Who We Are

At Lorien Guitar Recovery, we specialize in refurbishing recycled instruments and distributing factory authorized refurbished instruments. Our team of skilled Guitar Technicians inspect and refresh each one to playable standards.

50% of the instruments we sell are discarded items, refurbished and rejuvenated with care. The other half are factory authorized refurbished. These instruments all  encountered a mishap in a brand-named manufacturing warehouse, resulting in the instrument being rejected for immediate sale. 

Since it doesn’t make economical sense for a manufacturer to hire more labor for repair, these instruments are placed onto a pallet and shipped off to a factory authorized refurbishing warehouse. At the warehouse they are refurbished, and then legally sold again as “used”. Notice, there is no customer use in between. These instruments are in “like-new” condition and have only been touched by licensed guitar technicians. 

There are many reasons for an instrument to be rejected by a manufacturer in the first place, some simpler than you might think..

Reasons for Rejection – A Peek Into Manufacturing

1.) Wrong Color
Unique colors require the mixing of multiple colors, and the color doesn’t always finish correctly. Even if the shade is slightly off, it can’t technically sell as the color the company claims it to be. The painting process is too elaborate for businesses to pay time consuming labor.

To repaint a guitar for example, you have to strip all layers of paint and polyurethane, and there are usually 3 layers of each. The process can take up to 4 hours or more, and remember this would only be for select instruments, and not all of them will have the same paint mistakes. Instruments with these nit picky flaws aren’t important to a mass producing operation. 

2.) Paint Flaw
Even if the color is precise, there are still paint flaws that often occur. Accidental paint drops of another color can fall onto other instrument surfaces and dry. Other instances like uneven paint jobs occur, where an unwanted paint pattern dries.

3.) Soldering Malfunction
Electric guitars contain an electrical system which relies on soldering for wires to stay sturdy and function properly. The whole structure of the guitar could be perfect, but some don’t make it past the testing room if the soldering is damaged and the guitar doesn’t make a sound when you strum.

There are many elemental factors that must be monitored in a guitar factory, and factors such as humidity and temperature can cause wood to bend and deform, and cause soldering connections to crack. Sometimes these elements are slightly off even just for an overnight period, which creates damage and automatically sends the instruments to rejection.

4.) Lack of Cases
It is rare to find a high-end guitar sold without the case included, and that is because high purchase products almost always come with a complimentary hard case. There are many factory instances where the number of guitars doesn’t match the number of cases in stock, resulting in the rejection of “case-less” guitars.

5.) Missing Amps to Guitar Kits
Around Christmas time and gift giving, manufacturers often sell guitars with a kit that includes a guitar, a pic, and an amp. It is common for manufacturers to mistakenly make too many guitars, and not enough amps. Throughout the Christmas season, these “amp-less” guitars are rejected and deemed not sellable by the manufacturer.

6.) Accidents Happen
Like any object, instruments can fall and break, scratch, or dent somewhere. This happens often in manufacturers and can range from a small scratch to a complete broken neck. No matter how small or big the damage is, these instruments are immediately placed in the rejection pile.

Our Mission

Lorien Guitar Recovery was founded to reduce waste and recycle used and new materials. Manufacturing instruments takes its toll on the Earth. By making these authorized factory refurbished instruments available along with only selling other used ones, we can curb the manufacturing process.

There is a great advantage from buying our factory authorized refurbished guitars. They are nearly new, and unlike brand new instruments, have been through multiple rounds of examination, and are being sold at a far more discounted price. Look for the “Factory Authorized Refurbish” label in the product description, or go to our “Factory Authorized Refurbished” banner on our home page