Help with vintage Gibson

[zombywoof]

3 hours ago, Craigoklahoma said:

Wow! That’s incredible!

 

No.  That was a 1950s Telecaster.  

[tpbiii]

I have known Joe Spann for years, and Gruhn is very lucky to have him.  He made his reputation  long before he went to work for Gruhn.

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Must be inflation.  Last time I had a long distance appraisal  done by Gruhns it cost me $35.  Can't complain though as the appraisal on that particular guitar came to $10K. 

Yea, I have a similar story.  As a serious investor in the late 20th century, I was  basically comfortable with my analysis of the market.  However in the early years of the 21th century I had two instruments where I wanted some outside validation -- mostly for insurance purposes.  One was a 1935 D-28, a model where the value seemed to be escalating at an amazing rate.   The other was a Martin 1934 00-40H -- sort of an iconic guitar I got from Norman Blake.  I knew the value in the market but I did no know about any additional celebrity value.  (BTW, a 1934 D-18 Norman used about the same amount as the 00-40H was on sale at Carter's for 400K😄).

The cost was $35 apiece and I brought the guitars to Nashville.  Gruhn has always treated me as trash -- most dealers know me and sort of treat me as royalty -- I am honest and I have money.  He was not in that day, but we were made to wait 45 minutes  before they took the guitars upstairs and kept them for another 45 minutes while they took pictures for George.  When they came back, their attitude had changed.  They took pictures with the guitar in front of Norman's flat picking DVD, where it was on the cover.😎

Total value of the two at that time (more now for the D-28): $75K

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From what I’ve seen of Gruhn’s appraisals, their values strike me as how they would price the instrument if it were for sale at Gruhn’s (and exactly as described in the estimate).

That certainly seems like a legitimate way to approach doing an estimate, but I think it’s important to remember that buying from Gruhn’s comes with the added value of knowing the instrument will be essentially 100% as described - and to many players, that’s well worth a reasonable up-charge.

On the other hand, buying off of Reverb at real world prices, I would expect most instruments to bring significantly less than Gruhn’s “ideal” estimates.

 

 

IME that is exactly right.  On average to consistently sell at retail, you need to be a major vintage instrument operation.  Gruhn's model -- which I always used -- was wholesale was 66% of retail.  When we searched the world we usually tried for maybe 80-85%  -- more than a dealer could offer but less than retail sort of win-win for me and the seller.  Of course we were not resellers -- we were betting on the value going up for our retirement.  But it was nice to know you could get out without too much loss quickly.

Also, almost no old instrument does not need work.  That is just part of the deal, and you have to be careful who does the work -- many want to but few are qualified.

Best,

-Tom

Edited June 18, 2020 by tpbiii

[Craigoklahoma]

Who would you suggest I take to look at in person?

[tpbiii]

2 minutes ago, Craigoklahoma said:

Who would you suggest I take to look at in person?

Where do you live?

[Craigoklahoma]

Oklahoma

[tpbiii]

Well that is a bit outside my range for deep knowledge.  The best that I can do from personal experience is a couple of vintage guitar dealers who I know that are sort of close -- Jim Baggett of Mass Street Music in Lawrence Kansas and Mike Fuller at Fuller Vintage Guitars in Houston.  They are dealers, but if you emailed them I bet they would advise.  Sorry I don't know anyone closer that I actually have experience with.

I did send out a couple of requests and I'll share the responses if/when I get them. 

Best,

-Tom