GuitArcher

My lack of desire for another guitar has lead me to turn to the amp section to feed my endless addiction. There are two things I "need" as of this week: A low watt Fender-ish amp, and a delay pedal. In both cases, I've owned them both before and sold them. Typical. Idiot. Me. My desire has turned my attention to the obvious low wattage Fender amp, the Blues Junior.  The availability of these over the years has always been consistent, but there are definitely high and low tides.  It's looking like high tide this week... I've owned two Blues Juniors, the first of which as a Version 1 purchased from Macauley's Music in Cambridge, Ontario. Careful with buying a Blues Junior on  the secondary market.  There have been three versions, and no, they aren't the same.  I'm not getting into it here - there is lots of information out there on the differences.  Suffice to say I've owned the first and the third version, and they didn't get ...

Remember the guy that tried to pass off that Squier Affinity Series Tele as "Made in Japan?" Remember him offering a trade? He's back, and he's officially my nemesis.  That makes him Batman, I think. Or Joker.  Maybe both?  Either then? Doesn't matter. He's definitely Batman, because he's made me lose my goddamn mind via email (as opposed to a really bad day I guess).  Also his name reminds me of "Cornish Game Hen", which is closer to a Bat than a clown if you ask me. Like this, but instead of killing Batman, Guitars. If you spent the kind of time I do on Kijiji, you eventually start running into some familiar folks.  Not faces mind you - No no, these people rarely even deal.  They are the classic tire kickers.  Interested at a distance, ready to spend, then suddenly nothing. I've had the Squier Standard Stratocaster posted for awhile.  I'm only asking slightly more than I bought it for, and figure my attention is worth ...

Eventually, I'm going to get around to writing a "Ten Commandments" of Kijiji. Two reasons for this.  First, people internalize rules if they're presented in easy to digest formats, like "Top Ten" lists. Maybe one day, Kijiji could adopt the list, and I could become the Billy Graham of Kijiji, travelling the land, spreading the gospel according to GuitArcher. We could call the "kijijiments" instead of commandments, except I just read that and it is tucking ferrible. Second though, and way more importantly,  the internet frickin' loves them some Top Ten lists. "You WILL succumb to my click-bait!" "Thou shalt honor thy word." This is definitely going to make the list, maybe even at the number one spot.  I posted the Squier Standard Stratocaster recently for a very reasonable price, and have had a few trade offers, none of which blew sand up my skirt.  Patience as always.  40 years in a desert this is not. Even...

Here's the rundown of the silliest, stupidest, and downright ripoff-i-est postings I've come across in the past week.  Keep 'em coming Kijijiots. I'm not saying that each of these is a person trying to screw you, but... Well, it IS walking like a duck, isn't it?

When you "watch" an ad on Kijiji, you're doing it for one reason and one reason alone - you want to see how long the ad will stay up.  If you wanted to buy, you'd send an offer then and there.  But the longer the item remains unsold, the more likely the seller will accept an offer under the ask (and the more likely you can justify the purchase in your head).  Or so the thinking goes anyway... If you do this, you'll notice that sellers fall into a few categories:

Here's a post I saw come up locally yesterday: "Squier Teley - $200 - Made in Japan Squire Teley sehs a beauty. 200.00 or best offer may consider trade. Pictures don't want to load will send" Made is Japan you say?  For $200 bucks you say?  "sehs" a beauty you say? Too good not to ask, I say:

kijijiot (n): A person who posts and responds to ads on Kijiji with either no intention of completing a transaction, or one who offers insulting terms.  You've dealt with these people before - either a buyer or a seller who is window shopping and wasting everyone's time.  I don't think these people are actively trying to screw with anyone, but whether it's a severe case of GAS, second thoughts, or something else, these people make dealing on Kijiji a pain in the ass. Here are my Top 5 Kijijiot Tactics: "Is this still available?" This one is tough, because there are legitimately people out there who don't bother taking down their ads once items have sold.  Sellers are trying to combat this with ads that have "If you see this ad it is still available " or "Ad will be deleted when sold" included in the description. Some sellers remain lazy though, so I'm not going to knock the question. Still, I can't count how many ...

As I'd mentioned previously, I'm on the lookout for a Fiesta Red Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster.  L&M sold them for dirt cheap awhile back, and they're starting to come up on Kijiji at around the $300 mark - not great, but given that most of these were purchased new for less than that, an offer of $250 should seal a deal. Seal, because obviously. I missed out on an early deal because I was gun shy on selling something before I had a deal in place, and making a stupid attempt to get a set of transactions in a particular order, for your benefit, pretty much never works out. Yes, I could have fronted the money and worried about the sale later, but I dislike doing it, and these guitars aren't unique enough for me to jump like that.  Plus, motivation to sell either evaporates or insistance on getting maximum dollars does - you'll settle for covering costs.  In either case, not a great move. In any case, one of the sellers got back to me, willing to d...