
How to Buy Used Guitars from Private Sellers Safely and Smartly
Here are some tips to get the best deals on the best used guitars and music gear from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or any private seller, safely & smartly.
These articles originally appeared in the September-October 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.

Here are some tips to get the best deals on the best used guitars and music gear from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or any private seller, safely & smartly.

Neck angle is probably the single most crucial variable for the playability of a flattop guitar. Here's how to fix it if it's off.
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You wouldn’t normally think of the work of Irving Berlin as an acoustic guitar campfire song, but in this installment, Berlin’s “What’ll I Do” takes the spotlight.

Take a deep dive into building independence among the fingers of both hands.

Explore the music of Lucinda Williams by way of some of her best-known songs, with tab examples demonstrating her rhythm playing.
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There’s an architectural quality to Eli West's Tapered Point of Stone, a careful sense of craft that methodically builds from one note and one instrument to the next.

There’s plenty of awesome to go around on Boubacar "Badian" Diabaté's "Mande Guitar," the first album released on Banning Eyre’s Lion Songs Records.

To play the acoustic guitar rhythm part of Lucinda Williams' "Passionate Kisses", capo at the fourth fret and use C shapes, which sound in the key of E major.
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Here's a look inside Music City’s "Temples of Spruce" to find out if Nashville really does have the best guitar shops in the country.

This album is a showcase for the incredibly diverse interests of this eclectic, superb classical guitarist who also embraces pop, folk, and jazz.

D'addario's XS phosphor bronze acoustic guitar strings are an innovative new set that combines hyper-thin coating with NY Steel cores. Here's our review.
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After listening to Sunny War's Simple Syrup, you won’t be able to get the melodies of this one-of-a-kind songwriter/guitarist out of your head.

Each of these singular six-string devotees has made the acoustic guitar their key partner in writing the next chapter of Nashville’s story.

The Orange Acoustic Pedal is a single-ended class A preamp that with JFET circuit and plenty of headroom to provide a clean and low-noise signal.

James “JC” Curleigh is using his experience revitalizing the Levi's brand to do the same with Gibson guitars after taking the reins as CEO in 2018.
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"Intimate Impressions" by Canadian classical guitarists Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan draws on their own arrangements of piano works by Ravel and Debussy.

Jerry Garcia’s Martin D-28 acoustic guitar was likely acquired by the guitarist in the late spring of 1970. Now it has a new owner to care for it.

With the new CJ-45 T, Collings has delivered a new guitar that shows how much can be achieved with a mix of CNC manufacturing, handcrafting, and vision.
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Baroque & bluegrass make not-so-strange bedfellows here

Guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel discusses his recent collaboration with Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley on "Accomplice Series Volume 1."

All but one song feature multiple layered parts, sometimes contrasting strumming & deft fingerpicking
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A 1943 Martin 000-18 and a 1999 custom engraved National Tricone Style 4 were among the 19 guitars sold in Acoustic Guitar’s recent online auction.

With her debut album, "Nowhere Sounds Lovely," Italian-born Cristina Vane trains her outsider’s eye on America drawing on a number of different guitar styles.

Much of the charm of Local Valley, the fourth album from the Swedish-Argentinian singer-songwriter José González, comes from its intimate production values.
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A common question advancing flatpickers have is how and when to play up the guitar neck. The old favorite "Salt Creek" gives a good example of how to do it.