[Question] I need your honest opinion.

Haven't played on either of those guitars but if I were to give you some advice, definitely shift your focus on buying the new guitar and having the paperwork in your name.

Not sure if you have personally played the actual used model that you were looking at, but, just because it looks like it's in supreme condition doesn't mean that it really is. Used guitars sometimes have some wonky internals that have probably seen some wear and tear through simple usage, or have probably been toyed with. In either case, and assuming you don't go under the hood too often with guitars, it would be a better investment to go with the guitar that has pristine internals that are guaranteed to not have been messed with by any means except for manufacturing and the like. Plus, you can always switch out the pickups and tremolo if and when you please.

I have had some bad experiences with buying used equipment and guitars (from private dealers and places like Guitar Center/Sam Ash) where they looked pretty nice and a layperson could mistake for a mint condition axe, only for something to have gone wrong while actually playing the thing. Whether it was a loose input, crappy pickups, severed electronics. I even had one guitar I bought off of a guy at a guitar shop that had absolutely no electronics on the inside whatsoever. Don't even ask how I made that dumbass mistake; I'm barely figuring out why an Ernie Ball Music Man was sold at a mere $200. I thought I just got lucky, I should've known better.

Side note: I work on guitars as a hobby of mine. But if I have to put more money into the electronics than what the actual guitar is worth, then it's a baddie in my book. You'd think that never happens because guitar electronics are surprisingly cheap but I have evidence that says otherwise. Maybe I'm just horrible at it, lol

Hope this helped

/r/Guitar Thread