Buying Disappointments

[mpexus]

This week after years of searching I was finally getting hold of a 90s Ibanez S470 SOL like the one in the pic




The trem was not the Lo Pro but the shitty LO TRS and I even closed my eyes on that thinking, ahhhh fuck it... I will buy a new Lo Pro from Thomann because I WANT this guitar. Seller by mere luck was coming to my town for some work day and we agree to meet. He was not happy with my Offer but since he agree to meet me it was implicit that my offer was valid.

So we meet and then I saw it... the neck had broken at nut and it was fixed... even though he assured me it was professionally done by a Luthier and was even better than new I just couldn't take the risk... and I felt bad for him but why the F didn't he told me before????? I'm argghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh pissed at it. Probably the neck wouldn't be a problem but I would have to lower my offer and I decided it would be a waste of time on both parts so I didn't do it.

Anyone has sad stories like this?


PS: I'm negotiating a S540 but to be honest I prefer the Fretboard Dot than the Shark Inlays and the seller is reluctant in lowering the price.

[jacksonplayer]

A Lo Pro wouldn't even fit, would it?

I've had a few stories, but nothing like that. I bought a Yamaha RGX-1212A a few years ago that the seller didn't disclose had the fretboard slightly lifting and a worn locknut that made the low E absolutely not stay in tune.

Professionally done headstock repairs are fine, but it should be a huge discount.

[mpexus]

A Lo Pro wouldn't even fit, would it?

I've had a few stories, but nothing like that. I bought a Yamaha RGX-1212A a few years ago that the seller didn't disclose had the fretboard slightly lifting and a worn locknut that made the low E absolutely not stay in tune.

Professionally done headstock repairs are fine, but it should be a huge discount.

It was actually a direct Fit... its just I got pissed that he never told me about it during messaging, especially when i asked him if there were any issues. Its a 30 year old guitar so I'm expecting something and he always said, no no the Guitar is fine.

[Hulk Krogan]

I think I posted a thread about this at the time, but LTD came out with a single-cut 7-string years back. The specs looked great and I had been wanting something like that so I ordered one right away from Sam Ash, but when it arrived the guitar was all jacked up. The neck was badly twisted, the electronics weren't connected correctly, the back plate wasn't cut to the same shape as the cavity, etc. Just all around shockingly shoddy. I brought it to a store and showed them, and they ordered a replacement, but when I went to pick that one up there was a whole new round of shit wrong with it. The frets in particular were just in terrible shape: some were wider than the actual fret board, a couple higher up just weren't seated properly at all so it was actually impossible to get a note out of certain frets.

When I told them I couldn't take that one either, the rep got annoyed and said something like "what do you expect from an $800 guitar?" and tried to argue that I was putting them out because ESP wouldn't take a second one back from them. I mean, I've pretty much exclusively owned $5-800 guitars so I don't expect the finest craftsmanship. Every guitar I own has some minor shit wrong with it, but I expect the thing to be in playable condition when I buy it.

[jacksonplayer]

When I told them I couldn't take that one either, the rep got annoyed and said something like "what do you expect from an $800 guitar?" and tried to argue that I was putting them out because ESP wouldn't take a second one back from them. I mean, I've pretty much exclusively owned $5-800 guitars so I don't expect the finest craftsmanship. Every guitar I own has some minor shit wrong with it, but I expect the thing to be in playable condition when I buy it.

I wouldn't accept that shit from a $300 guitar, let alone an $800 one. That rep wasn't doing ESP any favors.

[Drew]

Nothing like that, thank god, but I once passed on this weird but rather nice looking RG with a purple quilt top that showed up in my non-Ibanez-dealer local guitar shop near where I grew up, more or less by change. Great playing guitar, great sounding guitar, but it had what looked like an oddly precise headstock break that someone had fixed with a narrow band of brass behind the nut, and the $4-500 or so they wanted just seemed too much to chance, no matter how much the guitar played and sounded great.

By total chance, less than a month later I happened to stumble on the USRG line on Jemsite, and I think it was a USRG30. Would have stolen it at that price, and what I thought was a bizarre repair was just the zero tension neck.

[DonBot]

A few years ago I got what was suppose to be a dream guitar for me. A Washburn Nuno 7 string. The N7. What a pile that was. The neck was the most unstable thing ever. With zero tension, straight as an arrow. Soon as you string it up, it turned into a cork screw. Actually got a hold of the Stephen's Cutaway guy(found out he lives and has a shop just down the road from me) and he explained to me that mine was a "generation 2". Made after Washburn booted the Stephen's guys and Washburn made some changes to, I assume, save some money. Every N4/7 use to come out this way for a final inspection by Stephen's before it was released. Mine was in the batch that was not. He said he was familiar with the issue and had actually repaired quite a few N4s and 7s with this issue and could do it for me but it's quite an involved process and spendy. But by that time I was just over that guitar. Ended up practically giving it away. And the guy I bought it from and long since vanished off the face of the earth.

[jacksonplayer]

Nothing like that, thank god, but I once passed on this weird but rather nice looking RG with a purple quilt top that showed up in my non-Ibanez-dealer local guitar shop near where I grew up, more or less by change. Great playing guitar, great sounding guitar, but it had what looked like an oddly precise headstock break that someone had fixed with a narrow band of brass behind the nut, and the $4-500 or so they wanted just seemed too much to chance, no matter how much the guitar played and sounded great.

By total chance, less than a month later I happened to stumble on the USRG line on Jemsite, and I think it was a USRG30. Would have stolen it at that price, and what I thought was a bizarre repair was just the zero tension neck.

Ouch! I've never even seen one of those in person but have always been curious about them.

[Lee]

The fact the seller didn't mention the break to you is slack. A headstock brake isn't a death knell, like you say, but you don't want to be ambushed with details like that. Unless you could have got it for a price you wouldn't miss if it turned out to be truly fucked, I think you made the right choice.

The first JPM I bought was through eBay. Had hardly any pics or description. They left out all sorts of stuff you'd want to know. Like an enormous crack through the paint and likely the body, too. Frets almost worn out. Trem covered in pitting. Wiring was all messed up and didn't work, almost everything needed replacing. It was covered in all sorts of muck and crud, too. Most disgusting guitar I've ever seen.

After getting it fixed up, it's one of the best playing guitars I've ever had!

Ouch! I've never even seen one of those in person but have always been curious about them.

Yeah, same. They're almost all really fancy lookers, too.

[Budda]

I had a bandmate pick up that yamaki MIJ parlour acoustic. Had I seen the hump in the top, I would have offered half the asking price or passed entirely.

[mpexus]

The fact the seller didn't mention the break to you is slack.

Exactly... He even gave me the excuse that he had it posted on some FB Group and I said, but man we talked on FB Marketplace not on some group. Oh I used the Marketplace to put it on that group... yeah well then why aren't the pics showing a repaired neck on the Marketplace? I didn't asked him this but it was what I thought.

Probably it was fine but the "trust" was gone and he wouldn't lower the price of it anyway, Also I knew I would never be 100% happy.

The first JPM I bought was through eBay. Had hardly any pics or description. They left out all sorts of stuff you'd want to know. Like an enormous crack through the paint and likely the body, too. Frets almost worn out. Trem covered in pitting. Wiring was all messed up and didn't work, almost everything needed replacing. It was covered in all sorts of muck and crud, too. Most disgusting guitar I've ever seen.

After getting it fixed up, it's one of the best playing guitars I've ever had!

I remember that guitar, the frets looked like someone had hammered them but Mattayus gave them a bit more life

[Drew]

Ouch! I've never even seen one of those in person but have always been curious about them.

I'm sorry to inform you that while I have no clue if the neck is a gimmick or not, they ARE very nice.

[Webdood]

Not so much a normal disappointment story. In like 1984 i went into a local mom and pop music store to buy a fender amp and they had a pristine 59 burst les paul for 13k. May have well have been a million bucks to my broke college ass. I sometimes wonder how much it would be worth now and get depressed haha

[Toshiro]

I bought a Halo.

[Megametal7]

Sorry about your experience man,I would be pissed too if it happened to me, so i dont blame you for getting pissed.

damages like that should be disclosed prior meeting, if they hide stuff like that that means something shady is going on and walk away.

[Webdood]

I bought a Halo.

/thread

[desertdweller]

I bought a Halo.

Remember when they were hitting up every band on Myspace offering "endorsements" that were just buying an un-heard of brand at a price lower than what was on their website? I met a guy in a local band that had one, let's just say the frets were a bit long. That's putting it mildly.

[Toshiro]

Remember when they were hitting up every band on Myspace offering "endorsements" that were just buying an un-heard of brand at a price lower than what was on their website? I met a guy in a local band that had one, let's just say the frets were a bit long. That's putting it mildly.

I think I still have pictures of the thing I bought. As an example, one issue was that their website said it was 27" scale, but it was 25.5".

Oh look, there's one up on Reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/21079926-halo-guitars-randy-rhoads-7-string-flying-v

Look at the amazing quality! Those pickup rings are great, and the neck joint with the strap button screw going right into it.

[RevDrucifer]

It was actually a direct Fit... its just I got pissed that he never told me about it during messaging, especially when i asked him if there were any issues. Its a 30 year old guitar so I'm expecting something and he always said, no no the Guitar is fine.

Wait, you already put the Lo-Pro in? This is the first time I've heard they're a direct fit. Gotoh 1996t's fit right in, but this is a major reason people never bother with Lo-TRS guitars if they want a Lo-Pro; they don't want to route it.

[Flexkill]

Just too dark and thuddy sounding. Loved the look but I like a lively brighter sounding bass and this was not it.

[Chris]

That Les Paul Classic I recently got. I sold it last week.

It was a great sounding and playing guitar but I just couldn't get past how uncomfortably heavy it was. I would give it a pass if it sounded a shitload better than my Carvin (also mahogany, same scale, etc) but the Carvin destroys it and weighs half as much.

[Iron1]

I've thankfully never plunked down real cash for anything as bad as some of things mentioned in this thread. But, when I first decided I wanted to get away from Ibanez and get my first Jackson a few years back, there was a local guy selling one for a great price. I think it was a DKMG or an SLX DX, don't remember now. Anyway, I worked out a deal with him over FB messenger, and we set a time for me to pick it up. He lived a little over 30 minutes away and it was pouring down raining that day.

So, I drove all the way over to where we were supposed to meet (a Walmart parking lot where he allegedly worked - he wanted a ride home so he could grab the guitar and I was fine with that) and I sat there for 30 minutes waiting on him. No replies to the messages I sent. Then, he finally replied and told me he was at some girl's house but was going home now and gave me his home address - in some apartment complex. When he gave me the address, he didn't include an apt # and since I didn't know it was an apartment complex, I didn't think anything of it til I got there.

Then, I sat there for 20 minutes as he messaged me every 5 or so minutes saying he would be right out. After sitting there for 20 minutes, he stopped messaging. I sat there for another 20 minutes and by then I was pissed, so I drove away.

Got back home, after being gone for like 2-1/2 hours in pouring down rain (I hate driving in the rain), empty handed, and pissed off. Started talking to one of my buddies later that day who actually knew the guy from high school and said he was some drugged up scammer and the guy was most likely trying to roll me for drug money - odds are he saw a pissed off bald metalhead waiting outside and thought better of it.

[Dominic]

Just too dark and thuddy sounding. Loved the look but I like a lively brighter sounding bass and this was not it.

A chap from a UK guitar community I used to know got one of those Warwick Corvettes and took the community's name for its upper horn (teehee!) as his twitter handle: BassCock.

[mpexus]

Wait, you already put the Lo-Pro in? This is the first time I've heard they're a direct fit. Gotoh 1996t's fit right in, but this is a major reason people never bother with Lo-TRS guitars if they want a Lo-Pro; they don't want to route it.

Yes my bad... I meant the Gotoh not the Lo pro Edge. I didn't put anything since I backed down from purchasing it,