EBay...

"How Do I Buy A Guitar on EBay?". Think about it... I just saw a custom Masterbuilt Strat (with my recommended SN# from John Cruz on the Back) go on EBay for $3300. The same guitar is for sale on another Music Store's site for $6600, and on another Music Store's site for $4700. Still quite a savings, right? Ever been to Vegas? Played 3-Card Monty? Ok... I'll stop asking questions... what I mean to say is... I bought a white Paul Reed Smith Guitar, from 1987, on EBay. It was supposedly all stock, and "custom made for a PRS emplyee...", and the name of the employee was even provided (in marketing). Now, I couldn't find the person's name anywhere at PRS (I used to know PRS himself, though another friend, when I bought many of his guitars in 1986). I bought the guitar, and played it. It sounded pretty flat all around (nice way to put the sound of it). Long and short of it, the insides had been hand-wired by a guy with a home soldering iron and no brains. I think the pickup selections were pickup #1, pickup #1, and pickup #1, and it was a home-installed pickup (PRS guitars from this period should have a 'T' (for treble) and a 'B' (for the bass one) on the reverse of the pickups, just as a real '58 Les Paul pickup has a little black and gold sticker on the back... onto those another time). Also, the 'luthier' who had worked on it, had drilled out the place where the 'sweet switch' used to be. When confronted (by me) with this information,, he denied...denied...denied....that the guitar was anything but perfect. Lesson to be learned in the Twilight Zone... buy from a dealer, unless you want to gamble, and haggle.