What does "new" mean to you in terms of guitars?

[Newc]

Then I wouldn't waste the money. IMO if you want the look of decades of road-wear, go on the road for decades and earn it honestly.

[VitaminG]

Then I wouldn't waste the money. IMO if you want the look of decades of road-wear, go on the road for decades and earn it honestly.

meh. If you had two guitars side by side, one that has decades of road wear and a new one that looks like it does, buy the one that plays and sounds the best. Who cares how it came to look that way?

Or do you get hung up on the "legitimacy" of the dings on the guitar? If that dent on the face of your pride and joy was from bumping into the coffee table as you sat down on your couch, would you tell all your muso friends it was actually from the ankle chain of that groupie you banged after the gig on saturday night? Wouldn't want the cool kids to know that you'd banged your guitar on something as banal as a coffee table

[horns666]

I have new guitars that I bought in '95. They're still new. Meaning, perfect shape. I'm weird man, With this OCD shit..I hoard money, and don't use anything so it stays new..so I never have to buy it again...even furniture, clothes and shit. I have alot of antiques that are not replaceable. You can't just grab another one at Big Lots. These things have history. One of these could have been where George Washington placed his wooden teeth and goo rags before retiring from a hard day of serving this once great nation.

I have two main guitars that I always play. My #1 is a '95 SD-1 Koa..because it doen't have paint. But, Koa is soft and it has surface scratches anywhoo. My #2 is my '95 vintage white/maple USA Fender Floyd Rose Classic. The paint is heavy on that one and it still looks "new", even tho there's prolly thousands of hours on that one.

I don't GAS for a new guitar because I have unplayed "new" ones to enjoy whenever I retire one. 1995 wa a good year for me..I bought so much gear then. I couldn't do that these days. So, it kinda works out for me....with OCD.

I had an amazing HRR strat, with big time mojo, and I really miss it. I droped a can of wax on it and made a small ding just below the the top contour. So it glared at me in the face when I played it. I tried touching it up, and it looked much better..99.9% would not give one fuck. But, all I saw was that ding..in my face. So I sold it. The same exact thing happened to my Vette..exactly. Just a tiny ding in a beautiful black guitar/car. So, they had to go because they became poop to me...because of my OCD!

[zeegler]

it's quite simple for me. If something is advertised as new, and priced as new, it had damn well better be new, as in untouched, unplayed, unmolested, etc.. Having said that, most of my gear was bought used, because I can live with a few minor imperfections and in turn pay much less for something than it was new. Function is what matters to me. A used guitar generally plays as well (or better) than a new one. I also think that older guitar that have a few well earned battle scars have a cool vibe to them. My Lado Lazer is well worn, but not abused. It was obviously toured heavily, has had at least one re-fret, and the nitrocellulose is checked quite magnificently. This all adds to its charm and character. I'm pretty sure George Washington never set his wooden teeth on it, but it's cool nonetheless

What I find it hard to understand, is how people abuse their gear so badly. I understand that if you're touring, it can be hard on your gear, but bedroom players have no excuse for transforming a new guitar into a dirty, beat up one. My Yamaha Weddington is one of the few guitars I own that I bought new at least 17 years ago, and it's still in almost mint condition.

[stevieb91]

Just like driving a car off the dealer's lot, the moment someone frets a single note on it, it is no longer new....

[DonP]

"New" to me means once you by it, it's worth 25% to 50% less than what you paid once you take it home.

That's why I try to always buy used. Roughly 6-8 of my guitars were bought new out of 40+. My first guitar was new

[Jayster]

Just like driving a car off the dealer's lot, the moment someone frets a single note on it, it is no longer new....

So if it was strung in the factory and tuned..... it's not new?

[stevieb91]

So if it was strung in the factory and tuned..... it's not new?

Don't be facetious.. Of course it has to be set up at the factory..

[DarkkWarriorr]

6 out of my 8 Jacksons were out of the box new, however the other 2 were displayed wall/floor models at Guitar Center back in 90's, and I don't know if some other customers touched them or tired them before me, however they looked pristine mint and felt un-played to me, did I considered them used just because they were displayed or touched by others, the answer is no. They were new to me as I was the first owner...
In short, if someone is listing a guitar as new, I'd expected to be either in a mint condition and never been owned, and has all its accessories and/or paperwork, or simply out of the box new as long as it was opened only for inspection. Everything else is either used or pre-owned.

[RacerX]

or tired them before me,

They tired them out all right


/playing stevieb91

[tomanyjacksons]

There are so many different facets of new I have only purchased one new guitar in my life, still in the box when I got it. All the rest of my collection is new to me. All were payed for accordingly, new was new price all others were usually what I thought was a good deal. All about personnal tastes. Guitar Center guitar rapist' will kill a guitar in no time I tried buying a new one from them once and when it arrived it was a little beat up. I said BS and they wanted to hit me with a restock fee. Funny thing was the hang tag was still on the guitar (from the original GC store) and it was a lower price than what I paid for it so I was given some store credit to make things right. They came out ahead because the store credit they gave me was dismall. I no longer buy from them, lesson learned. I look at it like a new girl friend if she is really new then she won't be much fun, but if she's new to me and knows things she will be a lot of fun. LOL

[wilkinsi]

New to me means mint, just sent to the shop from the supplier/manufacturer. Not shop soiled (handled by some teenage tirekicking emo punk ).

[Scooter]

'New' is new to me, 'brand new' is fresh out of the box.

[Sephiroth]

"New" is simply new, it's a virgin guitar short of the maker testing it and doing set-up (when they even bother). For some guitars that includes the thin cellophane scratch-protective plastic on some parts for me to be the first to peel off.

Most brick-and-mortar stores don't sell new guitars as far as I am concerned because of people playing them and because of things like the dealer setting them up, innotating, and removing the plastic scratch-protetors. That's not always a bad thing though if/when I get a decent guitar at a decent price that's ready to go. On the other hand, when I got my RR3 some years back, it was brand frickin new, shipped in a Jackson box from the online dealer. However the trem was "rested" against the back and the whole thing was not set up at all. I had to re-string it, re-"float" the trem, and do all the setting up and innotating myself before I could get into playing it. It was sort of a pain in the ass for someone who wanted to play with his new toy right NOW. I would have bought it locally but no local dealer has the gorgeous eerie dess with chrome hardware and at that point was when Jackson was pahsing out the chrome for black hardware on RR3's (eerie dess looks so much better with chrome hardware).

So you can go to a local store and get a technically-used guitar that's ready to go that's already been set up, or buy a brand new one not touched by anyone since it left the manufacturer then have to fuck with the thing before it's ready to go.

[Gartron]

New means new to me...the days of me buying a guitar out the wrapper are long long gone.