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Is it just me, or are these prices just......CRAZY?


jaxson50

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I never understood the crazy vintage prices either. I just do not get it. I also do not understand the "vintage reissue" thing either. Why pay $8000.00 for a new reissue when you can shop around and get a pretty close used example for about the same amount of money. Or the reissue stuff that has the aged , relic botched up, wear and tear look with the rusty hardware thing going on that cost even more? I am not into that. No offense if some of you out there do not play enough to actually show signs of use on a guitar but I have practically wore the paint off of a les paul before from just playing it. I thought it looked aweful too. I sold it and a few years later wore out guitars were bringing all of the money. Go figure

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first this, really?

https://reverb.com/i...60-serial-07615

 

 

Second, I could kick myself for not buying one of these in 1972 when the dealers couldn't give them away! These were the ugliest guitars ever!

 

 

https://reverb.com/i...w-1971-mapleglo

 

 

 

https://reverb.com/item/4372943-rickenbacker-331ls-1971-jetglo

 

Well, at least the guy is offering free shipping...

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These specialty stores put crazy prices on guitars but do they actually sell them? Just like high priced guitars on eBay, you see them offered for sale and relisted many times. They are all just waiting for some newbie collector with too much money to come along, believe the hype and buy the over priced guitars...

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I believe this is known as 'trying it on'.....:blink:

 

In western economies for a while now....since circa 2008....savings interest rates have been close to zero

 

So IMO some people hunt around for a 'hedge' in the hope of making a large profit....

 

Just like antiques, vintage cars, paintings, wines, rare old books....

 

If something becomes part of a chain of profit....however seemingly undeserved....

 

People will hype for all it's worth....dry.gif

 

V

 

:-({|=

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When you look at things like this...My link

 

And this..My link

 

I've been having discussions recently about this sort of thing. That someone can spend £2m on a car yet children are starving.

Yet the gap is getting bigger.

I've got nothing against someone spending money like this, but sort the world problems first. Greed is consuming mankind.

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Guest Farnsbarns

I never understood the crazy vintage prices either. I just do not get it. I also do not understand the "vintage reissue" thing either. Why pay $8000.00 for a new reissue when you can shop around and get a pretty close used example for about the same amount of money. Or the reissue stuff that has the aged , relic botched up, wear and tear look with the rusty hardware thing going on that cost even more? I am not into that. No offense if some of you out there do not play enough to actually show signs of use on a guitar but I have practically wore the paint off of a les paul before from just playing it. I thought it looked aweful too. I sold it and a few years later wore out guitars were bringing all of the money. Go figure

 

I love this new trend of passive aggressive advance opinion blocking.

 

"No offense if some of you out there do not play enough to actually show signs of use on a guitar”

 

Completely unnecessary, and how do you start a sentence which is "offensive" in the purest sense of the word with "No offense...".

 

Back on topic. The vintage market prices are insane IMO. I wouldn't buy a reliced guitar but I do see the appeal. I can imagine relicing a cheap guitar myself.

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These specialty stores put crazy prices on guitars but do they actually sell them?...

Well, according to the ad. the Mapleglow has been listed for over two years and counting.....

 

I do get the vintage thing, though. Absolutely. All of it; the originals; the re-issues; the trashed relic'd look; the replications of famous guitars...etc...etc...

 

To me it's not even remotely different from folks hanging-up reprints of, say, Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' or framing an Ansel Adams poster to put on the wall. It's not even much removed from buying any Les Paul / Strat / SG because ClaptonGreenPageKossoffSlashHendrixClaptonagainIommiYoungClaptonagain played one. How many LPs have been sold because of Page's #1? How many Strats because of Hendrix? The R-I's etc. are merely one small step closer to the original than the regular stuff.

 

Hardly anyone can afford an original '58-'60 LP to play or an original by Vincent to stick on the wall so there is a huge market for 'approximations' thereof. I understand that.

 

Pip.

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Sorry; I was a bit off-topic there...

 

As far as the prices of original instruments? Well, yes; they're crazy. But...

 

Back in Dec '79 I bought an all-original '64 Strat. It cost me £217. A few weeks later I was in a music shop in Edinburgh (buying my amp) and there was some mass-excitement thing happening. I asked what all the fuss was about and it turned out one of the staff members had just bought an original Sunburst Les Paul Standard. He paid £3,000 for it. Almost fifteen-times the amount I paid for the Strat! I couldn't believe anyone would be so mad as to pay £3k for a guitar; in my home town that much money could buy a house!

 

Fast-forward to today - and 'do the math';

All-original '64 Strats go from anywhere between £15,000 to £25,000+. The '60 LP in the OP's link is around £240,000. And £240,000 can still buy a house.......

 

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.".

 

Pip.

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If someone will pay it more power to the seller.

It won't be to me.

 

I remember when the vintage guitar craze started (that would make me old) and I'm not so sure I agree with the oldies being better than what's available currently, Richlite aside.

Gibson has always made great guitars and that includes the much maligned Norlin era. You just have to poke around a bit until you find THE one.

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I showed that particular guitar to my wife the other night. She made a sound, shook her head. I said, "Hey, it's free shipping!" She turned, raised her eyebrows, looked at me and said, "No. Just no." I told her I could get essentially a replica with original specs and such as that one for only $8500.00. She said, "No. Just no." We both got a good laugh about it. She then said, "When we win a 200 million dollar lottery, you can get one of those. Two, if you want it." She was supportive of me getting the 2017 Standard because she knew I could afford it and wanted it. I think those kinds of prices are crazy.

 

That being said, I played an R0 a few weeks back and maybe it was just the guitar but I like mine better than I did that one. It was nice and all but I definitely want to play quite a few more of the reissues before choosing one.

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Let me start by saying I love my Les Paul 1958 reissue, I paid $2,900 in 2009, it was a gift to myself for my 40th birthday and I plan to enjoy the guitar for the rest of my life as it is a fantastic playing guitar. For $2,900 I think it is a great investment in my joy, when I am gone the guitar can be sold and recover some of the purchase price.

 

Now, it may seem foolish to pay $285,000 for an original Burst but I would love to have the kind of money where I thought that $285,000 was a great deal. Now, even if I was a millionaire I would not buy one because the guitar would be wasted on me as I am not a great player and frankly I would not want the kind of attention that owning a Burst brings.

 

There are tons of people out there thinking those of us who play Gibsons are fools, why pay the kind of money that a Gibson commands when you can buy an Epiphone? you know what I mean?

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I just do not get it. I also do not understand the "vintage reissue" thing either. Why pay $8000.00 for a new reissue when you can shop around and get a pretty close used example for about the same amount of money. Or the reissue stuff that has the aged , relic botched up, wear and tear look with the rusty hardware thing going on that cost even more? I am not into that. No offense if some of you out there do not play enough to actually show signs of use on a guitar but I have practically wore the paint off of a les paul before from just playing it. I thought it looked aweful too. I sold it and a few years later wore out guitars were bringing all of the money. Go figure

 

In the case of some guitars yes, reissue prices are getting to the point that you could buy an original, not so on Les Pauls, you cannot begin to buy anything from 1954 to 1960 for $8K.

 

My Les Paul reissue is a VOS, at the time the shiny polished version was like $350 more, I really did not what to pay more for a shiny guitar when I am not really careful with the finish of my guitars.

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I remember playing a couple of the Rick's around 72 -73, they were just awful, the top has been routed out to make room for the lights, then a plastic sheet of some sort is screwed on the top. You had to have the control box for the lights plugged in.Inside were different colored light bulbs, depending on your attack the color would change.The tone was none existent. It felt cheap. Those things sat on the rack for years.

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I remember playing a couple of the Rick's around 72 -73, they were just awful, the top has been routed out to make room for the lights, then a plastic sheet of some sort is screwed on the top. You had to have the control box for the lights plugged in.Inside were different colored light bulbs, depending on your attack the color would change.The tone was none existent. It felt cheap. Those things sat on the rack for years.

 

Speaking of Rick's... I've never gotten the gist of ric's myself. A good friend has still a 70s 6 string, it was a dog when he bought it, and now, all these years later, it's still a dog.. Never ever stayed in tune...

 

the bass player in a previous band had a newish 12 360 or something, He let me take it home for a few weeks as he wasn't using it much I found the string spacing for the pairs were just about impossible for me to do any articulate picking, it's like 12 strings, instead of 6 pairs of 2... I noodled with it for about 2 weeks, and gave up on it. for anything beyond strumming chords, not my cup of tea. There is a nut replacement you can get from a third party, but it voids the warranty.

 

I'd NEVER even think for a second about buying one. way over priced IMHO, I laughed when I saw those on reverb.. Hideous things...

 

I did like the 60 burst, but at that price, wth??

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Speaking of Rick's... I've never gotten the gist of ric's myself. A good friend has still a 70s 6 string, it was a dog when he bought it, and now, all these years later, it's still a dog.. Never ever stayed in tune...

 

the bass player in a previous band had a newish 12 360 or something, He let me take it home for a few weeks as he wasn't using it much I found the string spacing for the pairs were just about impossible for me to do any articulate picking, it's like 12 strings, instead of 6 pairs of 2... I noodled with it for about 2 weeks, and gave up on it. for anything beyond strumming chords, not my cup of tea. There is a nut replacement you can get from a third party, but it voids the warranty.

 

I'd NEVER even think for a second about buying one. way over priced IMHO, I laughed when I saw those on reverb.. Hideous things...

 

I did like the 60 burst, but at that price, wth??

 

Never met a Rickenbacker I could play for more than thirty seconds without hating life, and I've never even played one plugged in, can't get that far with them.

 

rct

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