Hi harpgirl

Pretty complicated question you're asking here. It depends entirely on whether you trade with or sell to another individual or work through a music store.

I don't kow how much your guitar is really worth, but I'll throw out some ballpark numbers here just so you can get a rough idea. I'm guessing that a J-100 would be worth about as much as a J-45, both being relatively "stripped down" Gibson models. I paid $900.00 for a used relatively new J-45 in a music store a couple of years ago. Of course, probably $300.00 of that was the store's profit, meaning the "wholesale value" (what the store paid) was around $600.00. If I had bought from a private individual, I probably would have gotten it for somewhere between retail and wholesale, say $750.00.

Your options are:

1) Find a private individual that wants to trade guitars with you. This option is the most hassle, but gives you the best deal.
2) Sell the J-100 for cash to a private individual and then shop the want ads, Ebay etc. for a good deal from another private seller. Same basic deal as option 1, just two transactions.
3) Sell the J-100 for cash to a private individual and then take the money to the music store. Somewhat less hassle, but part of your money spent will be profit for the store.
4) Put the J-100 in a music store "on consignment". Since the store won't be paying you anything until after the guitar is sold, they take a much smaller profit margin, especially if they know you're going to turn around and spend the money with them.
5) Trade the J-100 to the music store for another guitar. The lowest dollar value for you, but the least hassle. Don't expect to trade your $900.00 guitar for another $900.00 guitar. Think $600.00, but you can still get a good guitar for $600.00 and your J-100's just sitting in the case anyway. And, no waiting for your guitar to sell. You get to take the new one home right away.

Hope this gives you some fodder for thought if nothing else.

Bruce