So another thread on here got me searching into the vintage market, and I saw an article about how all the really sought after expensive stuff basically becomes investment pieces, they're bought by someone to sit on for a few years, and then sell on, presumably to another person that sits on it for a few years and sells it on, and so on and so on.
I understand this is how stocks and trading works, but with a guitar, you have this situation where people keeping buying this same guitar over and over with the hypothetical idea that eventually it'll be sold to someone who actually wants the guitar for the guitar, but that may never happen because the guitar becomes too valuable to just write off, hence the guitar effectively becomes meaningless, it's just a stock, despite also having so much meaning that made it so desirable in the first place.
It's quite a strange paradox, and at the end what's the point of it all? Theoretically this guitar can keep being sold from person to person who doesn't even care about it and just puts it in storage, and it's price can keep going up, despite no one with an actual interest in the guitar itself, wanting to buy it.
Discuss.
Comments
Stocks go up and down depending on company performance or expected performance. It's not just speculation like the price on a vintage item. There's also dividends in some cases.
The point is having something you can drop your money into where it might grow in a somewhat risk-free and reliable way. Same as paintings - nobody's hanging their Monet in their living room. For the latter you can lend them to museums and then the museums pay the insurance and storage of it. Isn't it great being rich?
There are plenty of guitars lying around unused all over the world be it vintage, modern, cheap, expensive etc. Those with severe GAS end up with more guitars than they have time to play for example.
The definition of a commodity market is one where the buyer rather than the seller defines the price.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Yet equally in the last few weeks, I've sold an early 60's Epi Olympic and an early 60's Gibson 330, granted both 'molestered' so players grade, but both went to players in their 20's and both purchased them to play
One thing I can guarantee is that the supply of vintage guitars is not increasing - No one is making any more of these genuine vintage pieces (Excluding fakes of course)
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
By then you'll have kids so you won't have the money. Buy guitars now while you can.
The broad 'vintage' market may still offer good investment potential for a decade or so, (assuming global economic stability), but beyond that, I think it's pretty risky.
As they do, some nostalgia will kick in, but they will discover older music, gain disposable income, and a share will get into vintage.
I doubt today’s antiques nuts we’re into antiques when they were 18.
That said, I’m about to sell a vintage guitar, so it’s understandable that I’d marshal an argument in favour of price maintenance....