Incoming - Another GC Used USA Custom Score!

[slowhand84]

Caught another interesting axe over at good ole' GC Used...the thing I hunt for the most there are inexpensive high end USA-built custom guitars and I've had some major scores over the last couple of years. This one is definitely a bit of a funky one...unusual body shape but I have to say I really dig it as something a bit outta the norm. I'm sure not everyone will agree, but that's the custom life!

These are handmade by a company called Joe's Guitars out in Utah that's been in business apparently since 1989. Took a peek at the website and let's just say I hope the luthier skills exceed the website design ones . This particular one I grabbed looks like it's about $2,200 w/case new according to the site, and in classic GC Used fashion this one was priced at a cool $399 w/case. At that price and with GC's incredibly easy no-risk return policy, I pulled the trigger immediately.

The specs are pretty sweet and not really a combo of features you regularly see - mahogany hollowbody construction with a 4" center block, beautiful 1/4" flame maple top, 24.75 scale maple neck with rosewood fretboard, Gotoh tuners, and Seymour Duncans (not sure which models but we'll find out soon).

It's arriving on Tuesday so I'll do a full review then and we'll see what's what...but here are a few pics for now while I await the delivery.

[toomanycats]

What a unique body shape. It's a little bit First Act Borg combined with some Zack Wylde pointyness. One things for sure . . . I'll betcha nobody else is going to show up with that same guitar at jam night. Looking forward to the arrival of this one. I've gotten used to living viciously through your Guitar Center used purchases. One day I might get the nerve to pull the trigger.

[ILuvTeles]

Great score, congrats!

[slowhand84]

What a unique body shape. It's a little bit First Act Borg combined with some Zack Wylde pointyness. One things for sure . . . I'll betcha nobody else is going to show up with that same guitar at jam night. Looking forward to the arrival of this one. I've gotten used to living viciously through your Guitar Center used purchases. One day I might get the nerve to pull the trigger.

Haha thanks man, I hope you mean vicariously and not viciously though . As for having the nerve to pull the trigger, there’s really nothing to stress over. If you don’t love the guitar the worst case scenario is you return it to your local GC and you’re out the shipping cost which is roughly $20.

[toomanycats]

What a unique body shape. It's a little bit First Act Borg combined with some Zack Wylde pointyness. One things for sure . . . I'll betcha nobody else is going to show up with that same guitar at jam night. Looking forward to the arrival of this one. I've gotten used to living viciously through your Guitar Center used purchases. One day I might get the nerve to pull the trigger.

I hope you mean vicariously and not viciously though

Yes, you understand.
I only live viciously through hbowner, when I imagine that I'm at the beach with hot babes eating barbecue, playing my Harley Bentons, and laughing at all those losers sitting in their garage who spent all that money on a 40 % better guitar.

[slowhand84]

What a unique body shape. It's a little bit First Act Borg combined with some Zack Wylde pointyness. One things for sure . . . I'll betcha nobody else is going to show up with that same guitar at jam night. Looking forward to the arrival of this one. I've gotten used to living viciously through your Guitar Center used purchases. One day I might get the nerve to pull the trigger.

I hope you mean vicariously and not viciously though

Yes, you understand.
I only only live viciously through hbowner, when I imagine that I'm at the beach with hot babes eating barbecue, playing my Harley Bentons, and laughing at all those losers sitting in their garage who spent all that money on a 40 % better guitar.

Haha, that there's a vicious life we can all envy

[slowhand84]

Great score, congrats!

Thanks! Excited to check this one out, historically these grabs have always been extremely good to me so we’ll see

[BatUtilityBelt]

Love it! What a cool find.

[mighty_duck]

Nice catch!
I suggest you name her "melty"

[slowhand84]

Nice catch!
I suggest you name her "melty"

I was going to go with Dali

[bleys21]

Ok, so not to mess with your sweet gig, but do you have any suggestions for how you're finding these sweet custom guitars? When I search through GC's used section, I'm almost instantly overwhelmed by the number of brands and guitars posted. Any cool tricks you care to teach us?

[slowhand84]

Ok, so not to mess with your sweet gig, but do you have any suggestions for how you're finding these sweet custom guitars? When I search through GC's used section, I'm almost instantly overwhelmed by the number of brands and guitars posted. Any cool tricks you care to teach us?

Haha if only this was my "gig", I probably spend a grand total of about 20-25 minutes a day browsing on days that I choose to take the time. Honestly there is really no magical mystery to it, I just go to GC's used section, click on guitars, sort to electrics only (since my acoustic desires have long been handled), sort "price low to high", and browse away. Nowadays that means looking through maybe 2000 guitars, at 90 guitars per page that equals 25 pages to browse through and I typically get through a page in a minute or less so it's really no big time commitment.

Sometimes I find nothing, sometimes I find some OK stuff, but typically once every couple weeks I'll find something that's a huge score so for me the probably 2 hours total a week I spend doing this is worth it...plus it's just fun for me to look at guitars in general so I enjoy it even when I don't find anything worth snagging. I'm pretty picky about what I buy, I'm not a guitar store and I don't sell stuff often so most of this stuff is for me to keep...so I make sure to buy intelligently and only purchase guitars that are priced exceptionally well. The good news is that with GC you can feel free to pull the trigger on a purchase and think about it later...if it arrives and you don't vibe with it returns are super easy and quick.

There are certain terms I tend to search when I just wanna see what's new for a minute and don't want to take the full 20-25 mins to do a thorough browse, usually relative to stuff I tend to seek out (Kiesel, Carvin, Warmoth, Agile, "custom", etc) but usually the really great stuff is so whackily named that you won't find it with any particular search and just browsing through it all is the only way to come across it.

GC Used is an absolute goldmine if you know what you're looking for and are ready to grab it...I can't even begin to describe all the amazing stuff I've snagged there.

[jtcnj]

Congrats! hope it is a winner.
@slowhand84 beat me to the Dali reference - exactly what came to mind.

[slowhand84]

Congrats! hope it is a winner.
@slowhand84 beat me to the Dali reference - exactly what came to mind.

Thanks, hope so too! It just shipped the other day so we'll find out Tuesday.

[bleys21]

Thanks for the detailed answer! I'm a bit sorry to find out there's no cool trick lol; I've done similar searches before, but not with any consistency, and that's obviously the problem. I'll poke around some more, as I've got a hankering for a new guitar...

Ok, so not to mess with your sweet gig, but do you have any suggestions for how you're finding these sweet custom guitars? When I search through GC's used section, I'm almost instantly overwhelmed by the number of brands and guitars posted. Any cool tricks you care to teach us?

Haha if only this was my "gig", I probably spend a grand total of about 20-25 minutes a day browsing on days that I choose to take the time. Honestly there is really no magical mystery to it, I just go to GC's used section, click on guitars, sort to electrics only (since my acoustic desires have long been handled), sort "price low to high", and browse away. Nowadays that means looking through maybe 2000 guitars, at 90 guitars per page that equals 25 pages to browse through and I typically get through a page in a minute or less so it's really no big time commitment.

Sometimes I find nothing, sometimes I find some OK stuff, but typically once every couple weeks I'll find something that's a huge score so for me the probably 2 hours total a week I spend doing this is worth it...plus it's just fun for me to look at guitars in general so I enjoy it even when I don't find anything worth snagging. I'm pretty picky about what I buy, I'm not a guitar store and I don't sell stuff often so most of this stuff is for me to keep...so I make sure to buy intelligently and only purchase guitars that are priced exceptionally well. The good news is that with GC you can feel free to pull the trigger on a purchase and think about it later...if it arrives and you don't vibe with it returns are super easy and quick.

There are certain terms I tend to search when I just wanna see what's new for a minute and don't want to take the full 20-25 mins to do a thorough browse, usually relative to stuff I tend to seek out (Kiesel, Carvin, Warmoth, Agile, "custom", etc) but usually the really great stuff is so whackily named that you won't find it with any particular search and just browsing through it all is the only way to come across it.

GC Used is an absolute goldmine if you know what you're looking for and are ready to grab it...I can't even begin to describe all the amazing stuff I've snagged there.

[Rollin Hand]

I also think that this is a cautionary tale against buying a custom guitar -- if you want or need to sell, you're not getting your money back.

Heck, few years back, I stepped away from a nice Carvin Ultra V dor $725. The price got down to $625, and it was for sale for a while before it went.

[slowhand84]

Thanks for the detailed answer! I'm a bit sorry to find out there's no cool trick lol; I've done similar searches before, but not with any consistency, and that's obviously the problem. I'll poke around some more, as I've got a hankering for a new guitar...

Ok, so not to mess with your sweet gig, but do you have any suggestions for how you're finding these sweet custom guitars? When I search through GC's used section, I'm almost instantly overwhelmed by the number of brands and guitars posted. Any cool tricks you care to teach us?

Haha if only this was my "gig", I probably spend a grand total of about 20-25 minutes a day browsing on days that I choose to take the time. Honestly there is really no magical mystery to it, I just go to GC's used section, click on guitars, sort to electrics only (since my acoustic desires have long been handled), sort "price low to high", and browse away. Nowadays that means looking through maybe 2000 guitars, at 90 guitars per page that equals 25 pages to browse through and I typically get through a page in a minute or less so it's really no big time commitment.

Sometimes I find nothing, sometimes I find some OK stuff, but typically once every couple weeks I'll find something that's a huge score so for me the probably 2 hours total a week I spend doing this is worth it...plus it's just fun for me to look at guitars in general so I enjoy it even when I don't find anything worth snagging. I'm pretty picky about what I buy, I'm not a guitar store and I don't sell stuff often so most of this stuff is for me to keep...so I make sure to buy intelligently and only purchase guitars that are priced exceptionally well. The good news is that with GC you can feel free to pull the trigger on a purchase and think about it later...if it arrives and you don't vibe with it returns are super easy and quick.

There are certain terms I tend to search when I just wanna see what's new for a minute and don't want to take the full 20-25 mins to do a thorough browse, usually relative to stuff I tend to seek out (Kiesel, Carvin, Warmoth, Agile, "custom", etc) but usually the really great stuff is so whackily named that you won't find it with any particular search and just browsing through it all is the only way to come across it.

GC Used is an absolute goldmine if you know what you're looking for and are ready to grab it...I can't even begin to describe all the amazing stuff I've snagged there.

Sure no problem! Consistency is definitely important, cool stuff pops up and the stuff that's both great quality and a killer steal is usually sold within an hour or less of being posted online so you gotta be quick and browse semi-often.

[RiverDog]

What a unique body shape. It's a little bit First Act Borg combined with some Zack Wylde pointyness.

And its half brother is Tosin Abasi's guitar.

[slowhand84]

I also think that this is a cautionary tale against buying a custom guitar -- if you want or need to sell, you're not getting your money back.

Heck, few years back, I stepped away from a nice Carvin Ultra V dor $725. The price got down to $625, and it was for sale for a while before it went.

The key with custom stuff is if you're a person who may at some point sell that guitar you have to buy it at a VERY good price to not lose any money. My mentality with custom stuff is usually that I'm buying it to keep, but even with that mentality I still make sure I buy things at such a steal that if I DO decide to let it go I'm still going to make some money. Typically if I don't feel for sure that I could easily come out with at least $200-ish in profit on a custom I make sure it's something I'd be comfortable keeping forever...but luckily it really hasn't come to that. Almost every custom I've scored has been a lifer for me, I think I sold one of them out of like 10 total and I make a couple hundred bucks on it.

I am always surprised by the stuff that folks sell to GC, and every time I nab a score like this I can't help thinking, assuming the person who traded it in was the original owner, about what on earth made them agree to let it go so cheap. I know full well that custom stuff can be hard to sell, but I can imagine easily being able to get double what I paid for most of these customs in just a couple days on Craigslist (or less time on Reverb). The one custom I did sell lasted 3 days on CL and sold for nearly double what I paid. I get that some people just want the easy no hassle sale but I personally would never be willing to leave that much money on the table.

This guitar is supposedly $2,200 or so new and the person who traded it in got $200. Wild.

[mickey]

I also think that this is a cautionary tale against buying a custom guitar -- if you want or need to sell, you're not getting your money back.

Heck, few years back, I stepped away from a nice Carvin Ultra V dor $725. The price got down to $625, and it was for sale for a while before it went.

The key with custom stuff is if you're a person who may at some point sell that guitar you have to buy it at a VERY good price to not lose any money. My mentality with custom stuff is usually that I'm buying it to keep, but even with that mentality I still make sure I buy things at such a steal that if I DO decide to let it go I'm still going to make some money. Typically if I don't feel for sure that I could easily come out with at least $200-ish in profit on a custom I make sure it's something I'd be comfortable keeping forever...but luckily it really hasn't come to that. Almost every custom I've scored has been a lifer for me, I think I sold one of them out of like 10 total and I make a couple hundred bucks on it.

I am always surprised by the stuff that folks sell to GC, and every time I nab a score like this I can't help but think about, assuming the person who traded it in was the original owner, what on earth made them agree to let it go so cheap. I know full well that custom stuff can be hard to sell, but I can't imagine not being able to easily get double what I paid for most of these customs in just a couple days on Craigslist (or less time on Reverb). I get that some people just want the easy no hassle sale but I personally would never be willing to leave that much money on the table.

This guitar is supposedly $2,200 or so new and the person who traded it in got $200. Wild.

The last custom guitar I bought, I paid $4000 for it. It was used and had sold for something north of $10,000 when it was new.
It is a Bubinga wood lefty J-45 Gibson. And there isn't another lefty like it on planet Earth. Nor will there ever be because Bubinga is now an endangered species.
Hopefully, it should go up in value.

[slowhand84]

I also think that this is a cautionary tale against buying a custom guitar -- if you want or need to sell, you're not getting your money back.

Heck, few years back, I stepped away from a nice Carvin Ultra V dor $725. The price got down to $625, and it was for sale for a while before it went.

The key with custom stuff is if you're a person who may at some point sell that guitar you have to buy it at a VERY good price to not lose any money. My mentality with custom stuff is usually that I'm buying it to keep, but even with that mentality I still make sure I buy things at such a steal that if I DO decide to let it go I'm still going to make some money. Typically if I don't feel for sure that I could easily come out with at least $200-ish in profit on a custom I make sure it's something I'd be comfortable keeping forever...but luckily it really hasn't come to that. Almost every custom I've scored has been a lifer for me, I think I sold one of them out of like 10 total and I make a couple hundred bucks on it.

I am always surprised by the stuff that folks sell to GC, and every time I nab a score like this I can't help but think about, assuming the person who traded it in was the original owner, what on earth made them agree to let it go so cheap. I know full well that custom stuff can be hard to sell, but I can't imagine not being able to easily get double what I paid for most of these customs in just a couple days on Craigslist (or less time on Reverb). I get that some people just want the easy no hassle sale but I personally would never be willing to leave that much money on the table.

This guitar is supposedly $2,200 or so new and the person who traded it in got $200. Wild.

The last custom guitar I bought, I paid $4000 for it. It was used and had sold for something north of $10,000 when it was new.
It is a Bubinga wood lefty J-45 Gibson. And there isn't another lefty like it on planet Earth. Nor will there ever be because Bubinga is now an endangered species.
Hopefully, it should go up in value.

For sure, some big brand name custom stuff can do quite well. $4K for a $10K instrument is still a pretty solid buy regardless. I am sure it would sell for more than that $4K today. I've seen many a person lose their pants on stuff like PRS Private Stocks buying them new.

[Rollin Hand]

I meant more that one needs to be careful buying a NEW custom guitar. If I were to buy,for example, a Kiesel, I would be going in knowing that I would get 50 cents on the dollar if I ever sold. And that's if I were lucky. The same holds true (sadly) with partscasters.

I am more than happy to buy others' efforts at a massive discount though.

[slowhand84]

I meant more that one needs to be careful buying a NEW custom guitar. If I were to buy,for example, a Kiesel, I would be going in knowing that I would get 50 cents on the dollar if I ever sold. And that's if I were lucky. The same holds true (sadly) with partscasters.

I am more than happy to buy others' efforts at a massive discount though.

Oh yeah, I mean with new custom guitars there's really not much you can do to be "careful", it's going to be affected by the custom guitar resale value curse (or boon, if you're someone like me buying used!) no matter what.

Kiesel is an interesting case in that it seems to REALLY matter what the exact specs are...the more money you sink into the new build the more you'll lose but you can still do quite well selling a used Kiesel you bought new if the specs chosen are universally appealing/cool ones. If you do a 3 color neon splatter finish with glow in the dark inlays and some insane treated fretboard you'll be sitting on it for a long time or completely losing your pants but basic builds do quite well as do ones with particularly nice exotic woods (when tastefully spec'd). I've seen some Kiesels sell for just $200 or $300 off new price, and I've seen some others that went for 50% or less of the new cost. I custom ordered one Vader (my buckeye burl/black limba V6) and it is INCREDIBLE, my 2nd one is a 7 string Vader and I paid $1146 shipped for what was a $2300 build.