old guitar prices

marantz1300

What is going on with old guitar prices?

 They seem to be always on the up.

 Not just Fender and Gibson golden era gear.

Anything that's over twenty seems to be severely overpriced.

Is this just an e bay effect?

 I can't believe they are selling at these prices.

sweepy

There are still bargains to be had although some asking prices are just bloody ridiculous 

TTony

Supply - finite,

Demand - increasing, either from middle-aged guitarist who want (and can afford) the guitar of their youth or from the alternative investor classes who've been driven out of the classic car market by the price boom there.

pun intended.

marantz1300

Amps as well.

Not just the 50's/60's gear.

If its from the 70's 80's or even 90's ,It all seems to becoming very expensive compared to ten years ago.

guitars4you

TTony said:

Supply - finite,

Demand - increasing, either from middle-aged guitarist who want (and can afford) the guitar of their youth or from the alternative investor classes who've been driven out of the classic car market by the price boom there.

pun intended.

there is a lot of gear for sale isn't there Tony

marantz1300

guitars4you said:

TTony said:

Supply - finite,

Demand - increasing, either from middle-aged guitarist who want (and can afford) the guitar of their youth or from the alternative investor classes who've been driven out of the classic car market by the price boom there.

pun intended.

there is a lot of gear for sale isn't there Tony

meaning ?

guitars4you

Some used prices totally baffle me and maybe an original Fender 70's Starcaster is a good example - 20/30 years ago you couldn't give them away for £300-500 - hard sell indeed - Now since then one thing, for sure, has not changed and that is that the guitar has not got better one-iota with age during that period - granted it is an acquired taste - But now 3k or 4K baffles me - If they are selling then I suppose you can say they are worth it, but I'd be petrified having one on my books around that price

I could add the Dallas Rangemaster Treble Boost to any list IMO of seriously overpriced - Even if a good £100/200 modern boutique boost pedal did not quite nail the same sound to the nth degree, I'm sure I'd be happy with it and with my savings buy another guitar or a good holiday

TTony

guitars4you said:

Some used prices totally baffle me and maybe an original Fender 70's Starcaster is a good example - 20/30 years ago you couldn't give them away for £300-500 - hard sell indeed - Now since then one thing, for sure, has not changed and that is that the guitar has not got better one-iota with age during that period - granted it is an acquired taste - But now 3k or 4K baffles me - If they are selling then I suppose you can say they are worth it, but I'd be petrified having one on my books around that price

That's exactly mirrored in the classic car market.

There's no way that a mk1 Cortina is "better" than a current day Mondeo, but auction prices would indicate that they're more highly valued.

Supply & demand.

Supply is now very limited.  Demand is boosted by people wanting them just because other people want them (ie self-fulfilling investments - at least until the bubble bursts) and by some wanting to re-live their youth and by others who just want one because there's a Cortina shaped hole in their classic car garage.  

At least guitars are cheaper, take up less space, and need less maintenance than classic cars ...

ICBM

guitars4you said:

Some used prices totally baffle me and maybe an original Fender 70's Starcaster is a good example - 20/30 years ago you couldn't give them away for £300-500 - hard sell indeed - Now since then one thing, for sure, has not changed and that is that the guitar has not got better one-iota with age during that period - granted it is an acquired taste - But now 3k or 4K baffles me - If they are selling then I suppose you can say they are worth it, but I'd be petrified having one on my books around that price

It's arguable that they were underpriced then - they were quite well-made by 70s Fender standards, and a very distinctive and quite rare guitar. No-one wanted them until the chap from the Killers (and maybe Radiohead? Not sure) started using them, then they became cool…

I've always hated the carpet-slipper headstock personally, but I don't think they're massively overpriced at £3K… at least not given that people seem to pay nearly that for much less interesting 70s Fenders, and really silly money for older ones - which *can* be nice, but are often really quite average.

I agree in general about a lot of old guitars though.

marantz1300

I like the look of some 70's strats , I just don't think they will be any better then my partscaster.

UnclePsychosis

I think a large part of the asking prices is a refusal of the market to accept that "your gear will always hold its value" wasn't particularly true. 

TonyR

I've noticed the price of Roland Jazz Chorus amps seems to be on the up. A couple of years ago one could be had for under £200, now I see them advertised upwards of £500 and I'm not talking about the modern reissues.

Voxman

As always whenever this type of discussion pops up, the answer is always the same... Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay.  If someone is willing to pay £3-4k for a 70s Fender, then that's what its worth, period.  Of course its not worth that to everyone, but all you need is one willing buyer.

DrCornelius

TonyR said:

I've noticed the price of Roland Jazz Chorus amps seems to be on the up. A couple of years ago one could be had for under £200, now I see them advertised upwards of £500 and I'm not talking about the modern reissues.

Yep , I was after one for a while and ended up paying £400 a few months back for one that I still had to put £50 of work into. I could have sworn they were £250 a year or so ago 

guitars4you

guitars4you said:

TTony said:

Supply - finite,

Demand - increasing, either from middle-aged guitarist who want (and can afford) the guitar of their youth or from the alternative investor classes who've been driven out of the classic car market by the price boom there.

pun intended.

there is a lot of gear for sale isn't there Tony

just a poor pun based on 'driven' and 'gear' - sorry

scalino65

The amount of hyperbole that classic car dealers lay on is ridiculous "can only go up in value,etc" I wonder if you could sue 'em when your [insert name of old car here] goes back to where it was 5 years ago. I would say that old guitar vendors at least just say "take it or leave it" rather than give you the nonsensical projections as to where your "investment" will be in 5 yrs. 

marantz1300

I wasn't saying what's it worth.

Just prices seem to be on the up .

guitars4you

Voxman said:

As always whenever this type of discussion pops up, the answer is always the same... Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay.  If someone is willing to pay £3-4k for a 70s Fender, then that's what its worth, period.  Of course its not worth that to everyone, but all you need is one willing buyer.

I agree with that - also with so many good outlets now available to private individuals, be it e-bay, FB, Reverb etc, the seller can nominate a value and sit and wait - if it sells then great if not, unless they need an urgent sale, they can just remove it from the market place and try again later - I believe many sellers don't need to actually sell, almost a case of speculate and see what happens - This approach slowly drives prices up - Another potential seller sees the same/similar guitar listed at such a price and thinks he'll  have a go as well at that price - often not realising they are a reflection of asking not actually sold prices

Such outlets like e-bay, FB and Reverb now have a global market, both regardng potential buyers, plus what the asking prices are  elsewhere - If we go back 20 years ago and back to the Starcaster as an example, if one was for sale in Sunderland and one for sale in Clapham, stores and customers would probably not be aware of the other sale and indeed the price

Skipped

As TTony said, numbers matter.
The number of near mint 1954 Les Paul Juniors will decrease every year, because some of them will gravitate to players. And importantly.....there were only 823 to start with.
http://www.nysse.com/LPshipp2.html

And then there are later guitars.

Buyer:  Ok. I'll take your 1973 Les Paul Deluxe. But my offer is £1225.

Seller:  "Is that because my guitar sounds like shit and  weighs more than a Fridge/Freezer?"

Buyer:  No. It's because they shipped ten thousand in 1973.

http://www.nysse.com/LPshipp.html

Ianpdq

I wish I could get rid of my Burns the are not selling that well

marantz1300

73 Les Pauls seem to be more expensive too.