Guitar for DD - new from Amazon or secondhand?

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My DD is at uni and wasn’t able to take her acoustic guitar from home. She misses it and I’d like to buy her one to keep at uni. Budget is up to £75 - what’s best - a new one from Amazon, or a better ‘quality’ but used one from eBay? It’s just for relaxation although she plays well. Thanks!

Ask her to send you a link of one she likes up to that budget?

What guitar (make/model) does she play at home? Honestly, if she plays a decent instrument at home a £75 guitar will feel awful, unless she strikes an absolute bargain of a second hand deal. What was the issue with taking her own guitar?

Amazon and ebay are not good for instruments - if you want to buy new then Thomann have excellent own brand budget guitars, and if you want to buy second hand then Reverb is a much better bet than ebay - Reverb also has a lot of clearance stock on it that music stores sell off cheap.

Could you not spend some of the money on shipping her guitar safely to her, with a package of picks, capo, spare strings, autotuner etc?

If you think she'd like a second instrument, I'd go for second hand for that price. See if there is a half decent one on Ebay near to where she's at uni.

Thanks all! Lots of good advice here. Her guitar at home was from Thomann. I’ve never heard of Reverb so thanks for that!

Yeah I don't think you can get a decent guitar for that price. Not a new one anyway.

Agree with all the above.

Do you have a Cash Converters type shop nearby? They’re brilliant for affordable second hand instruments.

We bought a lovely Tanglewood brand electro acoustic guitar for DH recently from a cash converters type shop for £70. It was incredible value and in really good condition but because it was dark brown wood and looked plain against some of the shiny guitars, I think they’d underpriced it. I was the one who spotted it hidden in a corner looking unloved and a bit dusty.

DH and DS think it’s brilliant and have about 10 guitars between them. DH also plays a Gibson Les Paul as his main electric guitar but often picks up the Tanglewood.

Well spotted!

Any views on this one, please? It gets brilliant reviews:
https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_hbd120cebk_westerngitarre.htm

That's a dreadnought, which is a very large and very loud guitar. For a student who just wants to play in her room, I would look for a standard or parlour guitar such as this: https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_cg_45e_vintage_sunburst.htm

Or if you can stretch to it, this one: https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_gs_travel_mahogany.htm

And a slightly further stretch, but a vastly better guitar - this secondhand Westfield parlour guitar: https://reverb.com/uk/item/77790217-westfield-wp-200-sn-performer-series-parlour-guitar

Have a look on guitarguitar. For a bit more, £99, you could get something like this and they offer a 30 day return if it’s no good for her

Good sport @Ophir Cort are excellent - in fact they make guitars for lots of the big name brands like PRS and Ibanez. That's smaller and more practical than a dreadnought too.

SO HELPFUL - thanks a million @FernandoSor and @Ophir

Sorry to jump on this but I couldn’t see another relevant thread.
Has anyone sold a guitar through Reverb or similar, or is there another reseller you recommend? Would also need advice on valuation. Thanks

I have both sold and bought multiple instruments and pieces of recording equipment through reverb and never had a bad experience. I don’t know any musician who has. It’s a vastly more trustworthy platform than eBay or, god forbid, Facebook marketplace.