Where to sell a musical instrument?

[GreenSheep]

I have acquired (or re-acquired, really) a clarinet, and I haven't played in decades. This is the result of parental closet-purging when I recently went to visit them. I bought this thing when I was a teenager in 1996, and at the time it was nearly $500 (they still had the receipt!)... but I don't know if time has increased or decreased its value. If it's still worth enough to bother, I'm not sure where would be the best place to sell it. My small town has a music store that I only know about from driving past it, or I could drive to the big city if necessary, or there are the online routes...?

While we're on the topic, my husband has a guitar (how he got it is a long story but definitely legal)... but doesn't know how to play and doesn't care to learn. He posted this thing on Craigslist a few years ago, and it got a bazillion hits, as well as a few messages that the thing is likely worth several tens of thousands of dollars if it really is what it appears to be. This was after having it appraised at the local music shop in the (different) small town where we lived at the time. Several independent Craigslisters were convinced that whoever appraised it had missed something and that it is actually quite valuable, so a bunch of people recommended a second opinion... which he hasn't made the time to get yet. But when he does, if it actually is worth a ton, what's the best route for selling something like that?

[therethere]

If you don't need the money, I would donate the clarinet locally. My city runs an instrument drive every year to help provide kids with free or low cost instruments. I see it as paying the gift of music forward. Otherwise, just throw it up on craigslist and say you don't know much about it and look at others online for a ballpark estimate. I'm sure your main goal is just getting it out of your house.

On the guitar, he was smart to stop thinking about selling once he got too many responses. I know nothing about guitars except that Fenders made in certain countries are way more valuable than others. And unknowing people frequently get the values confused. The guitar should have a serial number that you're able to look up to get the specs. I'd find the serial number and reach out to customer service of the appropriate company to get more info on the make/model/year. DH uses Reverb for buying and selling used gear and guitars. How much are we talking when you say it could be worth a ton?

[Tasse]

Offering to pay way more than an item is listed for is also often the first step in a craigslist scam. Get the seller excited enough to use some alternative payment method... Just an alternative possibility to be aware of.

[YttriumNitrate]

A few years ago as my parents were downsizing they gave me my old middle school trombone. I went onto Ebay to get a rough idea of what they were selling for, and then listed it on Craiglist. It eventually sold for about $80, but it definitely took a while since there tends to only be a few times each year when a bunch of people are looking for student quality instruments.

[Morning Glory]

Donated my flute to a charity that supports youth orchestras in Colombia via one of the nuns at the hospital where I worked.  A few months later I received a bag of excellent coffee beans as a thank you gift and got to meet one of the sisters who runs the program.

[Sibley]

I have donated 2 violas and a clarinet to various youth orchestras. They seemed very happy to get each, despite my clear warning that none had been played for at least a decade.

[GreenSheep]

Thanks, everyone! Sounds like the clarinet should be donated or Craigslisted and the guitar needs more investigation. Turns out my husband has looked into the serial number, and the part with the serial number plate on it comes from a very expensive Fender... but not all of the parts are from the same original guitar, which is what complicates things. Might be one of those things that the market has to decide. Maybe it just needs to be offered for sale at a ridiculously high price, but with complete honesty, and then maybe some crazy rich guitar nut would jump on it!

[Rdy2Fire]

Personally I've used and had good success with a few things on https://reverb.com/ you can see what others are selling and have sold for and do some research there.

[Samuel]

Reverb is the best place to sell the guitar online, but yes, you'll first want to get a pro to examine it to document the configuration and condition if you want to get top dollar. Older guitars are rarely 100% stock so that's not a problem but knowing which parts are original and which aren't can really affect the value. There is also deception in the collectable guitar world so anything you can do to minimize that risk for potential buyers will likely raise your final sale price.

[GuitarStv]

I've sold lots of music stuff on Reverb.com, it's generally a pretty good site to use.

Agree with the advice to take your guitar to a music store and have someone who knows what they're doing look it over to get some sort of idea of it's worth (or at least to figure out the exact model name).  Then you can check Reverb.com listings to get a feel for the value of the instrument.

[therethere]

Fender's customer service is actually quite good. If you call/email them the serial number they should be able to provide you some sort of spec sheet as to what was originally installed for main components (not sure how old this database tracks back though). This could help your independent appraiser quite a bit. As it should help discern what is original and what is modified.