Buying a Used Guitar? - 5 Things You Should Check BEFORE You Buy!

Hello guys, welcome back to the channel. I hope you are having a fantastic day today. In this video, we're talking about how to buy a

used

guitar

and what to look for to make sure you get a good deal when

buying

a

used

guitar

. It will save you hundreds of dollars over a new guitar, but here are some

things

to look for to make sure you end up with a quality guitar, so we'll start by talking about my deal breakers, these are

things

that if I find them in a guitar, I'm just going, they're not worth fixing or sometimes they can't be fixed, so that's what we're going to start with and then we'll talk about things that maybe might seem like a big deal, but aren't.

Not so, let's start now, one of the first things I look for when

buying

a used guitar and a definite deal breaker is a bent neck, it doesn't matter if you are looking for a bass, an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar that gives a simple A Eye test will tell you if there is any twisting and if there is just walk away. I've only seen this a handful of times in my life, but if you're going to buy a basic foreign-made guitar, definitely

check

it out. this but it only takes a second so I would

check

it for sure on any instrument and we're not talking about the relief if the neck is something like concave or convex which can be adjusted at a music store if you're not comfortable with the truss rod , we're talking about turning from left to right like this, if you know the headstock is not aligned with the heel, just walk away and like I mentioned, just lay the guitar on the floor, look at the center of the neck and if there's any movement from left to right, just walk away.

Deciding factor number two also has to do with the neck of the guitar. I've seen it happen primarily on acoustic guitars, but it can also be found on electric guitars and along with neck twisting, if you see this, just zoom out and that's the development of a hump right at the top joint of the neck of the guitar, right where the neck meets the body, there is an elevation change that develops and becomes high right there, and again you can see This is very easy just by looking down one side of the neck, looking up the other side of the neck, looking down the neck between the third and fourth string again, it's the same test you would do to look for left and right twist, and in this case you'll find it's straight, straight, straight, straight, and suddenly there is an elevation change right there and if you see that that can't be fixed, stay away from it.

The other way to find it is to simply feel the neck if it is clear. clean and clear up here, suddenly it gets a little buzzy and then when you get to the 10th to 12th fret it just doesn't play. This guitar section is too loud. Now in this example there's no hump, it's just beautifully straight, um, but yeah, that's what you're looking for, any kind of elevation change right there at that joint, so I've had some students with that and I've seen it in guitars, in my experience, it's more common than twisting the neck, so definitely. something really easy to check, just look down the neck and if you see that, walk away now, solve deal breaker number three, well you guessed it has to do with the neck of the guitar again, very few things can go wrong on the body of a guitar and in many ways and that can go sideways so having a good visual inspection is very important when you buy used guitars now of course I have a Gibson guitar in hand so you probably know which way I address.

Yes, the infamous headstock crack on Gibson guitars, this can affect the acoustics. guitars or any design where there is a huge change in angle here, so looking for hairline cracks is important, they can be hard to see, so like I said, do a good visual inspection on both sides of the joint here, along length of nut. that angle changes and ask the buyer if they've ever serviced it, that's a really important thing, it's a big weak point especially on gibbs and guitars, if you look under the truss rod cover you'll see how much material has been removed from under the fretboard , leaving a paper thin section of mahogany here, so most sensible makers add a scroll here, which is just additional wood material to strengthen that joint, so you'll find that you know almost all modern designs, so of all Anyway definitely check that for hairline cracks. if it's ever been repaired and if it has been for me it's impossible, deal breaker number four has to do with significant damage where the neck and body meet, it doesn't matter if it's a glued joint or a bolted joint like this, if there are chips, if there are, you know, deep cracks, if there is exposed wood, if there are cracks across the width of the block, I'll just walk away when you repair it, glue it, repaint it, whatever kind of savings you get by buy this guitar. used would have been long gone, so yeah, that's something I stay away from for sure and if there is significant damage in this area, it probably means there has been a catastrophic drop to the guitar in its past life and it's best to get it. leave One

should

just now tell themselves that I am not talking about the small hairline cracks that develop there or here, they simply mean that the expansion and contraction of the wood has caused the finish to crack.

Now, personally, I still won't buy a guitar. with finished cracking, I bought a lot of guitars for used channel over the years and never bought a single one with finished cracking, that's just my personal choice, it won't affect the stability of your guitar, so if there are little hairline cracks in the finish, that's pretty common on S style guitars, but it's my personal choice that I won't buy them if they have those hairline cracks, but like I said, it's not a big deal, we're talking about major damage. at the heel joints where the neck and body meet, if you see that deal breaker number five is a dead pickup, it is important, if possible, to plug in a guitar before you buy it, test each of the pickups, make sure be letting you know that there is a strong and adequate signal in each pickup, a dead pickup can be a big problem, sometimes it can be easily fixed with the electronic repair you already know, but most people who buy used guitars are not the type of people you know who want to solve problems and find them.

Electronics are a very small subset of used buyers, so if you find that you would just move on to another guitar, like I said, chasing electronics isn't for everyone and if you take it to a shop, it could be an expensive repair. from the time of purchase to complete pickup replacement, so if the electronics don't work properly, I'll walk away right now. Let's talk about some problems that are common on used guitars and aren't really a big deal right now since we were just talking about electronics, let's start with crackling or static on your pots, so if you're adjusting volume or tone and You hear that kind of static crunch, you think, "Oh, there's something really wrong inside this guitar." It usually doesn't just mean that the pots need to be cleaned, so you need to remove the protector.

In this case, use an electronic contact cleaner. You can find it literally anywhere and you just spray the pots while turning them and all the crunch. It goes away, all that dust and junk inside the pots gets cleaned up and you'll get a nice clean, clear signal, so again, that can be done for a few bucks, just buy some electronic contact cleaner and spray the pots and you're done. You're done, whether you want to do it yourself or not is up to you, but it's no big deal and it doesn't mean there's something wrong inside the guitar, just clean it up number two. that also has to do with electronics is that when you plug the guitar in and start playing you hear some kind of horrible noise when that cable and that connector are loose, all you need to do is just tighten the nuts on the outside here and that it will eliminate that loose connector feeling so sometimes you know you plug it in and move your guitar slightly and the amp makes a horrible noise that just means the cable is loose, tighten this bolt it's going to go away.

So those are two really easy things to fix that are very common on used and entry level guitars. Now, other things to look for when buying a used guitar that may or may not be a big deal for you are number one. finish defects take a good look at the guitar especially if it has a blast like this and just make sure the finish is even there isn't any weird discoloration that sort of thing if it's okay it may have been sold as a B series guitar. in which case the seller

should

n't price it closer to a stock which might give you some bargaining power there and also like bits and chips taken out of the finish again you might be interested but You don't know where they are if they are on the top side or the front side, it may not be a big deal if there are big chunks on the bottom, well that means a strap probably fell off and the guitar hit the floor with some strength, so, so be it. aware of that and you know that on these poly finished guitars, which are most of the guitars on the planet, it takes a lot of force to get a piece of polyethylene out, so keep in mind that it may have fallen off or something like that , so just take a quick look at the finish as well, so check the neck, check the neck joint, check the electronics, check the finish and the body, that will give you a very good representation of how much you should pay for this guitar and what type. of the condition it is in and finally here are a couple more tips for someone who wants to buy a used guitar number one, take your time, don't rush when making a purchase, check the things I listed and make sure when you get the guitar, you are paying for number two if you are not a guitarist, if you are a father or mother, you buy for your children or grandfather, you buy for your grandson, whatever the situation, if you don't play the guitar.

Bringing in someone who does that will give you more peace of mind so take your time and bring someone in and finally just do some basic research if you want to buy like a Mexican, a Stratocaster or a Telecaster, these are very well known. common guitars very popular guitars, uh, you know when the change was, when they went from the Mexican standard to the player series, there were big changes from that line of guitars and if you're buying an older one, you shouldn't pay as much. To a large extent you know a number of players so you know when those changes occurred, you know the pickups were different, the fit system is different, you know a lot of changes between those models so just do some basic research to be armed with the facts before starting. buy a guitar now, if there are other things you look for when buying a used guitar, please leave them in the comments section below.

I would love to read them there other than that. I hope you enjoyed the video if you did. subscribe to the channel apart from that have a great day