Guitar World deals of the week: save $900 on a Gibson Les Paul, bag an all-solid Martin acoustic for less than a grand, plus all the best Presidents' Day sales

An Ibanez Premium AZ24P1QM electric guitar on a red background
(Image credit: Ibanez)
This week's best sales

  1. Musician's Friend:
    Massive up to 60% off
  2. Guitar Center:
    Up to 30% off guitars
  3. Reverb:
    Save up to 67%

Welcome to a Presidents' Day special edition of Guitar World deals of the week, and it really is a bumper edition this week, thanks to a huge amount of sales launching. With some mega discounts on guitar gear available, it's a brilliant opportunity to pick up something special for a lot less.

Guitar Center launched its sale a lot closer to Presidents' Day itself, and while up to 30% off guitars, pedals, and amps might not sound like a huge amount, there are loads of options on offer. You can save big on Fender, Gibson, Taylor, Line 6, Marshall, and plenty more in this awesome sale.

Reverb has a pretty sweet sale on for Presidents' Day, too, offering some massive discounts of up to 67% off used and new gear. I've spotted some awesome deals on Fender, Walrus Audio, Strandberg, Electro-Harmonix, and plenty more over there, so well worth a browse if you want to pick up something for less.

Sweetwater has elected not to launch a Presidents' Day sale so far, but is currently running a 'You Deserve a Great Guitar' sale, also with up to 30% off. There's a huge range of guitars, and I noticed quite a few guitar amps and pedals there if that's what you're in the market for.

Everyone seems to be offering up to 30% off at the moment, and that's no different in the Fender Presidents' Day sale. If you're a Fender or Squier fan, then there's no better place to shop with some massive discounts on Vintera II, Squier Sonic, Squier Paranormal, and Squier Affinity guitars.

Below, I've picked out a selection of the very best deals on guitar gear I've seen this week. I also send out a weekly email with the biggest and best savings on guitar gear, so be sure to sign up for The Pick: Deals to make sure you don't miss out on any discounts

My top deals

Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s
Deal of the Week
Save 30% ($900)
Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s: was $2,999 now $2,099 at Guitar Center
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Why I ❤️ this deal: It's a massive chunk off a premium-level electric guitar.

Based on a golden age-era LP, this Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s has got the biggest reduction I've seen for Presidents' Day, with $900 off the regular price at Guitar Center. It's a huge reduction on a top-tier guitar, which features a AAA figured maple top and pickups meticulously recreated from original PAF humbuckers.

Positive Grid Spark Link
Tried and Tested
Save 20% ($30)
Positive Grid Spark Link: was $149 now $119 at Positive Grid
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I use the Positive Grid Spark Link pretty much every day, paired with my Spark Mini practice amp. It's simple to use, sounds great, and makes practicing my instrument quick and easy. As my amp sits on the desk in my home studio, it's nice not to have cables trailing everywhere, and making the guitar easy to pick up and play means I do it more often. With a cool $30 reduction at the official PG site, it's just above $100 which is an absolute steal for a wireless guitar system.

Warm Audio ODD Box
Bargain Buy
Save 31% ($40)
Warm Audio ODD Box: was $129 now $89 at Sweetwater
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With the original version of this pedal becoming incredibly unpopular due to some questionable decisions by the owners, if you want a classic overdrive pedal this Warm Audio version is a great option. It's already well priced but with a $40 discount at Sweetwater, you can now get one of the most iconic drive sounds on your pedalboard for less than $100.

Martin GPS Special
All-solid acoustic
Save 14% ($150)
Martin GPS Special: was $1,049.99 now $899.99 at Musician's Friend
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Stepping up to an all-solid acoustic can cost you a pretty penny, but this Martin GPS Special is available for less than a grand, which is an absolute steal in my book. With a solid Sitka spruce top and solid sapele back and sides, this stunning cutaway acoustic will deliver sumptuous tones for a lot less. Fishman electronics mean it'll deliver for live players, and the balanced body shape means it will complement singer-songwriters.

Ibanez Premium AZ24P1QM
Super Shredder
Save 27% ($400)
Ibanez Premium AZ24P1QM: was $1,499.99 now $1,099.99 at Sweetwater
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I don't see discounts on Ibanez all that often, so this one immediately caught my eye at Sweetwater. The Ibanez Premium AZ24P1QM is a proper shred machine, and it's got a huge $400 off at the moment, ideal if you want a fast-playing guitar that'll be a great gigging workhorse. A roasted maple neck/fretboard combined with Seymour Duncan HSS pickups and a Gotoh tremolo make this an incredibly nice playing instrument. That quilted maple top is a head turner, too.

Squier Sonic Mustang
Beginner guitar
Save 18% ($46.20)
Squier Sonic Mustang: was $249.99 now $203.79 at Fender
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This Squier Sonic Mustang is an ideal guitar for young beginners or those with smaller dimensions. It's discounted in the Presidents' Day sale at Fender with a cool $46.20 off, bringing it just above the $200 mark. The short scale makes it super playable, meaning beginner's hands will soon be flying up and down the fretboard, breaking down one of the biggest barriers to learning to play guitar.

Strandberg Boden Essential 6
Used deal
Save 15% ($155.85)
Strandberg Boden Essential 6: was $1,039 now $883.15 at Reverb
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The Strandberg Boden Essential 6 is on sale elsewhere, but if you want the cheapest deal possible, you can buy a B-stock version from the official Strandberg store on Reverb and save a little more. Down to just $883.15, it's backed by the same warranty a brand-new instrument would get, so you can rest assured this guitar will play just as well as a new one would.

Guitar sales to shop

Each week I search all the major retailers and manufacturers for the very best sales for guitar players. Here's a list of what's available and where this week.

Upcoming sales

If you're not ready to shop just yet but are looking to save some cash for an upcoming sale, I've got the insider knowledge on which sales are coming up soon. Here's what you should be saving your money for:

  • Presidents' Day - Presidents' Day is just around the corner, with the day itself due to land on February 16th. I've already spied some early sales launching, so expect more retailers to join the fray throughout the next week.

Top products

Part of my job is looking after all the buying guides here at Guitar World, which gives me a unique oversight as to which products are hot right now. Every week I look at what's getting the most clicks from our buying guides and list the top five products for you here.

Our clever widget sorts them by price and automatically picks up if there's a discount at a particular retailer, doing a lot of the hard work for me! If you're looking to see what other guitarists are interested in and get the cheapest possible price, then this is the place to start your search.

Why trust me?

Guitar World writer Matt McCracken holding a Telecaster guitar

(Image credit: Future/Matt McCracken)

You may be wondering, why should I trust what this random dude on the internet says? Well, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Matt McCracken and I've been playing guitar for well over twenty years. In that time I've gigged all over the UK, recorded in professional studios, bought and sold countless guitars, amps, and pedals, spent 5 years working in music retail for Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars, and now I handle all things gear for Guitar World.

I am a guitar player first and foremost, and the reason I do this job is that I genuinely love all things gear. When I'm not working my day job, you'll find me in the rehearsal room with my band, helming the desk at my local studio working with other musicians, or writing new songs and testing gear in my home studio.

The main focus of my job is to test and research gear for our buying guides and reviews here, whether it's demoing the latest pedal release with my band, diving into the technical side of audio interfaces, or putting guitar cables head-to-head in group tests to determine which is the best. It gives me a great overview on what gear is out there right now, and unlike a lot of content you find online, I've actually had my hands on the gear I write about.

I'm also responsible for finding the best possible deals on gear for our readers, covering all the major sales events of the year like Memorial Day, Prime Day, Labor Day, and of course, the Black Friday guitar deals. I track prices of all the most popular gear throughout the year, so I know straight away whether or not a saving is the real deal or a dishonest retailer trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

How I choose deals

To determine whether or not a deal is worthy of inclusion in deals of the week it has to pass a few different hurdles. I'll ask myself the following questions about any deal before I decide whether or not to include it:

- Is the product genuinely good value for money?
- Is the discount amount real or has the RRP been inflated?
- Would guitarists benefit from having this particular piece of gear in their rig?
- If I've not had hands on experience with the gear, do I have a recommendation from a fellow staff member or musician?

I have various tools I can use to check prices if I've not been tracking it, like camelcamelcamel which can track the price of a product on Amazon. Generally because I'm looking at this stuff every week, I already have a good overview of what the product should cost.

Shopping tips

1. Consider your music goals - What do you want to achieve with your music over the next 12 months or so? Do you want to gig more? Learn a new instrument? Or finally, record your songs? Now could be the time to invest in gear that helps you fulfil your musical aspirations.

2. Create a wishlist early - The most sensible way to take advantage of any gear deals is to know in advance what you’re looking for. This will make searching much easier, rather than having to trawl through loads of deals you don’t want to find the ones you do, or pondering things you don't need. To help you create your dream shopping list, take the time to explore our expert and up-to-date buying guides and reviews.

3. Work out what you actually need - Check out your favourite brands, see what you need and will genuinely use - don’t waste your cash and fill your basket with stuff that will never truly see any action.

4. Streamline your current gear - Something else you should consider ahead of time is whether you have enough space in your collection for new gear. Could you offload some gear you don't use to make room and generate funds for some new gear?

5. Sign up to mailing lists - In addition to bookmarking this page, we'd recommend signing up to mailing lists of your favourite retailers now to get the jump on the best deals when they do come around.

Over to you

Spotted a deal that I missed? Drop me a line in the comments below and if it's still live I'll drop the best ones deal into next week's Deals of the Week.

Matt McCracken
Junior Deals Writer

Matt is a Junior Deals Writer here at Guitar World. He regularly tests and reviews music gear with a focus on guitars, amps, pedals, modelers, and pretty much anything else guitar-related. Matt worked in music retail for 5 years at Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars and has written for various music sites including MusicRadar, Guitar Player, Guitar.com, Ultimate Guitar, and Thomann’s t.blog. A regularly gigging guitarist with over 20 years of experience playing live and writing and recording in bands, he's performed everything from jazz to djent, gigging all over the country in more dingy venues than you can shake a drop-tuned guitar at. When not writing articles for Guitar World, you'll find him making a racket with northern noise punks Never Better.

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