• Evaluate Vintage Electric Guitars

• Buy Vintage Electric Guitar Accessories

• Find Vintage Electric Guitars on eBay Australia

• Buy Vintage Electric Guitars With Confidence

• Need More Help?

• Legal Disclaimer

Evaluate Vintage Electric Guitars

Evaluate Vintage Electric Guitars

To ensure that you are getting a quality vintage electric guitar, make sure you are asking sellers the right questions.

Is the vintage electric guitar stock?

Buying vintage electric guitars in good shape means you will be rewarded with excellent playing experience, and also a sound investment.

Always look out for original hardware. Bridges, tuning pegs, and pickups wear down over time and although replacement guitar parts or upgraded hardware might make for better sound, they can also reduce the value of vintage electric guitars.

A vintage electric guitar with a worn, but original, finish will typically be more valuable than a refinished vintage guitar. A true vintage electric guitar should have the original finish including cracks, dents, and all.

Is the vintage electric guitar made of quality tone wood?

Buy a vintage electric guitar that uses a quality tone wood. The most common woods on vintage electric guitars are mahogany and maple woods. For solid-body vintage electric guitars, mahogany produces a warmer tone, while maple produces a brighter tone.

Quality vintage electric guitars that offer an acoustic output have a spruce top with a maple back and sides. Cheaper vintage electric guitars will be solid maple.

Other tone woods used for vintage electric guitars include ash, alder, and kornia.

Is the electric guitar’s neck joint solid?

Loose neck joints do not handle string vibrations well and can rattle the neck of your vintage electric guitar, adversely affecting the tone. Some vintage electric guitar manufacturers have glued the neck in place, so there is a more solid connection between the neck and the body.

Does all the hardware work?

Every piece of hardware on your vintage electric guitar should be solid and well-seated. Ensure the nut holds the guitar strings in place and doesn’t rattle. Ask the seller if the tuning pegs are solid and hold true. The same goes for the electric guitar’s bridge.

Pickups should be shielded from electronic interference with either epoxy or wax. Pickups that are poorly insulated will hum or buzz if they are in close proximity to large electric fields.

Determine the value of vintage electric guitars

Decide how much you are willing to pay before buying your vintage electric guitar. Check out Completed Listings on eBay Australia to find out how much buyers typically pay for specific vintage electric guitar models, brands, and woods. A 'rare' vintage guitar doesn’t necessarily mean it is valuable. For example, Fender’s electric mandolin is incredibly rare but because not many people are in the market for an electric mandolin, its value is lower than the widely produced Fender Stratocaster.

You can also get advice from other vintage electric guitar collectors on eBay Australia's Discussion Boards to help increase your knowledge. 

Buy Vintage Electric Guitar Accessories

Buy Vintage Electric Guitar Accessories

No matter what kind of vintage electric guitar you decide to buy, some guitar accessories will help protect your investment.

• Guitar cases: Guitar cases ensure that your vintage electric guitar is protected and easier to carry around. Hardshell cases (HSC) offer better protection for your vintage electric guitar than softshell cases (SSC). Some cases have compartments to hold your picks and extra strings.

• Guitar amplifiers: Guitar amplifiers increase the volume of your vintage electric guitar.

• Guitar cables: Buy some cables to plug your vintage electric guitar into an amplifier.

• Guitar strings: Purchase these in bulk for your vintage electric guitar so that you will have some handy when any strings break.

• Guitar picks: As guitar picks get lost easily, it's a good idea to get some extras for your vintage electric guitar.

• Electric guitar tuners: Electric tuners really help to keep your vintage electric guitar sounding great.

• Guitar straps: You might need to buy a strap for your guitar, especially if you will not always be playing it while seated. Straps distribute the weight of the guitar across your shoulders, leaving your arms free to play.

• Guitar stands: Buy a guitar stand so that you can display your vintage electric guitar in a nice part of your home for others to admire.

• Capo: A capo holds down all the strings on a fret, allowing you to play open chords in a higher key.

• Slides: Slides are used to rapidly change the pitch of a note, and are popular in blues music.

Find Vintage Electric Guitars on eBay Australia

Find Vintage Electric Guitars on eBay Australia

Once you know what type of vintage electric guitar you're after, visit eBay Australia's Musical Instruments portal, click Guitars, then Electric and start searching for vintage item listings.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type. For example under Guitars, you will find links for Acoustic, Bass, Electric, Guitar Accessories and Other Guitars.

• Keyword search: Search eBay Australia title listings for specific words. For example, if you want to find vintage Fender guitars, type "vintage fender" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay Australia's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Australia Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay Australia will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Vintage Electric Guitars With Confidence

Buy Vintage Electric Guitars With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay Australia and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay Australia (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay Australia are not covered by eBay Australia protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay Australia item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay Australia sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay Australia and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorised payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,500.

• eBay Australia Security & Resolution Centre: Visit the Security & Resolution Centre to learn how to protect your account and use eBay Australia's quick and efficient resolution tools.

Need More Help?

Need More Help?

Visit our help pages or start a thread on one of our Community Discussion Boards - If you have a quick question that needs answering, try posting it on our community Answer Centre - there's bound to be a seasoned eBay Australia veteran with just the information you're looking for!

Legal Disclaimer

Legal Disclaimer

Buying Guides are intended merely as a guide or review for members when considering what products or services they may be interested in bidding on or purchasing. eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the accuracy of the information or content contained in these Buying Guides. Furthermore, eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the nature or performance of the products or services appearing in the Buying Guides. Content, trademarks and brands referred to and contained in the third-party links provided are the property of their respective owners, and eBay has no control over and accepts no responsibility for their content. eBay is not affiliated with nor does it endorse the use of any particular product or service.