Second-hand music & instruments in St Louis typically sells for $20 to $1,100. Playability is what a serious buyer is paying for, so a low, even action and honest frets outweigh looks entirely. Original parts count on older instruments, and a replaced pickup or tuner can take real money off despite being an upgrade.
Buying music & instruments in St Louis
St Louis sits below the confluence of the two great rivers with an arch on the waterfront that is the tallest monument in the country. It has a substantial brewing and manufacturing history, several universities and a great deal of brick housing stock.
Instruments have to be played before they are bought, and that single fact makes the local market the only sensible one for anything beyond a cheap starter. Sellers expect you to want to play it, and a seller who does not is worth being careful about.
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 Louis
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.
Driving is assumed and the city is spread out. Older brick housing has narrow stairwells, so measure the turn rather than the doorway for anything large.
Selling your music & instruments in St Louis free
Industrial decline left tooling in private hands, and the universities clear student housing each May. The old brick housing stock brings genuinely old furniture onto the market.
Record a short clip of it being played and put that with your listing, because it answers what photographs cannot. Give the model and the year if you know them, and list every part that is not original to it. 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 St Louis
Same region (Missouri)
If nothing in St Louis suits, Kansas City, Springfield and New York 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 Louis: everything second hand in St Louis, or Music & Instruments across the United States.
Prices converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate; sellers set their own price.