Guides / Faults
Common faults on used music gear, and what they cost to fix
What goes wrong with popular second-hand gear in the UK, and what a fix costs. Repairs priced as in the price guide, checked October 2026.
The short answer: the flipper price guide lists 273 faults across its 65 models. The biggest group is "Medium - soldering / disassembly / YouTube guide", 135 of the 273, where a typical job runs £3-£60. The costliest fault in the guide is Neck / headstock break on the Fender Player Stratocaster, at £80-£250. The one that changes the answer most, though, is Neck / headstock break on the Squier Affinity: the fix is 213% of what a good one is worth.
How the faults split
| What kind of job it is | Faults listed | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Medium - soldering / disassembly / YouTube guide | 135 | £3-£60 |
| Easy - DIY, no special tools | 113 | £8-£30 |
| Hard - specialist repair, usually not worth it | 25 | £20-£90 |
The eight costliest faults in the guide
| Model | Fault | Rough repair | A good one is worth | Repair as share of value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fender Player Stratocaster | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £427 | 58% |
| Squier Classic Vibe | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £277 | 90% |
| Epiphone Les Paul Standard | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £325 | 76% |
| Gibson Les Paul Studio | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £747 | 33% |
| Yamaha Pacifica | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £137 | 182% |
| Squier Affinity | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £117 | 213% |
| PRS SE Custom 24 | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £492 | 50% |
| Gibson Les Paul Standard | Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 | £1,525 | 16% |
That last column is the one that matters. A £250 repair on gear worth £427 is a different decision from the same money on something worth three times as much.
By category
The dearest listed fault in each category, which is the one worth asking about before you travel to see an item.
| Category | Faults listed | Costliest one in the category | Rough repair |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric guitars | 40 | Fender Player Stratocaster: Neck / headstock break | £80-£250 |
| Guitar amps | 24 | Boss Katana 50: Damaged speaker driver | £30-£120 |
| Studio monitors | 16 | Yamaha HS5 (pair): Damaged speaker driver | £30-£120 |
| Synths, drum machines and samplers | 79 | Korg Minilogue XD: Screen / display fault | £20-£90 |
| Electronic drum kits | 4 | Alesis Nitro Mesh: Electronic drum pad / trigger fault | £10-£90 |
| Microphones | 10 | Shure SM7B: No / partial audio output | £5-£80 |
| DJ gear | 20 | Pioneer DDJ-FLX4: No power | £3-£60 |
| Turntables | 9 | Technics SL-1210 MK2: Stylus / cartridge | £15-£60 |
| Audio interfaces | 20 | Focusrite Scarlett 2i2: No power | £3-£60 |
| Guitar effects | 15 | Line 6 Helix LT: No power | £3-£60 |
| Digital pianos | 36 | Yamaha P-45: Dead / sticky / broken keys | £10-£60 |
When to haggle and when to walk
- A named fault with a known cost is a discount. If the fix is a fraction of what the gear is worth you have a number to offer: the asking price minus the repair, plus something for the risk of how badly it needs doing. Half the faults in the guide cost under £50 to put right.
- A repair near the price of a good example is not a bargain. Anything in the table above running past 40% of the item value is a project: you are buying a repair job and hoping the rest of the unit is honest.
- Selling it as it is? Name the fault in the first line and price it once, with the repair cost in the advert. Buyers who would walk leave earlier, and the ones left bid knowing what they are getting. The flip calculator works out what you keep after fees.
How this was worked out
Every figure comes from the flipper price guide as it stands October 2026: these are the same faults and cost ranges each model page shows, and "a good one is worth" is the middle of that model's used, working-order range. It is the faults the guide documents for these models, not a survey of broken gear in the wild, and it says nothing about damage a seller has not mentioned.
Using this data
Writers and journalists are welcome to quote these figures with a link to this page. This is the line we would like attached: listed faults and typical UK repair costs across 65 popular models, Gear Flipper UK price guide, checked October 2026. Questions: support@gear-flipper.com. Every figure on this page, plus the used range for all 65 models in the guide, is also in a plain-text file built for citing and for answer engines: /llms.txt. Taking the numbers into a table? Both tables are files a publication can quote exactly: retention.csv and faults.csv. For writers and editors there is one page with all of it: /press.
The flipper extension flags these faults against the listings you open, and prices the item with the fault taken off. Free while in testing.
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Next: is it a good price? the six checks before you pay, and which gear holds its value.