter.com

they wont be involved in this, but the principle is the same.

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If it's a new start-up company surely there will be a way for you to go to their workshop and try out some guitars? If not, then they're trying to hide something.

 

 

youd be more than welcome to visit the shop and try one of the prototypes out. there will also be a travelling demo model but where it will travel to is anyones guess. the problem is that shop and demo is not going to be acessible to 99% of potential customers.

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This is why Carvins are such a hard sell. They're fantastic guitars, beloved by almost everyone who has played them and sold at a very fair price, especially given the fact that they're cheaper and better built than many Gibsons... and yet... people want to be able to shop and take them for a spin first. I believe Carvin even offers a fair trial period after you buy but it's just easier to fall in love with a guitar you've held in your hands rather than ordered factory-direct.

 

 

Carvin are a reputable company - there are so many people here that wax lyrical about their guitars at every possible opportunity. Does anyone know how they started out and built their reputation?

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This is why Carvins are such a hard sell. They're fantastic guitars, beloved by almost everyone who has played them and sold at a very fair price, especially given the fact that they're cheaper and better built than many Gibsons... and yet... people want to be able to shop and take them for a spin first. I believe Carvin even offers a fair trial period after you buy but it's just easier to fall in love with a guitar you've held in your hands rather than ordered factory-direct.

 

 

carvin does well though, which is a good sign. youll never conquer the market with that format unless its super low budget though. luckily the production target for this project is fairly small in comparison to carvin and others like them.

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Carvin are a reputable company - there are so many people here that wax lyrical about their guitars at every possible opportunity. Does anyone know how they started out and built their reputation?

 

 

i think they started with amps, im not sure they ever had off the shelf guitars in a retail fashion - granted they do have some retail outlets currently.

 

but your right, whatever was in the past for them, NOW they are a very well regarded company and dealing with them is considered very low risk.

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I would and have. Bought an Ovation from GC that they did not have in stock. Strat from Musicians Friend. Both turned out excellent. Strat needed setup, but other than that was perfect. Gonna do an Agile next.

 

 

The poll was asking the question about unproven companies/brands. I think the results would be a lot different if it was a general question about buying a guitar sight unseen.

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The poll was asking the question about unproven companies/brands. I think the results would be a lot different if it was a general question about buying a guitar sight unseen.

 

 

indeed. a very large percentage of people buy sight unseen from major chain stores and big brands. very very different question.

 

the biggest thing ive bought in the fashion proposed by this thread is my CNC router. i put half down when i saw the first prototype half done. the machine was delayed but eventually arrived and is great. the cnc though is different thna a guitar. it has no subjectivity, and there are extremely few "off the shelf" options to begin with.

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In my experience small, particularly family owned businesses (ESPECIALLY if they are new), are more reliable and more likely to help you than the big established ones. They have to be good to the customer to survive, and in principle I would much rather support an independent person, than a chain company.

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I might consider it if I had some sort of return option or test period. But otherwise, from an unproven builder I would not take the chance unless it truly BLEW away everything else spec-wise on paper. There are enough other options out there that there really isn't the need to take the the risk on an unknown brand unless it really offered something compelling or gave some protections to the buyer.



This is pretty much my take as well. :idk:

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