One thing to remember is to haggle...I'm sometimes too afraid to do it, and when I do I don't do it very well...but it's important.
When I got my bass at a pawn shop I knew it as an ok deal to begin with, but it had a slight rattle...just a stupid loose tuner peg, but I told the guy I'd have to have it repaired and he lowered the price by like 40 bucks.
That little DI box I bought last week was marked at $70, but I'd seen the sucker in there for like two years. It's important to keep track of how long something has been on the shelf. I took it to the gal and said, "I've always been interested in this old gizmo, and it's been here forever, I'll give you $15 for it"...she gave it to me for $20.
Haggling is weird though...most everyone is just used to seeing a price tag and accepting it...I almost feel guilty when I try to get the price down, even though they expect it!
All in all there are deals to be found. I do agree that buying instruments at pawn shops can be a good thing...you get to play them before you buy, which is something you usually can't do on ebay. Plus they tend to mark prices down if an instrument looks like shit or is a custom job, and that's where the real deals are. But it really depends...I've seen les paul studios in rough shape going for over $800...american strats marked at about the same price....who are they kidding?
Maybe they expect you to offer half the sticker price? Anybody have pawn shop tips?
Slackmaster 2000
