NGD Interruptus or My First Craiglist Failure

This was supposed to be a NGD. It was supposed to be the day I finally got my hands on a Martin. Since that day 35 years ago when my 15 year old self was allowed to play a 50s era Martin by a friend of a friend I have wanted to own a guitar with that name splashed across the head. It's been a dream. Today that dream was (temporarily I hope) shattered. Here is my tale of woe:

So I was perusing the listings on Craigslist for Austin on Thursday and I came across this offering:

http://austin.craigslist.org/msg/2994414525.html

I did some research and this Martin OMC-1e seemed to be an excellent deal and fairly well thought of in the acoustic community. So I fire off an email to the fellow and tell him I would be interested in the guitar and offered him $600 (doesn't hurt to try) and made it clear that if the guitar was in the advertised condition I would buy it on the spot. I quickly received a reply in which he agreed on $600. Here is where things started going south.

The fellow (Lets call him Jarrid which is not his actual name but close) tells me that he is working in San Antonio at the moment but would be coming back to Austin on Friday night and could we meet then. Alas, I had a previous engagement and could meet no later than 6:00. He said he should be gating into Austin between 5:30 and 6:00 so I did a little schedule rearranging and we agreed on a time and place. I got the cash in hand and headed down to far south Austin which is a good 20 miles from my home in Round Rock, north of the city. No worries as I was happy to make the trip to get a new axe.

So I am about 5 minutes from the agreed upon meeting place when Jarrid called and said he got away late and was in heavy traffic and would not be able to make it at 6:00 and could we do it later? I told him 6:00 was my drop dead time but that I still really wanted to guitar. We talked a bit and he said he was not heading back to San Antonio until Saturday afternoon and we could do it Saturday morning at 10:00. We agreed on another meeting place (closer to my place but not by much) and said our goodbyes.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I leave the house in time to get to the meeting place in plenty of time. I arrived there at about 9:45. I was told Jarrid would be driving a 92 White Mercedes so I did a quick drive around the lot to see if he had arrived early. He had not so I parked in the last row so as to be plainly visible and waited. And waited. And waited. I tried to be patient and I know Austin traffic (even on a Saturday) so I gave him plenty of time. At 10:45 I called him. No answer. I left a message on his voicemail and asked for a call back. Nothing. At 11:00 I gave up.

I thought perhaps something had happened (slept late, car trouble, etc.) so I checked my email frequently throughout the day. Nothing.

So, there is no NGD day today. I have not yet fulfilled my 35 year long dream of owning a Martin. So the money goes back in the bank and I keep looking for a decent deal on a quality Martin. I have purchased a Baje Tele, two Fender amps and several pedals and effects on CL over the last several months and not once have I had a problem. Heck the guy I bought the Baja from received offers of a hundred bucks over what he advertised it for between the time we set a meet and the actual meeting and yet he made it and sold me the guitar.

So there we are. I'll go cry in my beer now.

You could always get a Blueridge BR-160 and own a pre-war herringbone dread with a TIGHT grain spruce top and rosewood back and sides (an honest to goodness HD-28) for much shorter cash. I've had mine for 8 years now and it keeps sounding nicer the more I play. I understand the need for a "Martin" or a "Gibson" (I really want a J-200). But man there are a lot of NICE guitars out there that will make you smile.

You could always get a Blueridge BR-160 and own a pre-war herringbone dread with a TIGHT grain spruce top and rosewood back and sides (an honest to goodness HD-28) for much shorter cash. I've had mine for 8 years now and it keeps sounding nicer the more I play. I understand the need for a "Martin" or a "Gibson" (I really want a J-200). But man there are a lot of NICE guitars out there that will make you smile.

The Blueridges are incredible guitars, but I know it's easy to get hung up on buying a certain "name" guitar.

Good luck with your CL guy; hope he comes through for you.

Another one will turn up. Don't fret (pun intended...)

If your no-show does get back to you I would lower my offer by at least $50.

Something similar happened to me near Spring in Texas, I was bloody fuming as I had gone a long way out of my way and added about 3 hours to a 45 commute back into Houston. I was very very pissed off. The next morning he called me and I didn't answer, he left a voicemail apologizing and said that he had got drunk and fell and injured himself and that his wife had been furious at him for wasting my time. I decided to call him back, I offered him $100 less than I agreed to pay and that he had to bring the guitar to me in central Houston.

To my amazement, he agreed so I met him in Starbucks and bought a Taylor Solidbody off him for a bargain price of $600.

I never really took to the Taylor and eventually traded it for something else.

Karma arrived in boatloads after being messed around at first!

Another one will turn up. Don't fret (pun intended...)

If your no-show does get back to you I would lower my offer by at least $50.

+1 and make him drive to you.. I can't help wondering how differently this would have turned out if the OP just agreed to meet on Sat. The seller was driving from San Antonio to downtown Austin at 6 on a friday night.. Not to hard to imagine running into traffic or if it was me making the drive stopping at the Blue Bonnet for chicken fried steak..

Walk away....


I apologize for being crass, but what do you need, a kick in the ass?


I know, easy for me to say unless until it is something I wanted forever.

I feel for you, but unless he come to you, all the way, you need to be done with this guy IMO.

Unfortunately, you gotta expect that from craigslist these days. It wasn't meant to be, time to move on. I'd hold out for a more classic Martin anyway, like a D-28 or a D-18. Keep saving & hang in there, the right one will come to you soon!

Bob

You do have to expect everything from Craigslist and just ride the wave.

I've bought and sold literally dozens of guitars on craigslist and indeed, things are not always as expected. I do find that sometimes they're far worse than expected and sometimes far better. 2 examples that I experienced:

1: I'm driving a solid hour to pick up what was advertised as a Fender Mexican stratocaster with a small amp, cord and gig bag. He wanted $250, which is reasonable for something like this, figuring the amp is a Squier 10W that our local Guitar Center sells used for $15. I have asked by email and then by text if it's definately a Mexican Strat and not a Squier. I ask 6 different ways if the word Squier appears anywhere on the guitar. They say no, no, no....it's Mexican. I am 10 minutes from their house and they text that they just got home from lunch and looked at the guitar and it says "Squier by Fender". I keep my cool (somewhat) and turn around to go home. I text to them that I just bought a Squier guitar just like theirs used from Guitar Center for $29 and traded it for about a $40 value along with a loaded body and $100 for a Mexican strat.

#2: Guitar is advertised and has one blurry picture. It's supposedly a Mexican strat in a weird blue for $350. I ignore it.....too much. Couple weeks later, same guitar shows up for $200. I jump on it and email the guy. He says one other person is in front of me and coming tonight, but if he doesn't show, it's mine. That's on a Friday, so Saturday morning I have an email that the other guy flaked. I jump in the car and go see it. The thing is like new. He has replaced the pickguard with a loaded pickguard, but the original comes with the guitar. He also has a brand new Fender pickguard in the bag that he's throwing in. It has a gig bag and a hard case. I give him the $200 and we take the whole stash, like it was "Let's Make a Deal" and I picked door #3!

This morning, I'm sitting here, waiting for an email from a craigslist seller who agreed on a day (today) and a time period (mid day) and a place....sort of (his house) but has yet to tell me where his house is or what his telephone number is. So I'm supposed to meet him.......how?

oh man, that's too bad about being hung out to dry like that... I would not be a happy camper.... time is valuable ya know... I got my Martin D-15 on ebay a couple years ago for somewhere between $500-$600... not a scratch on it, all but unplayed.... it's one of the cheapest American made all wood Martins, but there's nothing cheap about it... it is all Mahogany though, and that's probably not what you're looking for, however, they did have a run for MF that was spruce top/rosewood sides, I've seen them on the bay in the same price range...

I sure hope you can get a Martin one of these days, sure there are equally great guitars out there with a different name on the headstock... but you've had the Martin fever for so long... yep you need a Martin.... if you ever find yourself in Arkansas surrounded by cow pastures and tomato fields, I'm probably not far off... stop on by and check out the ol D-15

Best of luck

Hey man, let me tell you: there are few acoustics that I've played that compare with the quality of Martin guitars. I've got one and I can say if that's what you want, keep holding out for it and don't settle. Maybe this one won't work out, but just like others have said, that's craigslist. I hope everything works out for you. This is one of those times you can talk about "the one that got away" and not sound like a serial killer :lol:

I would hold out for a D 28, 18 or 35. I prefer an OM. Go with solid woods all around.

From my perspective, he likely sold it (probably the same night you were supposed to originally buy it). He had to cancel the first sale with you because someone else was interested and lets be honest, he would really LIKE to make the full money off the guitar, after all, you said yourself, it was an excellent deal. The Satruday morning meeting with you was put into place only as a 2nd option incase the newer deal with someone else didn't go through. He then sold the guitar to someone else and doesn't want to bother telling you. It happens all the time. There is no deal on CL until you have the object in your hand. There are no verbal handshakes. - That part is pretty much always true, but if anything, it's possible you undercut yourself when you offered him $600. It still leaves the door open for someone else to come in and offer full price.

Wasn't supposed to be yours. Probably a good thing in the long run. I would also hold out for a D28 or HD28. I had a D-1R for years and I thougt it was the greatest acoustic guitar ever made. I had to sell it along with all the rest of my guitars going through a divorce...Last year I was in the position to get a Martin again and bought the HD-28 all I can say is WOW!!! If at all possible be patient and try and find a used HD-28 it will be worth the wait.

So I took the advice of some of the folks in this thread and put my Martin envy aside and went out and played a LOT of acoustics over the last few weeks. I was torn between continuing saving for that perfect Martin deal or buying something else which fit the bill. So, I played guitars. A lot of guitars. In every music shop I could find the time to get to. One brand sort of sang to me and was in my wheelhouse financially so I started looking for that perfect deal. I think I found it on Craigslist (redemption!) and so today is, happily, my acoustic NGD.

So I found this in a CK ad placed by a fellow who is selling most of his gear for a fmaily move to Taiwan. This fellow, of Chinese decent, played this guitar and a Taylor (mostly the Taylor) in a 1980s Russian pop cover band. Yeah I know... tell me a while to wrap that around my head too. It's in absolute mint condition and plays like a dream. Warm tones but brighter than a Martin but less so than a Taylor. So far, it's the acoustic I've always wanted. It's damn gorgeous too.

So... here is my new (to me) Breedlove AC25/SR PLUS. Thanks for all the kind words and advice. You did not lead me astray.

This was supposed to be a NGD. It was supposed to be the day I finally got my hands on a Martin. Since that day 35 years ago when my 15 year old self was allowed to play a 50s era Martin by a friend of a friend I have wanted to own a guitar with that name splashed across the head. It's been a dream. Today that dream was (temporarily I hope) shattered. Here is my tale of woe:

So I was perusing the listings on Craigslist for Austin on Thursday and I came across this offering:

http://austin.craigslist.org/msg/2994414525.html

I did some research and this Martin OMC-1e seemed to be an excellent deal and fairly well thought of in the acoustic community. So I fire off an email to the fellow and tell him I would be interested in the guitar and offered him $600 (doesn't hurt to try) and made it clear that if the guitar was in the advertised condition I would buy it on the spot. I quickly received a reply in which he agreed on $600. Here is where things started going south.

The fellow (Lets call him Jarrid which is not his actual name but close) tells me that he is working in San Antonio at the moment but would be coming back to Austin on Friday night and could we meet then. Alas, I had a previous engagement and could meet no later than 6:00. He said he should be gating into Austin between 5:30 and 6:00 so I did a little schedule rearranging and we agreed on a time and place. I got the cash in hand and headed down to far south Austin which is a good 20 miles from my home in Round Rock, north of the city. No worries as I was happy to make the trip to get a new axe.

So I am about 5 minutes from the agreed upon meeting place when Jarrid called and said he got away late and was in heavy traffic and would not be able to make it at 6:00 and could we do it later? I told him 6:00 was my drop dead time but that I still really wanted to guitar. We talked a bit and he said he was not heading back to San Antonio until Saturday afternoon and we could do it Saturday morning at 10:00. We agreed on another meeting place (closer to my place but not by much) and said our goodbyes.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I leave the house in time to get to the meeting place in plenty of time. I arrived there at about 9:45. I was told Jarrid would be driving a 92 White Mercedes so I did a quick drive around the lot to see if he had arrived early. He had not so I parked in the last row so as to be plainly visible and waited. And waited. And waited. I tried to be patient and I know Austin traffic (even on a Saturday) so I gave him plenty of time. At 10:45 I called him. No answer. I left a message on his voicemail and asked for a call back. Nothing. At 11:00 I gave up.

I thought perhaps something had happened (slept late, car trouble, etc.) so I checked my email frequently throughout the day. Nothing.

So, there is no NGD day today. I have not yet fulfilled my 35 year long dream of owning a Martin. So the money goes back in the bank and I keep looking for a decent deal on a quality Martin. I have purchased a Baje Tele, two Fender amps and several pedals and effects on CL over the last several months and not once have I had a problem. Heck the guy I bought the Baja from received offers of a hundred bucks over what he advertised it for between the time we set a meet and the actual meeting and yet he made it and sold me the guitar.

So there we are. I'll go cry in my beer now.

Don't worry. I have driven a lot further for a CL listing and been completely disappointed because the item did not match the description and pic in any real way. (Even rented a trailer once to pick up an item the seller sworn was legit and came home empty handed and disgusted). On the other hand, on Friday I picked up a full sized Roland digital piano with legs/pedals/bench which was in perfect condition in every way for $200. I am still a big fan of CL, even with all of the headaches. Hope you catch that Martin soon! Johmo