Cactus Jack
Senior Member
- Messages
- 484
I had taken several years off from playing guitar. I was focused on raising six kids, building my career, and navigating the twists and turns of life. Last April I decided it was time to get back in the game, however, I no longer knew what type of gear I was into. As such, I hopped on my local classifieds and picked up a G&L Tribute. It was great, but I wanted a USA model so I found a mint ASAT for a killer price and snatched it up. At the end of the day, I didn't bond with either guitar so I decided to sell them, and to my surprise, I was able to sell them for a decent profit.
I'm a CFO by trade so the capitalist alarm bells rang loud and clear. I created a simple Excel that would help identify other instruments that might be good acquisition targets while setting buy/sell parameters. My goal was to try as many instruments as possible while self-funding my new little hobby. So far it's worked out pretty well. Since last April I've flipped 46 guitars which have paid for 4 custom Warmoth guitars, my Warmoth bass, 2 amps, a nice little pedalboard, and an ever-growing collection of parts and tools. The best part of the whole thing is my wife no longer gives me the death stare when a large brown box shows up on the doorstep.
Not all the deals were home runs, I lost money on 10 guitars, but I limited my largest loss to $136 on a US ASAT, but other than those I've had a nice run. In terms of dollars, my highest profit was $714 on a Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom. I had to make a 3 hour round trip to get the guitar but it was worth it in the end. In terms of profit margin, my best was 97% on a PRS SE Custom 24. However, now that everyone collects sales tax the deals have slowed dramatically.
I'll probably continue to flip a guitar here or there, but I achieved my goal in that I now know what I like. A big finding along the way, and what drove me to Warmoth, was that no single guitar checked all the right boxes. I'd like the neck on one, the body on another, wiring on a certain model, etc. Warmoth allows me to zone in on my perfect guitar. My current problem is Warmoth offers soooo many options I run into Netflix syndrome and don't know what to pick. I guess it's not a bad problem to have.
Anyway, that's a bit of my story. I'd love to hear about your flipping adventures, lessons learned, wins/losses. I'm sure this community has some good stories.
I'm a CFO by trade so the capitalist alarm bells rang loud and clear. I created a simple Excel that would help identify other instruments that might be good acquisition targets while setting buy/sell parameters. My goal was to try as many instruments as possible while self-funding my new little hobby. So far it's worked out pretty well. Since last April I've flipped 46 guitars which have paid for 4 custom Warmoth guitars, my Warmoth bass, 2 amps, a nice little pedalboard, and an ever-growing collection of parts and tools. The best part of the whole thing is my wife no longer gives me the death stare when a large brown box shows up on the doorstep.
Not all the deals were home runs, I lost money on 10 guitars, but I limited my largest loss to $136 on a US ASAT, but other than those I've had a nice run. In terms of dollars, my highest profit was $714 on a Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom. I had to make a 3 hour round trip to get the guitar but it was worth it in the end. In terms of profit margin, my best was 97% on a PRS SE Custom 24. However, now that everyone collects sales tax the deals have slowed dramatically.
I'll probably continue to flip a guitar here or there, but I achieved my goal in that I now know what I like. A big finding along the way, and what drove me to Warmoth, was that no single guitar checked all the right boxes. I'd like the neck on one, the body on another, wiring on a certain model, etc. Warmoth allows me to zone in on my perfect guitar. My current problem is Warmoth offers soooo many options I run into Netflix syndrome and don't know what to pick. I guess it's not a bad problem to have.
Anyway, that's a bit of my story. I'd love to hear about your flipping adventures, lessons learned, wins/losses. I'm sure this community has some good stories.