Need advice...

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I happen to have some lower-tier lefty guitars that I no longer require. 4 to be exact. 2 of them I would relegate as 'junk' and the other 2 I would say have a tiny bit of promise.

My question is.... What do you think is the best way to get rid of them without straight up throwing them in the dump?

[Betty Wont]

The couple of times I found myself in this situation, I gave them to kids in the neighborhood that showed interest. A couple went on to take it up, and soon upgraded to a better instrument, where the ones that didn't saved their parent a ton of cash in the trial.

[EBK]

I have two young kids who are both left-handed.  One (my 9 y.o.) has expressed mild interest in guitar, and I would feel wrong teaching him to play my right-handed guitars (like denying his identity or something).  I would love to take one of your guitars off your hands.  Am I remembering correctly that you live somewhere in Maryland?

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Am I remembering correctly that you live somewhere in Maryland?

Yes sir!

[matmosphere]

There is an organization in DC that takes musical instruments as donations and gives them to kids and offers lessons. Let me see if I can find out the name? Maybe they have other branches.


Edit: girlsrockdc.org

[matmosphere]

For the ones that don't go to EBK that is

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Just for transparancy... here is what I have:

- Daisy Rock Pink glitter guitar (this one is a righty I got for my daughter) Has a bad chip in the body finish
- Starlight lefty flying V with Floyd-type bridge (not a great guitar)
- Ibanez ART100L guitar with Limewire Dave Mustane active pickups
- Schecter lefty (I believe it is an Omen series) May need the pup switch replaced.

[GermanCdn]

I've always donated my "Not worth the cost of shipping" guitars to local music organizations or churches, which in turn get them in to the hands of kids who want to learn.  That being said, I've always made sure they're playable with at least a decent set up and cleaning before they leave, as to give the new learners a platform to start with.

[EBK]

Got any pics?

[NorthCoast]

There are a bunch of organizations that take instrument donations:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=instrument+donation&ia=web
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=instrument+donation+maryland&t=lm&ia=web

The Maryland Symphony Orchestra also takes donations, including guitar, although I didn't see on the site if they take electrics. The instruments are "for use in general music classrooms" so they might take electrics.

http://www.marylandsymphony.org/education/instrument-bank/

[Aentons]

In the late 90's a girlfriend of mine found a decent working Ibanez X shaped guitar in an abandoned garage. She said to do whatever I wanted with it so I set it on fire and bashed it to pieces against a large tree. ... for the experience.

Edit: not saying you should do this... just presenting an option

[GermanCdn]

In the late 90's a girlfriend of mine found a decent working Ibanez X shaped guitar in an abandoned garage. She said to do whatever I wanted with it so I set it on fire and bashed it to pieces against a large tree. ... for the experience.

Edit: not saying you should do this... just presenting an option

My first electric was an Ibanez X Series, which eventually got cut to pieces.  But given the secondary market nostalgia prices for X series guitars in recent times, I kind of wish I hadn't.....

[midwayfair]

Music4More/Music4Vets

I've done work with them a few times and did a couple charity concerts. Dierdra (who's been running it for years) will get an instrument repaired before donating it if needed, or have a local artist turn it into an objet d'art if it can't be repaired and auction it off to fund fixing instruments that can be donated.

The donations go to local schools and for veterans' music therapy and it's extremely cost-effective charity. I picked her charity over several others that do instrument/music related donations because I really like her "no-waste" attitude.

She's in Annapolis now, and she'll usually pick stuff up or meet you halfway.