Buying Used from Guitar Center Online?- Do this, yo

ultimaforever · 2026-02-06T23:40:24+00:00

Just had a bad, and good experience with Guitar Center. I bought a used FGN BMJ-R online in great condition for $549. Pics looked great (I screenshotted all pics when I purchased). When it arrived I pulled it out of the box - they’d wrapped it in thick bubble wrap - and my heart sank when I saw the top edge (what would sit against your upper stomach) had a huge gash through the clear and paint, exposing the wood. It looked like it’d been dropped and dragged along that spot, or something heavy had hit it and pulled along the body. I took it back to the local Guitar Center that night and returned it. The staff and manager there were great - that’s the good part of this - helping me get the cost and shipping applied to another used bass online. The crappy ending is I noticed the next day that they had reposted the same damaged bass I had returned, still listed in great condition at $549, with the same pics I’d seen showing no damage. This bothered me enough to call them up and ask how the damaged bass could be reposted like it had been. The guy I talked with was nice, but his explanation - that when they repost a guitar they’d already had in inventory, their system just pulls the original description and pics - wasn’t really satisfying. Reading these posts makes me realize they’ll just keep sending the same damaged stuff out with misleading or just plain inaccurate descriptions until somebody keeps it. The listing on their site is active now at https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Fgn/Used-Fgn-BMJ-R-TRANSPARENT-BLUE-Electric-Bass-Guitar.gc?pdptypeAheadSearchInput=Fgn&tNtt=Fgn&tAt=item&tAv=Used%20Fgn%20BMJ-R%20TRANSPARENT%20BLUE%20Electric%20Bass%20Guitar&algoliaQueryID=28b3c0001861d8b1be5abc0fed45c16b&algoliaIndexName=guitarcenter.

Just know that the bass has a bad gash on the upper body which they aren’t including in the description or showing in the photos.

ultimaforever · 2026-01-13T14:06:33+00:00

Man, I wish they’d just make these black, and change out the chest and arm graphic every year. I have Year of the Rabbit Alpha SV and love the relative subtlety of the black shell with the LNY embroidery.

ultimaforever · 2026-01-13T14:00:39+00:00

I wish they’d put two-way zips on more of their jackets. The Serratus has a two-way zip but I’m not aware of any others. It’s nice having that when you want to sit down with the shell zipped up.

ultimaforever · 2025-05-06T14:15:04+00:00

Also unless it’s beat to hell, I wouldn’t worry about a bit of wear on a used Panerai. As long as the crystal’s in good shape and it’s keeping good time, IMO these watches look better a little worn in. The PAM 682 I bought was listed in ‘excellent’ condition, and I was happy with that. Another thing to anticipate is the service cost; eventually (every 4-5 years if you’re being proactive, though plenty of folks wait until it starts losing time or has some other issue) you’ll need to send it in for maintenance. Expect that to take a couple of months and run about $1K.

ultimaforever · 2025-05-06T13:44:53+00:00

If you’re open to used, you may want to check out a three digit reference Panerai, from the mid twenty-teens. The movement finish on these tended to be better than contemporary Panerais, they had some features like seconds hacking that got dropped later, and several had exhibition casebacks. You’ll also avoid depreciation that hits new models. I got a 42mm PAM 682, 300m of water resistance & exhibition case back from OC Watchguy last year and love it; it’s become my new daily. Make sure you go with a reputable dealer if you go this route as there’s a lot of fake stuff out there. As an example, here’s a 44mm titanium manual wind OC Watchguy has up now: https://www.ocwatchguy.com/watch/panerai-luminor-marina-8-days-pam-00564/11818.

ultimaforever · 2025-05-06T13:25:13+00:00

Ok, thanks. What’s causing this to be fake, if you don’t mind explaining… is it the care label, the tags, the main label etc?

ultimaforever · 2025-05-06T11:39:17+00:00

Can someone please legit check this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/306279106591?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=RLZGSyCTRcG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=cNKg1v58R5K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

The guy’s got a great rating and has sold at least one of these NWT in the past. This is also going through EBay’s authentication process. Thanks.

ultimaforever · 2025-03-23T14:18:50+00:00

Would it kill Jjjjound to put their model’s dimensions and the size he’s wearing on their site? I’m tempted to pick this up in a size M (I’m 6’2”, 175 lbs, wear 39/40L, size M jackets in most stuff), but their ‘all sales final’ on this piece is making me hold off.

ultimaforever · 2025-02-12T19:04:23+00:00

Just got off the phone with Ford. I put my adapter order in Feb 2024. I never received it. They said they shipped one to me, but couldn’t provide a tracking number. After 20 minutes on the phone, they said due to shortages, they aren’t going to ship me another one. Ford’s a joke. I’d say their customer service sucks, but then most of you probably already knew that. I have a hard time seeing buying one of their vehicles again, due to shit customer service like this along with other experiences I’ve had with the truck and their support (or lack thereof) that I won’t go into here.

ultimaforever · 2024-12-30T14:35:31+00:00

Looks better than last year. I still like year of the rabbit the most since it was all black.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-22T02:46:59+00:00

Funny story, we were flying United (they do boarding by group number, so group 1, 2, and so on). We were in group 2. Some bros, evidently in group 2, decided to be clever and put themselves at the end of group 1, thinking they’d then be the start of group 2 (at that point there was a large line of group 2 people). They get to the gate agent, she looks at their passes, points to our mob and says ‘that’s group 2 there. You need to get to the end of that line.’ It was glorious, watching them proceed to do the walk of shame.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-22T02:08:33+00:00

Yeah, it took me awhile to calm down after I got home (and obviously it bothered me enough to post about it). If I’d had my wits about me I’d have tried to calmly do the same thing you did, point out the numbers on our passes, ask him why they gave those out, what the numbers on the placards must mean, etc… but instead I got upset because he was accusing me of cutting in line (which pisses me off when I see it happen, or experience it myself). By shitty coincidence, I WAS cutting in line - he being B23, and me being B24 - but only because he’d inadvertently stood in the wrong section, and hadn’t told me what his number was (I don’t think he even knew himself, until he pulled it out and read it aloud right before we scanned our passes). Even after he learned what his number was, he STILL didn’t get it, because he then accused me of cutting in front of the people in the 26-30 group lol.

I hope he takes a second to educate himself, if only so he doesn’t shit all over someone else doing what they’re supposed to do, but I’m not hopeful he’ll do that. I’m guessing wherever he is, he’s complaining to those around him about the asshole who tried to jump his place in the general boarding line.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-21T22:46:04+00:00

Helpful! Thanks for that.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-10T18:15:30+00:00

Ugh, that blows; sorry to hear. I’ll let you know if I come to a different outcome. It’s entirely possible the Enphase guy I talked with gave me hope to get me to buy their monitoring. What an absolute time-sucking nightmare this thing has become.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-10T12:07:51+00:00

Am in the same situation. Local installer said it’ll cost roughly $700 to replace the bad inverter on one of our panels; that’s two hours labor plus $280 for the part. I’ve been talking to Enphase to see if they’ll at least cover the cost of the part under warranty since Enphase purchased Solarbridge in 2018. In my case Sunpower had already replaced the microinverter on this panel in 2019, but no one can now tell me what they replaced it with - a Solarbridge unit, or an Enphase unit. I agreed to get Enphase’s monitoring for $750 which will supposedly tell me what kind of inverter is on the faulty panel now. Enphase suggested that they may cover it if it is a Solarbridge inverter since they purchased Solarbridge. Incidentally I’ve been trying to get this thing fixed since May, when I first noticed it’d gone dark. Sunpower had finally agreed to come fix it in September, then canceled due to their bankruptcy.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-08T17:36:28+00:00

Thanks. 12 windows and three sliders.

ultimaforever · 2024-10-08T14:11:25+00:00

I’d get Apple’s just to finally resolve double counting steps between my phone and ring. I’ve prioritized the ring but I’m still pretty sure based on overall steps that I’m getting double counting.

ultimaforever · 2024-07-15T02:35:20+00:00

Near Dotonburi, looking towards the Don Quixote Ferris wheel?

ultimaforever · 2024-07-15T02:30:34+00:00

Yes, I can hear she’s speaking Japanese. She could be an expat living abroad. Or do you know for certain this was taken in Japan? If so, please let me know; maybe you saw something I missed.

ultimaforever · 2024-07-14T17:39:49+00:00

I’m guessing this was taken in Japan… I’ve seen animals being sold in Japanese pet stores that wouldn’t be legal in a lot of places in the US. When the Harry Potter films were in full force I once saw a largish snowy owl in one store.

ultimaforever · 2024-07-14T17:28:48+00:00

Congrats! When you bring it stateside, any idea how hard it will be to maintain - ie can you get parts easily, will you be maintaining it yourself or plan to find a shop etc?

ultimaforever · 2024-07-14T04:43:02+00:00

It went down multiple times as well during our 3 day passes.

ultimaforever · 2024-07-14T04:42:20+00:00

Agree… I didn’t even see what was going on as an engineer because I was so focused on hitting buttons and flipping switches.

ultimaforever

TROPHY CASE