Arghh..GC why? Is the Tele still ok

A few months ago I was checking out the used gear at my local GC and I saw this very plain pedestrian telecaster - black w/white pickguard and rosewood board and they were asking $950..really for a used American telecaster? I picked it up and it was fairly heavy maybe 9 lbs heavy, which had me scratching my head. But it was in really good condition, no damage to the finish. Weeks go by and I notice it's still sitting in the used section but I take a closer look and notice its a 1989 model and I think are you kidding? They are asking a premium price because its an 89, like its a vintage instrument!

Weeks go by and I notice its still hanging around, obviously the market isn't bearing out their price. Then one day I pick up a new American Special tele, the ones with the Texas Special pickups and I plug it into a Mesa 5:50 express. I could not dail in a decent clean tone for the life of me. Like an idiot I decide that the Mesa's overrated, at least on the clean side. Then out of curiosity I pull down the 89 telecaster and plug it into the Mesa. Wow! the tone was beautiful, so sweet. Not twangy or spanky like so many tele enthusiasts die for but just plain sweeeeet with beautiful bell like tones. It reminded me of something you'd hear on an old soul recording. And it was sweet across all three positions and up and down the board and on top of that the neck was one of the best necks I've played on a Fender. In many ways it was the best telecaster I've ever played. Heavy? Yes. Homely? Yes, but the tone was extraordinary.

Now here is the sad part. Because GC had overpriced it so that it sat on the brutal GC sales floor for so long, some dummy finally got a hold of it and dropped it. Three months on the sales floor I'm surprised its not even more damaged. Now it has a dime sized chip in the finish. The chip goes all the way down to the wood, however the wood itself is not dented. But I imagine that it took a decent blow to chip the finish off like it did.

So here is my question. I might just have to buy this thing and indulge in its seductive nectar. It seems like it survived the blow pretty well. I do not see signs of damage other than the chipped finish. Should I be concerned about the trauma that it went through? Are there specific things I should look for when purchasing a dropped instrument? Is there damage that I might not be able to see? I guess on the plus side I now have a bargaining chip (pun intended)!

Thanks,

Tom

i would check the neck out with extra attention. teles are tough, they can survive stuff like that easily, but if they dropped it on the neck also, that may have problems. also, there is an alarmingly high percentage of fender necks that have bad truss rods. make sure the truss rod can adjust all the way to straight. i would also take the neck off and look inside the electronics. you may find more issues that you can use as bargaining chips, even if they are not major issues.

Senor Abate, you may have found your calling with the two! First let's talk through the chip. Is it a chip on the shoulder or a chipped tooth? Could not resist....

Sounds like the Boogie / tele pair should be bought at a discount. C'mon, tell the folks at Guitar Killer you'll buy both at a 35% discount. (ok work it down from there or hold firm until next month when it's still there)

tele's are fairly bullet proof, so if all parts are still intact and no electrical issues this should still be good to go. Don't they sell chipped guitars at a premium as road worn or relic now? Just make sure it was not dropped neck first and there are no neck or truss rod issues, there lies future problem and $$$$. I have a tele with a few chips but the sucker plays just like it did when i bought it. IMHO, since it has been there a while and mishandled and you are bonding, play hardball and get it for a realistic price based on the fact this was not the guitar you saw before. "What did you guys do to this guitar?!"

Happy hunting

Tom, I think this is an opportunity. I always watch used gear at the GC. In the last year I have noticed a tendency for the GC to overprice their used gear. They are struggling as a company. Here is what I would do.

Inspect the Tele very closely, especially the edges of the neck pocket for a small fractures in the paint. You need to inspect it under good light. If there are no cracks the neck has probably not been compromised, especially if the string alignment is good, I would check the flatness of the neck and if it is not visibly bowed the truss rod may be fine. I would then point out to them that this guitar has been damaged in the store (dropped) and that the condition may be questionable at this point. I would then make a $600 offer and see what they do. I have picked up many guitars from them at great prices using this strategy. If it has been around for over 90 days they like to move them. Most of what I have picked up that has looked marginal has been no more then bad setups and when set up they have turned out to be fine instruments. It is Black and the chip are could be repaired so no one could ever tell.-- Darwin

I bought my ASAT and my Ibanez AS120 at GC for a bargain.
They had my ASAT mispriced by $300.00 from the tag to internet price so they had to honor it. My Ibanez was priced like a MIC Artcore I knew what it was so I jumped on it.
The GC's here are real good about negotiating on price.I have come out of there with a good deal on used equipment. I think it depends on the GC also if the salesman has some knowledge. Haggle with them.
Teles are tanks I bet it is ok.

Chet

Louis, Sam Darwin, Chet:

Thanks for the insight. I'm not sure if I'll pull the trigger on this. If I were childless or if my job and my wife's job were both more secure I would do it in a heart beat. But that being said, guitars like this come around infrequently, at least in my world. I may make an offer and see how they respond. If they bite, I'll be scrambling to sell gear before the credit card comes due. The thing I love about this guitar is that it is so different than my 09 American Standard Telecaster and my 97 ASAT Special. Each of these guitars does something completelt\y different. The ASAT rocks and is great for a classic rock gig. The 09 Telecaster is a bit twangy and spanky and has a lot of bite. This 89 Telecaster plays like butter and sounds like clasic soul. It really speaks to me.

Thanks again

Tom

from the description in your original post to your comments in this last post i cannot see how you can't grab this guitar. even if it means scrambling to sell something else. of course if you can't really justify it due to the state of things that's understandable. but if there's a way to make it happen it sure sounds like it should. in any case GC gives you time to check something out before returning it, so no harm in taking it home and returning it if the honeymoon ends quickly.

I have managed to get 11 guitars now. For years i couldn't barely afford one.
I play and check out every guitar I got. I have not bought a brand new guitar. Everything I bought is used. Even the Gretsch my wife got me for Christmas was from a pawn shop.
I try out a ton of guitars before I buy one -I always know when I got one i like I call it the It factor.
I would jump on that Tele.You never know when you will run across another one.
Like i was saying about GC. It depends on the store but from my experience they will negotiate on the price. In fact after I gotten the final price I usually get it at a out the door price.
I know people dis GC but there main objective is get the product sold they don't want used gear they want it out ASAP. The Dallas area GC will mark up the price on used gear in hopes they will get that price. They leave room to go down on the price.
IMO they probably have that Tele at a 50% mark up so they took in in at $450.00. If you work it right you might can get it at 20-25% off of that $899.00. GC looks at volume if they can sell it at a 25% mark up they will more than likely take it.

Chet

I have managed to get 11 guitars now. For years i couldn't barely afford one.
I play and check out every guitar I got. I have not bought a brand new guitar. Everything I bought is used. Even the Gretsch my wife got me for Christmas was from a pawn shop.
I try out a ton of guitars before I buy one -I always know when I got one i like I call it the It factor.
I would jump on that Tele.You never know when you will run across another one.
Like i was saying about GC. It depends on the store but from my experience they will negotiate on the price. In fact after I gotten the final price I usually get it at a out the door price.
I know people dis GC but there main objective is get the product sold they don't want used gear they want it out ASAP. The Dallas area GC will mark up the price on used gear in hopes they will get that price. They leave room to go down on the price.
IMO they probably have that Tele at a 50% mark up so they took in in at $450.00. If you work it right you might can get it at 20-25% off of that $899.00. GC looks at volume if they can sell it at a 25% mark up they will more than likely take it.

Chet

gc pays a lot less than the 50% you mentioned. try taking a guitar in and see what they offer. you'll be surprised. that tele was probably 250-300 for gc.

They also tend to hold out for the listed price for at least 30 days, and then drop in 5% increments every 30 days it stays on the wall. Personally, I've found them to be very resistant to bargaining. I've bought five guitars from GC in the past year (not counting two that went back). The most movement I got on pricing was on a John Jorgenson Signature ASAT which had been hanging on the wall for several months. It took walking out of the store twice when they wouldn't budge on the price, but they finally came down about 10%.

I understand from talking with some of the friendlier sales clerks that GC usually prices an instrument at 200% of what they paid for it. I agree with Louis that they tend to low-ball the trade-in as much as they can.

In my experience, they are on the mark with pricing about 80% of the time. The rest is an even split between underpricing and overpricing. I paid $599 for an '86 ASAT in excellent condition a couple of months ago, but I've also seen similar vintage ASATs in the same condition listed at well over $1000. I would count those in the 20% of improperly priced instruments.

Ken

... they probably have that Tele at a 50% mark up...

It is more like a 150% mark up.

Guitar Center's sales model used to be haggle-based for the experienced and priced as marked for the naive. I have not shopped in one for over 20 years. Maybe they have changed. It does not sound like it. They used to, and perhaps still do, spend more energy training the staff to slither around during the haggling process than teaching the staff about the products they sell. You don't need to know that much if your main focus is dodging eye contact and attempting to appear disinterested. It could just be that they hire(ed) know-very-littles who had a better chance of learning to dodge headlights than learning at least as much as their customers.

... they probably have that Tele at a 50% mark up...

It is more like a 150% mark up.

Guitar Center's sales model used to be haggle-based for the experienced and priced as marked for the naive. I have not shopped in one for over 20 years. Maybe they have changed. It does not sound like it. They used to, and perhaps still do, spend more energy training the staff to slither around during the haggling process than teaching the staff about the products they sell. You don't need to know that much if your main focus is dodging eye contact and attempting to appear disinterested. It could just be that they hire(ed) know-very-littles who had a better chance of learning to dodge headlights than learning at least as much as their customers.

no, they changed their ways. since mitt romney bought them, they stopped the haggling and want everyone to pay the listed price. most of the middle and upper management left when they cashed out their stock options when the sale happened. only the manager has the authority to haggle. most people don't know. the smaller items are not negotiable at all now though.

Just buy it !

During a major bout of GAS a couple of months ago I decided to sell my '98 ASAT Classic to the nearest GC and put the money toward a used Classic S another GC store was selling. The person who came over to "help" me was the department manager. Before I even opened the case he started griping about how my guitar would just hang on the wall for months without a buyer - WITHOUT EVEN OPENING THE CASE! Talk about a classic used car dealer tactic.

Instead of just walking out the door then, I went ahead and let him quote a buying price. Right in front of me, he went to GC's used gear website and looked up the lowest current listing for a used ASAT Classic. No concern for the condition or features, just picking their lowest current price. He offered me half of that (around $325 as I recall), while griping that he would be losing money on the deal. I asked what he would list the guitar for if I sold it to him. The reply was "Oh, around $800". This was at a store where I had just spent over $1000 for my ASAT Jorgenson Sig, and after telling him I was only thinking of selling the ASAT Classic to fund another purchase.

I went back later to the same store and spoke with a salesman I trusted. He told me point blank that he would never consider selling an instrument to GC due to the markup. He said the standard was to pay the seller 50% or less of the price they intended to list the instrument at. My experience certainly bore that out.

Ken