Second-hand music & instruments in St Johns typically sells for C$28 to C$1,500 (about $20 to $1,100). Brand and playing condition decide most of it, and an instrument that has been set up properly is worth more than one that has sat untouched. Cosmetic marks matter far less here than on almost anything else.
Buying music & instruments in St Johns
St John’s is the oldest European-founded city in North America, built on steep streets above a narrow harbour, and its economy has run on fishing and then on offshore oil. The weather here is genuinely severe — fog, wind and rain in quantities that shape how everything is stored.
Anything with a soundboard hates being posted: temperature and knocks in transit undo a setup and can crack a body outright. Carrying it home yourself, in its case, is the safest journey it will make.
What to check in person
Ask what it has been stored in and where, because an unheated room does more harm over a winter than years of playing. On anything electric, work every switch and socket while it is plugged in, and listen for crackle as the controls turn.
Collecting it in St Johns
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.
The downtown streets are steep and narrow and parking on them is limited, so for anything large agree access before the day. Weather closes roads here more often than in most of the country, so agree a fallback.
Selling your music & instruments in St Johns free
Offshore rotations move households on fixed cycles and the oil sector’s ups and downs move the whole market at once. The row-house stock downtown turns over with genuinely old contents attached.
Say when it was last set up or serviced, and be honest about buzzes and dead spots. Have it tuned and ready to play when the buyer arrives, and include the case if you have it, because a case is worth real money on its own. Lifts in September as lessons restart, and again after Christmas.
Interac e-Transfer is the norm and is instant and traceable, which suits a private sale well. It is what most buyers will suggest before anything else.
Music & Instruments worth listing in St Johns
Elsewhere in Canada
If nothing in St Johns suits, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary each have their own music & instruments page, and a seller will often meet part of the way for something worth the trip.
More in St Johns: everything second hand in St Johns, or Music & Instruments across Canada.
Prices converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate; sellers set their own price.