What price point does a guitar purchase change from pure playability to having to think about resale

usedtobe

I'm pretty sure every guitar I ever bought, and subsequently sold, was bought with the idea that I would keep it.

Ho hum..

fretmeister

I try to buy used. Not much of an issue then.

impmann

I buy things (not just guitars) that interest/move me - that I connect with. Often I pay more than I 'should' because I want a particular item and when I come to sell it, I may lose money on it... so be it. I've owned and enjoyed and had some use of the item, therefore that's cool - that enjoyment has cost me "x". I worry about it the same as I worry about going out for dinner costing me money.

Some people are, in my humble opinion, too worried about "losing money" when (not 'if') they sell a guitar.

Plukky

I am fortunate enough to have quite a large guitar fund, built up when I was young(er), free and single.  Now that I have a family, the reality is that my guitar fund is what it is - no more money goes into it, so if I want to buy another guitar, I need to sell existing guitars to do that.

In this scenario, I'd be nuts not to think about resale.  Not because I view guitars as an investment.  Not because I have no passion for the instrument.  But because there are loads of guitars in this world that I would like to play while I'm here and careful stewardship of my hard earned fund is the way to achieve that. Especially as most of my guitars are bought from overseas and the reality is that some of them don't meet expectations.

And that's before I factor in my responsibilities to my family: of course I save what I can for eventualities, but keeping a mental inventory of what might have to be sold in the event of dire emergency is just being responsible, surely?

To answer the OP's question, about a grand, I think - I have a PRS Mira that I do not consider selling purely because I think that it is a significantly better guitar than I could buy with the 600 quid or so that it would fetch.

mgaw

If i had loads of spare cash kicking around and a steady stream of loads of cash coming in I would spent loads on guitars, I dont have loads kicking around so i buy some (very nice ones), but do bear in mind i will probably sell them on at one point, i prefer 2nd hand guitars so never really a problem regarding taking a huge hit.
I am a tight arse though

RocknRollDave

1500 quid is probably the pricepoint I would set as an absolute limit myself too, as I simply would not enjoy owning and playing a guitar that cost any more than that

meltedbuzzbox

impmann said:

I buy things (not just guitars) that interest/move me - that I connect with. Often I pay more than I 'should' because I want a particular item and when I come to sell it, I may lose money on it... so be it. I've owned and enjoyed and had some use of the item, therefore that's cool - that enjoyment has cost me "x". I worry about it the same as I worry about going out for dinner costing me money.

Some people are, in my humble opinion, too worried about "losing money" when (not 'if') they sell a guitar.

To follow on from that point if you are thinking about resale before you need maybe take a step back and think about whether you can afford it. 

Whatever happened to buying a guitar because it felt great to play? Is the issue due to people buying things blind?

grungebob

I don't buy a guitar that isn't playable, because we're all fickle and GAS is a bitch I'd be liying if I said I didn't always have half an eye on resale. That said though there's been a few guitars that sounded so good and played so well that I just had to buy them no matter the aftermath on the resale front. 

If if your real question is at what point does playability improvements end and cost spiral, then only you can decide that?

 I couldn't afford a brand new PRS and to be honest I don't think I'd pay £3k for a new one but to me they are extremely playable guitars and I'd have no concerns paying £15-1600 for a used one 

JookyChap

I'm in the @impmann  @meltedbuzzbox camp on this one, if you are worrying about resale, why are you bothering in the first place?

I think I've got thru my fair share of guitars, but they have always been bought to play, if only because I was curious to try one of whatever it was, out, and I knew it wouldn't be a 'keeper'. Saying that I usually buy 2nd hand and don't buy shiny new things on tick, so other than a few quid either way, I can usually move things on, and if not so what? I've still got something to play until I do.

Now Vox amps...

Plukky

meltedbuzzbox said:

Whatever happened to buying a guitar because it felt great to play? Is the issue due to people buying things blind?

Yes, this is definitely a factor, but also, what if your tastes change? Unless you have an infinite supply of cash, you have to make do with what you have.  10 years ago I was a PRS fanboy, now, quite the reverse.

bobliefeld

"Guitars are like women.  If they aint ruined and worthless by the time you're done with them then you aint doin it right" - Kurt Cobain.

Sassafras

I've never considered the resale value of any guitar I've bought. Maybe if I had I wouldn't be living in abject poverty where even everyday household items such as toilet paper have to be thought of as luxury purchases.

meltedbuzzbox

Plukky said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Whatever happened to buying a guitar because it felt great to play? Is the issue due to people buying things blind?

Yes, this is definitely a factor, but also, what if your tastes change? Unless you have an infinite supply of cash, you have to make do with what you have.  10 years ago I was a PRS fanboy, now, quite the reverse.

I think if you play guitar for ten years you have had your monies worth whatever the initial outlay

impmann

meltedbuzzbox said:

Plukky said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Whatever happened to buying a guitar because it felt great to play? Is the issue due to people buying things blind?

Yes, this is definitely a factor, but also, what if your tastes change? Unless you have an infinite supply of cash, you have to make do with what you have.  10 years ago I was a PRS fanboy, now, quite the reverse.

I think if you play guitar for ten years you have had your monies worth whatever the initial outlay

This.

fretfinder

Plukky said: Most of my guitars are bought from overseas and the reality is that some of them don't meet expectations.

Just wondering why you buy mostly from overseas? I think the UK is a great place to buy guitars, if you buy used and wisely. And unless they're too far away you can try before you buy.

MattG

Personally for me there is no amount of money that I can spend on a guitar whereby i care about resale value however i always try extensively before i buy and regard all but one of my guitars as keepers because of this but I can see why with some people there would be.
And it has nothing to do with passion, people with passion about guitars enjoy playing them and enjoy or at least find it interesting playing lots of different ones so if somebody questions the resale of a guitar before they bought it because it a guitar they are interested in but know they may want to trade it for something they find interesting in a few months then whats the harm in that? its good to know if youre going to get through alot of guitars in this way that youre not going to lose too much money on it.
People with passions for cars and bikes do it all the time so why should guitars be any different?

Blueingreen

I think we're past "peak guitar" and am very sceptical about guitars as investments. 

Resale value is a big consideration though.  I tend to think of the "real" price of a guitar as the price I paid less the price I'm confident I could get for on a quick re-sale. That's how much I have reduced my wealth by buying it.

If I spend £2k on a guitar and am confident I could re-sell quickly for £1,800 I have actually 'spent' £200. If I buy another at £2k knowing I'd have to price it at £1,000 to get it re-sold the true cost is £1,000. 

I'm not saying I wouldn't buy the second guitar, but it's costing 5 times as much so there would need to be better reasons for buying it. If its feature set were spot on for me, and not easily available, and I was confident it was a keeper, I'd probably still buy it. But I've dropped enough money reselling guitars that turned out to be unwise purchases to have learned to be careful.

As for the passion thing, I'm a sceptic. I'm a player, not a collector, and the main thing for me is always feel. When I buy my next guitar it will be because I think it will feel better than one I've already got. But the guitars I've got are great-feeling guitars, so I'm potentially spending a lot of money on fairly infinitesimal differences.

I can rationalise that in various ways: guitar is such a big interest for me, I don't have many other extravagances, looking round here I'm far from the worst.  But with my sensible hat on, I do think it's fairly irrational behaviour, and I'm not going to flatter myself that it's a good thing because it shows I have 'passion'. I have more admiration for the kind of player who thinks he already has a half-decent Strat so why would he be hunting around for another when he could be playing the damn thing.

paulmapp8306

FelineGuitars said:

On a side note...

Strikes me that constantly thinking about resale ahead of time is rather akin to drawing up a pre-nup agreement every time you meet a new girl - It may reek of practicality but it seems somewhat lacking in passion, and I'm sure would put the kibosh on a successful relationship.

The only time you should factor in resale convos are to satisfy nearest & dearest or family members with concerns.
Guitars are not really investment worthy items - unless someone offers you a genuine vintage one for next to nothing.

For investment obsessions you'd be better off on a different kind of forum discussing banking products,buying and flipping houses and investing in bitcoins.

Wonder if I'm the only one on here who wishes there were more conversations on here about passions and desires for guitars and less about resale values?

This pretty much.

I never think of resale.  If your thinking of resale price before you buy - you shouldn't buy

mburekenge

The irony being if you really want to sound better, the money is far better invested in lessons or time off work to practice. 

That being said, let GAS commence.

guitarfishbay

pintspiller said:

There's no real need to think of resale value if you stick to buying used gear. If you want something specific that can mean a waiting-game, but, provided you can move stuff on, is a good bit more guilt-free than a 40% loss on selling a new guitar.

You'll lose less on a used guitar but the market can shift. Happened to me with amps. There was a time when high end valve amps kept ok resale, but when I wanted to sell my mint Mesa Roadster I couldn't even get £1k cash for it and had to trade it in to get a decent return...

Its less likely to tank that way with guitars but the way Gibson are going Les Pauls and SGs probably aren't going to go up in value any time soon.