I have a 2008 Carter Starter in fine shape that I'd sell for $550 shipped (to lower 48 ). Though I can't claim "mint" condition, it's close. And, the Starter seems to be pretty much the only "student" guitar out there with 3 pedals, 4 knees, for this kind of short money. Plus, you have it while you start learning to play, learn whether you've really caught the steel "bug", and learn enough about pro guitars to make an informed choice about which one to eventually upgrade to
The only visual flaws are two scratches in the black-painted pedal bar. These have been painted in to match, but they're not invisible. I never bothered to sand and repaint the whole bar (it's wood, would be easy enough to do). BTW, the mica finish Carter's standard dark grey woodgrain -- it doesn't really have those funny colors in the pix; those are somehow courtesy of the camera, I guess.
