CarterVintageGuitarsReviews of cartervintage.com

They will send you a demo video of any guitar you would like. A knowledgeable and friendly staff and prompt delivery on orders. A pleasure to do business with! Great guitars, great people, I highly recommend them!

Asked for back story on the guitar before I bought it, two weeks after I received the guitar, still no history. Called, emailed, and left voice mail, still no response. Finally, the manager, Henry, said he would do it but that the request was unusual. Unusual? Henry said he would ask the consigner if he was willing to share any personal information. Personal? I just wanted to know whether he or she was the original purchaser of the guitar and/or how long they owned it. They came back and said the owner didn’t want to share any “personal” information. Personal? Are they kidding me? I finally found the owner in a Facebook guitar group and was able to reach out to get the guitar’s history. I don’t like liars who try to deceive me because they are too lazy to ask the consigner a simple question that isn’t “personal.” Who wouldn’t want to know the history of a 61-year-old guitar that costs several thousands of dollars? Once they get your money they drop you like a hot potato.

I delt with Zach on a PRS private stock. He was very helpful getting all my concerns addressed. Nice guy. Worked as the liason between the owner and me. I would do business there again and recommend both Zach and Carters.

I had a good experience with Carter Vintage and I’d do business with them again. I bought a used Elferink Excalibur Custom Archtop. It arrived well packaged. I had a concern about set up, but they quickly addressed that to my full satisfaction. Management takes customer service very seriously. I greatly appreciate that. I make it a point to visit their site at least once per month. Great inventory and they have plenty of exclusive high end guitars!

I purchased a guitar from Carter Vintage, with a clear endorsement from Walter C. Carter himself, affirming its authenticity as a genuine first-year model. After which, I was disheartened to discover that it’s build and part identification did not align with the claimed production year presented at the date of sale. It was in fact a later year model or possibly a combination of components sourced from differing later year guitars. Recognizing that errors can happen, I promptly contacted Walter Carter and Carter Vintage to address the situation. After returning the guitar and presenting the evidence I and others had gathered, Walter Carter candidly acknowledged in writing that the instrument did, in fact, originate from a later year than he initially stated. Subsequently, he offered a full refund for the purchase amount. Without hesitation, I accepted his offer. As of yet I am still caught in a prolonged chain of excuses and delays regarding the receipt of the agreed full amount owed to me. This, combined with the initial negligent authentication, has led me to greatly question the business ethics and practices of Walter Carter and Carter Vintage.

When my dad passed away in September, he left behind a good amount of instruments. One of which was an old Fender Bass guitar. When we took it to be looked at and find out an offer to sell it outright, we were told that it was worth $3500 and my mom was offered around $2500 for the bass, 2/3 of the value which we were told was their standard. We trusted their expertise and decided it was fair based on the value they said it was worth. A week later, I went back into the store to sell another item and saw my dads bass hanging for sale for $5,000. ($1,500 more than they said it was worth). Knowing that as a business they would potentially mark up an item in hopes to get a reasonable offer, I asked one of their lead guys “if you had a guitar worth around $3,500 what price would you start the sale at?” And was told “no more than $3,750 or so”. Which means that by their own admission, they are either 1. Selling a $3,500 bass for $5,000 (which they said they wouldn’t do) or 2. They weren’t honest about the actual value of the bass to both myself and my mom. If the value of the guitar was truly, say, $4,500, they rightly should have offered my mom around $3,000 or $500 more then they did. I was a huge fan of theirs and trusted the process. Sadly, we feel very disappointed in their transparency and valuation. Again, either they lied to me about how they price their items or they lied about the value. Neither of which sits right with me. :( If you’re looking to sell to them, I would just encourage you to go elsewhere.

If like me you are visiting Nashville, TN and love guitars, make sure you check out Carter Vintage Guitars. They have tons of instruments and enough bank seats available to let you preselect guitars unplugged. They also have a few cabins with amps to make sure your future instrument sounds as expected when plugged in. Their staff is very helpful and knowledgeable and while you're there you may see famous artists looking for their new toy. I was fortunate enough to spot G. E. Smith playing a ES 335 the first day I came in. The second day, I left their store with an awesome '83 ri57 strat. From vintage (and expensive) guitars to bargains second hand jewels, you definitely get choices. Their website seems to be updated on a regular basis which is a good thing to avoid typical disappointment ("that guitar? Well it sold months ago..."). They do have a parking lot with quite a few reserved places but it's first come first served.