Guitars, violins and synths on Catawiki by email

Vintage guitars, old violins and classic synthesizers turn up in Catawiki’s instrument auctions, and an email for each new matching lot leaves you time to research before bidding.

3 steps

Set up in a minute

Search on Catawiki, sort by newest

Search Catawiki’s instrument auctions

On catawiki.com open the musical instruments category and narrow it to the family you play or collect: electric guitars, string instruments, keyboards and synthesizers, wind instruments. Type a maker or model where it helps, use the filters the category offers, put the newest lots first and copy the link.
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Copy the link, paste it into mxsender

Add the link to MXSender with email

Paste it on the MXSender website, choose email and confirm the address. Make one search per instrument type so a violin mail does not hide inside a guitar mail. Telegram can be added on any plan.
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New listings land in your inbox

Read each instrument alert

A check that finds new lots sends one email with all of them: title, current price in euro, a photo when provided and a link to the lot. Lots listed before you saved the search are not included.
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Start monitoring Catawiki →

Track a search on Catawiki right now

Paste the Catawiki search link you want watched — we’ll check we can read it, then set up your alerts.

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For example:

📘 How to pick the right link ↗

🔎 Open Catawiki ↗

The last-evening bid on a guitar you never inspected

A common regret among players who buy at auction: discovering a lot on the closing night, liking the photos, bidding high and only afterwards noticing a neck repair mentioned in the condition report. Instruments hide their problems in details, and details need time.

Catawiki auctions run for several days and its instrument lots are selected by in-house experts before they go online, so the description is usually worth reading carefully. An email on the day the lot appears turns the closing-night gamble into a planned bid.

What to look for in an instrument lot

Guitars: neck straightness, fret wear, cracks, refinishes and replaced parts, which matter a lot for vintage value. Violins and cellos: cracks, especially near the soundpost, the state of the varnish, and whether a label is described as original or attributed. Synthesizers and organs: whether every key and voice is tested, and what voltage the unit expects.

When in doubt, ask the seller a question through the lot page while there is still time for an answer.

Shipping a cello is not shipping a book

Large and fragile instruments need proper cases and packing, and shipping costs reflect that. Catawiki also adds a buyer’s fee on top of the winning bid. If the seller is in another country, import charges may apply. Put bid, fee and shipping into one figure, check the seller’s rating, and only then decide your maximum.

Keeping instrument mail tidy

One folder per instrument family, filled by a mail rule, and a star on the lots you are researching make a practical shortlist. Your provider decides where alerts land, so look in spam after the first one, mark it as wanted and add the sender to your contacts. Each alert has an unsubscribe link.

Plans for following instrument auctions

Free covers one search, checked every 30 minutes, and one address. Starter at $5.99 covers five searches every 10 minutes. Pro at $14.99 covers twenty searches with our fastest checks and up to three addresses, so a teacher or a luthier you trust can see the same mail.