Anybody else noticing the prices creeping up?

Strat_a_tat_tat

professorben said:

guitars4you said:

usedtobe said:

One day, we'll look back on these as the good old days!

wise words - I clearly recall a new Les Paul Deluxe for £365 and a Strat (there was only colour options, maple or r/wood or trem/stop in those days) for £299

I have a good customer that I've known for nearly 40 years - He is  a similar age - left school around 1976, as a 16 year old - Gigging in bands and in 1978 purchased a new LP Custom for just over £400 -  His dad told him he was a fool - His dad is no longer around, yet he still has that guitar and he thinks I'm not so much a fool now

Plus my dad paid under 3K for his first house in 1966 and could not afford the deposit so borrowed it from his boss

True, but what was the interest rate?

Quick search on Google suggests a mortgage rate of 5.62% in Jan. 1966... rising to 6.81% by Dec 66 (but it started falling again in 67)

guitars4you

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

professorben said:

guitars4you said:

Plus my dad paid under 3K for his first house in 1966 and could not afford the deposit so borrowed it from his boss

True, but what was the interest rate?

Quick search on Google suggests a mortgage rate of 5.62% in Jan. 1966... rising to 6.81% by Dec 66 (but it started falling again in 67)

obviously someone needs to but this into perspective with wages of the day - I have not got the ability to do this

On paper a 3K mortgage at 5.62% rising to 6.81% is more attractive than a 200K mortgage today at something around 2.5/3% rising to say 4.5% - but what it represents as a % of your income comes into play

Strat_a_tat_tat

guitars4you said:

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

professorben said:

guitars4you said:

Plus my dad paid under 3K for his first house in 1966 and could not afford the deposit so borrowed it from his boss

True, but what was the interest rate?

Quick search on Google suggests a mortgage rate of 5.62% in Jan. 1966... rising to 6.81% by Dec 66 (but it started falling again in 67)

obviously someone needs to but this into perspective with wages of the day - I have not got the ability to do this

On paper a 3K mortgage at 5.62% rising to 6.81% is more attractive than a 200K mortgage today at something around 2.5/3% rising to say 4.5% - but what it represents as a % of your income comes into play

Using one of the online historical inflation thingys... suggests £3k in 66 is equivalent to about £53.5k today.

Dave_Mc

thebreeze said:

But it's the contrary, you're trying to rely on long-term cycles and trends - which isn't evidence - it's suggestion.  The actual fact is that the pound has dropped and prices have risen since Brexit - there is only evidence for that.

To be fair, Brexit hasn't actually happened yet, so you could argue that any movement so far, even if due to the Brexit vote, is entirely due to speculation.

guitars4you said:

I would not have a clue and I bet he doesn't know either - I always tell him that at that price he should have brought next door as well - I suppose the thing is, that we can always moan about new price increase etc etc, but if the goods are for keeps, then in years to come the price looks far more attractive, following other future price changes

Not here in NI with the massive housing crash. Far as I can tell house prices are still at about half what they were at the height of the boom. An awful lot of people must be in negative equity. EDIT: Actually now I think of it, maybe less than half.

ToneControl

Dave_Mc said:

I would not have a clue and I bet he doesn't know either - I always tell him that at that price he should have brought next door as well - I suppose the thing is, that we can always moan about new price increase etc etc, but if the goods are for keeps, then in years to come the price looks far more attractive, following other future price changes

Not here in NI with the massive housing crash. Far as I can tell house prices are still at about half what they were at the height of the boom. An awful lot of people must be in negative equity. EDIT: Actually now I think of it, maybe less than half.

I feel very sorry for anyone who got pressured into buying a house in NI during the spectacular bubble
One minute the houses were a bargain compared with most of England, next minute they were more expensive than similar areas of England

jonnyburgo

Ive certainly noticed an increase in second hand prices on here, when my GAS was at its peak a few yrs ago I picked up many Baja Teles on here for £350-£370 and a 1999 SG Standard in case for £500, in fact for a while that was the going rate on here for a standard. I noticed that the Squier VM jazz and Jags were £240 brand new in the shops a few yrs ago now they are £100 more.

vale

jonnyburgo said:

I noticed that the Squier VM jazz and Jags were £240 brand new in the shops a few yrs ago now they are £100 more.

same as.

i had £200 max for something offset a couple of years ago. vms were £250ish so i thought i'd give it a couple of months to save up a bit more & to see if any offers turned up to help me make the difference.
they then jumped up to £280. six months later broke £300. & now £360.
my maths is horrendous but that's almost 50% increase in two/three years. way over inflation, exchange rates, oil prices and all the usual excuses.

part of me wonders whether they have just deliberately pumped the price on them to increase their margins on less sales & thrown the new cheap offsets into the pool for the pocket money minnows like me.

jonnyburgo

I think they thought "oh-oh, these are flying out the door,maybe they're too cheap"

Flanging_Fred

There can't be many people on this forum that don't own a guitar/amp/pedals etc.  Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping (me included) and spend a bit more time getting the best out of what we already own. I don't think the price of doing that has risen too much recently

Some self imposed limits can lead to innovation and creativity apparently. I'll have to try it one day...

(dons body armour and runs for cover...)

Musicman20

richardhomer said:

My local chippy has raised the price of a small portion of chips by 20p recently - a 13.3% increase! 

Last time I was in, he told me he'd just ordered a Private Stock PRS - so at least he's supporting the guitar trade....

Seriously?! Jesus I'm in the wrong career.

darthed1981

Flanging_Fred said:

There can't be many people on this forum that don't own a guitar/amp/pedals etc.  Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping (me included) and spend a bit more time getting the best out of what we already own. I don't think the price of doing that has risen too much recently

Some self imposed limits can lead to innovation and creativity apparently. I'll have to try it one day...

(dons body armour and runs for cover...)

I find myself thinking this all the time bro

Dave_Mc

ToneControl said:

Dave_Mc said:

I would not have a clue and I bet he doesn't know either - I always tell him that at that price he should have brought next door as well - I suppose the thing is, that we can always moan about new price increase etc etc, but if the goods are for keeps, then in years to come the price looks far more attractive, following other future price changes

Not here in NI with the massive housing crash. Far as I can tell house prices are still at about half what they were at the height of the boom. An awful lot of people must be in negative equity. EDIT: Actually now I think of it, maybe less than half.

I feel very sorry for anyone who got pressured into buying a house in NI during the spectacular bubble
One minute the houses were a bargain compared with most of England, next minute they were more expensive than similar areas of England

Yeah. Luckily enough I wasn't in a position to buy at the height of the boom*, and my parents moved just before it started. But some people must be like a couple of hundred grand in negative equity, which is awful. I know in our estate a house sold recently, and its asking price was probably less than half of what it would have been at the height of the boom. And I don't even know if they achieved the asking price (I'd doubt it, since another house, which when originally sold was worth a good bit more, was on the market for the same amount).

I also am a bit mystified at what you mean by "similar areas of England"? Is there any part of England as crap as NI?

That was arguably the most bewildering part of the boom- estate agents and developers were selling houses in developments here for, say, £300k, saying that's what you'd pay in London.

I mean, what? Who in their right mind would pick NI over London? And not even Belfast, I mean out in the sticks.

Crazy.



* I definitely thought they were too dear at the time, as did my parents etc., and we seemed to be some of the few people saying prices were crazy, but at the same time if you start thinking, "If I don't get on the ladder now I may never get on..." you don't know what you might do, so I consider myself pretty lucky that it wasn't an option. I like to think/hope I wouldn't have been sucked in, but you never know. And hindsight's 20/20, after all.

Also, the line, that would have been funny were it not so serious since it probably persuaded a lot of people to buy, that a lot of people were using (in a suitably patronising tone) was, "They're not making land any more, don't you know? That's why it's a good investment and prices can't fall!"

I mean, I suppose that's technically true, but at the same time I think people might have been aware of that before the boom started circa 1998 or so. Why all of a sudden people realised that (since apparently that was the sole cause of the boom) was never adequately explained...

Flanging_Fred said:

There can't be many people on this forum that don't own a guitar/amp/pedals etc.  Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping (me included) and spend a bit more time getting the best out of what we already own. I don't think the price of doing that has risen too much recently

Some self imposed limits can lead to innovation and creativity apparently. I'll have to try it one day...

(dons body armour and runs for cover...)

I'd rather stop being sexist.

ToneControl

Dave_Mc said:

I also am a bit mystified at what you mean by "similar areas of England"? Is there any part of England as crap as NI?

That was arguably the most bewildering part of the boom- estate agents and developers were selling houses in developments here for, say, £300k, saying that's what you'd pay in London.

I mean, what? Who in their right mind would pick NI over London? And not even Belfast, I mean out in the sticks.

Crazy.

I'm not sure what fuelled it in NI. Perhaps expats panicking about getting somewhere back home, or people just speculating

Anyway, yes there are parts of England worse then any part of NI I have seen

Dave_Mc

I think probably a combination of being sort of close and linked in with the ROI property market (much more so than the rest of the UK- both in terms of the people buying and the people lending), and they had a similar bubble which sort of affected us too, too easy credit, a lot of buying to let and sort of going crazy about the ceasefire and forgetting that just because we (allegedly) have peace that doesn't mean it's as attractive (in terms of price of housing, I mean) a place to live as somewhere which has never had terrorism.

Probably some other reasons, too.

And wow

I mean I could be wrong but I seem to remember at one point Northern Ireland had the most expensive property in the UK outside of London (and was getting pretty close to parity with London I think). Which is crazy- I know I was being slightly facetious about the "is anywhere in England as crap as NI?" but I'd say I'd much prefer to live in most parts of England rather than here. Apart from anything else you're kind of closer to somewhere decent even if exactly where you are isn't all that great.

Neil

Flanging_Fred said:

There can't be many people on this forum that don't own a guitar/amp/pedals etc.  Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping (me included) and spend a bit more time getting the best out of what we already own. I don't think the price of doing that has risen too much recently

Some self imposed limits can lead to innovation and creativity apparently. I'll have to try it one day...

(dons body armour and runs for cover...)

Wise words.

Although I love looking at gear and have seriously thought about buying more, I have four guitars and three amps and only play at home!

Flanging_Fred

Neil said:

Flanging_Fred said:

There can't be many people on this forum that don't own a guitar/amp/pedals etc.  Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping (me included) and spend a bit more time getting the best out of what we already own. I don't think the price of doing that has risen too much recently

Some self imposed limits can lead to innovation and creativity apparently. I'll have to try it one day...

(dons body armour and runs for cover...)

Wise words.

Although I love looking at gear and have seriously thought about buying more, I have four guitars and three amps and only play at home!

Totally. I love it too. I feel like I've got the devil on one shoulder whispering in my ear

"oohhh shiney, you don't have one like that, go on go on go on..."

 on the other shoulder is Jimminy Cricket whispering "What the hell do you need that for? You play in a pub covers band, not the O2. Now go and practice some scales and your backing vocals and stop being a dick".

Devil - "SHINEY!"

ToneControl

Dave_Mc said:

I think probably a combination of being sort of close and linked in with the ROI property market (much more so than the rest of the UK- both in terms of the people buying and the people lending), and they had a similar bubble which sort of affected us too, too easy credit, a lot of buying to let and sort of going crazy about the ceasefire and forgetting that just because we (allegedly) have peace that doesn't mean it's as attractive (in terms of price of housing, I mean) a place to live as somewhere which has never had terrorism.

Probably some other reasons, too.

And wow

I mean I could be wrong but I seem to remember at one point Northern Ireland had the most expensive property in the UK outside of London (and was getting pretty close to parity with London I think). Which is crazy- I know I was being slightly facetious about the "is anywhere in England as crap as NI?" but I'd say I'd much prefer to live in most parts of England rather than here. Apart from anything else you're kind of closer to somewhere decent even if exactly where you are isn't all that great.

I thought about having a holiday home in NI for family reasons, but to be honest, I can't convince myself that sectarianism has gone away enough.

There are of course lovely bits of NI
My impression is that the poshest bits of England and the Roughest bits of England are beyond what you'd find in NI

Dave_Mc

^ Yeah. If I didn't live here already I wouldn't pick it, kind of thing.

And yeah I strongly suspect that's true, it seems to be a lot more egalitarian here. We don't seem to really have an upper class like England does. I've not really been to any of the rougher bits in England but I sort of suspect that's true as well.

vale

Flanging_Fred said:

There can't be many people on this forum that don't own a guitar/amp/pedals etc.  Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping (me included) and spend a bit more time getting the best out of what we already own. I don't think the price of doing that has risen too much recently

Some self imposed limits can lead to innovation and creativity apparently. I'll have to try it one day...

(dons body armour and runs for cover...)

i've actually only got 1 guitar (& 1 bass) & 1 amp (not even a practice amp).
i also have a little vintage teisco which has no pickups that i just use for playing around on when i am in bed. because if i fall asleep & it ends up on the floor it is kind of unbreakable.

i was just after a modestly priced guitar for potential gigging. my main guitar, while not valuable, has been custom made/adapted to my needs & would be hard to replace, so it never goes out of the house. anyway, i ended up buying a cheap jagmaster, then band offer evapourated, so i sold it to get some cash to get into daw. so back to 1.
i actually really like only having one (asd may be a factor, always wanting the same). & i very much agree with your point that time spent shopping & fussing is time spent not playing. though obvs can't play all the time.

as for "Maybe we should all stop being a bunch of girls worrying about going shopping"
biologically impossible i'm happy to say. & i hate shopping.

ToneControl

Dave_Mc said:

^ Yeah. If I didn't live here already I wouldn't pick it, kind of thing.

And yeah I strongly suspect that's true, it seems to be a lot more egalitarian here. We don't seem to really have an upper class like England does. I've not really been to any of the rougher bits in England but I sort of suspect that's true as well.

what great about NI is that someone with a basic factory job can (or could) build themselves a lovely massive bungalow in the sticks. The quality of life can be great. The house my wife's cousin built for £300k was amazing, would cost £3m+ anywhere similar near me in England

I wish people could just build one-off houses in fields in England, and spread people out more