The Glade 4.0

Anyone done this? Or given any thought to how to go about it?

I have a passel of pretty nice production guitars that I don't really need any more now that I'm building my own.

The economy is pretty bad right now, and music stores are crammed with used instruments that aren't selling. Prices are low to the point where it's hard to justify taking the loss.

I was talking with a guy in my local music store, who just happens to be interested in buying one of my more expensive guitars. He was saying that many sellers coming into the store to sell have decided to barter their instruments rather than A) Sell for a loss, or B) Keep them. He gave the example of one guy who bartered a lower price on a kitchen appliance remodel by offering a high-end guitar in the deal (this was with a small business owner). And another example of someone who bartered a vintage electric guitar for some landscaping work.

I'd be curious how you protect yourself, especially in a case where you are trading an item (and a relatively fragile one at that) for services.

I don't have anything specific I'm looking to trade for, but one of the ideas that occurred to me was possibly trading one of the guitars for some professional guitar lessons (these can be very expensive depending on the instructor).

This sounds good on the surface, but in practice it seems pretty risky, and complicated in the sense of having to draw up contracts, etc...

Thoughts?

When I've bartered in the past, and it has been awhile since I've done it, it was done with a handshake and trusting each other's word. Of course most of it was done with people I already knew and trusted. It is easiest when it is just a material exchange. You look at what he has, he looks at what you have and you decide if the deal is good. When you are exchanging stuff for services you have to decide how much service an object is worth. For guitar lessons, talk it over with the teacher. How many lessons is the guitar worth to you. What are the length of the lessons. What type of material will the lessons cover. What happens if you miss a scheduled lesson for some reason, i.e. illness, unexpected mandatory overtime, an accident? When do you turn the guitar over to the teacher?

Good luck,

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

barter can be very beneficial, if you have an objective in mind, I recently bartered out a Job for a Really good Jeep , I new what I was looking for and this fit the bill perfectly. On the plus side I sold my truck and profited from the overall exchange.

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History of the Condom
In 1272, the Muslim Arabs invented the condom, using a goat's lower intestine.
In 1873, the British somewhat refined the idea, by taking the intestine out of the goat first.

Bartering, huh? That's a pretty cool idea. A gentlemen's agreement would be ideal, but if you wanted to be on the safe side then get everything in writing. Other than that, you are only limited by what you and the other party can reach an agreement on.
Have fun with that!

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth