I am about to reveal my secrets on getting the best deals on music equipment. Well actually they're not really secrets, but definitely some helpful hints. Most people buying their first instruments use the traditional brick and mortar stores, that is, actual physical retail locations.

Brick and Mortar the Pros and Cons

Probably the biggest advantage to retail stores is the staff. More often at privately owned stores than corporate stores, the staff has almost an infinite knowledge of the products they carry. Don’t be afraid to ask any question you may have regarding what you want. At a private store there may be only one or two employees that actually even work there, so they have seen personally every piece of equipment that has come in and out of the store, making them a great asset, chances are they have played a lot of the instruments and used a lot of the equipment before so they have first hand knowledge on the products.

                Corporate VS Private

                For prices you always go corporate, that’s a given, but for real quality and satisfaction, mom and pop and privately owned stores are key, especially in the world of music, where the vast majority of musicians are anti-corporation. In a corporate store you will find the sales staff, while knowledgeable, probably a bit more intolerable. A lot of larger stores work off commission and so staff is always fighting for a sale. In a private store, the person helping is the owner of the store half the time, so there’s no battle for commission with other employees.

                In both types of stores however, the big headed salesperson is always a common encounter. You may be greeted with a line that sounds a bit like “Hi I work here, and that means I’m better than you, and I know everything, also I’m a dick, I’ll be making you feel uncomfortable for the next few minutes before I sell you a piece of shit for a ton of money.” I have personally found this to be way more frequent in corporate stores like guitar center.

Online Stores

For those of you who know exactly what you’re looking for, online stores, like guitarcenter.com and musiciansfriend.com are usually huge assets. The best part about these, is that their stock is enormous, anything you could think of is available, and more often than not, for free delivery. The problem with these sites is there’s the obvious inability to “test drive” your purchase. However, while in a brick and mortar store you have guaranteed knowledge from the sales staff, online you can read customer and user reviews, which may or may not be helpful. The biggest disadvantage is the in ability to try out your future purchase.

Craiglist and Ebay

This is my favorite method of shopping, you can top dollar for you gear that you want to trade as well as find the best deals on the things you want. Here’s the best method of getting exactly what you want for the best price, and by only hurting those without faces (corporate stores).

-Figure out the basic idea of what you’re looking for. For this example we will use a guitar amp.

-You want to sell your combo amp (amp and speakers in one cabinet) for a stack (separate pieces for the amp head and the speaker cabinet).

-Start first by looking for the stack you want in a guitar center or corporate store. Ask as many question as possible to make sure it’s what your looking for, ask to play it, preferably with your own guitar if not a similar one. Be sure not to make any commitments to the sales person to avoid the awkwardness of you leaving without purchasing anything.

-The next step is just that, leave, without purchasing. Another source of knowledge is the private shops, who if you can find what your looking for there, will have a ton of information about it, but it’s a bit more shameful of a thing to do.

-Use the user reviews on the online sites to get a better idea of the amp from people who may be using it for the same purposes you plan to.

-Finally, check ebay, and craiglist, and other peer marketplaces, even the newspaper. Most often people selling things here are musicians themselves and probably in a similar situation as yourself. It is easy to make deals, sometimes even trades for what you want. You already have all the info you need, and you don’t have to be hassled by sales people. You can very regularly find free shipping on ebay, and if you use craigslist than picking it up personally is usually the best option.

 

As much as I love to support local music shops and businesses, the world of musicians and equipment is back asswards. He average guitar fall within the $400-1000 range, and for a decent amp you can expect to pay at least $600. For us “starving artists” playing guitar, its essential to find the best deal possible. That goes for just about every other instrument as well. Especially when just breaking into playing it’s hard to get started, financially. Once you own some solid gear, trading is the name of the game. You don’t always have to spend $500 on a guitar, if you need a new one, trade in your current one, sometimes you can get a straight trade, sometime, more than the value of the instrument you’re interested in.

Purchasing equipment can be tricky, so be wary, try not to impulse buy, even on ebay and craiglist, you should do your research before getting involved with such crafty marketplaces as those.