Second-hand music & instruments in Tempe 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 Tempe
Tempe is dominated by one of the largest university campuses in the country, built around a butte and an artificial lake in the riverbed. It is dense by the standards of the region and overwhelmingly shaped by the student population.
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 Tempe
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 light rail runs through the city and campus and is genuinely useful for anything portable. Campus parking is difficult, so agree a meeting point off it for anything large.
Selling your music & instruments in Tempe free
The university is enormous relative to the city and clears student housing each May, which is overwhelmingly the dominant cycle. Bikes, desks and furniture move in real volume at that point.
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 Tempe
Same region (Arizona)
If nothing in Tempe suits, Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa each have their own music & instruments page, and a seller will often meet part of the way for something worth the trip.
More in Tempe: everything second hand in Tempe, or Music & Instruments across the United States.
Prices converted from sterling at the 2 August 2026 rate; sellers set their own price.