Second-hand music & instruments in San Francisco typically sells for $20 to $1,100. Where and when it was built moves the figure enormously, and buyers pay close attention to the country stamped inside. A model still made today has its price capped by the new one, while a discontinued line answers to nothing but demand.
Buying music & instruments in San Francisco
San Francisco is expensive, hilly and built largely of older buildings without lifts, and all three facts shape what actually sells.
Two examples of the same model rarely sound alike, because timber, age and how hard a thing has been used all leave their mark. Hearing it in a quiet room is the whole decision, and no recording made on a phone stands in for that.
What to check in person
Leave it tuned and come back to it twenty minutes later, since an instrument that will not hold pitch has a problem at the pegs or the bridge. Look inside the soundhole with a light for loose bracing, and check the neck joint where it meets the body.
Collecting it in San Francisco
It needs a car boot rather than a bag, so agree somewhere you can actually stop for a few minutes. That is easier away from the centre than in it.
Parking is the hardest part of any collection here and the hills are not a joke on a bike. Establish which floor, whether there is a lift, and where a vehicle can legally stop, before agreeing anything larger than a box.
Selling your music & instruments in San Francisco free
Tech employment cycles and the cost of living together produce unusually high turnover, and people leaving the city almost always sell rather than ship. Home office equipment appears in quantity whenever hiring slows.
Fit a fresh set of strings or reeds before anybody comes to try it, since a tired set makes a good instrument sound dull. Have somewhere quiet to demonstrate it, and gather the case, stand, lead and any paperwork into one place beforehand. Lifts in September as lessons restart, and again after Christmas.
Peer-to-peer payment apps dominate private sales, and buyers will usually offer one before they offer cash. Sales tax does not apply to a private sale between individuals.
Music & Instruments worth listing in San Francisco
Same region (California)
If nothing in San Francisco suits, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose each have their own music & instruments page, and a seller will often meet part of the way for something worth the trip.
More in San Francisco: everything second hand in San Francisco, or Music & Instruments across the United States.
Prices converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate; sellers set their own price.