Forget spooky season, the end of October is all about early Black Friday guitar deals. Retailers and manufacturers have stepped up earlier than ever this year, tempting us guitar players with some super deals right around payday. We've been hard at work this week rounding up all the biggest and best bargains for you in one place, so let's get to it!
Sweetwater's Beat the Holiday Rush sale is now in full swing, offering some significant savings of up to 50% off gear. There aren't huge amounts of guitar gear in there, but there are some definite gems if you look hard enough. We spotted some great deals on entry-level guitars, perfect for early gifting.
The Guitar Center Black Friday deals are also live and kicking, and you can save up to $1,000 on premium brands like PRS, Taylor, Universal Audio, Line 6, and loads more. There are over 1,000 items on sale so there is plenty of choice no matter what instrument you play, and we spotted some great deals on recording gear.
Reverb has a really interesting Best of Used Sales Event happening at the moment, with the chance to save big money on lots of vintage gear. We had a good browse through and there's some properly fascinating stuff in there with a lot of history, including an original 1970s RE-101 Space Echo, a 1963 Gibson ES-175, and even Mike Bloomfield's Fender Telecaster – a bargain at just below the 50-grand mark!
If you want to build your dream guitar for less, you can save a massive up to $400 at the Fender Mod Shop with loads of free upgrades available. It's super fun using the builder to spec up your dream guitar and when we gave it a go, our ideal Telecaster came out costing less than the latest American Ultra II guitars. A great Black Friday Fender deal that you can get your hands on right now.
Finally, it's your last chance to save up to 40% in the Musician's Friend Rocktober sale, so if you've had your eye on something now's the time to pounce. There are still loads of great pedal deals in the sale if you're looking to fill a gap on your 'board with a bargain.
It's been another huge week for major sales action, and we're expecting it'll only get bigger the closer we get to the end of November. Make sure you keep checking back here, where we'll be digging out the biggest and best deals for you in the run-up to Black Friday.
Editor's picks
Guitar sales to shop
How we choose our deals of the week
Here at Guitar World, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything guitar related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products we recommend.
First and foremost, we are guitarists, and we want to match other players with the right products for them, at the best prices.
For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers where you will have a positive shopping experience.
Why you can trust our choices
We spend a lot of our time scouring guitar retailers for fantastic deals on our favorite gear. Not only is it our job to research and recommend the best gear in our buyer’s guides, but we’re also dedicated to helping players get the best deals for the gear they need, too. After all, the only thing better than new gear day is a hearty discount.
We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view on which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.
Where are the best places to shop?
Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.
What sort of deals should I look for?
Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:
- Single item - A single product with a great discount
- Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
- Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
- Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items
