How to Get a Free Guitar

The guitar. It is an instrument that, once learned, can open many doors for you. Whether it is achieving mastery, a creative outlet, or simply making new friends, this social utensil can set it’s owner free in many different ways. However, often times, the gains seem unattainable due to one barrier: the cost.

A new “entry level” guitar frequently costs more than one hundred dollars. A high-end guitar will set you back many thousands. But what if I told you there were ways that you could obtain a guitar…FOR FREE?!?!

It’s true. As someone who has been the recipient of several free guitars, I can vouch, first hand, that it is absolutely possible. It’s not always quick and easy to do, but here’s how you can get yourself a sweet, free guitar.

Top 3 ways to get a free guitar:

See that picture above? That’s me. And that is also a guitar that I got for free. This one was a 1973 Fender Stratocaster. Not all free guitars are this nice, most are a bit more lower end. However, if you play your cards right and stay diligent, you might find your diamond in the rough.

Way #1: Dumpster Dive

I know what you are thinking. You are way too fancy/well-off/old/etc. to roll up your sleeves and wade your way though the trash. But, as the old adage goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” This is, in fact, how I came across the guitar in the picture above.

Well, to be honest, it wasn’t me that was doing the dumpster diving. A friend of mine who lived in South Minneapolis was looking through a “curb alert” and stumbled across a guitar.

(For those of you not familiar, a “curb alert” is typically someone moving and not wanting to take everything they own with them. So they list a picture of the abandoned treasures on Facebook or Craigslist in hopes that their items will go to good use in another household.)

Anyhow, my friend took this guitar and brought it to the only person he knew who played guitar, me. It was a really nice gesture, but I didn’t know HOW nice it was until years later when I took this guitar in to have it identified. The music shop was able to verify by the serial numbers on the body and potentiometers that is was a bonified Fender American Stratocaster dated from 1973!

How to dumpster dive:

I’m a big fan of working smarter, not harder. Luckily for us in the year 2022, we have the world, literally, at our fingertips. I mentioned “curb alert” a couple times above, one of the easiest (ahem, smartest) ways of scanning through the plethora of digital listings is to set up alerts on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for “curb alerts” in your area.

In Craigslist, you’ll have to first create an account. Next navigate to the “Free” link in the “For Sale” section in wherever your area is. Then you search for “curb alert” and hit the “Save Search” link.

Then you’ll be able to manage the notifications in the “Home Account” area of Craigslist. By default, the email notifications for this search are turned off. You can change this by hitting the “edit” button.

Depending on where you live, this alert could send you many, many emails. So you could get more granular results by adding a qualifier to your query. So, instead of searching just for “curb alert”, search for and save “curb alert guitar”. The only downside is that whoever is posting the curb alert will have to put the word “guitar” in their listing. Often times they only post the pictures of what is available.

For Facebook Marketplace, it is a similar method. Simply navigate to the Marketplace Tab from your Facebook App (or on your computer), set your distance filter, search for “curb alert”, and click the “Notify Me” button. You will then receive notifications every time a new listing meets your criteria.

Once these are set up, you now have a consistent inbound flow of free opportunities each day in your mailbox.

If you aren’t quite up to speed on the digital front, you can always dumpster dive the old fashioned way. Pro dumpster diving tip: go to a new community where they are currently building houses. All the other people there use those to get rid of their unwanted items – you could score your next axe or bike or stroller or BBQ in those.

Way #2: Make friends with someone at a property management company

Sounds weird, I know. But, who do you think does the dirty work when a tenant leaves something behind after they move out of a rental? It’s the company’s responsibility now to get rid of the “junk”.

This does actually work. In fact, it happened to me. A neighbor of mine is a part owner at a small property management company. I asked her if they ever found anything good in their rentals when people move out. She said they have to get rid of all sorts of good stuff all the time. Most of the time they have a handyman who gets first crack and then has to dispose of the rest. Now, she knew that I was into guitars a little bit and one day she mentioned that there was a little instrument haul in one of their houses. So I went over there and cleaned it out. All in, there was one guitar, one bass guitar, a Tascam Portastudio, and several other pieces of recording equipment. In fact, here’s a picture of the bass:

So start rubbing elbows now, you never know when you’ll meet someone with the right connections.

Way #3: Put out a want ad (ISO Guitars)

I can hear your collective eye roll. But don’t sleep on this tactic. By simply putting it out there that you are looking for free guitars can produce results. I’ve used this tactic on the Nextdoor app. I simply posted out that I would take any and all broken guitars that the neighborhood needed to get rid of. I got a response from one person saying they were just going to throw it away, but instead gave it to me.

If you think about it, it’s really a win-win: they clear out some space in their house, you get a new-to-you guitar.

Extra pro tip here: the Nextdoor app “Free Stuff” section is also a great place to troll for gear. But you have to be prepared to move fast. I’ve found two free guitars in my neighborhood through the free stuff section, but I missed out on them because someone else responded quicker than I did.

Bonus Section: How to get an (almost) free guitar

Not seeing the results you were looking for with the above 3 steps? You can find a guitar at a bargain basement price at my favorite watering hole, ShopGoodwill.com. I get most of my guitars there (including my 24 guitar lot haul). There are literally tons of entry level guitars sold there every day. So, if it’s a bargain guitar that you are looking for, simply type “guitar” into the search box and bid on one that tickles your fancy. In fact, the guitar in the hero image of this post was an “(almost) free” find from Goodwill; I got it for $9.99, and that’s a price that’s nice on anyone’s budget.

So that’s it. Playing the guitar is a fulfilling hobby; and, for me, fixing guitars is equally as fulfilling. But neither hobby has to be costly if you know where to look. I hope this article has provided you with some ideas of where to look to find your next new free guitar!

Double Bonus: Once you get your free guitar, head over my other post on how to make money selling guitars online.