Prices from the past

terada

All this time at home means I've uncovered plenty of old tat that's ben hanging around. Heres a pricelist in a Guitarist mag from 2002.

guitars4you

some changes are more severe than others

Obvious candidates for a huge increase are Custom Shop Fenders - £1699 for a 54 model

+ A Ricky 330 at £1129

Others are not as bad as you might think - £1699 for a Les Paul Standard and £1099 for an SG Std

Then you look at the Recording selection and everything has now been super seeded and updates

Some good reading

thegummy

Remember to adjust for inflation before comparing the prices.

I think a lot of people, particularly older people, judge prices against a base level in their head from years ago and they don't take in to account inflation (don't mean guitars, just every day prices).

mort

I remember this ad - the word ‘outfit’ used to drive me nuts (.....still does looking at it now)

guitars4you

mort said:

I remember this ad - the word ‘outfit’ used to drive me nuts (.....still does looking at it now)

I hear what you are saying, but for many years, the 'discount dealers' use to list the best selling Fender and Gibson Guitars at a lower price without the case - In order to look cheaper - Remember no/very little internet prior to 2002, so ads in the monthly mags, and before that Melody Maker, where the only 'price bibles' - More often than not it was London dealers, trying to look cheaper - You make the journey only to find that once you've brought the guitar and paid extra for the case that it was no cheaper than your store in your local town

Maybe they could say Ricky 330 inc case 

Now it is taken for granted that you are buying the 'package' as shipped from the factory 

terada

guitars4you said:

some changes are more severe than others

Obvious candidates for a huge increase are Custom Shop Fenders - £1699 for a 54 model

+ A Ricky 330 at £1129

Others are not as bad as you might think - £1699 for a Les Paul Standard and £1099 for an SG Std

Then you look at the Recording selection and everything has now been super seeded and updates

Some good reading

Absolutely, I was surprised by the cost of Gibsons back then compared to today (custom shop not included). But then there are the studios which were comparably much cheaper next to the standard vs today.

Looks like overall the USA line has pretty much effectively reduced in price over the last couple of decades.

terada

guitars4you said:

mort said:

I remember this ad - the word ‘outfit’ used to drive me nuts (.....still does looking at it now)

I hear what you are saying, but for many years, the 'discount dealers' use to list the best selling Fender and Gibson Guitars at a lower price without the case - In order to look cheaper - Remember no/very little internet prior to 2002, so ads in the monthly mags, and before that Melody Maker, where the only 'price bibles' - More often than not it was London dealers, trying to look cheaper - You make the journey only to find that once you've brought the guitar and paid extra for the case that it was no cheaper than your store in your local town

Maybe they could say Ricky 330 inc case 

Now it is taken for granted that you are buying the 'package' as shipped from the factory 

Presumably most people went with the case? Or were there hundreds of cases everywhere?

guitars4you

terada said:

guitars4you said:

some changes are more severe than others

Obvious candidates for a huge increase are Custom Shop Fenders - £1699 for a 54 model

+ A Ricky 330 at £1129

Others are not as bad as you might think - £1699 for a Les Paul Standard and £1099 for an SG Std

Then you look at the Recording selection and everything has now been super seeded and updates

Some good reading

Absolutely, I was surprised by the cost of Gibsons back then compared to today (custom shop not included). But then there are the studios which were comparably much cheaper next to the standard vs today.

Looks like overall the USA line has pretty much effectively reduced in price over the last couple of decades.

Yet a huge difference on the 56 Gold Top LP at £1799 and an LP Custom at £2099 - I get more than that now for a used example

Nitefly

Quite upsetting that 2002 is already "the past"... 

daisie_guitar

thegummy said:

Remember to adjust for inflation before comparing the prices.

I think a lot of people, particularly older people, judge prices against a base level in their head from years ago and they don't take in to account inflation (don't mean guitars, just every day prices).

This! The Gibson LP Standard of 2002 in today's GBP would be 2780GBP! (Calculated using https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator)

Next, we'll have to consider the USD/GBP exchange rate...

terada

thegummy said:

Remember to adjust for inflation before comparing the prices.

Yep very handy to keep this in mind. Fender presents some interesting figures.


eg. MIM Standard Strat/Tele at £329 inflated to ~ £540. Quick search shows the equivalent at about £550 today.

eg. MIA Standard Strat/Tele at £699 inflated to ~ £1145. American Pro £1400.

eg. Custom Shop 60s Strat at £1699 inflated to ~ £2784. Custom shop 60s strat from £3399 NOS and more for relics.

Pretty clear which end of the market has risen most

andrewaward

As a youngster in the late 90s I bought a Rickenbacker 330 brand new from Sound Control in Glasgow and it had no original hard case, didn’t even get offered one. 

Got a gig bag.

What would they have done with them, sell them separately? 

guitars4you

And remember that the LP Std in 2002 at £1699 was the new upgraded version with a figured top + burstbuckers - Prior to that prices were £200/300 lower and you still had the 80's and 90's spec'd version - So they had just ramped up the price only a few months earlier

terada

guitars4you said:

And remember that the LP Std in 2002 at £1699 was the new upgraded version with a figured top + burstbuckers - Prior to that prices were £200/300 lower and you still had the 80's and 90's spec'd version - So they had just ramped up the price only a few months earlier

The review of which is in the same mag. I was just having a peruse. 

GavRichList

Yep, that’s the price I bought a Ric 330 for. Got a 620 for £900 too. 

GavRichList

HOLY SHIT. This made me check present day prices for Rics. Who on earth is paying 3 and half grand for one?! 

thegummy

terada said:

thegummy said:

Remember to adjust for inflation before comparing the prices.

Yep very handy to keep this in mind. Fender presents some interesting figures.


eg. MIM Standard Strat/Tele at £329 inflated to ~ £540. Quick search shows the equivalent at about £550 today.

eg. MIA Standard Strat/Tele at £699 inflated to ~ £1145. American Pro £1400.

eg. Custom Shop 60s Strat at £1699 inflated to ~ £2784. Custom shop 60s strat from £3399 NOS and more for relics.

Pretty clear which end of the market has risen most

Appreciate this post for those of us too lazy to look it up ourselves

Interesting that the Mexican is basically the same, the American's RRP is quite a bit more but those can often be had for less but the Custom Shop is just taking the piss.

I would make a guess that the final selling price of the Mexican Standard is more closely related to the cost of manufacturing it whereas the Custom Shop guitars are a lot less related to the manufacturing costs - in line with luxury brands in general.

Stevepage

The other odd thing I noticed recently, is that I remember the classifieds at the back of guitarist magazine. Pages upon pages of people selling their stuff and then I checked the latest issue and it's just 3 ads. 

It's obvious as the why but it's interesting to compare today's market/community to how things were 

JamieWakeham

The Flying Pig! I bought a Mexican standard Tele from them, round about the time of this advert, using my dad's credit card over the phone. Swapped it a few years later for a Fenix bass that I still have now.

pintspiller

I remember thinking a few years back all the cool old/vintage gear I could have had if I didn't drink as much back in the day and spent my money on second hand gear

Sassafras

I remember when you could go to the opera, get a fish supper, buy a guitar and still have change from a sovereign.