Reverend Guitar Man

Buying, selling, and trading vintage and used gear since 2003.

Some answers to common questions I get:

Question: are you a shop or a collector?

Answer: I’m a little of both. Guitar stuff is my part-time hobby. I am a real life “Reverend” and work full-time as a minister in a church. So the time I put into guitars is limited. Hence, if you message me, I may not get back to you as promptly as some others.

Because I generate income from this hobby, my shop here is run as a business. I have a business license and pay all appropriate taxes on my sales. That’s why I legally operate here as a business. But much of what I have here has been in and out of my personal collection. I don't have a brick and mortar storefront and operate out of my home. Local pickup is by appointment only.

Question: what’s your best price?

Answer: make an offer!

Question: Do you take trade-ins?

Answer: Yes, I am an online guitar shop so I can take trade-ins. But monetary transactions are much preferred through an online sale. Trade-ins initiated through Reverb will have to follow their policies. I can’t take everything in trade, but I’ll do my best to work out a deal for you.

Question: how much do you give in trade value?

Answer: it really depends on the deal and the item you’re offering me. If it’s something very cool that I’d like to have, and/or it’s a higher priced item and you’re only offering a part trade with a good chunk of cash, I’m going to be able to give you very good trade-in value. If it’s mostly smaller-value items offered as a package without much money, those are much less attractive. I’m a shop, so there has to be an upside for me to take the trade-in. If you’re expecting me to give you the price you see on the highest priced version of your item on Reverb, then you will be disappointed with my offer. Your best bet is to sell your gear yourself and use the money to buy whatever you want. Keep in mind that I am likely not interested in your gear for my own personal use. That’s not because it isn’t a great piece of gear. It’s because I already have a bunch of guitars and my interest in trading is for resale in my business. I approach a trade as a business opportunity. If there is no business “upside” to the trade, there isn’t much reason to do it.

Question: would you lie about the amount I paid for an item so I can save money on customs and taxes?

Answer: No, I have to follow the law. I appreciate very much your concern about inordinately high taxation. I’d encourage you to vote for different elected leaders who will give you more reasonable tax rates. If you purchase an item for me, you agreeing that you are responsible for all taxes, duties, fees, and other costs associated with bringing it into your home country. Declaring a lower value on a customs form is illegal. It is customs fraud. Properly filling out the forms is also my responsibility as a seller. So if I did lie about the amount and got caught, I will would be liable for the fines and penalties. Also, ask yourself this question: if a seller will lie to the government, why wouldn’t they also lie to you about what you are buying? Buy from reputable sellers and do things by the book.

Question: Why are you selling your gear? Is there anything wrong with it?

Answer: Since l operate here as a for-profit business, I am either selling the gear because I acquired it for resale, or it’s something I’ve had in my collection but would like to move to free up money for something else. Sometimes it’s in great shape right when I acquire it. Sometimes it might need a little servicing or restoration. All of this will be noted in the listings. If anything is wrong with the gear I’m selling I will list it in the description and note that it is a project in need of repair. But I don’t sell gear because I bought it and turned out not to like it or am not happy with it. 95% of the gear I acquire to sell I would be content and happy to keep and enjoy.

Question: What is your best price or bottom dollar?

Answer: Make me an offer :-). If the best offer feature is open I am very likely to have some flexibility in price. If it’s not engaged and you send me an offer, I might be a good mood and give you a discount. Then again, I might just say it’s a buy it now only listing :-).

Question: so how much flexibility in price do you have?

Answer: I’m not a gymnast, yoga artist, or contortionist. But I welcome reasonable offers when the feature is engaged. If it’s not engaged then I am pretty firm on price. If you send me an offer for half of my listing price, I won’t blame you for wanting a steal of a deal. We all look for those! But given the kinds of gear I have for sale, the careful descriptions I provide, and my awareness of the general market, it should be fairly obvious that if I were selling at half of the listed price or less I would be a complete fool. I would also be out of business rather quickly.

Question: I think there’s an issue with one of your listings or that you’ve made a mistake. How should I go about that?

Answer: just write me a friendly email pointing out the problem. We all make mistakes and miss things from time to time. That said, I’ve had a bit of experience with vintage Fender, Gibson, and similar gear and I try to be exceptionally thorough in my authentication of my guitars. However, no one is beyond correction and that includes me.

Question: where do you find all these guitars?

Answer: I kind of find them in all kinds of places. The vast majority of them I find online, a few come through trade-ins, and a handful I find locally in my area.

Question: I remember 10 years ago when I could buy most of the stuff you have for sale for less than half of what you’re asking. Why are your prices so high?

Answer: Well, there’s a few factors to consider. First and foremost is some big changes in the vintage guitar market even in the last year or so. It’s clearly not 1995 anymore, and vintage guitar values and prices have increased across-the-board. For example, a year ago you could get a pre-CBS Jaguar for around 3k. Now they retail at 5,000 or more. Similar increases can be seen across other models. Still further, guitars that you couldn’t give away 10 years ago are now considered collectors items. Prices are set more by the market than they are by dealers. It’s a matter of supply and demand. Demand for vintage guitars continues to only increase. The reality is there are more people interested in acquiring them and there are no new vintage guitars being made. The trajectory of the market is pretty clear, but no one knows the future. I acknowledge that the prices dealers set do have some influence on the market and can sometimes inflate asking prices. But where this does not correspond to actual demand, the market usually takes care of the problem itself by reverting to the actual prices people are willing to pay. Buyers actually have far more power in influencing the market. Sellers want to sell. If buyers don’t buy, sellers must adjust their prices. In the last year, sales have slowed down a bit, but prices have not moved a lot. The economy is “good enough” to keep prices stable, but not good enough to get gear changing hands as it was a few years earlier. Stuff just takes longer to sell. At the end of the day, its not really all that slower than average if we compare the last 5-7 years. It’s just that for a few years things were abnormally crazy with things selling very quickly and at rapidly increasing prices.

Tax Policies