[Milkman]

Well I've never done a scientific study on the subject but I have an acoustic guitar made in Korea and been pretty good as far as durability goes. It's doesn't play like butter, but surprisingly the piezo and preamp sound much better than I would expect. I've been gigging with it for around 15 years.

Not bad for around $300.

The Reverend by the way, looks very cool. Something funky about the shape.


I like it.

 

[Milkman]

...purchasing an expensive instrument, one that you haven't even played, by mail order is just not a sensible thing to do.

-dh

In some cases that's what you have to do.

 

[Milkman]

Exactly. And if I don't like it, I resell it. Local used prices are just plain stupid on most items, and new prices in a lot of cases don't even make sense when you compare then to US new prices. And that's if you can even find what are looking for in the first place. The exchange rate is so good that it's worth taking the chance importing in my opinion if it's something you really want. Also with Reverend (and most other direct order companies now) you have a 14 day trial period with the guitar anyway. If you don't like it you can ship it back.

Another example is a Fender American Series Ash Tele I just bought. It was $700 total US with shipping. That guitar would be twice that around here. So if I didn't like it when it arrived, it's not like I would lose any money reselling it. And again, the seller I bought it from in the States gives you 2 weeks to try the guitar.

Well really if you buy on E-bay, the vast majority of transactions are via internet (not local pickup).

Also I think high end guitar makers get away with stuff that they shouldn't. Yes, no two guitars will sound exactly alike even if they're made on the same day from the "same" materials but the same workers, but basic quality should be assumed. It is in any other industry.

There's absolutely NO reason that you should ever buy a guitar costing more than $1000. and get a dud.

No excuse for it. All it takes is a final inspector to go through some basic checks.