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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | My friend has been monitoring my mixed fortunes with buying/shipping O's to Australia, and he's jumped in feet first and bought this Gibson J45 .
Box guitars just don't butter my muffin, but he's excited.
I'm just concerned that that's a lot of US greenery to be sending overseas to someone with NO feedback at all. It's also my mate's first eBay purchase.
Also, is that a good price?
Am I being overly cautious, or am I right to be worried? I haven't discussed my concerns with him as he's really excited and don't want to unecessarily alarm him.
Whadyareckon? |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Why don't you see if someone from the OFC can go inspect, and possibly pick it up for your friend? It sold for less than a couple of others that did not meet reserve, so I'd say on a spot judgement it looks like a good deal. Intl shipping is going to be what sucks the life out of the good deal he got. You're right to be concerned. Now, let's see if we can guide them both (your friend and the seller) into making this go smoothly. Anyone left alive and sober after Brad's gathering want to get involved? |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | That sounds like a great idea Fred.
Any OFCers in Illinois with nothing to do this week? |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | J45's can be great guitars, but apart from the cost and logistics issues I'd leave this one alone.
This guitar suffers from the same problem as way too much of Gibson's current acoustic guitar production. Take a look at the close-up pic of the bridge. Someone has done a bodge job of lowering the action by cutting grooves into the top of the saddle. If this had been done correctly by removing material from the saddle base it would look nicer, but would still leave almost zero string break angle. The bottom line; Despite what the seller says in his responses, even with the saddle intact the break angle would be negligible. This is a 4 year old guitar that already needs an expensive neck re-set. |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Thanks for your input Paul, but I don't want to tell him that.
He's already bought it.
My concern is that it's a guitar shop... with NO feedback. It may be a guitar that he couldn't sell in the normal manner. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | He could always pull out of the deal. I'd rather have a negative feedback than a guitar that potentialy needs several hundred dollars worth of skilled work either now or in the not too distant future. Caveat Emptor.
If I can't clearly see the break angle on a guitar I always ask the seller for a close-up pic of the bridge. If there's negligible break angle I leave it, unless the guitar is a serious bargain. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1300
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | The guy might be legit. I did a few Google searches for his phone number and found this Fred\'s as well as a listing in the Marion, Illinois Chamber of Commerce "New Memember Listing" and he is listed as a dealers for John Pearse Strings. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | If someone knowledgeable about guitars could inspect it at the store, your friend could find out if it needs a neck reset. If it does, it isn't as advertised in the auction and your friend could legitimately pull out. He would also save some big $ in shipping.
To answer the original question, yes I think your buddy is crazy to buy such an expensive item from a zero feedback seller! |
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Is my buddy crazy?
