Advice on selling my father's collection?

Lindsay Goldman

New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2021
Messages
2
Hello! My father is an avid guitar player and deep lover of PRS guitars. Unfortunately, he's also dealing with the effects of Alzheimer's, struggles to play now, and needs to downsize his collection so he can relocate to a better, safer living situation. I'm helping with these sales since it's a bit much for him to take on with his health, but don't know where to begin - he has 9 PRS guitars as well as several others (Gibson, Fender). I'm hoping some experts here might be able to help me figure out the best way to sell this collection. Private sales? A bulk sale to an authorized reseller? My father was always meticulous with his guitars so everything is in mint condition. I'd like to do this as easily as possible while trying to preserve some of the value of his collection. Thank you for your help!
 
You’ll probably get more if you sell them privately, but you’ll have to deal with people trying to lowball you and maybe even scam you. One member here had a pretty good experience selling to Chicago Music Exchange. Good luck!
 
Lindsay,

If your family has done business on eBay or reverb.com before, these are 2 good places that have high internet traffic and ask modest fees in return. The best time to sell is at the end/beginning of the month when eBay offers listings for free. There are the typical final value and final shipping value fees, but these are expected. Reverb offers a better fee scale, but the overturn there is slower and takes longer.

My suggestion is to visit either of these websites, research "sold" or "completed" guitars fitting each guitars close description, and price slightly lower than the average (based on item condition) to insure a quick sale. This has always been my sales model and because I've never personally overpriced or overcharged buyers, the sales model has worked extraordinarily well.

Sold or completed items can be found after typing in the make/model/year of the item in eBay's musical instruments/guitars category search engine. Regards eBay, the checkbox in question is on the left side of the page, scroll down, you'll see it there.
 
I recently tried Chicago Music Exchange on the recommendation of this forum and had a good experience. I have also done consignments at local stores, but for high dollar specialty guitars like PRS the global audience of online sales is hard to beat.
I may have given this advice. Can not recommend CME more strongly. They are very fair, and upfront about their buying process.
 
Since you don't really know about PRS I would agree the best thing to do is sell to a dealer or get lucky for a private bulk buy. Dealing with all the individuals would be too much with everything else going on. I have never sold to CME but I go there regularly and have nothing but positive things to say. I agree, the first thing would be to find out where you are located and go from there.
 
It’s easy for people who are guitar hobbyists to suggest selling them yourself, either in person or online. We sometimes forget that to most people, there’s not a whole lot of real difference between a $500 and $5,000 guitar.

I think that’s where a dealer could help you. Find a reputable PRS dealer—the folks here can help you with that. Pay the dealer a nominal fee to give you an appraisal on each guitar in the collection, including a description of each guitar. That’ll help you get started and let you know what what you’re dealing with.
 
Lindsay can you tell us what what state and town you or your father is located. There are a number of reputable PRS dealers that could help out. I've know a few dealers over the years that have stepped in and help sell the guitars at fair prices for the families.
Hi! Thank you all for your helpful input! My parents live in Chantilly, Virginia. Thank you!
 
Hi! Thank you all for your helpful input! My parents live in Chantilly, Virginia. Thank you!

Wow, so close. I happen to be on the other side of Dulles Airport, in Ashburn. There are a few PRS Dealers in the area that could help you. Melodee Music in Sterling, Washington Music Center in Wheaton and Garrett Park Guitars in Annapolis. Let.me know know if you need help/advice. You can send me a private message in this forum.
 
I would agree with those who recommend visiting your local PRS dealer if you want to sell them in bulk. They would have a real ability to take them all of your hands in one go, and keep it simple.
 
Also consider Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland. They can walk you through the process, and helped my best friend's widow sell his guitars when he died unexpectedly. I went with her, after setting up all the guitars and cleaning them. She got a fair price.
 
Last edited:
Wow that sounds like a great collection, it’s a shame about your father’s condition, it’d be great to see photos of the guitars. Good luck with selling them.
 
Back
Top