ksdaddy Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I think all the vintage guitars that got sold to buyers in Japan are coming back. And with prices twice as high as what they normally sell for here. No clue what's going on but they sure are putting the screws to us. It's not uncommon for them to be asking $3000 for an L-48 that should sell for $800 here. Free market, I know, but there will be dealers here in the US that will follow suit. Trust me. They will. I guess if people are stupid enough to pay those prices, they deserve what they get later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 You speak truth. I predicted things would end badly years ago when the pilfering began. Lots of people disagreed with me then and, I'm sure, will continue to do so now. Sometimes our value system loses out to immediate greed and it always seems to hurt us in the long haul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 It might be getting close to time to sell my 1970 ES-330 :D Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny 6 String Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I think all the vintage guitars that got sold to buyers in Japan are coming back. And with prices twice as high as what they normally sell for here. No clue what's going on but they sure are putting the screws to us. It's not uncommon for them to be asking $3000 for an L-48 that should sell for $800 here. Free market, I know, but there will be dealers here in the US that will follow suit. Trust me. They will. I guess if people are stupid enough to pay those prices, they deserve what they get later on. Truly vintage stuff has for the most part been out of my price range in Canada for sometime now (at least stuff I'm interested in), I'm basically hoping that by the time I'm ready to retire (a couple decades yet probably) that the collectors and hoarders have all past by then and the market will be saturated and I'll be able to pick stuff up without have to trade my retirement fund for it. Johnny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Ha, and this comes hot on the heals of the last fad which was vintage Japanese brand cheapo guitars... they were starting to get really high prices on Ebay for a while like those Teisco guitars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHTom Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I can remember back in the late 80's, there would be a U-Haul parked in front of Manny's or any of the other shops in that area. There would be several Japanese men in suits with note pads and calculators.......... They'd be buying up all the vintage stuff. I was told the same thing was being done with other bits of "Americana" Harleys, etc. Was told they were all ending up on shipping containers bound for Japan and were just being vaulted for investment purposes. Guess it's time to cash in....... NHTom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Ha, and this comes hot on the heals of the last fad which was vintage Japanese brand cheapo guitars... they were starting to get really high prices on Ebay for a while like those Teisco guitars... Oh, yeah - the RARE, VINTAGE, MINTY, NO LONGER AVAILABLE AT KMART, MIJ POS GIBSON COPY. Just goes to show how we can let ourselves get duped on both high and low ends of the spectrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dReit1 Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 There have been a lot of comments about some of the guitars being sold on ebay from Japan on another forum I visit. It seems that the same guitars are being offered by several different sellers, at different prices. The best that I can understand is that someone owns a guitar and posts a local ad to sell it. Someone else takes the picture used in that ad and posts it for sale on eBay at a higher price. If the guitar sells on ebay then the seller goes to the original seller, buys the guitar and then sends it to the ebay buyer. Unfortunately it doesn't always work out. Several people have complained that the ebay sellers never ship the guitar. Or that the guitar is not as described. LOT'S OF PROBLEMS WITH eBay IN JAPAN RIGHT NOW! Beware! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Thanks for that. I hadn't heard about any real problems, but then again I don't do many forums anymore. No chance of me getting in trouble, as I won't be paying $5000 for a $2000 L-7 anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Hey,, is this related at all to what seems to be the latest trend with the 80s / 90s epiphones (MIK) going for almost the price of a new one? They kinda sucked back then, and those builds years, would still suck now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 No offense to present company intended. You can thank the Mom and Pop shops that demand you show your patriotism by buying from them and not the big guys. After about 92 or so when "vintage" guitars became seriously retarded, all the little guys were going to all the shows, along with the usually double, sometimes two double or triple spaces, long tables with stern looking Asian guys in suits sitting there. No matter what time you get there they have some old cases piled under the table. They don't sell, they only buy, only buy before a certain year Fender or Gibson or Martin, and they give you what you ask. So the super studly smart dealers were, as usual, selling to each other, then taking them to the Asian guys and getting a hunnert, hunnert and a half more, and off goes another old guitar. Do that a few times and you can make yer overhead for the show and any Squier or Epiphone you sell after that is pure profit. Win Win! In the mid 2000s, before the Big Crash, there was a couple years there where companies like Music Liquidators and some others were having hotel shows where they'd get a couple ballrooms and advertise WE BUY ANY/ALL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. I went to three of them around here, in AC and west Atlantic City. They were ordinary yanks, guys from shops in various areas of the country that had banded together and pooled their money. They were literally buying anything that came in the door. Behind two tables fronted by guys I knew from Bee3 shows and Philly Phall and stuff were a stack of cases and a couple tasty looking BF Fender objects. I asked if I could take a look at that Pro or whatever it was and he was emphatic about nope, nobody looks at this stuff, it's all going to offshore buyers. Ok, so once people caught on that the Asian guys at the show were just buying it up and putting it all in some underground bunker somewhere the Mom and Pop guys got together and started buying the stuff for them. Nice. So that's why I don't ever go for that Buy From You Local Shop crap. They didn't care who they sold to, I don't care who I buy from as long as I get what I want, and I don't care who goes out of business. Too bad for you. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 So that's why I don't ever go for that Buy From You Local Shop crap. They didn't care who they sold to, I don't care who I buy from as long as I get what I want, and I don't care who goes out of business. Too bad for you. yep,,, with ya all the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 They kinda sucked back then, and those builds years, would still suck now... I disagree. A lot of the Korean Epiphones were well built guitars. I had a mid 90s Korean Sheraton that, after a pickup upgrade, was a monster guitar. Same for the Rivieras and Sorrentos. Were they on par with a Gibson? No and the electronics were meh at best, but just like the Japanese Fenders the craftsmanship was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Perhaps "Sucked" maybe kind of harsh because you are right, the guitars were decent fit and finish wise. the one exception was the gold platting on the hardware on the ones I had, wore off the moment you'd start playing them. But to me, just what you mentioned... That WAS the problem EVOL. It didn't make sense to me to drop 500/600 bucks a Sherry or what ever, then have to invest another 200 or 300 (or what ever) on upgrades to make them "right". So the math says now I have 800+ bucks into a guitar that when I am ready to flip, goes at the market value of all the rest that didn't have the updates. No one was about to pay more than the going price to cover my cost of updates on a resale today's offerings are much better as the hardware and electronics are basically more on a level playing field IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Hey,, is this related at all to what seems to be the latest trend with the 80s / 90s epiphones (MIK) going for almost the price of a new one? They kinda sucked back then, and those builds years, would still suck now... eBay has really fueled the MIK thing. You can get good money for Korean Epis right now. I sold a 1996 Epi Les Paul Translucent for $100 less that you could buy a new one for. The fit and finish on the bodies is great on the Korean ones-IMO generally better than the new ones. The electronics suck, though. The mini pots were awful and sometimes the pickups too (see the first line of my signature below). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 The crappy Korean ones became "desired" after the even crappier Chinese ones started getting around. Sorry to say it, but that's exactly what the internet did, it made previously second rate guitars in to a thing because they became third rate. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 The crappy Korean ones became "desired" after the even crappier Chinese ones started getting around. Sorry to say it, but that's exactly what the internet did, it made previously second rate guitars in to a thing because they became third rate. rct Just wait a few years and the Chinese ones will start going up in value because lots of the cheaper guitar production is going to Indonesia now. Then the Korean ones will be hyped like the Japanese ones are now. Then production will move to Somalia and the Indonesian ones will be more valuable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 You are probably right. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Just wait a few years and the Chinese ones will start going up in value because lots of the cheaper guitar production is going to Indonesia now. Then the Korean ones will be hyped like the Japanese ones are now. Then production will move to Somalia and the Indonesian ones will be more valuable. So sad. American guitars have lost the monopoly on being hyped :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Just wait a few years and the Chinese ones will start going up in value because lots of the cheaper guitar production is going to Indonesia now. Then the Korean ones will be hyped like the Japanese ones are now. Then production will move to Somalia and the Indonesian ones will be more valuable. They do it now, by knowing which aisle of which floor of which factory. Seriously, like it distinguishes one 300 dollar guitar from another. The world has way too many 159 - 459 dollar guitars, they are going to kill it for everybody. Mars didn't just stop selling 90% sub-entry level stuff, they stopped selling everything. When our Mars closed, it wasn't empty at all, the only thing gone was all the good stuff people like me literally stole from them while the same 159 - 459 dollar guitars were still sitting there. GC seems headed same direction again, now using their "new" Mitchell guitars. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Perhaps "Sucked" maybe kind of harsh because you are right, the guitars were decent fit and finish wise. the one exception was the gold platting on the hardware on the ones I had, wore off the moment you'd start playing them. But to me, just what you mentioned... That WAS the problem EVOL. It didn't make sense to me to drop 500/600 bucks a Sherry or what ever, then have to invest another 200 or 300 (or what ever) on upgrades to make them "right". So the math says now I have 800+ bucks into a guitar that when I am ready to flip, goes at the market value of all the rest that didn't have the updates. No one was about to pay more than the going price to cover my cost of updates on a resale today's offerings are much better as the hardware and electronics are basically more on a level playing field IMHO. Good points and it is something I rail against Squier offset junkies about: if you buy brand new, by the time you have upgraded everything you're close to the price of a used USA Fender. Lucky for me I bought my Sheraton used in the late 90s, before the hype machine got out of the garage so I wasn't too deep in that investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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