Fender has teamed up with internet gear retail giant Reverb and is now selling officially second-hand acoustic and electric guitars on the platform.
All of the instruments that are through the Fender Certified Pre-Owned programme will have been professionally inspected – no lemons here, thank you very much – and will be considerably more affordable than their box-fresh counterparts. Many will be what you’d call a bargain, even in second-hand terms.
Fender CEO Andy Mooney says the Fender Certified Pre-Owned guitars will present “fantastic value” at a price point that allows more players to get their hands on a Fender instrument.
“We’re excited to offer for the first time ever Fender Certified Pre-Owned guitars directly on Reverb,” said Mooney. “Pre-owned guitars have long been popular among players, particularly new players and collectors. Fender Certified Pre-Owned gives players of all levels the opportunity to own a quality instrument at an affordable price.”
These sentiments were echoed by Reverb CEO David Mandelbrot, who says that it was more important than ever to make quality instruments available to a wider demographic of musicians. “Fender Certified Pre-Owned on Reverb will help many players get their hands on great-sounding guitars that fit within their budget,” said Mandelbrot.
In addition to electric and acoustic guitars, Fender will also be selling bass guitars through the scheme. All come with a one-year limited warranty.
The partnership with Reverb is very much a sustainability initiative – it is Fender’s sustainability partner, Music Instrument Reclamation Company (MIRC) that is responsible for sourcing the guitars, giving them the once over and, if needed, restoring them to a sellable condition.
MIRC is the world’s biggest wholesaler of secondhand instruments, working with 30 brands worldwide. The company was founded in 1993, in Nashville, Tennessee, and built a network of 100 dealers within three years of trading.
The company takes the overstocked and discontinued, the B-stock, and on occasion the damaged, and then turns its luthiers loose on these instruments to make them seaworthy again.
Mooney describes the Fender Certified Pre-Owned scheme as an “opportunity to support a more sustainable guitar industry, giving the instruments a second, third, or fourth life and participating in the circular economy”.
Every initiative likes this needs a champion, a case study to reference that makes the argument that buying second-hand pays. Mooney says it will present great value, but he’s the boss – of course he is going to say that. Nile Rodgers, however, has no skin in the game and his career, and his relationship with his Hitmaker Fender Stratocaster, is testimony of how valuable to a secondhand guitar can be.
There can be few greater investments in the history of popular music than the Chic guitarist’s purchase of that Strat in 1973.
“Over the years, many of my very best creative tools were bought from other musicians and the secondary market,” says Rodgers. “In fact, The Hitmaker was from a pawn shop in 1973. These guitars come with stories and history that just make them special. The fact that you can now buy pre-owned guitars from Fender means that you get the character and the affordability of pre-owned gear, plus Fender’s seal of approval.”
The Official Fender Certified Pre-Owned Reverb Shop is open. Head on to Reverb to browse.
