Guitar World deals of the week: save $524 on a Charvel, get $530 off an American-made Fender, plus all the week's biggest savings

Stratocaster leaning against a Boss Katana amp
(Image credit: Future)

Welcome back to your weekly edition of deals courtesy of the Guitar World team. It's pretty quiet on the sales front, to be totally honest, but we've still managed to pick out some huge savings on electric guitars this week, so let's get to it.

We've spotted some great deals on Fender guitars over at Guitar Center. The biggest savings are on pricier models, but there are some huge savings to be had if you've got some cash to splash. With savings of up to 20% off, you can pick up American-made guitars for a lot less, plus there are some excellent savings on the Player Plus series.

Over at Musician's Friend, their used gear sale is still alive and kicking, offering some huge savings of up to 60% off pre-loved gear. They've got some nice deals on accessories, where you can buy one and get one 50% off. There are loads of cases, strings, and other accessories in the sale, so it's a great way to stock up if you need some essentials.

Weirdly, IK Multimedia's Valentine's Day sale is still ongoing, but it won't be around for much longer. That means it's your last chance to get your hands on discount amp sim software, with both Amplitube 5 Max and Tonex Max available for just $99 each. If you want to upgrade your modeled guitar tones, then this one is a no-brainer.

Finally, if you're looking for a good deal on used gear, Reverb has begun curating some of the best and rarest gear available on the marketplace. You're going to have to be willing to scour through a shedload of gear to find a great deal, but if you put in some time, you could pick up an absolute bargain.

That's it for sales action this week, but of course, we've gone and picked out our favorite deals of the week for you below. There are some particularly good savings this week, but we'll be back in seven days with more of the best savings for you. Until next time!

Editor's picks

Charvel Pro Mod san Dimas Style 1 HH FR M
Charvel Pro Mod san Dimas Style 1 HH FR M: was $1,099.99 now $575 at Reverb

If you want a pro-level guitar for less, we haven't seen many deals better than a huge $524 off this Charvel at the Franklin Guitar Works Reverb store. It's a B-stock item, which means there might be some small scuffs on it, but all the important stuff will be working perfectly. It's a proper player's guitar with a Floyd Rose and dual humbuckers with coil-splitting, and at this price, it's unbelievable value for money.

Fender Shaw Hot 50s Telecaster Pickup Set
Fender Shaw Hot 50s Telecaster Pickup Set: was $179.99 now $116.99 at Fender Shop

If you've got a Telecaster and want to upgrade the pickups, you can get a hefty $63 off this Fender Shaw Hot 50s Tele pickup set over at the official Fender shop. Designed to give you that classic Tele tone with a little extra heat, these pickups use Alnico 5 magnets and a copper baseplate on the bridge pickup, giving you a bright tonality that plays nice with pedals.

TC Electronic Plethora X1
TC Electronic Plethora X1: was $179 now $129 at Sweetwater Sound

Packing 15 high-quality effects into one compact pedal, the TC Electronic Plethora X1 is the perfect Swiss Army knife-type pedal when you need something flexible for your pedalboard. It doesn't do overdrive or distortion effects, but if you need modulations, delays, pitch shifting, or reverb intermittently, this can fill a lot of gaps. It's currently got $50 off over at Sweetwater, so well worth picking up if you've got a hole to fill on your 'board.

Read more: TC Electronic Plethora X1 review

Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster: was $2,649.99 now $2,119.99 at Guitar Center

For those after a premium bit of guitar gear, this Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster will fit the bill. Amongst Fender's most advanced guitars, it features Noiseless pickups, a rolled fingerboard, augmented 'D' neck profile, compound radius fretboard, stainless steel frets, and some advanced wiring options. With a massive $530 discount at Guitar Center it's perfect for those who want the ultimate Telecaster.

Xvive A58 Wireless Guitar System
Xvive A58 Wireless Guitar System: was $149 now $119.20 at Musician's Friend

If you fancy going wireless with your setup, we highly rate the Xvive A58 Wireless Guitar System. In our recent review we praised it for its sleek design and noise-free performance, giving it an impressive four and a half stars out of five. Best of all, you can get it at a nice discount over at Musician's Friend, with a $29.80 reduction taking it down to just below $120.

Read more: Xvive A58 Wireless Guitar System review

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
Matt McCracken
Junior Deals Writer

Matt is a Junior Deals Writer here at Guitar World. He regularly tests and reviews music gear with a focus on guitars, amps, pedals, modelers, and pretty much anything else guitar-related. Matt worked in music retail for 5 years at Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars and has written for various music sites including MusicRadar, Guitar Player, Guitar.com, Ultimate Guitar, and Thomann’s t.blog. A regularly gigging guitarist with over 20 years of experience playing live and writing and recording in bands, he's performed everything from jazz to djent, gigging all over the country in more dingy venues than you can shake a drop-tuned guitar at.

With contributions from