Should You Sell Your First Guitar?

Do you remember that day? 

The day you got your first guitar. 

Did your father take you to the guitar store and bought it for you as a birthday gift? 

Did you work an entire summer to earn the money and buy it yourself? 

Did you find it gathering dust in the attic and repair it with your best friend? 

Indeed, it seems that getting the first guitar is an unforgettable moment in our lives. 

Maybe that’s the reason why some hesitate on selling their instrument. 

Why would you sell such a significant object? 

Well, why wouldn´t you? 

Truth is, there are good reasons both for selling it and not selling it. 

You should sell your guitar in case you need the money, want to acquire a better guitar, and are not emotionally attached to it at all. Otherwise, you may regret your decision. Keeping your guitar as a souvenir, even though you don’t play with it, is also acceptable. 

Taking this decision is hard. Therefore, we encourage you to read to the end of this article and dissipate all your doubts. 

Will you keep your six-string instrument? Or will you say goodbye to it? 

There’s only one way to find it out. 

Is it worth it to sell your first guitar?

Whether selling your first instrument or not is worth it, we cannot answer. 

All in all, you are the only one who can come out with the solution. 

Sure enough, you didn’t come here to get a vague response. You are probably full of doubts regarding the next step to take. 

Do not worry. We’ll discuss both reasons to sell the instrument, and reasons to not do it at all. 

Once you finish reading, you’ll surely know which direction to take. 

Before continuing, we could argue that selling your first instrument is indeed a wise idea. This will be the case for those who desperately need the money or those who are not easily attached to material things. 

Now, the contrary is also true. It is not worth selling such a significant object just for a couple of bucks, or for getting a better guitar. 

Plus, there is an alternative to selling the guitar in exchange for a newer one. Have you ever thought about upgrading it? 

Upgrading vs selling your guitar to get a better one

Most guitarists would think about selling their instruments because of these reasons: 

• They need money 
• They want to buy a better guitar 
• They bought the instrument five years ago and it is gathering dust in the basement 
• They got a bass for Christmas instead because their grandma thought it was a guitar and now they want to get rid of it 

Let’s focus on the second reason: Wanting to get a better guitar. 

It is a noble cause indeed. After all, many beginners get a low-budget guitar just to start into music and then, once they have improved and honed their skills, get a superior model. 

This makes sense because a basic instrument is enough to, funnily enough, learn the basics. 

However, the more one improves, the more one understands a bit more about the world of music, including pickup models, strings gauge, and guitar finish among other things. 

These details do make the difference for experienced guitarists. Their ears are trained to understand music better. 

In other words, they realized that there is a finer guitar out there with a sound and playing style that fits their needs. So, why keep their old, average, almost ordinary guitar with them? 

If the musician knows what guitar model he or she wants to have, then we believe selling the instrument is the wisest decision to take. 

After all, there is a reason that justifies your decision. 

Now, what’s the other side of the coin? 

Well, one could opt to upgrade the guitar, instead of getting rid of it. 

Upgrades can be made to the guitar’s strings, tuner knobs, electronics, bridge, nut, pickups, pickguards, and finish. 

Needless to say, changing all of those parts is almost the same as having a new guitar. 

All things considered, upgrades are cool for guitarists who don’t want to get rid of their beloved first instrument. 

“I love this guitar so much but it is so broken. One or two upgrades would make it playable again, for sure…” 

If that’s your belief, then an upgrade doesn’t seem like a bad idea. 

However, bear in mind that customization should be done only to two or three aspects of your guitar, and if possible, just for expensive instruments. 

Otherwise, you are spending too much money on a guitar that is bound to get ruined again. 

Not to mention, the cost of the upgrades could be too high. 

Cheap guitars are not worth the upgrade, since their quality will be hardly enhanced. On the contrary, if your first guitar was an expensive (and of high-quality) one, then an upgrade is worth it. 

In conclusion, upgrade expensive guitars, or instruments with little to no deficiencies. Otherwise, it might be better to purchase a newer one. 

Reasons to sell your first guitar

So, you told your best friend you wanted to sell your first guitar but he said “Ohh, but it is your first guitar. You can’t do that to such a valuable instrument! Don’t you have a nostalgic bond with the guitar and blah, blah, blah, blah…” 

Now you are doubting yourself. And to think you were so sure about selling it. 

Well, time to get that security back! Return to your stupid friend and tell him you want to sell your first guitar because: 

• You want money: one of the main reasons why pawn shops exist  
• You desperately need the money: I’m sorry bro. Life’s not always fair… 
• You are planning to buy a better guitar: if you believe upgrading is not a good idea, it is because you have read the previous paragraph 
• You are not emotionally attached to it: it’s just a guitar, not your dog 
• You barely play with it: use it or lose it. Why keep something that you don’t use? Better give it to someone who needs it 
• It reminds you of someone you prefer to forget: sell it and bury the past, bro. Your future looks bright ahead 
• You had an astral projection during your summer vacations and realized you want to detach yourself from the material world, live in the forests, and eat pine cones: well, better give it a second thought… 

To sum up, the majority would sell their first guitar because of money (bills that need to be paid, vacations, etc.), lack of emotional bond, or because they don’t use it at all. 

All being worthy reasons to do it. 

Reasons not to sell your first guitar

So, you told your best friend you wanted not to sell your first guitar but she said “Ohh, but it is just a guitar. You should totally sell such an invaluable instrument! Who cares about the nostalgic bond with the guitar and blah, blah, blah, blah…” 

Now you are doubting yourself. And to think you were so sure about not selling it. 

Well, time to get that security back! Return to your stupid friend and tell her you don’t want to sell your first guitar because: 

• You are emotionally attached to it: nostalgia plays an important role in our belongings 
• You don’t want money: why would you? 
• You don’t need money: why sell it at all if is not an emergency? 
• You still play with it: it is futile to sell something that serves a purpose 
• It reminds you of someone you prefer not to forget: more nostalgia. Emotions drive the world, don’t forget about that. 

In short, it seems that what prevents someone from selling their first guitar is the emotional bond created with it. 

If you care about the guitar, even though it is just a piece of wood with electronics on it, we recommend keeping it. 

Seriously. If you don’t play with it, but still want to keep it, then do it. 

Unless you face economical instability, there are no reasons to sell an object that still has meaning. 

Best places to sell your first guitar

Great, so you’ll sell your guitar because you believe nostalgia and emotions are a piece of rubbish and that money is the only thing that matters. 

Cool! You better find the right place to do business. 

You are probably already thinking about selling it either on eBay or Amazon, so let’s not focus on those sites since they are too popular. 

One alternative could be Reverb, a rather popular place to sell and buy instruments. The good thing about Reverb is that it has a good amount of traffic, which means that published products always reach a customer sooner or later. 

Unfortunately, Reverb takes a fee commission on every product you sell.  

You can also trade it in at Guitar Center, put it up on Facebook Marketplace, or give Craigslist a try.

Every platform has its pros and cons, and we have covered most of them in our blog.

I encourage you to use the search function to look for those articles!

So, what are you waiting for to sell your guitar? 

Or will you keep it anyway?