"USED" Guitars

[rugby1970]

So, I guess I need an education. One of the things that I like to do is visit pawn shops from time to time. It's great entertainment because of all the weird things that appear in these places. Also, you can play some very unusual guitars and amps in these places. Well today I stopped at a pawn shop on my way home from running an errand and I was nosing around looking at tools, golf clubs, fishing equipment and finally the guitar and amp section.

I picked up an Epiphone ES 339, looked it over, plugged into a crappy amp and played discretely for a while. Then I looked at the price tag and gave it a real good look. The back of the headstock was stamped "USED", imprinted into the wood, the finish was not broken and the head wasn't repainted. Then I looked in the body for the label and the normal Epiphone serial number wasn't what I expected; it didn't begin with "EE" and looked like the numbers were printed on a separate strip of paper of a different color and somehow affixed to the Epiphone label. I ran the number and it came back as a 2004 build form one of their off shore factories.

Has anyone else encountered this or have information about it?

[stonge]

There are companies (MIRC is the first one that I recalled) that get overstocked or QC failed gear from the manufacturers and refurbish them for sale.  Some of the manufacturers require the refurbed gear to be stamped 'used' (typically over the existing s/n).  Sometimes MIRC adds a sticker with their own s/n after removing the original.  It seems like they get a fair bit of NOS Squier and Epiphone guitars from discontinued lines (there was a flood of Squier John 5 models in black on ebay with the 'USED' stamp when the gold John 5's started shipping iirc. 

https://mircweb.com/support/where-does-mirc-get-their-inventory/

https://mircweb.com/support/why-do-some-of-the-used-instruments-from-mirc-have-a-used-stamp-on-the-back-of-the-headstock/

https://mircweb.com/support/why-do-some-of-the-instruments-from-mirc-have-a-reassigned-serial-number/

[rugby1970]

Very interesting reading. Thank you.

One thing I don't understand is imprinting word "USED" on the back of headstock and not damaging the finish on the guitar.

[kurtsstuff]

21 hours ago, rugby1970 said:

Very interesting reading. Thank you.

One thing I don't understand is imprinting word "USED" on the back of headstock and not damaging the finish on the guitar.

Back in the day...company's would stamp the back of head stocks as "used" if something wasn't quite right with the guitar, the wood etc but still saleable just not at a premium price  (Back when they gave a rats ass..lol!) and sometimes guitars headed for trade shows would get the stamp as well. 

[beezerboy]

When Only a Gibson is Good Enough?  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[kurtsstuff]

14 hours ago, beezerboy said:

When Only a Gibson is Good Enough?  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This! Gibson is who I was thinking of when writing my reply

[prototype-fan]

22 hours ago, kurtsstuff said:

This! Gibson is who I was thinking of when writing my reply

The Gibson Demo Shop on Reverb (www.reverb.com/shop/gibsondemoshop ) has instruments stamped "Demo" or "Mod," which I imagine is today's equivalent to factory "seconds" of yore. The Demo Shop actually has some interesting modded guitars at prices below what you normally see, although most are still pretty pricey.