This Page is to Assist You in
Deciphering My Descriptions
Due to dealer agreements and competitor complaints many
companies won't allow me to print my LOW prices.
This policy extends over to written Email quotes that can
be used at another dealers store as a price wedge.
Please call me if you need a price on a new guitar. I will beat
most all prices quoted by any authorized dealer on new
merchandise.
CONDITION
Call |
Call me this guitar has a story attached
to it, too long to describe in print. |
New |
Absolutely brand new with full warranty. (Sometimes I can't advertise
the item as new) |
NOS |
New Old Stock.
Might be something that I purchased from another dealer that he could not
sell it may even still have hang tags on it. |
Mint Mint |
Item is so perfect it defies description
(very rare). can also mean brand new |
Dead Mint |
Same As Above, Might be new, Might
even be pre-owned but definitely never used or played. |
Mint |
Perfect condition, no scratches,
pre owned by a collector and not played. |
Near Mint |
Between Mint and Excellent
|
Excellent |
May have some minor surface scratches, No
dings, almost mint. |
Very Good |
May have 1 or 2 dings but guitar is
generally fresh and very clean. |
Good |
Some dings but guitar is still clean and
100% playable. |
Fair |
Still more dings and even deeper
scratches |
Player |
Collector grade that has been devalued
greatly by modification. (Best Buy) |
Poor |
Sad shape, paint may be crappy, frets
could be worn medium playability. |
NFG |
Sadder shape, crappy looking and
playability blows. |
POS |
Saddest shape. Basically a
Piece of $hit |
A few words about condition
I always try to be honest and fair when I rate guitars, It
usually pays off in repeat business and less return problems. I hate returns so
I tend to be a little heavy handed with my descriptions. I may rate a guitar
"Good" that a competitor may rate "Very Good". It is possible for me to make a
mistake, contrary to popular belief I am not infallible. If you disagree with
my assessment, I will take the guitar back no questions asked.
Common Abbreviations
Used in my description line on the price lists
10 Top |
On a scale of 1 to 10 this means that the
top or face (Supposedly) is the best. |
AT
|
Archtop, Otherwise known as a
Box or Jazzbox (Jazz musicians are cool cats) |
BB |
Bound Body |
BC Rich |
Bernardo Chavez Rico (Son of Bernardo
Mason Rico) (Bernie Jr) Grandson
of Bernardo Mason Rico |
BH |
Black Hardware |
B0
|
Bolt on or Bolt in neck. |
Call |
Call for description, Sometimes a one
word description is not adequate. |
CE |
Classic Electric, (Relating to PRS)
|
CE |
Cutaway Electric, (Relating to acoustic
guitars) |
Celeb |
Celebrity owned (Usually this will be
fully documented) |
Cstm |
Custom, (Relating to Gibson, PRS, or any
company that offers a Custom model) |
Dblnk |
Doubleneck Guitar |
DC |
Double Cut, Double cutaway
pertaining to the New Gibson Models. |
Ecoustic
|
Acoustic guitar with electronics and
pickups. |
EQ |
Equalization, Equalizer, Equalization
Circuitry (usually means active) |
ES
|
Electric Spanish, Pertaining to Gibson
330/335/345/347/355 etc |
ESP |
Electric Sound Products (Located in
Shibuya and Nagoya Japan) All ESP
Guitars are made in Japan & Korea except a few so they can keep up their
False USA Made Image |
FAUX |
False, Imitation, Fake, Ersatz,
Reproduction, Not Necessarily Counterfeit. |
FRT |
Floyd Rose Tremolo. |
FT |
Flame Top |
GH |
Gold Hardware |
Grfic |
Graphic paint job, Usually there
won't be enough room to describe the graphic. |
HRI |
Historic Re Issue |
HSS |
Humbucker Single Single
(relating to pickup configuration) |
In Play |
There are current negotiations and hagglings with several interested buyers.
|
In Transit
|
This means the guitar is on it's way in
and all info is not available yet |
KISS |
Keep It Simple Stupid, (Really
that's what it stands for) |
LP Les Paul |
(Relating to Gibson, Heritage, Epiphone or copies thereof)
|
Mega Flame |
The nicest sharpest flamed maple
available at least a 10 top. |
Mega Quilt |
The nicest sharpest quilted maple
available at least a 10 top. |
MPL |
Maple |
NIB |
New In Box |
Nitro |
Nitrocellulose Lacquer (A preferred
finishing technique among vintage geeks) |
NOS |
New Old Stock |
NJ |
Nagoya Japan it does NOT mean New
Jersey (Relating to BC Rich) |
N/T NT |
Neck Through Body. (The most costly and
absolute best way to build a guitar) |
OHSC |
Original Hard Shell Case |
ORIG
|
Original Condition (this means guitar is
100 stock no modifications) |
PAF
|
Patent Applied For "Sly Crafty, Larry Dimarzio trademarked this abbreviation. Gibson can't even use it."
|
PRE 95 |
Relating to PRS (approximately April
1995 is when the neck heels changed ) Mass Production started later that
year (Buyer Beware) |
PRE CBS |
Relating to Fender (1965 was the year Leo
Fender sold out to CBS) |
PRE GIB |
Relating to Steinberger 1992 was the year
Gibson closed the Newburgh factory. |
PRE GIB
|
Relating to Tobias (Look for serial
numbers below 1100) |
PRS |
Paul Reed Smith |
QLT |
Quilted Maple, |
QT |
Quilted Maple Top, |
REV |
Usually means reverse headstock but it
could mean reverse body in some cases, |
RI
|
Re Issue, |
RW |
Rosewood, |
SG |
Solid Gibson or Spanish Guitar, (relating
to Gibson people argue on this one) |
SIGNED |
Autographed by some Rockstar or
pseudo Rockstar or even Rockstars. (Way cool dude) |
STD |
Standard, (Relating to PRS and Gibson)
|
SUP |
Supreme, (Relating to BC Rich) Top of the line Model
|
TT |
Transposing Tremolo,
(Relating to Steinberger) |
USA
|
Made in the USA. (people have
actually asked me what it stood for) |
UV |
Universe (Relating to Ibanez Steve Vai 7
string models) |
WOP |
Work in Progress. |
Disclaimer
Sometimes it is possible for a wrong year to be posted on
a particular guitar. This may occur on some early 70's SG's and possibly some
Fenders. This of course may is not done on purpose but sometimes I am forced
to guess on the year of a guitar. BC Rich for example is hard for me to
identify the exact year but I am usually not far off.
I will gladly refund your money if a guitar is advertised
as a 1982 turns out to be a 1992 or a 1971 Strat turns out tp be a 1978. But
unless the guitar is sold as a particular vintage year model I am not
responsible when a 1973 SG turns out to be a 1972 or a 1974 Strat turns out to
be a 1973. If you have a problem with this policy simply tell me about it before
you buy and I will be glad to give you a year guarantee or a refund if it turns
out to be even one year off.
The reason for this policy is to prevent a return of a
guitar that was purchased as a 1993 Strat and 3 months later a customer
discovers that in actuality it is a 1994. There would be no significant
difference in value in a case like this so I would not offer a refund. However
in the case of a significant value difference I would be glad to to offer a
refund or an adjustment.
Steinberger Models
Most of the People who worked at Steinberger did not know
these
When I worked for Steinberger back in 1990/1991, I was
primarily responsible for naming all the models, I came up with the names
Legend, Matrix, Racer & Performer for the L,M, R & P series. For the headstock
series that was called a Sceptre.
I believed that the guitars should have an identifying
name that people could remember. I didn't become completely fluent on
Steinberger nomenclature till about 6 months after I picked up all the
merchandise in their closed warehouse sometime in early 1998. I know when I
worked there there were always naming conflicts going on all the time and 95% of
the employees didn't know the actual names of all the models. It's very
confusing to say the least.
Well Ovation already had used the name "Legend" so very
few people in the USA ever got the printed literature pertaining to the names.
Europeans still call me for the Matrix or the Legend. There was a short period
where they changed the names to "Elite" There was the GT Pro era and God knows
how many other naming conventions that never seemed to stick for long.
Below is the original number & letter designations,
Confusing as they are, I decided to use this as a universal way to distinguish
one from another.
Prefix G |
Guitar |
Prefix X |
Bass |
MODELS |
|
L |
Legend (Oar shaped all graphite model like
Eddie Van Halen plays) |
LW |
Legend (Oar shaped wood body graphite neck
model) (Actually sounds better) |
M |
Matrix ( Pseudo Strat shaped model like Joe
Perry, David Gilmour, Vito Bratta play) |
P |
Power Vee (The mini V shaped model like
Leslie West or Andy Powell play) Before switching to the Westberger
|
R |
Racer (Poor mans version of the M series
usually no trans trem or EMG pickups) made in Korea |
Q |
Quint or Quad Bass |
S |
Scepter (The short lived headstock model)
|
K |
Kleinberger (The Steve Klein model) |
T |
When T appears in the model number it means
Trans Trem included |
S |
When S appears in the model number it means
Std Trem Included |
A |
When A appears in the model number it means
Active EQ circuit is included |
2 |
When 2 appears in a model number it means 2
humbucking pickups |
3 |
When 3 appears in a model number it means 3
single coil pickups |
4 |
When 4 appears in a model number for a Guitar
it means 1 Hum 2 Singles |
7 |
When 7 appears in a model number for a Guitar
it means Hum Single Hum |
|