Second-hand music & instruments in Rochester typically sells for $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.
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Buying music & instruments in Rochester
Rochester built its wealth on photography, optics and photocopying, and the companies that did it left the city an unusual concentration of precision engineering skill and a major museum of photography. Lake-effect snow here is heavy and reliable.
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
Play every note up the neck and listen for buzzing, and sight down the neck from the body to check it is straight. Look at the bridge and the area around the tuning pegs for cracks or old repairs, and try every key or valve.
Collecting it in Rochester
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 road network was built for a considerably larger population than the city now holds, so crossing town is quick and a kerbside load is rarely contested. Lake-effect snow can arrive fast and heavy between November and March, so agree a fallback rather than assuming the day will hold.
Selling your music & instruments in Rochester free
The optics and imaging industry left genuinely good camera equipment in private hands here in a way that is unusual anywhere else. The universities clear student housing each May.
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.
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 Rochester
Same region (New York)
If nothing in Rochester suits, New York, Buffalo and Yonkers each have their own music & instruments page, and a seller will often meet part of the way for something worth the trip.
More in Rochester: everything second hand in Rochester, or Music & Instruments across the United States.
Prices converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate; sellers set their own price.