Gibson Gothic Explorer Pricing Need Help!!!!!!

[yogii]

Hey there guys!!!

 

 

I have a Gibson Gothic Explorer, Serial No:03000372

Which i purchased several years ago for around £400

 

The plastic part of the pick-up switch has come off but still works fine. And it does has its fair share of scratches on the body work, but it works and sounds fine.

 

Could you give me an honest estimation of the price?

I've spoken to several people via e-mail and few indepent shops and have said that if I were to put it on e-bay I could expect to get around £800.

 

 

Your opinion would be most interesting!!!

[yogii]

Oh and one other thing. As this guitar is no longer in production will it's value increase if i left selling it for a few years?

 

Thanks again!!!

[Hydra26]

I'm sure you could find someone who would consider a collector's item of "the perfect" thing, but I don't recall it being a limited run or anything and even limited editions are made in such large batch sizes that they're still mass produced. Honestly, though, it's an explorer with the same electronics and a half finish paint job (satin). Not trying to diss your guitar, but it probably ahd a lower retail price than a stock explorer when it was new, so to get top dollar (or pound) out of it, you need to find someone who has a soft spot in their heart for a totally blacked out guitar that doesn't need a tremolo.

[yogii]

You speak the truth!!the lack of a tremalo was always slighty annoying!! thanks for your opinion!

[Morten M]

Normally prices start to go up when the instrument is 25 years which by the moment is the standard for calling something vintage. That is, IF you're guitar has appeal to attract buyers in about 13 years then MAYBE you can get a price above the normal inflation of the current price of a Gothic.

As I'm allways looking for a bargain on primarily Flying V's and to some extent Explorers I've been watching the market for some years.

Discontinued models have the appeal of being "rare" simply because you cannot go into a store and order one. A model is mostly discontinued because of disappointing sales. But just because Gibson was disappointed doesn't mean there aren't any buyers out there.

The Gothic is doing quite fine for an all black guitar. Maybe also because of the cool name. I'd consider it kinda special. At the moment there are goth players out there who wants a Gothic guitar and no indication that agressive music is on the decline. It's the first all black mahogany Explorer issue (please coorect me if I'm wrong, anyone). £800 in Europe/$900 in USA shouldn't be far off. That's about 10% more than the average used Explorer.

 

 

You know, it's tricky to predict the future but having watched vintage Gibson prices go up even for guitars we considered crap in the '70's the price normally only go one way - and that is up. If I were you I'd stick with it as a part the retirement fund.

[GuitarJunkie]

Just because a guitar is a recent model doesn't mean the price won't go up once it's been discontinued. I just did a quick ebay search of completed listings and there were almost a dozen Gothic Vs and a couple SGs/LPs that sold in the $700 to $800 range. There were only two Gothic Explorers. One sold with a "Best Offer" of $800 but the other sold with a "Buy it Now" of $1399!!!!

 

It seems the Explorer isn't as common as the other models, and the Gothic series does have a bit of a following. It's not inconceivable that, being discontinued, the Explorer could fetch a few more bucks than when it was new. Especially considering the higher prices and limited supplies in Europe.