Mint means mint

Tannin

From an ad on my local buy-sell Facebook group. "I would describe the guitar as mint as it has very light play wear". 

Mint means  "fu**king perfect". It does not mean "quite good, considering".

BillDL

Exactly.  "Mint", or "minted" (as they often say around where I stay) = "In freshly minted condition" obviously related to manufacture of coins.  Coin collectors would love a Kruger Rand with light signs of usage, and you wouldn't expect to receive a set of special edition coins with signs or wear.  Maybe he thinks it's like a slightly sucked mint sweet.

CavemanGrogg

BillDL said:

Exactly.  "Mint", or "minted" (as they often say around where I stay) = "In freshly minted condition" obviously related to manufacture of coins.  Coin collectors would love a Kruger Rand with light signs of usage, and you wouldn't expect to receive a set of special edition coins with signs or wear.  Maybe he thinks it's like a slightly sucked mint sweet.

No we don't, thats why bullion coins are sold in either capsules - for a single coin, tubes - from 5 to 25 coins, and ''slabs'' - coins that have been graded.  And then there is the whole coin grading thing, the Sheldon Scale being the most popular one in use today around the world, and how - deopending on coin mingtage and rarity/desirability, a coin graded as ''MS70'' can be worth ten times as much if not more than the same coin with a grading of ''MS69''.  And it is possible to get coins from the end of the 19th century and begining of the 20th century that have never left their packaging since they left the mint - I've not long completed a collecting a set of 1914 full gold Sovereigns that have never left the card squares that they left the various different mints in.  Even Krugerrands, it's actually very easy to buy a 1967 Krugerrand that has never been taken out of it's capsule, or tube, and with Krugerrands - introduced in 1967, the premium on  a first year mint, is very little compared to a 2022 minted Krugerrand, they're not even close to being worth an extra 50% more than the latest batch to leave the mint.  These sorts of coins are made from precious and semi precious metals, unlike guitars, scratchers and wear are very very unwanted traits, that's lost  weight, it's not much weight, but enough scratches and wear will reduce the value of any coin to it's melt value.

Sassafras

Maybe it's got a hole in it.

Alex2678

I bought a pedal listed as mint recently, the seller got really pissy when I mentioned the glue residue all over the back. Just don’t list it as mint unless it really is - I don’t really care if a pedal is merely in excellent condition unless you make me care by claiming otherwise 

SlopeSoarer

I'd never use terms like mint if selling and I always have a few questions about condition when buying as it seems we don't all view things in the same way! 

Gandalph

Agreed!
One of my favourites 'the guitar is in mint condition apart from a slight scratch on the headstock, etc'. 

fretfinder

If a guitar for sale that I’m interested in says excellent or mint condition but you can’t really tell from the pics, I’ll ask for details - any marks, dings, scratches, fretwear…? It’s surprising how often the reply says something like - just a few small marks and scratches, nothing through the paintwork, very little fretwear…
Right, so actually it’s not in ‘excellent condition’ at all! 

BlueStrat

Minty seems to be a new word for bedroom dealers. Almost mint, except for the snapped headstock ?

darthed1981

I like mints they're nice.

chrisj1602

If a guitar has been played at all, I wouldn’t use the word mint. There’s always the chance there could be a mark that you’ve not even noticed and a seller could find.

Kilgore

So can you call a factory reliced guitar as "mint" if it doesn't have any extra scratches on it? 

Sporky

"Mint, apart from the fire damage"

CE1

Kilgore said:

So can you call a factory reliced guitar as "mint" if it doesn't have any extra scratches on it? 

Or perhaps they get more mint as they deteriorate? So they aren’t truly mint until they completely cease to exist.

Kilgore

CE1 said:

Kilgore said:

So can you call a factory reliced guitar as "mint" if it doesn't have any extra scratches on it? 

Or perhaps they get more mint as they deteriorate? So they aren’t truly mint until they completely cease to exist.

Schrodinger's Strat? 

Blaendulais

been at least 10 mins since this thread occured last

bertie

Sassafras said:

Maybe it's got a hole in it.

that was always the best bit

MentalSharps

I always took mint condition, when used honestly, as a subjective term, meaning close to perfect, rather than perfect.

bertie

MentalSharps said:

I always took mint condition, when used honestly, as a subjective term, meaning close to perfect, rather than perfect.

mint =  coin "just pressed from the mint"  as in perfect  - anything else is A1 and lower 

RaymondLin

Some people’s bar of quality is horrendous, yet complain about Gibson QC…

scrumhalf

chrisj1602 said:

If a guitar has been played at all, I wouldn’t use the word mint. There’s always the chance there could be a mark that you’ve not even noticed and a seller could find.

If it's been played as part of setting it up in the shop it's not mint?