What would persuade you to spend £20,000 on a guitar?

stonevibe

I'd buy something old and then spend the change on drugs. As you'd need to be off your head to justify wasting money on old guitars.

FastEddie

If I could afford that amount I'd happily do it.
As a lefty I would probably never find one so it's a bit of a moot point.

In my mind the # of 0's is relevant to one's own wealth and return (enjoyment and/or £'s).

dazzajl

A £19k cashback deal. 

That said, if I was some who needed ways to fritter away £20k, I could probably be tempted by something that made a favourite recording. But then it would sit on a stand at home and be for everyone who passed by to play too. 

designerseye88

I don't have that sort of money but I'd much rather have it in the 'right' guitar as apposed to an ISA or a savings account. 

Personally I'd buy a good burst conversion with a nice set of PAF's. 

Ted

stonevibe said:

I'd buy something old and then spend the change on drugs. As you'd need to be off your head to justify wasting money on old guitars.

Totally agree(but not with the Narcotics bit). Why spend the £20K on old crap that's already been recorded/gigged when you could commission something totally new to your own personal musical and aesthetic tastes.

According to Jimmy Page's personal specification I would get PRS to design the body of the guitar and then ask George Lowden to do the hand crafting of it, then ship to Bob Taylor for a Quality Control Check, then I would ask Jeff Koontz if he could find the time to the decoration/fretwork of it. Finally I might even find the time to play it a bit.

Er I think that might end up costing slightly more than £20k. It looks like I am going to have to downsize the yacht and dump a girlfriend.

Blaendulais

richardhomer said:

SlopeSoarer said:

richardhomer said:

The presence of a serial number....

I've got some serial numbers on guitars, you can have one of mine: )

I was revisiting a long standing forum joke about a very expensive vintage guitar which was sold by a dealer. It’s serial number was illegible - though the dealer attributed this to someone having heavy-handedly scraped a sticker off which previously  obscured the number....

I know and will also never tire of referring to it as it is Fin shocking still!

Whitecat

If it had £30,000 worth of gold in/on it...

guitarfishbay

Well we’re approaching this with the money not being an issue...

If it was the only way to get the instrument I wanted

Bellycaster

A very good Hypnotist.

Winny_Pooh

If i had a few million to start with then I'd have no problem doing it. It would need to be a magical pre war martin or such though. 

Th4fonz

I dont know what vintage strats and teles go for but if it was over 20k Id just add the extra and go for a nice vintage one if that kind of money didnt dent my wallet lol.

20k to some is like 2k to others.

goldtop

stonevibe said:

I'd buy something old and then spend the change on drugs. As you'd need to be off your head to justify wasting money on old guitars.

Well, not really. Or at least, not necessarily.

With interest rates so low due to worldwide economics, it's daft to leave the money to do nothing (the OP's starting point). You'd need to be off your head (as you put it) to fail to put the money into something which is an asset. Vintage guitars are one, modern/classic cars are another, houses another.

I bought a '50s guitar at around £7k, it's worth a lot more now - around the OP's figure. But somehow I don't feel 'comfortable' having so much tied up in a single object. I don't play it often, and every time that I do, I get vague feelz about selling it. But then what to do with the £££s? Leave them in the bank and see them get inflated away to nothing? :-/ First World problems, eh...

(Of course, there will be a return to proper interest rates at some point. God knows when - no Bilderberg attendee shows any sign of being the first to blink.)

Philly_Q

I don't think I would.

For a start, I'd never spend that much on anything new.  Which leaves the vintage market.

It's not difficult to find vintage guitars which cost that kind of money, so if I had an interest in vintage guitars I guess I wouldn't hesitate.

But I've never particularly bought into the idea of vintage guitars being "better" and their history and "mojo" is something which puts me off rather than attracting me.

So the only other reason to buy vintage is as an investment.  I can see the point in that, if there's a good return, but you can only realise that return if and when you sell it.  I don't think I want to get into that world, any more than I want to be a property investor or dabble in the stock market.

Sassafras

I'd give the money to charity.


God! I'm such a good person.

goldtop

Philly_Q said:

I don't think I would.

For a start, I'd never spend that much on anything new.  Which leaves the vintage market.

It's not difficult to find vintage guitars which cost that kind of money, so if I had an interest in vintage guitars I guess I wouldn't hesitate.

But I've never particularly bought into the idea of vintage guitars being "better" and their history and "mojo" is something which puts me off rather than attracting me.

So the only other reason to buy vintage is as an investment.  I can see the point in that, if there's a good return, but you can only realise that return if and when you sell it.  I don't think I want to get into that world, any more than I want to be a property investor or dabble in the stock market.

Sensible stuff.

But on the bit I put in bold, there's also an intangible thing about old guitars; from the feel, the smell, and that old-wood charm. If it doesn't objectively contribute to tone (lots of threads on that old chestnut), there's one way that it does can certainly a difference: it can all feel special enough to get you (the player, that is) to a place where you make better, or perhaps more inspired, music.

I don't mean some weird thing about channelling some bluesdudes from yesteryear, but I don't think it's crazy to say that music is art, that art is an expression of feeling, and that if you feel something special when you play any instrument, it's going to show up in your tone and playing.

This may not be true for everyone, or every old guitar (I bet some are pigs). Some people treat their guitars as they do their spanners - just work tools.

Henrytwang

Nothing 

octatonic

Absolutely provable provenance and the ability to sell it for more later on.

Ted

goldtop said:

Philly_Q said:

I don't think I would.

For a start, I'd never spend that much on anything new.  Which leaves the vintage market.

It's not difficult to find vintage guitars which cost that kind of money, so if I had an interest in vintage guitars I guess I wouldn't hesitate.

But I've never particularly bought into the idea of vintage guitars being "better" and their history and "mojo" is something which puts me off rather than attracting me.

So the only other reason to buy vintage is as an investment.  I can see the point in that, if there's a good return, but you can only realise that return if and when you sell it.  I don't think I want to get into that world, any more than I want to be a property investor or dabble in the stock market.

Sensible stuff.

But on the bit I put in bold, there's also an intangible thing about old guitars; from the feel, the smell, and that old-wood charm. If it doesn't objectively contribute to tone (lots of threads on that old chestnut), there's one way that it does can certainly a difference: it can all feel special enough to get you (the player, that is) to a place where you make better, or perhaps more inspired, music.

I don't mean some weird thing about channelling some bluesdudes from yesteryear, but I don't think it's crazy to say that music is art, that art is an expression of feeling, and that if you feel something special when you play any instrument, it's going to show up in your tone and playing.

This may not be true for everyone, or every old guitar (I bet some are pigs). Some people treat their guitars as they do their spanners - just work tools.

Well if I thought that BB Kings old guitar was haunted by his ghost(which personally I consider to be a possibility) then subject to a detailed assessment from a reputable spiritualist then I  would defitinely try and scrabble together the £20k.

Do you think that the person who forked out £250,000 for George Harrison's crappy old 1958 Fender was either insane or actively enjoyed pissing away money? Or do you think they got a slighly spooky, tingly feeling in their spine when they touched it?

Philly_Q

@goldtop ; Good points, I totally understand what you're saying - and I do think there's something inherently "special" about old things, not just guitars.  I don't for one second believe that any kind of "magic" has soaked in over time, but to me the very fact that something has survived for decades, acquired that patina of age and wear, gives it something, even if it's no more than sentimental attachment.

Applying that to guitars, if I had a guitar that I had owned for 30 or 40 years it would be special to me - even if if was a spectacularly average example of its type.  But I'm not comfortable owning a guitar that someone else owned for 30 or 40 years.  It's got their wear, their sentimental attachment - and there's also a "not worthy" element because whoever they were, they played that guitar better than I ever will.

And I certainly wouldn't want BB King's or George Harrison's haunted old guitars.

Voxman

Nothing...in my view no guitar is worth £20,000 aside from an original 1958 or 59 les paul...which of course you wouldnt get for £20k