The State of the Vintage Guitar Market
Written by vintage on July 28, 2010 – 3:08 am -On Location at the 2008 Arlington Guitar Show and Auction. While on the floor in Arlington, we decided to get the dope straight from the dealers. In this segment, we tackled vintage guitar market questions and concerns with several dealers and buyers. What I take from these interviews is that there is still a promising financial future in investing in vintage guitars. As has always been the case, some guitars will appreciate in value more than others. Now might be a good time to buy while prices are down if you are willing to hold onto the guitar for a while. Read More →
Tags: investing in vintage guitars, Vintage Guitars
Posted in ES, Fender, Gibson, Guitar News, Les Paul, SG, Stratocster, Telecaster, Vintage Acoustic Guitars, Vintage Bass Guitars, Vintage Electric Guitars, Vintage Guitars | No Comments »
Tips on Collecting Hall of Fame Vintage Guitars
Written by vintage on June 12, 2010 – 4:58 pm -Ever thought that a guitar might be a more reliable investment than the stock market? Vintage guitars are becoming a hot item in the collectibles market, and there are few icons more recognizable to Americans than a rock star and his guitar. While a few months' savings might have bought a guitar in the 1960s, some of those instruments are selling for big bucks today. Recently, George Harrison's guitar sold for a little under six hundred thousand dollars, for instance. Eric Clapton's favorite Stratocaster from the 1970s, Blackie, sold for nearly a million. While celebrity collectibles have been a good investment for years, guitars themselves have largely been overlooked. However, the guitar was perfected between the 1930s and the 1960s, depending... more
Tags: fender jazzmaster, fender stratocaster, fender vintage guitars, gibson acoustic guitars, gibson es-335, investing in vintage guitars, les paul, martin acoustic guitars, vintage fender stratocaster, vintage gretsch guitars
Posted in ES, Fender Bass, Gibson, Gretsch, Les Paul, Martin, Rickenbacker, Stratocster, Telecaster, Vintage Acoustic Guitars, Vintage Bass Guitars, Vintage Electric Guitars, Vintage Guitars | No Comments »
Vintage Rock ‘n’ Roll guitars offer 500% appreciation
Written by vintage on March 23, 2010 – 4:55 am -These items cherished by rock gods of past decades are big business If I asked you to guess an investment that can give you 500% appreciation of six months, what would it be? I'll bet that guitars wouldn't be your first response. In the forty years since Jimi Hendrix played his white Fender Stratocaster before a 500,000 people at Woodstock, guitars are now firmly established as collectible items. Such legendary events have led thousands of enthusiasts to seek out vintage Fender Stratocasters from the 1970s. A late '60s Strat', then worth a couple of hundred dollars, can today sell for as much as $30,000. Other items, like a '60s Gibson Les Paul Jr., can appreciate by an incredible 500% after six months of ownership. And the best news is,... more
Tags: fender stratocaster, fender vintage guitars, gibson les paul, investing in vintage guitars, investments, jimi hendrix, vintage fender stratocaster, vintage gibson guitars, vintage gretsch guitars, Vintage Guitars
Posted in ES, Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, Les Paul, SG, Stratocster, Vintage Electric Guitars, Vintage Guitars | No Comments »
GIBSON CUSTOM LES PAUL AXCESS STANDARD REVIEW
Written by vintage on January 8, 2010 – 5:58 am -This is one of those guitars that gets under your skin very quickly and is prone to making you forget your previous favorites! Gibson Custom did an extremely good job with Les Paul Axcess Standard. A phrase “words are not enough to describe it” suits this instrument well. Les Paul Axcess Standard features: Les paul style body with Weight relieved mahogany back with belly scarf Carved mapleneck top with 1-piece set mahogany neck and Rounded with contoured heel cut neck profile Rosewood fretboard 22 no. of frets Pearloid trapezoid neck inlays hardware Klusonelectronics tuners pickups: Burstbucker 1 neck with Burstbucker 2 bridge Guitar features are a very important aspect to evaluate when buying a new instrument, and that is just what Gibson... more
Tags: electric guitar, gibson les paul, les paul, vintage gibson guitars, Vintage Guitars
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Gibson Custom Shop Announces the Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul
Written by vintage on December 29, 2009 – 12:03 am -Every musician knows that late ’50s Sunburst Les Paul Standards are hard enough to come by as it is. Obtaining a pristine and exemplary ’59 ’Burst and modifying it for heightened performance and vastly expanded tonal options? Unheard of… unless, of course, you’re Jimmy Page. That’s exactly what the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, perhaps the world’s most iconic Les Paul player, did with his own ’59 Les Paul Standard, and now—thanks to the extreme efforts of Gibson’s Custom Shop and the intimate cooperation of Jimmy Page himself—the artist’s hallowed “Number Two” Les Paul is available to mere mortals, in the form of the Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul. Produced in strictly limited numbers, with two... more
Tags: electric guitar, gibson les paul, vintage gibson guitars, vintage guitar, Vintage Guitars
Posted in Gibson, Les Paul, Vintage Electric Guitars | 1 Comment »
Gold, silver and vintage guitars are best sellers at Treasurer Hunters Roadshow
Written by vintage on October 27, 2009 – 4:22 pm -By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer, Middletown Journal For some people, selling goods at the Treasure Hunters Roadshow in Middletown has been music to their ears — particularly if the good was a guitar. The Roadshow, which evaluates valuables and antiques, has been at the Manchester Inn since Tuesday; today, Oct. 24, is its last day. Many items, even if they’re antiques, haven’t been fetching high prices in the weak economy, said Greg Taylor, a manager at the Middletown show. However, gold, silver and guitars are the exceptions. “Gold and silver prices are so high, and with vintage guitars, the wood they used can’t be reproduced today,” Taylor said. For example, earlier this week in Middletown, someone brought in a Gibson ES 330 from... more
Tags: electric guitar, fender stratocaster, fender vintage guitars, financial investments, gibson es-335, investing in vintage guitars, investments, vintage gibson guitars, vintage guitar, Vintage Guitars
Posted in ES, Fender, Fender Bass, Gibson, Gibson, Gretsch, Guild, Guitar News, Ibanez, Les Paul, Martin, SG, Vintage Acoustic Guitars, Vintage Bass Guitars, Vintage Electric Guitars, Vintage Guitars | No Comments »
Vintage Guitar Market Out Performs Wall Street
Written by vintage on October 16, 2009 – 4:35 pm -In April of 2007 the Vintage Guitar market saw gains in value of over 50%. Yes this was a bumper year with gains above the norm, but gains in value have been happening for the last 30 years and have never gone backwards. Vintage Guitar magazine the market bible on all things Vintage Guitar, developed the "The 42-Guitar Index" in 1991. It tracks the ongoing values of excellent condition original pre-1970 Gibson, Fender and Martin guitars. Pre 70's because those instruments are the most valuable, however guitars from after 1970 are starting to rise steadily. The average value of an instrument in their index for 2007 is a very healthy $19,706, and that represents a staggering 438% increase since 1991. This equates to an average of 27% compounded... more
Tags: fender stratocaster, fender vintage guitars, financial investments, gibson acoustic guitars, gibson les paul, investing in vintage guitars, investments, vintage ibanez guitars
Posted in ES, Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, Guitar News, Les Paul, SG, Stratocster, Vintage Electric Guitars, Vintage Guitars | No Comments »
Gibson Les Paul Junior
Written by vintage on September 23, 2009 – 7:46 pm -The Les Paul Junior is a cheaper version of Gibson’s iconic Les Paul. It was introduced in 1954 at a budget price of less than $50. Like other Les Paul models the Junior is made of mahogany and has a mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard. These are the only materials used for the construction of the guitars, unlike the other Les Paul models, also available in maple. It was designed as an entry-level model for younger players who couldn’t afford a Les Paul but still wanted a high quality Gibson model. The original versions had single cutaway bodies, but there was a double cutaway version available from 1958. The body is the same shape as the Les Paul, but with different finishes, including TV Yellow and cherry red. The Gibson finish TV Yellow... more
Tags: gibson les paul, les paul, vintage gibson guitars
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Gibson Les Paul: A Financial Investment?
Written by vintage on August 25, 2009 – 3:41 am -By Jonathan Starkey Washington Post Staff Writer Gil Hembree was 20 years old and working the counter at Kitt's Music on G Street NW when he spotted a 1962 Gibson catalogue featuring the music-making duo of Les Paul and Mary Ford. It wasn't the couple that caught his attention but rather the guitar slung over Paul's shoulder: an original-style, single-cutaway Gibson Les Paul model with a gold finish. That was 1966. Soon after, Hembree saw an Evening Star classified ad for a 1952 Gibson Goldtop Les Paul. He paid $100 to a country-music fan in the Maryland suburbs. Hembree later sold it to a musician for $400, booking a profit he used to help cover tuition at American University, where he studied accounting. "He had no idea, and I didn't really... more
Tags: 1958 Gibson les paul, gibson les paul, vintage gibson guitars, Vintage Guitars
Posted in Gibson, Les Paul, Vintage Electric Guitars | No Comments »
