Any guitar collectors in here?
 

83' Kramer Baretta guitar - 1 owner - Original - w/case - eBay (item 110461936435 end time Dec-04-09 12:19:38 PST)

Just wanted to share my auction for my brothers Kramer Baretta with you guys. Its being talked about on the Kramer forum and I was tempted to post over there but I figured that would just be trolling on their forum. "Hey guys, nice guitars, want to buy mine!?"

Anyways this auction has got more attention than anything I've listed in the past 7 years. I cant believe how many emails I got about it. Some guys trying to buy it for $750, $1000, some even offered more than the $2k reserve. My brother told me $2k reserve and let it ride. So far so good and its going to end with a winner tomorrow!

Any of you guys into guitars and know anything about this particular one? They are saying something like only 250 ever made. Pretty rare I suppose.

no, but the dumbfuck redneck trash garage neighbor builds them and I'd like to burn that baby-woodshop to the ground.

so much anger

You need to get laid.


I'd never heard of the guitar...but it looks nice. Way beyond my abilities and too rich for my blood. I'll stick to my modified Strat.

You're a musician?

Those things are amazing. My Kramer has to be my favorite out of the bunch.

Well worth the price. I'll stick with my '80 les paul heritage though.

I'm excited to see what it goes for. A guy from the Kramer forum sent me an email saying that he bought one a couple years back and that he paid $3250. We emailed back and forth a couple times about the guitar, cool guy and gave me a good post on the Kramer forum that already had a thread started about my auction.

Over 1500 views and 130 (and climbing) people watching it :)

Sold for $3609.99! I got my brother $1609.99 more than he wanted for it. Nice commission I'll be getting on this one. :)

Awesome. I think my Gibson is one of the very few things I've ever bought that's actually appreciated in price.

3600 thats amazing, what was retail on that Guitar in 83' ?

The guys on the Kramer forum were saying it was $600 new. Lots of talk on there about my auction. A couple of the guys doubted it while others were talking $2k-$3k, and one guy even guessed $3300.

Haven't talked to my brother yet but he should be stoked! :bigtu:

HO LEE SH EE TT:eek5:

3600:eek5:

god damn, as far as guitars go it doesnt really look like much but i guess if its rare enough that doesnt really matter :)

i'm a gibson guy myself... 72 SG, 88 SG, 98 les paul, etc

The early Kramers were nice quality, then made famous by EVH.

Ok so now I get 2 emails from the buyer. :vash:

First one;

"Well, I had the Baretta looked at by my local luthier/authorized repair center and unfortunately he found some issues which came as a surprise to me. The neck on the baretta kicks up at the upper frets (like a ski slope) so they could not do a proper set up. The frets are worn down and the neck is a little twisted so to get this guitar playable they need to do plane the fingerboard flat and do a re-fret. And the electronics are not working problem (volume pot/wiring/jack need replaced). All of these issues affect the playability of the guitar and of course the collectibility value. I'm know these problems probably developed over time while the guitar was in storage for so many years and I'm sure neither you nor your brother realized the guitar had these issues. But I am asking for your help. I hope you will let me 1) return the guitar to you for a full refund (I would pay for the return shipping), or 2) keep the guitar and get a partial refund."
And this one right after it;

"And if you or I ever try to sell this guitar in the future, we would have to disclose these issues to the buyer now that we know about them.

After much thought and research, I think it would be fair to keep this guitar for $2K and get a partial refund of the difference. If you don't agree I will gladly ship the guitar back to you in exchange for a full refund.

If you are disappointed TRUST ME when I say I am 10 times more disappointed. But I know together we can make this right. Thanks-"

I would like to write the guy an email back stating that this is a 1983', not a 2008' and who ever said it was in MINT fucking condition. I have no idea what to do. The guy got the guitar and said it was packed excellent, looks great, thanks so much, its a dream come true, yatta yatta yatta. I'd like to tell him sorry, its not wheel and deal, it was a transaction and I don't do refunds. I'm not a guitar shop, I'm not a "store", I just sell things for other people.

I forwarded the emails to my bro, seeing that I don't really have much say in the matter. Problem is, after the guy wrote me back saying he was happy and all was well I deposited the money into my bank and wrote my brother a check. He already cashed it and I already spent my earnings for Christmas presents. Fucking blows.....:vash:

Any advice is much appreciated.

Did you disclose anything in your auction that would warrant a refund? If there was nothing in there stating that the buyer has XX days to inspect the item for a full refund (or anything of the sort) than I think the deal is sealed. What ever you do, save all the messages. If he files a claim with ebay or paypal it'll be handy. I hate online transactions that go south.....they blow :vash:

The auction had a 3 day return policy on it. I figured this way if the buyer got it and it was damaged via shipping that would be enough time to notice the damage.

My biggest concern is that now I use eBay as my main source of income. I get paid through paypal, transfer that to my bank, then pay my clients. If he opens a dispute and they put a $3609 hold on my shit.....I'm fucked BIGTIME.

Anyone have any advice on that part of things. Like as in should I try and see if I can open up a 2nd paypal account and use that in the meantime?

I'm not super nervous about this, just because I know I didn't fuck the guy. I sent back probably close to 50 emails with this guy and kept perfect communication. I packed THE SHIT out of the thing and insured it for $4k. Everything I could do, I did.

Trust me, I want to do the right thing. But I'm not gonna get fucked on this deal. It could really, really screw things up for my new business venture for sure. :vash:

If the ad didn't mention anything about being perfect and he didn't ask these specific questions prior to buying then that's his fault.

"The frets are worn down and the neck is a little twisted so to get this guitar playable they need to do plane the fingerboard flat and do a re-fret. And the electronics are not working problem (volume pot/wiring/jack need replaced). All of these issues affect the playability of the guitar and of course the collectibility value."

Plane and re-fret isn't that big of a deal and neither is an electronic problem. Tell jackass to just go and get it fixed.

In my first post I have a link to the auction.

This is the description I had for the guitar;

"Up for bid is a 83' Kramer Baretta guitar. Color is cream. This is the "holy grail" of guitars! Serial # C3604 *This auction also includes the original case in used condition (see pictures for details).

This guitar is in good used condition. It has been played, but never re-finished. My brother bought this new and has been the only owner since.

The locking nuts are missing and the volume control cover is missing."

Its 27 years old, so I'm not sure what he expected, but non the less its stated as "good used condition", not "ready to rock out and have jam sessions with". Of course it might need work, but I'm not an expert so I didn't disclose that type of information in the auction. If he had more detailed questions maybe I could have answered them if he had asked. :vash:

Now the guitar is no longer a "1 owner" collectible. And its no longer unmolested, he took it to "his guy" and who knows what was done with it. Its been handled and its been over the 3 days. Not to mention, how could I trust this guy would pack it up as thoroughly as I did when I sent it? I even have pictures that I took during the packaging process!

I feel like I know what I need to say, but I want some more opinions.

Thanks guys! :bigtu:

Tel dude to deal with it, not your problem.