Someone called it Purgatory

[Kip Carter]

Someone called it Purgatory in a thread last week... and here I are... Thought that it was bad coming to the realization that I'd made a foolish blunder selling my mandolin to acquire yet another guitar. Even worse when that guitar happened not to bond with me as some times happens with an instrument for no apparent reason or fault of the instrument. Simply the forces of nature, human, musical, and spiritual didn't mesh into the cohesive bond that we come to expect and the guitar sat unused. for months and months before I realized that tragic true that in my quest and music greed I'd squandered something that was part of my musical anatomy.

So then I began the effort to fix that and replace the missing mandolin in hopes to put a patch on my soul. I posted a few trade ad's. Saw some really nice mandolins that I could have been very happy with. Came close to being able to secure a few of them but missed out. Then I ran across one retailer well known to the forum and found a particular instrument that caught my eye and heard sound clips of it and could see the possibilities.

Still wanting to trade the guitar as collateral that fell through because the dealer didn't deal in guitars. I then recalled that there was another dealer that carried the same brand that did deal in guitars and I had known for some time and respected for their integrity and business ethic equally so I contacted them about a possible trade. But while they were willing to trade unfortunately the inequity of the bargain made it infeasible for me to even consider it. So my only option would be to sell the guitar outright and pay cash for the mandolin. This one I'd already set my sights on.

Well, that lasted about 3 days and I finally caved in and decided that the guitar will sell when the guitar sells but the mandolin will not wait nor will I. And this PURGATORY must end! So, without further a due I fired off an email tonight to the dealer get the ball rolling.

I think the poster that framed the wait as purgatory being the time you bought a new instrument till delivery had it wrong.... Think it really begins when you have made up your mind you MUST have that instrument even if you're not sure what that instrument is... it intensifies when you've focused in on the ONE. Then the pressure is constant till you have it in your hands.

So I now am in full purgatory no doubt about it.

Sure hope shipping doesn't take long!

Kip...

[Dotneck]

Someone called it Purgatory in a thread last week...

Yup...trades can be tough...that's why they say "Cash is King". Glad you got your deal done...good luck selling your guitar.

Which mandolin did you buy?

[Kip Carter]

Eastman MD515 F in high gloss with a K&K Dual Mini installed.


I think the two of us will be very happy together!

Kip...

[Jim Hudson]

Love that little red dress she has on. Well done Kip.

[Mark Wilson]

Congrats on a nice looking mandolin!

And welcome back to the land of the picking

[multidon]

Hey Kip, congratulations on the new mandolin. Hopefully is sounds as great as it looks!

Without naming the stores involved, I'm pretty sure everyone knows which stores they are. They both carry Eastman, one deals in guitars and the other one doesn't? Our community is small, and the stores that meet those criteria are few.

What I wanted to share was, I have had a lot of dealings with the store that does handle guitars, if I am guessing right on that one (upper Midwest? Right?) and it is true their trade in offers are lowball. In their defense however they have to make money on the deal, it's not a charity, and they assume all the risk that it will sell. In all my dealings with them I have only taken the trade in a couple of times. Most of the time, consignment is a much better deal. Instead of 40 or 50 percent of the market value, you net 75 to 85 percent of the sale. And the instrument is still yours until it sells, so you assume some risk that it will not sell. Everything I have ever consigned with them sold, usually in under 4 months. Some stuff sold in literally days. They have a high visibility Web sites with worldwide viewership. One of my instruments shipped to a buyer in Japan Another to England. So my consignment experiences were all good at that store. And I highly recommend that route, if we are talking about the same store.

[Kip Carter]

Nope. Left coast Don. 😀 The only reason I left out babes is that I have the utmost respect for both establishments and really don't want to draw a negative nor an excessively positive view of one over the other while relating the story.

Correct the necessary discounts that needed to bring the guitar across country and provide sufficient margin for the retailer to do business, just cut the residual so thin that it made sense for me to sell it privately.

[UsuallyPickin]

No matter how often I exercise patience I never seem to get any better at practicing it. < Sigh R/

[multidon]

Ah so! Gotcha Kip. Well, I will name the store I dealt with, Elderly Instruments in Michigan. Yes, shipping is a bite, but you would have to ship it to a buyer if you sell it privately. You can always make them pay though.

For me, what works is to drive a batch ( 7 or 8 ) to Elderly myself. The price of gas for me is the same as shipping just one. As for my time, I'm retired, so plenty of time. I'm getting ready to take another batch. I have accumulated a large number of instruments over the course of 40 years or so, and need to downsize.

You are correct that the best potential deal is selling it yourself, you keep 100 percent and the other guy pays the shipping and fees. But the market is soft now, and what Elderly does is get it out there to a large number of potential buyers. The fee they charge is worth it to me, they do all the work.

[JEStanek]

I would say this is a better example of purgatory, waiting to atone for the sins of trading a mandolin for a guitar. I'll add being with out a mandolin is mandolimbo. I'm sure your suffering will not last too long.

Jamie

[colorado_al]

I'm in a similar boat. I sold my Breedlove and now am waiting on its replacement. Won't be here till Monday. I almost never say this but this weekend can't go by fast enough!
Hope you enjoy your Eastman.
This is the one I picked up.
Eastman MD-805D 2 point. Can't wait!

[JEStanek]

Ha, Al, I traded a Breedlove KF for a new Eastman 805D. It's a fine instrument. It's currently on loan (ironically enough) to a friend in CO using it in her Church's band.

Jamie

[colorado_al]

Ha, Al, I traded a Breedlove KF for a new Eastman 805D. It's a fine instrument. It's currently on loan (ironically enough) to a friend in CO using it in her Church's band.

Jamie

That's exactly the move I made. Breedlove Quartz KF to Eastman MD805D.

[colorado_al]

Huzzah!!!

I hope you get similarly great news!!!
Now I want this weekend to be super long!

[Kip Carter]

That's exactly the move I made. Breedlove Quartz KF to Eastman MD805D.

Eeee!!!! One of you guys had that Breedlove KF that I fell in love with in the classifieds??? This one is my rebound! LOL Well nice rebound though! Still I liked that Breedlove's looks! Whew was a looker!

[colorado_al]

Eeee!!!! One of you guys had that Breedlove KF that I fell in love with in the classifieds??? This one is my rebound! LOL Well nice rebound though! Still I liked that Breedlove's looks! Whew was a looker!

Sorry about that Kip. Full price offer came in a few hours before your offer. She is a beauty. Though I think the MD515 you're getting is quite a looker too!
I'll admit, it's a bit hard to see the Breedlove go. I played it for about 2 hours tonight before boxing it up for shipping. I wish I had the money for both it and the new one on the way, but I just don't have that kind of cash.

I'm curious about the pickup in the MD515 you're getting. I've had the McIntyre MF-200 Acoustic Feather for a long time and like it, but the K&K Dual Internal get lots of praise around here. Please let us know how it sounds once you get it.
Thanks!
Al

[Kip Carter]

Al, I will do you one better than that I will send you some sound samples with and without a pre amp. I have a LR Baggs Venue that I use for most of my stage stuff as a rule but I specifically went with the dual mini because I should be able to run without the pre amp at all just fine for most things just mixing off the board. Give me a few weeks to get some samples together and I will send you a few private email... send me your addy pm.

Kip...

[colorado_al]

Sweet!
Thanks!

[Caleb]

Kip, that might be the prettiest Eastman I've ever seen. Play it in good health!

PS - I highly recommend trying a set of DR 11s. They are the best strings for my Eastman. (The perfect strings will be the next search you're on anyway!)

[Kip Carter]

I'll get a set on order for the mini install. Thanks was thinking I'd put a fresh set on it with the pickup.