Second-hand music & instruments in Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles
Los Angeles runs on cars and on the entertainment industry, and both show up in what gets listed.
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
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 Los Angeles
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.
Distance is the real cost of a collection here, not the price. A seller on the other side of the basin can be ninety minutes each way in traffic, so most people arrange handovers on their own side of town and name a specific parking situation.
Selling your music & instruments in Los Angeles free
Freelance and project-based work means people move often and at short notice, and gear bought for one production regularly comes onto the market when it wraps. Household turnover is high across the rental stock generally.
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 Los Angeles
Same region (California)
If nothing in Los Angeles suits, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco each have their own music & instruments page, and a seller will often meet part of the way for something worth the trip.
More in Los Angeles: everything second hand in Los Angeles, or Music & Instruments across the United States.
Prices converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate; sellers set their own price.