FEATURE
the good out of this is that it will make it easier to do business from an operating capital
standpoint, because I don’t have to go spend
$50,000 for a maple-necked Strat. It’s hard at
first, but once it readjusts itself, I think we’re
going to be okay.”
the good out of this is that it will make it eas
don’t want to reduce their prices because that
shows that everything is negotiable again.”
don’t want to reduce their prices because that
The Future
Of course, the laws of supply and demand,
and the dealer mantra of rotating stock, regularly tell us that these reluctant holdouts can’t
last long. So, does that mean we’re now looking at an unparalleled buyer’s market in the
vintage world? Once again, the answer likely
depends on where you sit. If you’re buying
vintage guitars as a straight investment (as a
money-making proposition), it may be wise to
keep an eye on that piece you’ve been waiting for a little longer, until dealers start adjusting prices downward even more to get pieces
moving again. “We’ve still got guitars out at
prices from a year ago that aren’t selling, so
I think we’re going to reduce prices on our
vintage stuff to make it happen,” says Rogers.
“Everybody is going to do that until they start
selling and until we find that happy medium.”
and refins and repaired guitars are once again
viable, affordable options for guitarists needing a “player” they can actually use. “Pricing
is down across a lot of sectors of the market,
and for the first time in a long time, musicians
are buying gear again,” says Kevin Borden.
That adjustment has taken longer for
some dealers than others. Like homeown-ers realizing their $400,000 mortgage is
now only worth $290,000, some dealers
are reluctant to realize a huge drop in
the value of their assets. It’s resulted in a
kind of pricing paralysis by some retailers,
and it has manifested itself into a waiting
game between buyers and sellers that has
muddled signs of a bottom.
It’s the fact that musicians are actually returning to market that gives many dealers hope
for the future. The passion is returning, and
another generation of buyers can now have
access to it. “It’s a great time to buy a guitar
right now, the best time I’ve seen in 20 years,”
says Jim Singleton. “With so many of them on
the market, you can pick through them, find
the best one and still get a good price.”
“A lot of the dealers are still asking prices that
maybe would have sold two years ago, but
nobody’s buying today,” says Zachary Fjestad
of Blue Book Publications and PG’s “Trash or
Treasure” column. “I think a lot of the dealers
got pretty far in. They never thought there
was going to be a market correction, and they
That said, players who have a real love for the
instrument but found themselves locked out of
the market in the past few years will find this
an excellent time to take that step back into
the vintage market. Depending on your guitar
of choice, bargains abound: good Juniors
and SGs are underpriced; Stratocasters and
Telecasters are back within reach of players;
“I think it’s great. People are loving it, and
we’re having a good time too, because now
we can go to a show and buy things at a fair
price and sell it at a fair price and everybody
walks away happy,” says Rumbleseat’s Eliot
Michaels a few days following the Chicago
show, when asked about his impressions of
the post-correction market. “We used to go
to guitar shows with exorbitant amounts of
money and walk away with one or two guitars.
Now we can go to a show with a small wallet
of money and walk away with a lot of guitars,
and actually be able to sell them to people.
Everybody’s happy.”
Jimmy Wallace
