Ahh...Craigslist!

I have a confession to make. I think I may have an addiction. This is a very common thing, among musicians. Heck, even Roy, has an addiction. His, is called fried okra! For more information on that, please check out our song, with the same name here www.sanddollarrodeo.com  As for mine, it's not a food, drink, or drug, but a website. The website in question? You guessed it, it's Craigslist. For those of you not familar with it, it's basically an online garage sale and/or classified ads website. You can place, and respond to ads, for free. What's really nice, is you do not have to give out your personal contact information. If you place an ad, you can set it up with an anonymous email link. That way, the person that responds to your ad, does not have access to your real email address, until you want them to. The site contains ads, for just about everything, that you can imagine. From items for sale, to job listings, garage sale ads, services, housing, and personal ads. I would probably avoid the last one though, but that's just my opinion.

I was introduced to Craigslist, through a buddy of mine, who is a bass player. We've known each other since grade school, and have played together in a few projects, over the years.

Let me stop right here, for a moment. Most musicians have a condition called G.A.S. No, it's not a build up of flatulence, but a condition known as Gear Aquisition Syndrome. I'm not making this up! Don't believe me, Google it! You'll see many musicians, make reference to it.

Anyway, my friend, as I, had this condition. I still have it, to some degree. Whenever, someone in the band would mention something about gear, he would say, "Craigslist." I noticed that he was buying and selling, quite a bit of geat on there. He was getting, said gear, at great prices too!

I started scanning Craigslist, in my spare time. I was never looking for anything, in particular, just kind of seeing what it was all about. My first experience, with any sort of transaction, occured a few months later. It was actually on a guitar trade. Big surprise, huh?

I had acquired a Paul Reed Smith, several months before. At the time, I thought it was the perfect guitar, for me. It played like butter, and looked great, but I never bonded with it. One of the mistakes that I made, was not testing it out with my amp. I guess I was just so blinded, by the G.A.S, that I figured it would sound fine with my rig. To make a long story short, I could never get that guitar dialed in, with my rig. I was not happy, with the way it sounded. The pickups on it were very hot, which made it almost impossible to get a nice clean sound. I was really disappointed, and trying to figure out what to do, next. I really dreaded telling my wife this, as I had bugged her to death about this guitar, and how much I "needed" it. I finally got up the courage to broach the subject with her, and she was very understanding. I just explained the way I was feeling, about the situation. She suggested that I look at either selling it, or maybe work out a trade on another guitar.

I decided to start browsing Craigslist, to see what was out there, and what I might be interested in. A couple of Gibson Les Pauls caught my eye, but my thinking was, "Yeah, right! That will never happen, so just forget about it." I had always wanted one, but they can be very pricey. I found out, through my research, that Gibson made a lower end Les Paul called a "Studio". It didn't have all of the bells and whistles of the more fancier models, but I thought, "Why not go try one?"

I headed out to Guitar Center one day, to check them out. I played several of them and thought they sounded pretty good, and were nice and all, but they didn't "wow" me. I discussed a trade with them, but the terms were laughable, and I declined. I discussed the dilemma, with a guitar player, friend of mine, and he suggested swapping out the pickups. I explored the option, but it was going to run me about $350.00 to do this, and their was no guarantee that I would be satisified with the sound, once it was done. I decided against the pickup swap, and continued looking for a deal on Craigslist.

On Labor Day morning, 2010, I was off of work, for the holiday. I was browsing Craigslist, when I ran across an ad, that caught my eye. The person was looking to sell or trade his Gibson Les Paul "Classic", for a Paul Reed Smith. The model he was looking for, just so happened, to be the one that I had! I contacted him, to see if he would be interested in working something out. He responded, rather quickly, asking if I could send him some pictures of my guitar. I sent the pictures, and received a response, that he was interested in my guitar. He lived about 30 minutes away, and I agreed to meet him at his place, much to my wife's dismay!

The only way this deal was going to happen, would be a straight up trade, and I was not sure if that was gonna happen, or not. You see, this guitar had been upgraded with some Seymour Duncan pickups, and he was asking about $300 more, then what my guitar had cost me. It was a fair price, for what it was. I figured it was worth the chance to drive out, though. The worst he could say, was no, right?

As I mentioned earlier, my wife was not real happy with this arrangement. I guess she was having paranoid visions of me walking into Leatherface's, Jason's or Michael Myers' lair, or some such. She had strict instructions for me to text her when I got there, text her five minutes after that, and to text her, when I was leaving. Failure to comply, would result in her calling the police, and having them dispatched to this guy's address. I thought she was overreacting, a little, but I complied, as that would be a very embarrassing situation, and I really hoped to work out a deal. I'm sure, the police showing up at this guy's house, would have killed any deal.

I grabbed my amp and guitar, and headed over to the location. I texted my wife, to let her know I had made it. I met the guy, and knew right away that he was not a serial killer. Still, I obliged my wife, and sent her another text, informing her that I was still alive and well.

I plugged that guitar up to my amp, and knew right away that I wanted it bad! It was perfect. It played like a dream, and had a nice warm sound. The other guy was checking out my guitar. I honestly didn't think he would do the deal. Best case, I thought he might trade, and ask for $200 to $300 on my end, which I was not in a position to do. He agreed, that the guitar had really hot pickups in it, and that he would probably want to change them out. I had mentioned this to him, before we ever met, just to make sure he would still be interested. I told him how much I was quoted for a pickup change, and figured that would be the end of the deal. He looked over the guitar for sometime and finally said, "Well, I can't believe that I'm about to trade a Les Paul, but I really like yours better." Trying to hide my out and out joy, was nearly impossible. I honestly couldn't believe that the deal was going down! I was going, to be going, home with a Les Paul! At this point, I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, before he could change his mind. I loaded up my amp and new guitar, texted my wife, to let her know that I survived, and headed home.

From that point on, I was hooked. I became a Cragislist "junkie". I was always looking, for some sort of deal. My wife would mention something, that she might want, and I would always jump on Craigslist first. Mainly, I just wanted to see if their were any awesome deals out there.

Last summer, 2011, I had my first experiences, selling on Craigslist. I was in the market for a new road bicycle, and decided to part with a couple of items. The first item was a lower end guitar, that I was no longer using. This was a great little guitar but, it was just taking up space now. I received quite a few responses, but only one concrete offer. I cringed at the offer though, as the guy lived in Abilene, which is about 2 hours west, of me. He proposed that we meet in Eastland, which would be an hour drive for both of us. He said he would give me my asking price, so I agreed to it. My wife was really not thrilled about this, as she said, "Well, I guess I get to spend my Friday evening, going to Eastland." I was somewhat surprised by this, and asked, "Your going with me?" She responded, "Uh, yeah! Do you think I'm going to let you drive all the way out there to meet some stranger?" I just laughed, and told her that I would be fine, but she was having none of that.

We headed out, and met the gentleman in a Wal Mart parking lot. He had his wife with him, also. I guess she was probably thinking the same thing, that my wife was. He looked over the guitar, was satisfied, and handed me the cash. We visited for a few minutes, until both of our wives rolled down the car windows, indicating that it was time to go. On the way home, we stopped in Strawn, Texas, for a great meal at Mary's Cafe. If your ever out that way, be sure and check it out. I promise, you will not be disappointed.

My next deal was on a bicycle, that I had purchased from Wal Mart. This, along with the guitar, were going towards the purchase of my new road bike. My wife insisted that I buy an inexpensive bike, first, to see if I would enjoy the sport. I reluctantly agreed, but in hindsight, it was the smart decision. I rode my Wal Mart bike, for a little over a month, and was hooked. I decided it was time to upgrade and my wife agreed. The thing that we didn't realize though, was we could have returned the bike within 30 days, and received a full refund, no questions asked. We missed the deadline by a few days, though.

I had been scouring Craigslist, looking for a good used bike. I did a lot of research, and narrowed my choices, down to a few models, that I liked. In the end though, I decided to buy a new bike, as these types of bikes require some maintenance, and mechanical skills. I possessed neither, at the time. Another added bonus was, that the bike store could professionally fit me to the most appropriate bike. They also offered lifetime adjustments on the bike, itself. I decided to forego the Craigslist route, this time, even though I could have found a used bike, cheaper. In the long run, I know I made the right choice.

I listed my Wal Mart bike, on Craigslist, for $125. I was hoping to get $100 for it, but if someone offered to pay the asking price, all the better. Again, I received several inquiries, but only one of them turned serious. The guy asked if I would be willing to take $100, if he liked it, and I agreed to this. He lived near downtown Ft. Worth, so we decided to meet at my sister's hair salon. They have a nice size parking lot, that allowed him to test the bike out. My wife was ectatic, as she did not have to go! I guess, she figured that a parking lot in broad daylight, was safe enough. We met, he road the bike, liked it, and tried to talk me down to $80. I refused, and he agreed to the $100. With that, I was able to purchase my new road bike.

So far, I've had great experiences, using Craigslist. The people that I've met and conversed with, have all been very nice. As stated, in my previous blog post, it's how Roy and I first became aquainted. It was also the vehicle I used, to land the gig with the Talking Heads tribute band, and it's how Marti became our booking agent. I've also used it to research products, and listed a garage sale ad, among other things. To date, I've only had one item listed, that never did sell. It was a guitar amp, and for whatever reason, I never received a single response on that ad. I re-listed it several times, before giving up, and selling it to a music store. I was able to get my asking price, from the music store, which was a surprise.

Today, I still jump on almost everyday. I usually skim the musicians section, looking for shows. I'm starting to see venues advertise on there, more and more. The House Of Blues-Dallas, actually had an ad on there, a couple of weeks ago. They were looking for local bands, in our genre. When I saw the ad, I immediately contacted Marti, to advise her of what I had found. She was on step ahead of me though, and had already seen the ad, and submitted to it. She told me that she was a "Craigslist Junkie", as well.

I also check out the musical instruments from time to time. I'm not really in the market for anything, at present time. It's fun to look though, and who knows? You might just run into that , "Deal of the Century", and I would hate to miss that! Wouldn't you?

The only other advice that I can give, is to use common sense. You probably already know this, because you are smart, but it's still worth mentioning. I would never, ever give any type of bank or credit card info to anyone. Go with cash, and meet in person. I would also advise that you bring someone with you, if you plan on meeting at a home, or a place that is not populated. I know I was joking around, with my wife's caution, but she is right. You never can be too cautious, in this day and age. Other then that, just have fun with it.

Lastly, no, I am not a paid endorser of the site. Although, maybe I should be, ehh????