Trading and grading guitars

We will always consider parts exchange trading fine acoustic guitars from well-known builders towards the purchase of an instrument. We follow a set of basic guidelines in our consideration:

• Trade-in require a minimum transaction balance of 1.250 Euro;
• Only guitars in very good or better condition are up for consideration;
• We reserve the right to refuse a trade-in;
• Exchange is not applicable on consignment or discounted guitars;
• We do not trade in electric guitars, amplifiers and other equipment;
• Offers are basis on a 1 to 1 trade.

Trading advantages

We’re the first to acknowledge that, due to the cost of investing money in the trade until it’s sold and assuming other risks, such as market changes etc., trades usually will not yield the highest return for your instruments. On the other hand trading guitars has its advantages:

• You can utilize the value of your current instrument immediately and purchase that special guitar that you’ve been searching for, before it’s sold to someone else.
• Save on costs in time and money of advertising and selling an instrument yourself,
  eliminate the frustration and potential loss associated with inconsiderate, untruthful and possibly unscrupulous ‘buyers’.

Furthermore, we are good at appraising acoustic guitars and make every attempt to determine fair trade values. We use online resources like Reverb. Vintage & Rare and the ‘Official Vintage Guitar Price Guide‘ and price lists from most builders that we have collected over the past 40 years. To do a good appraisal we need to see the guitar or have access to high quality pictures and a precise description of any deviation in the condition when compared to a new guitar.

To date we have always used the Blue Book or aka ‘Gruhn’ method of condition rating and decided to adapt to the more used versions of platform rating such as reverb.com to offer a better consistency on all selling platforms. The following descriptions will help guide you in understanding the condition of our used items or your trade in’s:

Mint = 100%

For something to truly be mint, it needs to be just shy of Brand New. Mint items should include the original packaging in most cases. If there is any sort of imperfection, the item should be listed in Excellent condition at best.

Excellent (Formerly EC+) = 90%

When something has been used a bit but is still close to new, you can file it under Excellent. For newer gear, Excellent items should be free from blemishes and other visual defects. For vintage items, there may be some marks here and there, but the item is still in the top echelon when compared to similar examples. All Excellent items should be 100% functional in every way.

Very Good (Formerly EC-) = 80%

Very Good describes items with perhaps a few more cosmetic imperfections than Excellent but is still in great condition overall. With a Very Good guitar, for example, you might find some scratches, buckle rash, or other minor blemishes but nothing that affects the playability or function of the instrument.

Good (Formerly VG+) = 60%

Good condition includes items that are in fine working order but have some visual imperfections here and there. A pedal with scratches and dents on its chassis, a guitar with some cracks in the binding, or maybe an old snare drum with some corrosion on the lugs could all be classified as Good. All these items work just fine but have enough visual imperfections to only be in the middle of the scale.

Fair (Formerly VG) = 50%

This would be where the various nicks and blemishes start to impact the function of the item. Fair items mostly work fine but maybe have some minor functional issues. Say you have got an old archtop that is totally playable but has some neck warping that render some dead spots on the upper registers. This could be considered Fair.

Poor (Formerly VG-) = 40%

Poor condition items have definite functional problems that will usually require some sort of repair. Perhaps this is an old acoustic guitar where the action is so high, it is practically unplayable.

Vintage Guitars: when trading Vintage guitars we focus on all original, high quality instruments. As a reference for pricing we use The Official Vintage Guitar Price Guide.

Our focus is on developing and maintaining long term relationships with our customers, not on one single transaction. If you are considering a trade towards one of our instruments, please call us at +31(0)611 477 420.