Reinhard
Lately I have been thinking of all the gear I have bought, sold and lost and thought why not put my experiences down so somebody else does not make the same mistakes and maybe I will save you a little money in the long run.
1. If you buy vintage amps, ad 1-2k to the "price". Inevitably you are either going to need tubes or a service down the line. Importing tubes, parts etc. can get expensive when you ad shipping and duty. In the long run it is worth it, as long as you didn't over pay in the first place, as very few modern production amps can compete with the sound of a good vintage amp (unless you are into "chugga-chugga" growling music) .
One of the most important things when testing these old amps, is to test it at the volume you want to use it at. If you noodle around at low volume, you may not pick up an issue with the speakers. I took a blackface Super Reverb with questionable speakers to practice (I knew one was borderline) and blew 2 speakers. So if you are testing an amp factor in a quality replacement speaker can come to approx. R1500. So use this when negotiating a price. If the amp crackles, it will probably need a service, so minus R1000. Amp needs a retube, that will come to a few hundred Randelas at least. Check the reverb, make sure the foot switch works, test all the pots (turn all the knobs). Old valve amps can hum a bit, but an inordinate amount of hum will need checking out. Old AC30s are known to hum a bit.
2. Buying new is expensive. There is a reason so many of the forum members tell guys to check out some used guitars. That initial knock value wise (the same as driving a new car out of the lot) can be big. It is going to sound terrible, but if you buy used somebody has already taken that new guitar knock for you. Chances are for the same price as the new guitar, you can get a lot more guitar on the used market.
3. Buying cheap can be expensive. For any brand, there will be a more affordable model, less bling, cheaper pickups etc. Upgrading the hardware, pickups, maybe a refret etc. can make it a very nice guitar, but after all this work the total cost of the guitar may be close to what the "better' model would have cost you anyway. So keep this in mind, because one very rarely makes back what you put into the guitar with regards to upgrades if you decide to sell it.
4. Sometimes it is a good idea to keep the original parts. If you sell the guitar, you can swop back the old parts and sell it as "stock". Strange as it may seem, some people won't view the changes you made as "upgrades".
5. You can't polish a turd. Sometimes a guitar is what it is. Sure you can slap some paint on it and make it pretty, but the morning after you are going to be disappointed. So rather pass on these money pits, unless you plan on keeping it for life. If you try and sell one of these after all the time and money you put in to it, you are going to have a bad time.
6. Get what you really want, even if it means waiting a little longer. Buying something to hold you over just takes you further from what you REALLY want and costs you more in the long run. Comes down to quantity vs quality. Do you want 20 mediocre/acceptable/OK guitars, or 2-3 really nice ones you will keep for life?
7. At a certain price point, it becomes worth it to import guitars. Sure you can't play them before hand, but worse case scenario you sell them locally for what you paid or you make a little something on them. As a rough guide, the value of the guitar should be about 4-5 times the shipping cost to make it worth it. There are many posts on the forum about MF, Ebay, Thomann etc. Use PayPal to cover yourself.
8. If you buy off Gumtree, Ebay, OLX, do your research and be careful. The fakes are getting better, but if you know what to look for it makes it safer. When it comes to guitars where it is easy to swop a neck or body, make sure you know what you are getting. you don't want to be paying American standard money for a face lifted Squier. If you sell on these sites, make sure the money has cleared before mailing your item.
9. There are so many things to look for when buying acoustic guitars, I am not going to go into it all. One of the biggest things to look for, which will really affect playability, is the neck angle. I know the standard setups on guitars in local stores are atrocious, but often a setup will sort it out. However, if the neck angle is incorrect you will never get a decent action without some serious repair work. Look at the height of the strings off the fretboard, if there is insufficient saddle height to work with you will only be able to lower the action so much, short of shaving the bridge. Sure the nut can also be lowered a bit, but below a certain height it will start to buzz. The more extreme the neck angle, the harder it will be playing the guitar higher up the neck as well. Check the bow of the neck as well, too much relief will make the action higher and something as simple as less relief in the neck can improve the action significantly.
10. Spend some time tweaking your effect pedals. Don't just plug them in, fiddle a bit and decide it is not what you are looking for. There is a reason Andy from ProGuitarShop sells so many pedals with his demo videos. He is able to tweak anything to sound good. So there is a lot of hidden potential in your pedals, it just takes a little longer to find it sometimes.
And while i am on the topic of pedals: If you are a pedal junkie, make use of PGS. Orders over $400 ship for free and they always have specials. Duty/VAT on pedals is very reasonable and you can order stuff you would never find locally. They also have a good return policy. So get a few GAS victims together and order together to get the free shipping.
OK, I think I will stop at 10 tips. I hope in the long run this saves some of the forum members some money.
