Some brands are famous for holding their value. Martin is a stand-out: you see three-year-old second-hand Martins being advertised for 90% of the new price, and very likely selling close to that mark. A 10-year-old Martin in only decent shape still sells for a lot of money. Gibsons too - you won't pick up a J-45 or an SJ-200 cheap unless it's broken, and enen then you'll stil pay overs. So if you are buying with an eye to selling one day, those brands make some sense - until you remember that you are paying overs for the name in the first place and you could probably buy more guitar for less money by looking at some other brands.
But what about the reverse?
Suppose you just want to buy the best guitar you can get for £1000 or £1500
We saw in this thread -
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/224678/lakewood-m32cp - that Lakewood guitars don't sell for much second-hand (and these are very fine instruments of first-rate quality). Another thread a month or so back bemoaned the resale price of Larrivees - now there is another quality make. Over here in Oz I have been eying a beautiful Breedlove guitar at one of my favourite retailers on offer at a less than I reckon it's worth, and not getting any buyers. Another example: I paid $3000 for my (then) 9-month-old Mineur, a lovely single-luthier guitar it would have cost me close to $6000 to order new.
So let's make a list: Which top-quality guitars tend to be second-hand bargains? I'll start:
* Any used single-luthier guitar (except for a handful of very famous makers). THese tend to be the best bargains of all.
* Lakewood
* Larivee
* .........
over to you....
Comments
Which guitars are SECOND-HAND bargains? Or, putting it the other way about, which guitars are high-quality instruments but have poor resale value?
(I was about to post a link to that Breedlove I mentioned earlier in the thread (which would be old enough to come before the quality slip you mention) but it seems to have sold at last. (Either that or the owner got bored waiting and took it off consignment.)
I paid £500 for a new E1-OM, just sold it for £375 - that is stonking value for money IMO, all solid woods, played really well and sounded fantastic.
Incredible value.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Prices are still at stupid levels even though stock levels of new instruments are improving.
Anything European without the daft kudos attached.
never played a Tak that hasnt needed to be strummed like popye with a pick like a paving slab to get any response out of it - that was quite a while ago mind you
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.