Suhr Ian Thornley Signature guitar value?

bignorm

I've been offered a Suhr as a trade for my Kemper.
I really like the look of it but as I've got to do a long road trip to meet up I want to be pretty sure it's what I want before setting off.
Being a prs guy I've never really looked at suhrs, are they worth the money?
Do they hold their value?
On paper it seems a fair trade and I've always liked soft v neck profiles so it's got my interest, but if I decide to move it on if it's not for me, am I likely to lose my shirt on it.

 

octatonic

They are valuable to people who want them but a boutique JM with a trem is going to be a tough sell.

Suhr are sort of in the same camp as Anderson- they have their fans who are really into them (I'm into both brands).
I wouldn't buy that though- wrong colour and pickup config for me.
YMMV.

Jackobean

Looks like a butt ugly Hohner rip off.

The street price on these is roughly twice that of your kemper though, so even accommodating some brutal depreciation, you should be quids in.

Sassafras

I'm no expert but wouldn't a guitar hold its value better than a piece of digital gear?

guitarmangler

In the long term, yes, it’ll be worth more than the Kemper in ten years time.
I’m the short term, no, the Kemper is worth more/as much and will be easier to sell than the Suhr.

richardhomer

That’s one ugly guitar!

Schmo

On paper, I think the theoretical money value is well in your favour in this proposed trade.

That said, the guitar may not appeal to the traditional JM crowd so you may be looking for a UK Ian Thornley fan to give you top dollar.

Bottom line for me is you'd likely sell dropping to the value of a used Kemper at worst case so I'd likely go for it myself !

Best of luck...

Vaiai

Sig's don't always hold their value either - I have an Andy Wood Suhr HH and although more traditional it's still expensive to most people who could just buy a Suhr Tele for less. (Still a killer guitar!)

bignorm

Sassafras said:

I'm no expert but wouldn't a guitar hold its value better than a piece of digital gear?

I agree once the next big thing comes along the Kemper prices will tumble.
That's why I'm looking to sell/trade now before the bubble bursts

clarkefan

It feels to me like the guy is trying to shift a difficult-to-shift guitar, do you need that stress to be seeing the cash out of your Kemper? 

bignorm

To be honest I didn't bond with the kemper at all.
I've been offered a diamond head for it, but I think that would be hard to sell on.
An orange dark dark 50, but that's not enough of a trade and again a hard thing to resale.
At least with the suhr I could enjoy it (hopefully) and sell it at a later date

boogieman

I had to google Ian Thornley, even though I’m aware of Big Wreck. I wonder how many others would know of him? As such I don’t think his signature guitar is going to be particularly collectible. It’s still a Suhr of course so will have some value, but I doubt it’ll relate to the high initial purchase price. The colour combo is pretty hideous to my eyes too.. if it had been a better colour and without the tort pickguard it might’ve been worth taking the trade, but personally I’d pass. 

Dan_Halen

Klemper used value is about a grand. That guitar is probably worth about 1300/1400 used. If you decided you didn’t like it, it’s still a Suhr and you’d sell it in a flash if you put it up for just over £1k. 

Philly_Q

I'm not really a fan of Ian Thornley or his band, or indeed Jazzmasters, and I've never tried a Suhr guitar.

But funnily enough I quite like the look of his signature model.  That is a really unattractive colour, though.

hubobulous

The switching options on those are excellent. The neck has quite a V profile so you'd probably want to check that out first. I've played a couple and love them - one of these is on my hit list, but second hand. 

bignorm

I managed to do the deal and meet up just before the covid lockdown. 
The neck is really nice but I agree about the colour.
I'll play it a bit before putting it up for sale. 
It's pretty hefty though, much more than i expected for an alder body.
The Torty pickguard is just wrong for the colour. If I was keeping it and get a black one made

Loobs

Cool

Fishboy7

I never heard of Sir Ian Thornley, .. but that does look pretty nice.

bignorm

Fishboy7 said:

I never heard of Sir Ian Thornley, .. but that does look pretty nice.

I love the typo

Roysterdoyster

bignorm said:

Fishboy7 said:

I never heard of Sir Ian Thornley, .. but that does look pretty nice.

I love the typo

Sure he got Knighted for services to offset guitars 

bignorm

I'm not a fan of his band but I saw a video on the andertons site where he showed off some pretty impressive licks ..