The Market (no not Dow Jones)

[fortyearspickn]

Occasionally I like to look at the Guitar Center web site section that shows USED 6 string acoustics to see what's available, especially in the Gibsons.  Today there are only 37 used Gibson acoustics. And only 7 are what I would call  'Bread & Butter".  The rest are arch tops, progressive, studio, or over 60 years old. etc.   Further - there are basically zero  J45/50s, Hummingbirds or SJ1 or 200s that are typical of  what someone would be looking for as 'representative of the breed'.   Certainly this is just one sample of what might be available in the used guitar market - but  I wonder if it reflects the market overall.  Are people holding on to their guitars more - or have more and more people found other ways to sell them ?  

[Boyd]

There were some on Guitar Center's website a couple months ago. In fact, I bought one - A 2020 J-50 1960's Original! Was very lightly used and could have passed for new to my eyes (and ears). Have been interested in these since they were introduced (2019?) and the new ones have never dropped under $2500. I got this one for $1800, really happy with it. So, I think there are used J-45's and J-50's out there but you need a bit of luck to catch one.

Right now there are 6 recent used J-45's on Guitar Center's site - 2 progressives, 2 studios, a historic 1942 banner and a custom leftie. There's also one of the recent J-50 1950's Originals. If you just go to their website and enter "j-45" or "j-50" in the search box, you will see them (click the "used" button to narrow the search). In my book, seven is a lot more than "zero". 🙂

Edited July 20, 2021 by Boyd

[fortyearspickn]

30 minutes ago, Boyd said:

There were some on Guitar Center's website a couple months ago. In fact, I bought one - A 2020 J-50 1960's Original! Was very lightly used and could have passed for new to my eyes (and ears). Have been interested in these since they were introduced (2019?) and the new ones have never dropped under $2500. I got this one for $1800, really happy with it. So, I think there are used J-45's and J-50's out there but you need a bit of luck to catch one.

Right now there are 6 recent used J-45's on Guitar Center's site - 2 progressives, 2 studios, a historic 1942 banner and a custom leftie. There's also one of the recent J-50 1950's Originals. If you just go to their website and enter "j-45" or "j-50" in the search box, you will see them (click the "used" button to narrow the search). In my book, seven is a lot more than "zero". 🙂

Yeah.   I was excluding the 'progressive', studio, etc.  Just trying to gauge what the level of availability is for the meat and potatoes like you got.   Not the outliers.  To get a feel for how available  they are overall.  Thanks. 

[Boyd]

Well, in that case, there are still three at Guitar Center right now:

$4300 - Used Gibson 2020 Historic Series 1942 Banner J45 Acoustic Guitar  

$2900 - Used Gibson J45 Custom Left Handed Acoustic Guitar - LIMITED RUN, ONLY 75 J45'S WERE MADE IN THIS MAHOGANY SPECIAL

$2200 - Used Gibson 1950'S J50 Acoustic Electric Guitar

There are also a few Hummingbirds, didn't bother to search for other models

 

[fortyearspickn]

Yeah. When I took my unscientific survey - I also  excluded Leftys .   There is a $3900 125th Anniversary H'Bird as well as the $4300 Historic J45- the ones on there a day ago were studios, Progressives, avant-guards, Cut outs, not Hogs, etc.  I was merely trying to point out the scarcity of  traditional ones.  At this time there are really only 2.  For example, there are no SJ200s.  My observation was, as was pointed out this am in another thread, there is a scarcity overall, based on looking at the most recognized and respected Gibsons over the past several decades.    Guitar Center being national, big, etc. - as I said, unscientific.  But - at the end of the day, with todays recent addition of a $1700 standard J45 'picture coming'   -  if you are trying to find a used 'iconic' one - as many here prefer to buy 'slightly used' -  you will have a difficult time.  I would assume GC understands this and is doing less discounting than they had in the past.  As the other thread stated - it's a Sellers Market.  Inflation, or whatever you want to call it. 

[Boyd]

Yeah, I get your point, and it's a good question. But has anything really changed here? What was the supply of used "meat and potatoes" J-45's, like pre-pandemic? Not so sure much has changed myself. Whenever I would look at used offerings at Guitar Center, there weren't many recent models. Back in 2014, I got a used 2008 J-50 that was in terrific shape. I had been checking their site for awhile prior to that and didn't see much. I think if you can find one or two, that might just be par for the course.

BTW, when I first saw that used 2020 J-50 1960's original, it was "picture coming" too. It wasn't clear from the listing whether it was the new 1960's re-issue or a real 1960's J-50. Sent them an e-mail asking, but got no answer. Kept checking and after a day or so, the pictures finally came, I confirmed it was indeed the 1960's re-issue and bought it. So, that one was only on the site with pictures for a few hours before I made the purchase.

That used 1950's Original J-50 for $2200 is still there, not such a bad deal if condition is good,  it's $500 less than new. But I am still very happy with my 1960's J-50 which was $700 less than new. 

I suppose it very well might be a sellers market at the moment, which is good, I don't mind having the value of my guitars increase. Same thing is happening in the automotive market. And the real estate market is just insane, my house increased in value 7% in the last 30 days according to Zillow! But all of these things can turn on a dime, as we have seen in the past.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Boyd

[fortyearspickn]

Hah !   Real Estate !!!    Our next door neighbors, lived here 3 years - selling due to divorce.  Realtors use to say the best deals were homes being sold due to "Death & Divorce".  They bought for $425 and just sold, in 3 days, for $595.  $20K more than they were asking.  I'm afraid we're going to see another real estate bubble burst,  like we did when Fannie and Sallie blew up.  I don't think roller coaster rides on our guitars will have any impact - but the Real Estate Market (where retiring baby boomers have a lot of their 'life savings' tied up) dropping like a rock could have a domino effect.  I guess I'll go play the fiddle.  I mean guitar. 

[Larsongs]

Pre-Pandemic there were huge Inventories of New & Used Guitars… So many that it was rumored that Guitars are over.. It’s the end for Guitars.. Nobody plays Guitars anymore. The younger Generation doesn’t play Guitar anymore. Etc. That was a little over a year ago…

The Lockdown caused the current lack of inventory.. People had to find things to occupy their time.. They bought up all the Guitars! Turns out it wasn’t the end for Guitars after all.

Then the Factories shut down.. People were laid off.. . Materials became non existent.. Supply Chains dwindled to nothing..

Now the World is trying to re-emerge from that.. It’s happening slowly.. 

Everyone’s holding their breath now to wait & see what’s next?

[BoSoxBiker]

I've seen a couple of big changes over the past 18 months. July-2020, I sold 22 items on CL and one through AGF. Most of it less expensive or dated items that lose value with age, but it all sold resaonably well and funded all but $1k of the purchase price of my Historic Collection SJ-200 Pre-War RW.  A 2015 Taylor 614CE took the biggest bath at about 55% of retail. The inventories of some items were starting to dwindle down in stores and online.

This year, I sold 11 guitars and have 1 more left on the market. A few cheapos, a few USA Standard types and a few MIM/MIK/MIC built variances of the common models. I also sold a bunch of pedals, a few mics and that sort of thing. 26 items on CL and 5 more on Reverb. It was a crazy 5 weeks, but I generated about $8k with about $1k to go out of the $10k it took to get a much smaller number of guitars, but better quality. (I got a 2021 Wildwood Spec 50's Les Paul, 2021 ES-335 Figured Maple, 2020 PRS Vela Semi-Hollow and a 2021 Fender '52 Tele Thin skin - think Keith Richards Micawber - that just arrived in Colorado a few days ago.  

On this year's sales, the new markets having reduced inventory and increased prices helped me out immensely. My guitars sold for a grand total of about $75 more than I paid for them. The other stuff sold for 70-80% of going retail. Most definitely, without a doubt, the meat and potatoes stuff sold quickly. Some common Rodes mics, MIC/MIK/MIM guitars like LPs, Teles, 335's and pedals. The USA Standards types of things took a little longer to sell just because of smaller market, but they still did sell.  I saw the same thing on other folks ads. If there was an exuberant price, it stayed listed. If it was reasonable and recognizable, it was gone. 

If I had listed more stuff on Reverb, I would have brought in more. I learned that little lesson late. No biggies. If I had done this 3 months ago instead of last month, there would have been even higher amounts involved. To that end, I feel better about not taking that much of an advantage of the situation. There is a ton of stuff up on Reverb that folks have left high priced and seem content to do so. we all have our lines and boundaries.

Some of the things I couldn't sell last year at reduced price on CL sold this year on CL in rapid fashion.  On the other side of the coin, I think the mood of folks had deteriorated quite a bit from last year, though I certainly did meet some good people again. Everyone was seriously looking, though. If someone said they wanted to see something, it was not 1 out of 3 that saw it through. It was almost everyone.

I had to keep a very watchful eye on the new guitars I new I wanted. I missed out on my main prize(the Tele) the first time around and had to order it. I checked back daily, sometimes more than once. When they appeared, I jumped.  Watching after purchasing, a couple times stock levels got depleted and then back up. It was all very face paced. I got my warranty replacement back in the middle of all this and was too stressed to deal with it like a grown up, though it still ticks me off to open up a brandy new dull & dusty guitar. but whaddever. I might get it back as early as Saturday. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyhow, that's the market in guitar and music land as I have seen it unfold over the past 2 months. 🙂