What does "NOS" mean?

[roburado]

What does the abbreviation "NOS" mean?

 

[robelinda2]

new old stock

 

[Smellybum]

or in some circles - Nice Old Sausage!

 

[MikeVt]

I prefer Nitrous Oxide...

Mike

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

new old stock

Yep!
With EB guitars this is a one-shot deal - if it's being sold by the original dealer and is still brand new. Once it's been sold to a customer, it's no longer NOS, it's used but unplayed. EBAY is a wonderful place to see the word mis-used

Edit - not talking about any current auctions in particular, I buy a lot of restoration parts for my cars on ebay and people have a tendancy to call anything old and in great shape "NOS" even if it's been mounted on a vehicle before!

 

[tommyindelaware]

Yep!
it's no longer NOS, it's used but unplayed. EBAY is a wonderful place to see the word mis-used

"UBUS" ?????

 

[roburado]

Hey. Thanks, guys.

 

[Hutch4545]

Once it's been sold to a customer, it's no longer NOS

With all due respect, that statement can be misleading.

There are customer-owned "NOS" guitars that are in much better condition than some dealer-owned NOS guitars.

As a collector, I have purchased dealer-owned guitars hailed as NOS by definition and been very disappointed. They have arrived being heavily handled with significant fret wear from being played by potential buyers in the store. Not to mention suffering minor dents and dings from being on display and swirl marks from being constantly wiped down.

On the other hand, guitars that I own and consider "NOS", were specially ordered from EBMM, delivered to the dealer who had explicit instructions not to take the guitar out of the case until I arrived, then taken home and properly stored in a smoke-free, humidity/temperature controlled environment having never been touched.

To each his own, but I consider guitars in my customer-owned experience closer in definition to "NOS" or "brand new" than "used."

 

[roburado]

With all due respect, that statement can be misleading.

There are customer-owned "NOS" guitars that are in much better condition than some dealer-owned NOS guitars.

As a collector, I have purchased dealer-owned guitars hailed as NOS by definition and been very disappointed. They have arrived being heavily handled with significant fret wear from being played by potential buyers in the store. Not to mention suffering minor dents and dings from being on display and swirl marks from being constantly wiped down.

On the other hand, guitars that I own and consider "NOS", were specially ordered from EBMM, delivered to the dealer who had explicit instructions not to take the guitar out of the case until I arrived, then taken home and properly stored in a smoke-free, humidity/temperature controlled environment having never been touched.

To each his own, but I consider guitars in my customer-owned experience closer in definition to "NOS" or "brand new" than "used."

Very good points. I've tried a fair number of EBMM guitars that were in crap condition at GC and Sam Ash in CA.

 

[SteveB]

I dunno, Hutch... the "S" in NOS is for "Stock", after all.

Once a guitar is sold, even if it's kept as a museum piece, it isn't 'new' anymore. It can be 'like new'.. but it can never be 'new' again.

And in the posession of the consumer/purchaser/non-dealer, it is really not 'stock'.

I would concur that it could still be old, though.

 

[Norrin Radd]

If it ain't in the hands of a dealer, it ain't NOS. Period.

By the way, NOS has nothing to do with the describing the condition of an instrument - only to it's ownership stauts on the retail market. That's why there are other neat words like "mint" and "abused" to describe condition. A guitar can be NOS and "beat to hell". They are not mutually exclusive.

Any auction on ebay that is not being done by the original retailer, is NOT NOS. I think it's very misleading and people use the term incorrectly in hopes of (sometimes) hiding the history of an instrument. Let's face it, a guitar can have been sold 8 or 9 times and still be in mint condition (who knows why - maybe it's tone is super poor - or it's a collectors piece that's moved around and never been played). That is something I want to know about - the ownership history before I buy.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

I dunno, Hutch... the "S" in NOS is for "Stock", after all.

Once a guitar is sold, even if it's kept as a museum piece, it isn't 'new' anymore. It can be 'like new'.. but it can never be 'new' again.

And in the posession of the consumer/purchaser/non-dealer, it is really not 'stock'.

I would concur that it could still be old, though.

Exactly my point, thanks Steve and Norrin!

Very few, if any, of our guitars experience "shop wear syndrome" which is a great thing. That means that virtually every instrument to leave our store (when not a special order instrument) is in almost factory pristine condition.

I wish the same were true of every "NOS" instrument out there.

 

[candid_x]

NOS isn’t limited to guitars, naturally. I’ve bought amp tubes manufactured in 1966, which were being sold by a guy in the states who had them shipped as NOS from a guy in Australia. He admittedly tried them out in his amp for an hour and decided they weren’t what he needed. Knowing all this ahead of time, I had no problem buying them. Realistically, it’s doubtful the guy in Australia was the original dealer as far back as 1966.

I’ve also purchased NOS fishing reels, even though they were owned by the original retail purchaser and not the original dealer. No problem.

I suppose that technically, it should be worded in other ways, but on a practical level, most buyers understand what is meant by NOS, and that amounts to: unused.

As an aside, I purchased a SS from a dealer off eBay, who advertised it as being new. What he didn’t tell me was that it hung on his store wall for 4 years, demo-ed by countless players, and exposed to sunlight and dust for the duration. It had a defect in the nut, and the dealer never bothered to send it back to MM to make it right. As a result, it hung there, and eventually developed cracks beneath the entire finish; and this is the condition I received it in. Now for the upside. Because I bought it from the original dealer, MM honored the new guitar warranty, even though to them it was 4 years old, they paid shipping there and back, replaced the nut, redressed the frets, replaced the entire body, and set it up according to their excellent standards. I got my new guitar after all, even though it was 4 years old. I can not speak highly enough of EBMM’s customer service, or of Dan McPherson, my CS rep.

Bruce

 

[robelinda2]

great story candid_x, EB are super people!!!

 

[Hutch4545]

... the "S" in NOS is for "Stock"...

Right -- and the "N" in NOS is for "New" -- a word understood to describe the condition of the guitar. As my true story illustrates above, most of my "used" guitars are "newer" than some dealer NOS.

...NOS has nothing to do with the describing the condition of an instrument - only to it's ownership stauts...

Why would a dealer use the term NOS only to describe ownership status? We already know that a dealer owns or has selling rights to the guitar when we walk into their store or see an instrument listed for sale on their website. That would be redundant. I've never browsed a music store with the owner walking behind me saying, "Ooh, we own that one... and we own that one... and that one, too." NOS is commonly used by dealers to describe the condition of an instrument.


My point for roburado, who asked the question originally: Don't get hung-up on the term term "NOS" -- I personally own guitars that are in newer and better condition and they are considered "used."

 

[Bungo]

Here's another thought - How long does something have to be in the store before it goes from being simply 'New' to being NOS?

 

[threeminutesboy]

I guess "discontinued" could be the answer

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

I guess "discontinued" could be the answer

Interesting point....

The 2004 model year Envy Green 4 string StingRay that I sold in June was sold as NOS, still in the original box, unplayed condition, original strings, etc.

The 2004 Trans-Red Axis SuperSport that I have, while it is still "new," I would not sell it as "NOS" because it has been played a few times by customers, and the original box is long gone. It's new, and in virtually perfect condition but it has been handled.

 

[SteveB]

Mathematically, using the word "New" and "Old" right next to each other must mean that they cancel out, meaning that such guitars are simply "stock".

It's interesting to see the varied interpretations of "NOS".

 

[Norrin Radd]

Why would a dealer use the term NOS only to describe ownership status? We already know that a dealer owns or has selling rights to the guitar when we walk into their store or see an instrument listed for sale on their website. That would be redundant.

Becasue it refers to "Stock", as in, what a retailer does with merchandise. Generally in retail NOS means any piece of inventory that is still available after the following years model is also available, hence the term, new old stock, with "old" referring to last years model, the "new" meaning never been sold before. It's a distinction that retailers can use so that the customer knows that the item they are buying has always been in the dealers possession and is not a "used", or previously owned piece.