Welcome, deal hunters! We’re back for another round of bargain guitar gear, and I’ve had to search extra hard for you this week. We’re in a bit of a deals limbo at the moment because back-to-school sales are fading out, but it’s just a little too early for Labor Day sales action to start.
That hasn’t stopped Musician’s Friend from going early with their sale, though. With massive discounts of up to 60% off, it’s the clear best place to shop this weekend if you’re looking for a deal on guitar gear.
Fender’s excellent sale continues with discounts of up to 20% on American-made guitars. It includes American Performer II, American Performer Timber, American Acoustasonic guitars, as well as some nice reductions on American Professional II necks if you’re into modding your guitars.
Over at Positive Grid, you can still bag savings on the full range of Spark smart amps, which is a great shout whether you’re looking for something to practice with or something to perform with. The sale has been going on for a while now, so I expect it won’t be hanging around too much longer.
If you are returning to school at the end of the month, or buying for someone who is, then the sale at Sweetwater is a great place to kickstart the academic year. With up to 35% off woodwinds, brass, orchestral strings, and percussion it’s perfect for those just getting their start in music.
That’s it for deals action this week, and while it may seem a little lackluster, I’ll have plenty more deals for you next week. It’s Labor Day weekend, so I’m expecting to see loads of sales launching at all the major retailers over the coming days. Until next time…
Editor’s picks
Guitar sales to shop
- Amazon: Save big on accessories
- Fender store: Save on USA-made guitars
- Guitar Center: Up to $320 off Fender
- Guitar Tricks: 1 month for $1
- IK Multimedia: Save on software
- Musician’s Friend: Up to 60% off
- Plugin Boutique: Huge plugin discounts
- Reverb: B-stock bargains
- Sweetwater: Save on back-to-school
- Thomann: The hottest deals
- TrueFire: Save 60% on all-access
- Waves: Buy two plugins, get one free
How we choose our deals of the week
Here at Guitar World, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything guitar related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products we recommend.
First and foremost, we are guitarists, and we want to match other players with the right products for them, at the best prices.
For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers where you will have a positive shopping experience.
Why you can trust our choices
We spend a lot of our time scouring guitar retailers for fantastic deals on our favorite gear. Not only is it our job to research and recommend the best gear in our buyer’s guides, but we’re also dedicated to helping players get the best deals for the gear they need, too. After all, the only thing better than new gear day is a hearty discount.
We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view on which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.
Where are the best places to shop?
Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.
What sort of deals should I look for?
Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:
- Single item – A single product with a great discount
- Site-wide discounts – A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
- Discount codes – Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
- Added value deals – These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items
