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hmmm, they tend to have the potential as investments, besides being played, so why not take advantage of it. I remember buying a used late sixties L5CES in about 1982 playing it extensively for over a decade and selling it for 2.5x of the price I paid for it.
Originally Posted by deacon Mark
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07-16-2026 02:07 PM
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I have tracked the value of my three genuine D'Angelicos from when I bought them. Adjusted for inflation, they have lost value over the last 10 years. They are all non-cutaway. I suspect that the demand for cutaway DA's may have been higher. I still enjoy playing them so it is all good. Originally Posted by bluejaybill
Fully agree that a refinished vintage guitar has less value than one with an original finish.
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Quite a bit of that price increase was due to inflation, but some was due to increased demand from boomers who had gotten old enough to have the disposable income they lacked in their younger days. That generation is no longer looking to buy L-5's and Super 400's. How many folks in the generations that followed are after those guitars? Originally Posted by JazzNote
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In the last 10 years I've noticed non cuts increase in value by quite a bit in comparison to cutaways which have been static for over 30 yrs. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
I was until I got my hands on the neck... nut was about as wide as a banjo nut but with 2 extra strings crammed in there. Truly bizarre specs on the S400 I played.
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Seems to me I've been seeing a lot more vintage archtops show up at Guitar Center and Sweetwater lately - not to mention Good Will, etc. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
Kalamazoo Archtop 1947 Acoustic Jazz Guitar by Gibson | ShopGoodwill.com
Vintage Gibson Es-125 Archtop Hollow Body Electric Guitar with Case | ShopGoodwill.com
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I am. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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I'm in that age group. I have just this year completed my clutch. I'm still looking - but not to buy.........I think. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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The newer generations also have it tough. I dont know how any young person can find the cash for a home anymore. Its insane.
10K guitars dont fit the current economic model very well.
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Let’s put that into perspective. An investment doubles every 10 years at 7% return and doubles every 7 years at 10%. In 1982, the prime rate averaged about 15%, and it fell to “only” 10% by 1990. So if you’d have bought a simple bank CD with the money, you’d have gotten twice the return on it that you got on the guitar. Toss in the costs of ownership (maintenance, repair, insurance, etc) and it really wasn’t a very good investment. Originally Posted by JazzNote
Even today, you can get 5% on a good CD and make twice that from the best index based retirement funds. The volatility of conservative investments is no worse than that of the guitar market. Even better, you don’t have to deal with difficult buyers and wait months to cash in your investment.
I’m not advocating that we stop buying guitars. By all means, tell your spouses and SOs what they cost and how much we got. But let’s be honest with ourselves - most guitars of any kind are not great investments.
This supports what I’m saying. You know that whoever sells a guitar to GC loses serious money on it. Giving it to GW etc nets you nothing but a small discount on your taxes. Originally Posted by Mick-7
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Excellent news! My wife is going to need someone to buy my guitars when I kick the bucket. Originally Posted by 58flame
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Guitar Center basically buys used gear at half of their sell price. Consider that “market value” and the markup is ease of return. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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If you trade in with them they typically give you 10% off the price of what you’re buying, and then sales tax is only on that price minus the trade-in amount. That plus the convenience of Originally Posted by AllanAllen
them being willing to buy anything on the spot, and it’s actually not as bad a deal as it seems, especially if you’re in a hurry to unload something that might be difficult to sell otherwise.
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This is a guitar investment. I had a student I taught religion and confirmation to a number of years ago. He played guitar a little was leaning. He was most impressed with my jazz chops and he could not get over how I could move around on the guitar so well. He grew up went finished high school and could sing and accompany himself on the guitar playing pop stuff. He bought a nice Taylor flattop to gig with and now plays about 25 nights out of 30 in a month all over. He does well and earns a decent living.
The investment was a guitar just to get him on stage each night and sing a play. He could not play his way through Green Dolphin Street at least in most respects, but his Taylor guitar is paying dividends of investment. He has always wanted to take some lesson from me but right now he is too busy. Blowing through Green Dolphin Street won't pay any bills.
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As the saying goes, there's no money above the 5th fret; and also little money playing jazz. Most pro jazz musicians seem to make most of their living teaching wannabes like me. My current band plays jazz-adjacent pop/R&B/etc., and it's way easier to book a gig than for any jazz stuff I've ever done.
I think that rare and great guitars will usually hold value in dollar amount (not necessarily after inflation). A 1945 D'Angelico is never going to devalue to $500 unless some catastrophic world event happens that destroys the global economy altogether. But a $500 Ibanez might do everything that someone wants. And I see an increase in solidbody/non-archtop guitars in the hands of gigging pros playing jazz.
Middle-value guitars face competition from cheaper new instruments that are much better quality than cheap instruments used to be. I had a Squier Affinity Tele that was a very good guitar and was $189 new about 15 years ago. Played it for 14 years and really didn't need another Tele (not that lack of need stopped me...
). Bands are touring with instruments like this instead of taking the 1952 Tele on the road. Yesterday I stopped into the local Guitar Center to get something and of course putzed around with a few guitars. I found a J Mascis Jazzmaster (Squier) that felt great and sounded very good for well under $1000; a US Fender Strat for $850 that was better by a long shot than the reissue '61 Strat for nearly $3000. Both of those had even had a decent setup done- shocking at GC from my experience.
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Reality check: Guitar prices are down across the board over at least the last year and maybe longer, after a significant pandemic jump. For numerous macro reasons. Obviously some guitar brands, types and price levels more than others. And of course there may be exceptions. But that is the big picture. The one example I am most familiar with right now is Gibson Les Paul Standards, old, new, Custom Shop, regular run, etc. It is now very much a buyer's market.
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why ANYONE would buy any guitar new is beyond me.
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I'll leave it to experts in the used and vintage instrument markets to weigh in on whether an apocalypse in guitar values has started. And I only watched part of the video, so I can't comment on whether this situation applies here. But I wouldn't find it shocking if - after a sustained run-up in a product such as high end guitars - a dealer that might benefit from consignments or securing cheaper inventory from panic sales suggests that values may be starting a "permanent" or long-term plunge and that people holding the product should sell theirs quickly (and with lower proceeds expectations) before market conditions head into the abyss. Originally Posted by Litterick
On the other hand, I might be inferring too much from other posts in this thread and the title and first part of the video. For all I know, maybe his message is that if you're interested in buying an archtop or vintage guitar it might be wise to delay the gratification for a little while and hold out for upcoming buying opportunities.
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A lot of people on The Gear Page are angry with him, but he runs a guitar store and he speaks from experience. The boomers are selling their guitars, in increasing numbers. Ten years ago, the number was not significant, but now the youngest boomer is 62, and you can't take your guitars with you. Originally Posted by bluejaybill
The people on TGP are in denial. Not only is supply increasing, but demand is decreasing: young people are not interested in old guitars. They have no emotional connexion with guitars that were made before their parents were born. In any case, they cannot afford old guitars and do not have the space to store them.
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Those who claim archtop guitar prices will not decline must reckon with the reality of the general decline in the prices of middling collectibles, those between art and baseball cards. Prices of wine, whiskey and watches in their secondary markets have all fallen since the pandemic. Vintage cars are less desirable and the market for antique china, glassware and furniture has collapsed. Why should old guitars be any different?
Ah yes but, you might say, guitars can be played. But so can all those pianos that are being given away. If you want to learn guitar, you can buy one new or secondhand. You can buy the same models as the vintage guitars. What will save the vintage market from the same fate as the other things that middle-aged men collected?
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Guitar was king. It started with young players, garage bands, big guitar bands.
In a lot of young peoples music there is guitar but its not the king it once was.
It probably a cycle but it isnt driving as many people to play.
Meanwhile, the US and Asia continue to crank out more guitars.
I wish I was middle age!
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Being 69 years old and having bought and sold guitars since age13, Lol! I never cared or thought about collector value.
I really should have, with some of the valuable Gibsons and Fenders I,ve owned over the years.
To me, Gibson Archtops always represented the highest pinnacle of guitar making. Especially pre Norlin era ones.
You could also add D’Angelico and D’Aquisto in that group as well.
And aside from the fabled Sunburst Les Paul from the late 1950’s and some very weird shapes from back then as well. I never thought about values.
I always thought of these as tools of the trade primarily,and a few peoples passions. In fact I will be glad when the collectors and non musicians find another $$$$$ interest.
But they better hurry,cause I haven’t much time left,Lol!
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Bucky played into his 90s, for example... Originally Posted by jads57
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I have always thought of guitars as tools myself, but at some point in the last 20 years, I began to think that they might be better than cash, investment wise, and for awhile, the right guitars (iconic Fender, Gibson and Martin models) were in fact, better than cash in the bank. But I think that day has passed. Originally Posted by jads57
I will turn 69 in a few months and I do not see adding any more guitars to the 18 that I own at present. At the most, my guitars may be worth about 120K altogether, though I think if I sold all of them, I would probably net around 90K, which is more than I paid for them. Even if the values were to go down to 25 % of current value, my loss would still be less than what I would lose over time if I bought a nice new car, and my enjoyment of the instruments has been priceless, so it is all good. I have pretty much had every model of guitar and amp that I have ever wanted.
At some point, I may trim the herd just to reduce the amount of time spent looking after them, but that point ain't today.
I have a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that I bought new for $7500 in 1983. In 1997, when Harleys were in super high demand, a guy offered me 10K to sell it to him. At the time, I was mostly riding a 1996 Harley that I bought new for $10,000, so I could have recouped the purchase price of the new bike by selling the older one. But that 83 Harley was my first new Harley and I had ridden it to Alaska (among other cool places) and with all of the memories of the many trips done on that bike, it had become family. Today, that bike is probably worth about 5K and if you factor in inflation, that means it is now worth about 25% of what I was offered in 1997. Do I have any regrets about not selling back then? No. I have enjoyed owning that bike since I bought it and I continue to enjoy ownership of it.
Obsessing over the value of your stuff is a surefire way to stop enjoying your stuff. One day, we will all die and our stuff will be sold, donated or given away (mostly). Enjoy your stuff while you can. Life is short and the grim reaper is waiting.
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^^^^ +100
If you want a guitar and you can afford it my suggestion is to buy it. You can wait forever for imagined bargains but you wont live forever. Im not sure Im optimistic enough to view every day as a gift but every day playing a great instrument is for sure
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Dampening a carved top for thunk I think
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