Why You Should Always Buy Your Guitar In Person If Possible

This is a true story. The names have been changed to protect the innocent — and the not-so-innocent.

A customer came into our shop and spent well over an hour trying a brand new Tanglewood guitar. They asked great questions. They picked our brains. They played the guitar, compared it, asked about setup, tone, playability — the works. We were happy to help, as we always are. That's what we're here for.

Then they said they'd have a think about it and come back.

They did come back — about two weeks later. But not to buy the guitar. They came back with a very different story to tell.

The Bargain That Wasn't

Armed with everything they'd learned in our shop, the customer had gone online and found what appeared to be the same guitar — same make, same model — being sold by a private seller who claimed to be a former music shop owner clearing out old stock. It was cheaper than ours. Sounded like a deal.

It wasn't.

When the guitar arrived, it didn't sound the same. It didn't feel the same. It didn't play the same. And when they brought it to us, we were quickly able to identify why — and even trace its origin.

It was a B-grade stock item. Sold off cheaply by the manufacturer due to a manufacturing defect. What the customer had actually purchased was a dealer return — an instrument that had already been rejected and sent back through the supply chain. The online seller had picked it up and passed it on.

The seller, unsurprisingly, would not accept a return.

No Two Guitars Are Ever the Same

Here's something every guitarist should understand, whether they're buying their first instrument or their fiftieth: no two guitars are ever identical, even if they share the same make and model.

Why? Because guitars are made from wood. And no two pieces of wood are the same — even if they came from the same tree. Grain patterns differ. Density differs. Resonance differs. Finishing varies. Build tolerances vary. The way an instrument responds under your fingers is the product of dozens of small variables that no factory specification can fully control.

This is not a flaw. It's the nature of the instrument. It's part of what makes guitars so personal.

But it does mean one very important thing: the guitar you try in a shop is not necessarily the guitar you'll receive if you order the same model online from an unknown source.

What an Authorised Dealer Actually Does

When you buy a guitar from us, you're not just buying a product. You're buying the expertise and quality control that sits behind it.

As authorised Tanglewood dealers, we have access to the best available stock. More importantly, we have the expertise to inspect every instrument that comes through our door — and to identify and return any that don't meet the standard. Problem instruments go back to the manufacturer. They don't end up on our shelves.

Every guitar we sell is also set up ready to play. Action adjusted. Intonation checked. Strings fresh. That's not a luxury — it's the baseline.

The guitar our customer tried in our shop was all of those things. The guitar they bought online was none of them.

The Real Cost of the "Bargain"

Let's look at the numbers:

• Saving on purchase price: £10
• Setup fee to make it playable: £30
• Decent strings: £10
• Total extra spend: £40
• Net loss vs. buying from us: £30 (Not to mention the stress)

And at the end of it all, they still didn't have the guitar they'd wanted. Because the guitar they'd tried in our shop — the one they'd fallen in love with — was gone. And the one in the box was never going to be the same.

The Question They Didn't Ask

We'll be honest. When the customer first came in, we had a feeling they might be doing their research with a view to buying elsewhere. The questions they were asking had a certain flavour to them.

We helped them anyway. Because that's what we do.

But there was one question they never asked — and it's the one we would have answered most clearly of all:

"Am I better off buying a guitar online that I haven't seen or tried?"

The answer is always no. You need to try the guitar you're buying. Not another one of the same model. Not a display model in a different shop. The actual guitar. Because no two are ever the same.

We say this a business that sells instruments online. Whilst it is not always possible to buy in person from a music shop, particularly if there isn't one where you live, it is always better to try before you buy whenever possible. The next best thing is to buy online from a proper music shop who can offer the same back up service with an online sale - and not all online sellers do!

A Word on "Showrooming"

Using a specialist retailer's time, expertise and facilities to research a purchase you intend to make elsewhere is known as showrooming. It's increasingly common. And while we understand the pressures that drive it, we'd ask customers to consider what they're actually doing.

Independent music shops exist because people who love music built them. The expertise you're drawing on when you walk through our door has been accumulated over years. The relationships we have with manufacturers — the ones that give us access to the best stock and the ability to return substandard instruments — exist because we are trusted, authorised partners.

When you take that expertise and use it to buy from an unknown online seller, you're not just making a risky purchase. You're undermining the very resource you relied on to make your decision.

And as this story shows, it rarely ends well.

Buy the Guitar You Tried

If you come into Music Bits and try a guitar, and you love it — buy it. That guitar, in that condition, set up by us, backed by our authorised dealer status and our expertise, is worth every penny of the price on the tag.

A guitar in a box from an unknown source, with no guarantee, no return policy, and no authorised dealership behind it, is a gamble. Sometimes you get lucky. Often, as in this case, you don't.

We're always happy to talk through any purchase with you. What we can't do is replicate the experience of buying from us, once you've chosen to buy from somewhere else.

Come in. Try the guitar. If you like it, buy the guitar. It really is that simple.