What's The Best Deal You've Ever Had?

[BreadBin]

I picked up a Washburn A10 guitar on FB marketplace for £80.

Sadly I had to sell it, but made a fair bit.

[adamg67]

Mine is bit lower rent than most, and isn't a bass, but still a good deal. The guitarist in a band I was in a few years back gave me a Gretsch Electromatic Pro Jet as he had run out of space for more guitars and it was his cheapest! They're the made in Indonesia (IIRC) variety but still not super cheap, with Bigsby trem & filter tron pickups. I tried to give him some money, nope, eventually managed to get him to take a bottle of whisky (tried to give him 2 bottles, nope). It played nicely but I wasn't into the sound. In the end, instead of selling it I traded it for a PRS SE (and did quite well in that deal really) and then traded that for a PRS S2 which I still have as my main (probably soon my only) guitar, bit of a keeper.

[Bassassin]

I used to make some of my income from buying, tidying/restoring & selling on, during that time the local car boot provided me with:

1962 Watkins Rapier 3 guitar: £7.50

1960s Jem Crybaby wah pedal: £10

Westone Thunder I  guitar: £5

Squier Strat, E-serial 80s MIJ: £70 (the most I ever spent at a car boot)

Antoria EB-3 copy - £30

As well as literally dozens of other less interesting projects and clean-up jobs, mostly budget 70s MIJ & MIK. Some cool stuff from Ebay, Gumtree & local Crack Coverters & pawn shops too:

Squier Precision, early 80s SQ serial MIJ: £70

Squier Precision, mid-80s A-serial MIJ: £30

Ibanez MC150 Musician guitar, 1981: £70

Washburn SB-40 bass, 1983: £95

Westbury Track 2 bass: £50

Westbury Standard guitar: £60

And loads more not interesting enough to mention, plus some I've doubtless forgotten! 10+ years on, I regret not having a full list of this stuff - I lost most of the pics of everything pre-2011 in an unsalveagable hard drive incident. Such is life!

If anything's the best deal I ever had though, it's this:

CSL Jazz copy from 1980-ish, cost £60 from the pawn shop. I had every intention of doing a quick wipe-down, setup, new strings then flipping it for double what I paid - until I played it. It was, and remains, the best-playing bass I've ever laid hands on.

It's been significantly pimped, this is what it looked like the day I brought it home:

A few in the list above have been keepers but this is the one I'd grab in a fire.

[sammybee]

56 minutes ago, Drax said:

Wow when / how did this happen? 

Back in the 1980's, guy I bought it from couldn't figure it out. I didn't keep it long 'cause I wanted an Oberheim DMX

[Hellzero]

My best deal ever was a Fender Stratocaster L series from 1965 and a Fender Precision Bass from 1972 for ... 600 Euros.

Yes, for the both of them as I had to buy both or there was no deal.

No they weren't stolen instruments, simply a guy who was getting married and needed some cash very quickly. He didn't play anymore for years and both instruments needed some TLC as they had been painted in white with ... a brush over the original paint.

[Lozz196]

Mine is my fave 2015 US Standard Precision, I bought it in Jul 2015, hadn’t been looking to buy one specifically but had heard sound clips on here and thought they sounded great with the Custom Shop pickups. Anyway, was just scanning the web as you do for bargains and this one was advertised somewhere in Germany for about £880 - at a time when new they were £1300. And it was black/maple, result!

So I snapped it up, and it was my main bass for about 3 years, did my first Rebellion Festival with it, my first European tours with it, and recorded everything to date with it. It now has too much sentimental value to me to gig with, so I only use it at home or for recording. It just plays so well, I love all my basses but that one in my hands just feels so right.

Here’s me rocking Rebellion with it:

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Lozz196

[stewblack]

I don't really get good deals. The Del Boy is not strong in me I'm afraid.

I think I've been responsible for a couple of other people getting good deals though. 

I think the trade I did here in a motorway services was the best I've done. Not because the other guy got ripped off, but I got an amp I really love and I gave a bass I never really bonded with. 

So for me that's a win. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by stewblack

[Mykesbass]

Not as big financial win as most on here, but when I had my guitar shop I got one over Crack Converters who were selling a really nice Japanese Fender Strat for £199. Got them down to £180 as the whammy bar was missing. Put it in my shop, sold three days later for £399 (with a cheap, spare whammy bar).

[binky_bass]

I've had 2 notably good deals from Cash Converters...

One was a Warwick Vampyre with 001 serial number, later confirmed by Hans P Wilfer to be the first production Vampyre ever made. Paid £700. 

The other was a Sei 6 string headless that REALLY needed work as it had no pre-amp and some fret work was needed, but still, paid £350 for that. 

Sometimes Cash Converters can be worth looking in on! 

[thodrik]

Mesa Powerhouse 6x10, one of the last series of the cabs before they were discontinued, essentially mint condition. £400. 

No other bargains, though a few of my instruments have gone up in value since I bought them which is nice.

[fiatcoupe432]

6 toilet roll for £2.99

[binky_bass]

5 minutes ago, fiatcoupe432 said:

6 toilet roll for £2.99

You need to get yourself to aldi mate. 9 for £1.99. 

[KevB]

Mine won't be in same league as most but then I don't turn over very much gear. Around 2006 I picked up a US jazz S1 on eBay in mint nick with hard case included. It had been relisted due to a time waster and was on a short relisting time of about 3 days. I wondered if it was a scam but in 2006 these were still fortunately not too common. I was surprised that my sub - £400 bid won it ( the bass was under 3 yrs old from serial number). When I eventually collected it and handed the cash over it was exactly as listed. When I got it home I found the original receipt in the case, original owner had bought it from Denmark St for over £800. I still have the bass, it's probably the best player of the 3 Fenders I have. Still gigging it.

[Geek99]

Picked up a German made Warwick streamer for just £280 on evil bay. seller scheduled To end at 5:15pm drive time Doh...

AND I jumped off the vasectomy operating table to put in the winning bid. Seller LOLed when I told him 

[fiatcoupe432]

20 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

You need to get yourself to aldi mate. 9 for £1.99. 

No aldi where I live mate

however, no music related but my and my dad in 2014  bought a lotus elan +2s from a farmer in Cornwall for 3k in excellent condition sold it for 4 years later for £24000

The farmer then  told us that he had few more cars in his barn that he already sold, 1 was a jaguar e type sold for 5k to someone else 😩

Maybe someone here bought it

who knows

music wise I ve always had good deal but not amazing as you guys here

[merello]

Gumtree Glasgow

ESP surveyor jazz bass in candy apple red. 

From memory...advert was £300. I phoned and haggled down to £250 (subject to inspection)

On the pick up day, I head up the Barras where his office is, test out the bass, seems decent, couple of scratches so I ask if he’ll do £225. “Aye...no bother.” So I nip out to the bank/cashline....”Feck! £200 limit!” I phone the wife who was shopping, tell her were I am and ask her to bring £25!.

I ran back to the guy, explain what happened, give him £200 and say, “Give it 10 minutes mate.” He just says, “Look, I can’t be be arsed, take it for that as long as you take this bloody case as well! It take some up too much space in here.”

I walk out with the bass and an orange fur lined vintage G and G case in great nick (but without keys.)

I still have the case!

Edited May 30, 2020 by merello

[Burns-bass]

I just remembered a couple.

A Wal pro in 2005 for £850. A mint condition 1970 Precision bass for £900 (the guy even dropped it off at my office), a 1978 Mustang for £150, a 74 Jazz for £600 (sold that to a guy in the states for £1500), and a 1968 Jazz bass for £900.

There are a couple of regret. A 64 jazz bass refinished in Olympic white for £2000, a 1978 Musicman stingray for £500 and a 70s 4001 Ricky for £650. Plus the 78 jazz I sold for £750 in 2005. 

[Dan Dare]

BBE bass preamp in Cash Converters for £30. Bloke thought it was something to do with disco equipment. "Can't get it to work, mate". I offered him £30 "for the parts". Picked up my 1972 J bass for £250 in a hock shop in the early 1980s, which was pretty cheap even then. Still my favourite.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I once had a club biscuit that didn't actually have any biscuit in it - was all solid chocolate.

[binky_bass]

1 minute ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I once had a club biscuit that didn't actually have any biscuit in it - was all solid chocolate.

You're a liar and you know you are! 

[Burns-bass]

3 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I once had a club biscuit that didn't actually have any biscuit in it - was all solid chocolate.

I once had a Wotsit that was just a big lump of cheesy seasoning. Nearly blew my head off.

[AndyTravis]

A German Hofner Cavern for £180.

All legit. I might add.

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by AndyTravis

[sammybee]

Couple more drum machine deals I had off eBay in the mid 00's (it was a golden time for bargains back then)..

Akai MPC 3000 - £480

Akai MPC 2000 - £90 (with a dodgy output jack - £2 fix)

Roland TR-707 £52

regret selling them on for obscene profits!

[chris_b]

I've had several great deals. In 2002 no one seemed to be interested in Lakland. I saw a good one, hardly played, on eBay and finally, in 2003, bought it for just over half the original asking price. It was my main bass for a decade.

But the best deal, in 2004 I watched a mk2 Wal 5 string on eBay getting no bidders for about 6 months. Again the price dropped to about half the original price! At that point I grabbed it. Sadly I didn't get on with it and a month later (talk about 2 buses!) a wonderful mk 3 Wal 5 string popped up the local ABC Music. They gave me a very good trade deal on the mk 2.

[LukeFRC]

Hmmm... I've had a few...

My first amp was a Hughes & Kettner QT600, Mike Walsh ( @Cosmicrain) of Zoot bass fame used to run a bass shop at the time and I've no idea how, but I ended ringing him up and he sold it to me, new for what must have been under his cost price. It was great, sold it to buy a Tecamp Puma which was also nice but I regretted selling it... about 12 amps later I tracked down another QT600 and that's now my amp. But a great deal from Mike to a very young bass player. 

My second involved visiting my aunt and uncle in my hometown... they spend a lot of time in the conservatory so after arriving ran through the side gate, past the bins and made them jump. I then went back to the bins as there was a dirty guitar headstock sticking out the bin... a quick look and it was a Yamaha guitar and it had "made in Japan" stamped on it. Going back inside my aunt was very pleased about doing their first big deep clean for ten years and had thrown out my cousins Playstation controller as he never plays Guitar hero any more. It was a beautiful '80's Yamaha SG400, I stashed it at my parents for a few months to make sure my uncle didn't remember why he had a guitar in the wardrobe and took it, it was missing it's back plate so I made one and worked out how to add coil taps to it too. I kept it for a few years and then as I'm not much of a guitarist, sold it. Some of the money from that sale bought a 1976-77 Yamaha BB1200 bass which was a Ebay auction I won for an embarrassing amount. I sold that a year to two later as I wasn't enjoying the sound and bought  my 1981 G&L L1000. Essentially I don't think it cost me anything!

Having sold the SG400 though I was missing having a guitar to muck around on, and an acoustic is far more simple to just pick up for a wee bit. But if I got one I wanted a smaller bodied parlour type... I had a budget of around £200-300 so was looking at cheaper Yamaha APX type stuff. When on eBay I noticed some odd looking custom guitar, a smaller bodied parlour type ... no maker, no labels, in Leeds where I live...  It could have been anything coming out the cheapest factory in china! It wasn't a great advert. 
Except one of the images showed a closeup of the frets edges. And what looked unmistakably like a very nice bit of ebony, and well finished binding and fret ends... so I took a gamble, figuring if I had bought some cheap chinese pile of rubbish I would have lost a couple of hundred but I would at least have got a guitar (abet a bad one). I won it for about £280 I think. 
After traveling 30 miles to pretty much the edge of Yorkshire (or Leeds as the eBay seller called it) I turned up at a house in the middle of know where... and find an amazing hand built acoustic by a luthier who then went on to be come famous for different instruments, in a new Hiscox hardcore.... and the reciept from when the seller bought it secondhand for £1,500 or so! It sounds it too.