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Value Increase of guitars


epiphone--firebirdbass

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Posted

hi all

 

I recently purchased an Gibson Les Paul R9 and i like it alot its really good and sounds vintage.. but will its value increase in the future..

 

I also have a les paul custom that I bought in 2009 and les paul standard 2008 and a fender strat 2009 ,will their value increase or decrease in the future... just wondering

 

 

thanks in advance

Posted

I'd say, if you bought them new, that initially the price should drop cause most would think why pay as much or more for a used one as I would for a brand new one.

 

But unless the world as we know it ends, Gibson (and Fender) will keep raising their prices and that would tend to pull the prices of used ones up along with them. Eventually the used ones values could be pulled above their original prices. I'd think the most desirable ones ( like Shamus said the R9 ) would get their first.

Posted

While most of us would argue this issue based on our love of guitars, particularly Gibsons, whether any commodity increases or decreases in value is governed by market forces. Supply, demand, consumer attitudes, etc. The early Les Pauls are in demand because so few were made and many of our guitar gods used them to make memorable music. Add to this the affluence of men in their 50's and 60's who are now able to pay large sums to reclaim their lost youth (sounds like some of us doesn't it) and the market will take full advantage to drive up prices. How many Les Pauls are made today? How many of today's guitar gods use them? How much memorable music is being made today? Will those in their teens and 20's now have large disposable incomes in 40 years given the state of the economy and our politicians reaction to it? These are really unanswerable questions making any prediction of future value guess work at best.

 

Market forces cause fluctuations in the prices of all goods, including vintage guitars. As our economy ebbs and flows I'm fairly certain my 1967 SG is worth less today than it was 5 years ago. Will it reclaim value over time? I think so yes, but who can really know? I know this, it can never be worth more than the memories it evokes when I look at it, play it. Perhaps my children will realize some investment value from this guitar but I realize so much more than the few thousand dollars I might extract from the vintage guitar market.

 

Buy it, play it, enjoy it. Don't worry about future value. Maybe you'll become a guitar god who will write memorable music and help ensure the value of our guitars into the next generation.

 

Peace

Posted
quick answer........yes

And what are you basing this on - the current used market where second hand R9s sell for 1/2 the price of new ones?

 

We'll be long gone before these guitars are ever worth anything. I'd say the best guitar you have in terms of resale is your Strat. If it's an American Strat, it was probably only around $1,000 new and you'll only lose a few hundred dollars if you choose to sell it. Sell the Gibsons and you'll loose your shirt.

Posted

I think if you got a good one, keep it original treat her well, it might be worth some in the future. But i don't think it will reach the level to the true vintage guitars from late 50s and the 60s. The real deal is the real deal and a reissue is a reissue.

Posted
hi all

 

I recently purchased an Gibson Les Paul R9 and i like it alot its really good and sounds vintage.. but will its value increase in the future..

 

I also have a les paul custom that I bought in 2009 and les paul standard 2008 and a fender strat 2009 ' date='will their value increase or decrease in the future... just wondering

 

 

thanks in advance[/quote']

 

If you bought these new, it will take at least 10 (maybe 20) years before you see an increase in price... If you bought them used, they would probably start to increase in value in about 3-5 years...

 

I certainly buy my guitars to play.. But I also consider them as investments also... If that pisses you off... Too f*&^ing bad...

 

Buying a new LP custom that looses $1000 as soon as you walk out of GC is just plain stupid...

Posted
If you bought these new' date=' it will take at least 10 (maybe 20) years before you see an increase in price... If you bought them used, they would probably start to increase in value in about 3-5 years...

 

I certainly buy my guitars to play.. But I also consider them as investments also... If that pisses you off... Too f*&^ing bad...

 

Buying a new LP custom that looses $1000 as soon as you walk out of GC is just plain stupid...

[/quote']

 

 

+100%

 

My 05 Std Faded is already worth $500 more then I paid for it 2 years ago!

I won't sell it anytime soon, but I know if the day came that I had to, I won't be loosing my shirt. [biggrin]

Posted

Ditto Zen Ken, et al. The real answer is "it depends". Vintage guitar value is determined by desirability, relative rarity, and a host of other factors, many of which have no bearing on whether the guitar in question is worth a crap as a musical instrument or not. Where your R9 is concerned, compared to the original 59 Burst, of which only a few hundred were made, the Reissues, Historics, VOS's, etc. have been made by the thousands. The most likely forecast is that it won't depreciate much in dollar terms, but the value probably won't even increase enough to match inflation for a number of years.

 

Now, OTOH, should something happen, like Gibson suddenly folding, or the CITES Treaty enforcement become so stringent that guitars can no longer be made of wood, then things could change dramatically. But, absent something like that happening my bet is that your R9 (and mine) will make a great player that will hold its value. JMHO, of course.

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