Does this mean we will start seeing the used market being flooded?

SlopeSoarer

I've just seen this headline on a Guitar World page and I wonder how it might affect the used market long-term?

Gibson CEO JC Curleigh: “In the last year, more guitarists have been created and engaged than in the previous 10 years combined”

Or should I say even more flooded!? 

RaymondLin

Cheap guitars for sure, the expensive one stays expensive.  Especially when the new price keeps going up 10% every year the way they have been going lately.

maltingsaudio

I would have said the opposite, more guitarists means more demand for guitars, means more demand for a bargain,  means less bargains to go round. 

maltingsaudio

However, does more guitarists mean more bands? 

SarahSimm

Does this article have a statistic for people who gave up playing? I bet it has increased as well 

SarahSimm

Anyway, market is probably gonna be flooded with cheap instruments

Henrytwang

I’m inclined to think that if there’s any increase in the number of used guitars available it’ll be at the cheaper end of the market. People usually start playing reasonably inexpensive guitars and progress to better quality instruments as their playing develops.  So many would be guitarists give up after a short time and sell their entry level guitars.

TeleMaster

maltingsaudio said:

However, does more guitarists mean more bands? 

Some. But really it just means more people who stop and never progress, and lots who think they're good but are really bad. 

I've auditioned dozens of guitarists who say they've played for decades and lack a basic level of skill required for the most amateur of covers bands. I expect the field will become even more swamped with them. 

ToneControl

an interesting idea I read a few years ago said that the market for vintage instruments would wane when older players who were listened to rock in the 70s are no longer around to push up the prices, not sure if I am convinced

SlopeSoarer

Yeah I tend to agree that it will be from the cheaper end, having said that GAS can set in quickly and it seems Gibson have seen massive increases in sales so not necessarily the cheap end.

More guitar based bands... yay, just looking forward to the day when we can get out again:-)

munckee

I suppose it depends, if we end up with millions unemployed there may be financial need for more people to sell.

SlopeSoarer

ToneControl said:

an interesting idea I read a few years ago said that the market for vintage instruments would wane when older players who were listened to rock in the 70s are no longer around to push up the prices, not sure if I am convinced

I saw something on TV about classic cars and the older cars were fetching less money and the younger classics such as Ford Escorts (e.g. £97k!) and even Sierra's were increasing in value and they put that down to people buying cars which they had dreamed about when they were in their teens and early twenties, these same people had no interest in many of the older cars.

So maybe there is some merit in what the article said.

Whitecat

SlopeSoarer said:

ToneControl said:

an interesting idea I read a few years ago said that the market for vintage instruments would wane when older players who were listened to rock in the 70s are no longer around to push up the prices, not sure if I am convinced

I saw something on TV about classic cars and the older cars were fetching less money and the younger classics such as Ford Escorts (e.g. £97k!) and even Sierra's were increasing in value and they put that down to people buying cars which they had dreamed about when they were in their teens and early twenties, these same people had no interest in many of the older cars.

So maybe there is some merit in what the article said.

If anyone is wondering why the pointy-shreddy superstrat reissue/replica/inspired by market is so hot right now, this explains it exactly...

I suspect we are already also in the 'grunge era' in terms of what will be popular too amongst ageing moneyed Gen Xers. Fender just issued a masterbuilt Mike McCready 59 Strat replica for like £14k and I believe Peach and Coda have both already sold theirs. Obviously a lot of that stuff was vintage anyway and is not that dissimilar to what the boomers were playing/lusted after but if you can eye up anything that is inexpensive (now) & unusual from that era you never know what might happen to the value over the next few years.

Sassafras

I thought the used market was already flooded.

fastonebaz

Think this is acknowledgement of how fender play has created a bigger market of guitarists.

impmann

SlopeSoarer said:

ToneControl said:

an interesting idea I read a few years ago said that the market for vintage instruments would wane when older players who were listened to rock in the 70s are no longer around to push up the prices, not sure if I am convinced

I saw something on TV about classic cars and the older cars were fetching less money and the younger classics such as Ford Escorts (e.g. £97k!) and even Sierra's were increasing in value and they put that down to people buying cars which they had dreamed about when they were in their teens and early twenties, these same people had no interest in many of the older cars.

So maybe there is some merit in what the article said.

The only Scrotes that make £97k are Cosworths... or perhaps Mk1 Twinks if they are mint and original (with provenance). Standard Mk3/4/5 stuff isn't particularly pricey. Mk1 and Mk2 two doors make reasonable sums but the four door variants still aren't silly money...

The prices of general Classic Cars are rising the same as everything else - the price rises have been linked to the belief that the likes Wheeler Dealers actually make money, so the dick heads have been buying up all manner of old chod, giving the cars a bit of a tart up (the sort of thing Arthur Daley would have winced at) and then asking top dollar. 

Don't believe a single thing you read/hear/watch on TV about Classic Cars... its entertainment, nothing else.

Anyway... back to guitars, eh?

Pabcrane

TeleMaster said:

maltingsaudio said:

However, does more guitarists mean more bands? 

Some. But really it just means more people who stop and never progress, and lots who think they're good but are really bad. 

I've auditioned dozens of guitarists who say they've played for decades and lack a basic level of skill required for the most amateur of covers bands. I expect the field will become even more swamped with them. 

Or perhaps we'll have some more sonic innovators who couldn't or wouldn't play in a covers band such as Blixa Bargeld, Viv Albertine, Daniel Ash, Thurston Moore, or Gemma Thompson? Let's hope so!