Can I try out a guitar at home?

amandstu

Would it be normal practice to go into a shop,try out a few(acoustic or possibly semi-acoustic) guitars and take one home ?

Then ,if after a week it seems OK ,keep it and otherwise go back to the shop and choose another one?

I wouldn't object to paying up front but would hope to be as happy as possible with the eventual choice.

Have between 500 and 1000 EU in mind.

feylya

Can't say I've ever heard of that. What happens if you knock it, and chip the paint? Generally, if I was buying from a shop, I'd try it out there, and if I wasn't completely sold, go away and think about it.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117655987#Comment_117655987

Well I would have to accept the (expensive)consequences,I suppose.

Last time I bought a guitar it was advertised by a private seller on adverts.ie as a Takamine eg550c ,which was exactly what I wanted as I had tried it out already as a friend had it.

When I got it home it was disappointing (picked it up in the street) and I realized after a couple of days it was a Takamine eg530c.

Still have it but never play it (rolls eyes gif anywhere?)

amandstu

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058199926/can-i-try-out-a-guitar-at-home

Buy it online and you have your 2 week cooling off period so if you keep it in perfect condition with all packaging you just return it for a refund.

 Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU (CRD) More info here https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer/shopping/shopping_online.html

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117656043#Comment_117656043

Thanks,good to know.

amandstu

Strumms

its not done...no business that I know of is going to hand over an asset worth 500 euros plus to a member of the public whom they don’t know, deposit and details or not...and say “ok try it for a week and we’ll talk”..

theyd lose thousands a year..

Ash.J.Williams

I have a really good guy maintaining my guitars and he mentioned he had a new elite fender precision in for a service , and the g string was off the fret board , mystery how guitars like that can leave the factory without a set up

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117656054#Comment_117656054

I actually wouldn't object to a 100% deposit if they allowed me to trade up or broadly sideways if I was dissatisfied after a week or so.

(If online sellers allow buyers to return goods within 2 weeks you'd think high st stores would have to match them if at all possible)

Ash.J.Williams

theres a name on Thomann for something tried at home and returned , it’s called B stock and it’s discounted

feylya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117656111#Comment_117656111

It's a legal requirement for online orders that there's a 2 week cooling off period. Applies to goods and services throughout the EU. High street stores match it if you buy from the online (though might allow it in person, but are not required to)

CelticRambler

There's a once-a-year option (under non-covid circumstances) that would almost meet your requirements - an acoustic instrument-makers' festival in central France, mid-July (full disclosure: I'm one of the managers at it) where you can do the rounds of all the luthiers who make your preferred instrument, try them out there and then for pretty much as long as you want within the limits of the salon's opening hours over four days.

We'd have loads of people looking for a particular timbre that'd go well with another instrument in their group, so they set up in front of each maker's stand and play (and play, and play, and play ... ); and others who'd window-shop on Day 1, buy on Day 2, play the bejayzus out of it on Day 3 and bring it back for a service on Day 4.

Cancelled last year and this year, coz of the pandemic (not a particularly at-risk environment, but just impossible to guarantee that the usual 150 stands would have enough makers coming from all over for it to be worth the buyers' while turning up ...

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117656266#Comment_117656266

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vosgesmatin.fr/amp/culture-loisirs/2021/06/26/mirecourt-l-ecole-de-lutherie-fete-son-cinquantenaire-les-2-3-et-4-juillet

http://www.lesoncontinu.fr/

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3805379369523472&id=925709194157185

Sounds interesting.I think it must be the second/third links?

Any connection to the first link (early July in Vosges)?

amandstu

CelticRambler

Yeah, 'tis the second (and third). A great chance to try out instruments that would (for some, at least) be waaaaay out of your price range and see/feel/hear the difference that the extra zeros make! Some years ago, we had Beoga perform and Aer Lingus sent their guitarists' instrument off on a tour of its own, causing a minor panic amongst the group and the organisers ... until I pointed out that we were standing on the edge of a field full of guitars, and a polite request would surely secure the loan of an instrument. It did (made in Kent ... have a feeling we're going to lose all our British luthiers for a while)

I have no connection to the first one. Sounds like it's a lot more "sterile" and demonstrative than ours, for which the emphasis is very much "hands on" ...

https://youtu.be/c_NWI9YRwTU

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117656111#Comment_117656111

It would work if everyone was on the level but I’d say they’d need office staff etc to work around those types of arrangements and it just might not be worth the hassle.