Is this the right place to ask for info on selling a Stick? I have a 12-string Graphite Stick (5882) that deserves a better home.

First, what's a fair price? I see the same Stick on Reverb listed for $6,995, after a $1000 price drop. That listing has been there for six months, though. On the other hand, there are relatively few graphite Sticks out there.

Second, what's the best way to sell it where both I and the buyer are protected? I want to make sure they get their Stick and I get my money. Ebay? Reverb? Somewhere else?

Thanks for any info or pointers. I want to sell the Stick, but it's not urgent. It can sit there taunting me for a while longer. I'll post an official description and price once I get this figured out. Right now I just need some guidance.

John

Hello,

$6,995 for a Grand Stick is really too much!!! More than twice the price of a brand new.

I think, a fair price for a used Stick should be around $2000. Then it depends about the pickup, accessories than come with, etc.

And the best way to sell it it’s a meeting with seller and buyer. Thus he can try the instrument and pay directly to you.

Where are you located?

Yeah, the fact that that other Stick hasn't sold after six months means it is overpriced. I like to believe a graphite Stick will bring a little more because of its rarity. Maybe not.

In person is good, but that limits the buyers to those close enough to meet.

I'm in Durham, NC. Oddly enough, the seller of that other graphite Stick is only 20 miles away.

Hello turnley,

...first consider Graphite Sticks are of the highest quality and playing comfort, yet they are no longer in production. So they are limited in number and accordingly rare....

...I myself bought a Graphite 12string PASV4 new back then and if I remember correctly the original price was $3200...although I play it very rarely, my hand size fits better on 10string sticks, I wouldn't give it away anymore for the reasons mentioned above, the price is not decisive for me but its replaceability...

....the material convinced me to such an extent that I really wanted to order a 10string Graphite, but by then it was too late, SE didn't produced Graphite sticks anymore...by chance I found a seller of a 10string Graphite in my country who was the second owner of a 10string Graphite...so I can compare Graphite in the 10 and 12string version, as well as what difference it makes if you are the first owner or the third...

....well a carefully treated stick keeps its quality for years, whether you play it or not is beside the point....

...long story but short, considering the above $2000 is clearly a bargain price and the stick should go like fireworks, $7000 is a lot of money, but not necessarily excessive, because a Graphite is actually already an instrument of historical value, and for a fan of the material worth considering....

....as a fair price I see $4000-5000, but the condition has to fit, the instrument should already be in playable condition....

...ok, take a look at the guitar world for comparison, Fender, Gibson etc. there are prices $10'000 without further ado, the instruments are in need of restoration, but are still successfully traded....as we see, so expensive are sticks not after all....

....and last but not least, if I sound like a millionaire, I can assure you, I am one of you with normal purchasing power, but I know what I want to spend money on and what I don't want to spend it on, so I'd rather use a reasonable, cheap car for 10 years and have more money available for great music instruments....

In the current market a playable & adjustable (i.e. have truss rod & adjustablle bridge) Stick at that price would sell very quickly, whether 12 string or 10. An unscrupulous buyer (perhaps with no real interest in Sticks at all?) could probably add a substantial margin to that & turn it around at a tidy profit in days?

Given the current market, with new Stick orders taking over 2 years to arrive (the second anniversary on my Grand Stick order passed a couple of days ago), the evidence suggests that a playable & adjustable Stick stands a good chance of a reasonably prompt sale at not far off the current list price of an equivalent Stick. If the Stick has some desirable but unobtainable feature, then possibly more, as Balt-A-Sar describes.

Last year I paid 3000 UKP for a 10 string Graphite (in excellent condition), bought from another poster here on Stickist.

PS. Balt-A-Sar's comment about wealth also applies. As it happens I drive a 20 year old VW Polo, which I've had for a little over 10 years.

Not losing any sleep on this but since I have one of these a year younger than the one on Reverb I feel obliged to respond, but has taken me a few days of thought. About six years ago I sold a 27 year old Zon bass on Reverb. Beforehand I had that bass and a PRS Custom24 professionally appraised and received documentation for both. I'm not naming the source, they are highly reputable, but how the guy appraised both was disappointing. He "researched" via Ebay and Reverb. In fairness, the market is oversaturated with luthiers, not like evaluating a vintage Fender or Gibson. But the experience left me really disappointed. When I sold it, I used the price as stated which ironically was about what I paid for it 27 years earlier.

I don't want to hijack your post about Reverb, I don't recommend selling a Stick there nowadays as a starting point as the IRS appears to considering everyone on there as a business, and anything over $600 requires a tax form. They are trying to raise that limit. It would take me too long to explain the impact on "fair price" on a unique item like this, so I'm leaving that out in this thread. If it took too long to sell on this forum, I'd go to Reverb as a last resort. With a Graphite Stick, I'd doubt that would be a problem selling here.

Several months ago I considered selling my Graphite, but found a solution to my issues. If I had chosen to sell it, I already have a potential buyer that tried buying mine from me the first time he saw it. Otherwise I would have started here on this site where I know a lot of people, and would had offered it at $3K plus shipping as a starting point, as that's what I would have paid for it, and getting an appraisal in my opinion would given me the same result as my Zon, as mine is still in great condition.

From my point of view on the Graphite, there are quite a few Stick players here in Michigan, and despite the fact that SE no longer makes these - the Graphite is the most common version of a Stick I've seen in this state, outside of the Railboard. I've seen six other guys that have one, just in Michigan, and three others outside of Michigan. Personally I do not consider the Graphite as a rare Stick, but a unique one that is very hard to obtain as I've always noticed they sell almost immediately as soon as one is posted for sale. I've always believed that's because there's a lot of bass players that are "Graphite fanatics".

Based on the above, I suggest selling on this forum first. Post pics, if your offer is too high you will get some good advice as to why. Since you made this post first, people will understand you are trying to be fair. There's a lot of good people to found here in this forum.

Good luck!

If we want a good profit we sell high. If we want a musician happy we just sell him at a fair price.

And I'm grateful for the Stick you sold me, Alain. I've purchased two Sticks off of this forum and sold one. I've found everyone here to be reliable and honest. Definitely a good place to start.

Indeed.

I should have added that a couple of months later I was fortunate enough to log on to Stickist at just the right time to pounce on a bamboo 12 string Grand offerred here for just 1400 UKP. The seller was happy wth the price & I've was delighted to be able to provide it a home where it is cared for and used (as is the Graphite 10 string). Having got that I then offered & sold, here on Stickist, the first Stick I bought (also here on Stickist), a 1985 Ironwood, at exactly the same price I paid for it.

Happy to read this. Later I regret a bit about selling my stick and I thought maybe I would like to buy another one. It happened finally...lol. The price was good on both sides and I still have another stick. A bit different than the one I sold you but just happy to have one again.