[stevejcoates]

Hi,

I'm new to the site - though have been on a few forums before, this one looks great!

I'm basically looking to buy a Gibson ES-335. Not a 'vintage' one necessarily (though if the price is right! ha) I would prefer a second hand one. Ideally I would like either a Cherry Red or Sunburst 335.

I was just wondering if you guys could point me in the direction of good sites/shops/people who sell these? I'm also looking for some guidance as in what to look out for when buying one eg. pickups, tailpiece....

Any help much appreciated!
Steve

[jules]

Hi Steve, and welcome to the forum.

What country are you in?

Jules

[stevejcoates]

UK

[jules]

Steve,

Are you willing to import? With the state of the world just now, the US has some amazing guitar bargains for us Europeans.

I search gbase quite often
http://www.gbase.com/

and of course ebay.com - cheaper but without the guarantees of an established business.
Plenty of people who say they will not ship worldwide, will do if you ask nicely.

I would just import one (after shopping around a bit) try it out, and if you don't like it, sell on in the UK. You will certainly get your money back, maybe make a profit.

[stevejcoates]

Thanks for the reply dude. What about charges for importing the guitar? Sounds like a cool idea! I'm just looking around that site...

[jules]

Originally Posted by stevejcoates

Thanks for the reply dude. What about charges for importing the guitar?

Yes there are charges. They are not straightforward to calculate, but very roughly, a $1000 guitar is about £110

Postage via USPS (I use a 4-10 day service) is around $100-120.
Don't beleiev those sellers who insist that postage is $250

The post office will send you a letter - you pay, then collect the parcel.

Occasionally you get lucky, and they forget to charge you

Even with postage and import tax you will save considerably on buying in the uk, BUT you can't return it easily, once it is bought it is effectively yours, so be sure to ask all the right questions/get all the right pics

I import all my guitars. Let us know what you find, and if you are going to go for it!

Jules

[stevejcoates]

I'm looking at this guitar:

http://www.gbase.com/Stores/Gear/GearDe ... em=1786272

I have emailed the guy about it and he said that the guitar is all original and condition is about 8.5/10. To be honest, I want a guitar that feels like it's been played a little bit so the fact that it is not in mint condition would not bother (to a point!).

The guitar is $2150 and he quoted the postage to be $315! When I asked why it would be so expensive, he claimed that he "could send it for $100 but that there would only be $600 worth of insurance where as with $315 postage there would be $2500 insurance cover."

I worked out that in total this guitar (inc. postage) would come to approx. £1200. Which although isn't a steal, beats any in the UK that I've seen.

What do you think?

I will probably hold out for a better deal as I have rushed guitar purchases in the past and have made mistakes. One of the things that troubled me was that the guitar had silver Grover tuners which, although are perfectly adequate, I think just look a bit cheap (just an opinion!).

If you guys see any of these floating around the net let me know! Cheers!