jedzep Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I've never heard a new acoustic come off the shelf that sounded as good as a 40 or 50 yr old version of the same model. When a friend proudly brought home his spankin' new Martin D35 and asked me to play it, all I could think of was how much better my '66 D18 sounded. He paid $2800, mine cost $2000. Same goes for my pre-60 J45 and any new Gibson bigger d'nought, which cost me $2400. I think that's about what new J45's run. Why the hell is anyone buying new when the superior tone of vintage acoustics is so evident and they are so plentiful? The dang things cost the same, after all, and the value of a vintage box actually increases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 The "used" guitar might not be available. There are "used" guitars, but might not be what someone is looking for. In addition, sometimes we just want a new guitar....,.And, if someone didn't purchase a guitar "new," it would never be "used." I agree with the mojo and sound a "used" guitar likely has, but sometimes I like to be the guy who first had the guitar and still has it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 You are touching some deeper nerves there and could get very interesting feed back – Admit I find it hard to go from half an hour or more behind the vintage to the new guitars. They might be a degree easier on the hands, but a sonic dimension is missing. . .        Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Blanket statements like this are always incorrect. I've heard some pretty sorry sounding 30-50 year-old guitars in my time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Blanket statements like this are always incorrect. I've heard some pretty sorry sounding 30-50 year-old guitars in my time. I know you are in a lucky mint-mood these days – what I'm talking about is good guitars. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I pretty much go to the Marin Vintage guitar show every year.........again it's hard to generalize....but I'd say easily half the "vintage" guitars there are NOT great examples of vintage guitars. They are just OLD guitars. They were neither in good condition, NOR were they good sounding. They were just OLD. It is the same with NEW guitars, they are not all gems. You have to both play and click with any guitar either old or new. "vintage" does not guarantee anything. To add insult to injury, ALL the vintage guitars, good and bad, were priced pretty much at top dollar. So....new or old, just buy the ones you like and leave the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 . ^Nice spam. . . . . . . . . . . <Edit: six spam posts just above were deleted by mods> Â Â I've never heard a new acoustic come off the shelf that sounded as good as a 40 or 50 yr old version of the same model. .... Â Speaking of spam, that's quite a statement. . Â Â . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 i don't think there's been a ford as nice as a 60's mustang . i wonder why everyone doesn't drive one of those ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 MissouriPicker sums it up pretty nicely  I have heard descriptions of say..the TV range.. sounding like 20 yr old guitars already ( surely this was the idea behind them as well as aesthetics ) So how will they sound in 20 yrs :)  if you don't know alot about guitars and live in places where it's hard to be able to play vintage instruments... apart from buying unseen from the web... new is the obvious way to go.  (sounding like 20 yr old guitars already!... I know, I know) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Pretty hard to get a nice vintage Gibson when some of the members of this very forum seem to own the lot! Â Â Â BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 LOL....I only have 3....and I'm willing to sell two!!!....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Pretty hard to find a 63' Songwriter .. Â Vintate and Modern Gibson tone is different, I like both and have 1 year old, 10 year old and 40 year old Gibsons. Its all about variety. Love em' all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I've never heard a new acoustic come off the shelf that sounded as good as a 40 or 50 yr old version of the same model. subjective... When a friend proudly brought home his spankin' new Martin D35 and asked me to play it, all I could think of was how much better my '66 D18 sounded. He paid $2800, mine cost $2000. Same goes for my pre-60 J45 and any new Gibson bigger d'nought, which cost me $2400. I think that's about what new J45's run. Again, subjective and unqualified. Why the hell is anyone buying new when the superior tone of vintage acoustics is so evident and they are so plentiful? It's not always the case, there are plenty vintage models who's value lies purely in the fact it belongs to a period from the past. They're also much harder to insure, more expensive to maintain and in a lot of cases have some compromising structural faults, buying from the glory period is not always glorious. The dang things cost the same, after all, and the value of a vintage box actually increases. Â Again, not always true, certainly applies to certain lines though, to each his own mate... Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I would refer the OP to my recent posting relating to a so-called '44 Southern Jumbo. My link In the UK, there is relatively little vintage material available, despite its status as the country which made white Americans realize the value both of their native blues music and of the Les Paul Standard. Even with a rock 'n' roll history which dwarfs that of, say, Luxemburg (sorry PM), and with a lot of quality instruments doing the rounds by European standards, Brits still don't have availability to compare with the US. I guess that in WWII our soldiers struggled to find new banner Gibsons for sale. I guess also that the billeted GIs took theirs home with them. When a major vintage dealer is capable of selling such questionable merchandize as that highlighted, it makes very good sense to buy a new Gibson from a reputable online dealer with a good returns policy. Here in Hungary, where I am billeted, banners are even rarer, seeing as the Horthy regime was on the wrong side during the war, and seeing as the Iron Curtain made importing such items rather difficult for a long time. Limited income has continued to make imports rare. New Gibsons are a rarity too, for the very same reason, but there are more in existence, and they travel more easily, and so there are some in Budapest. Given this market, one can only realistically buy new from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lefty Guy Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 If I waited for the perfect "vintage" lefty SJ or J-45 here in the UK I doubt I'd have a guitar to play! Â Btw, you could say the same thing about cars in terms of price etc. Some folk just like to have a new toy to make their own mark on - I sure do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 No, there's certainly little kicking about the vintage market in Luxembourg, haha.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 There's logic out in them there hills. The same discussion could apply to wines. All good perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 There's logic out in them there hills. The same discussion could apply to wines. All good perspective. Â errmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 If you get a vintage guitar, make sure all the maintenance and repair work is DONE...and find out who the luthier was who did the work. If you buy a great sounding vintage guitar, that needs a neck reset, refret, three loose braces re-glued, cracks repaired, new tuners, etc., this repair work can cost you way more than the cost of the vintage guitar!!! AND, the guitar may not sound as good as it did before the work!!! Sometimes the vintage slope is a slippery one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 If I waited for the perfect "vintage" lefty SJ or J-45 here in the UK I doubt I'd have a guitar to play! Â Btw, you could say the same thing about cars in terms of price etc. Some folk just like to have a new toy to make their own mark on - I sure do. Â lol we leties wouldn't have any options then XD thank God for new guitars "D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I've never heard a new acoustic come off the shelf that sounded as good as a 40 or 50 yr old version of the same model  I'm a fan of vintage guitars. If asked without playing or hearing them to pick what I thought would be the best of two acoustic guitars, one being vintage and one new, I'd choose the vintage. I believe that there's no guarantee, but that the odds favor the old guitar.  This said, by "old" I mean from the 1930s or 1940s. You mention guitars 40 or 50 years old, making them from the 1970s or 1960s. In that case, I'd bet on the new guitar. again, no guarantees, but I believe that the odds would favor the new guitar. Those 1960s and 1970s guitars are not, on average, imho, as good as today's Gibsons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I fully believe the contemporary Gibsons will sound indescribable good when they become vintage many years from now. Most of them sound terrific already after 6-12 month and I'm one of those who think age is a plus. Still agree with the people who get a thrill from taking mint ones home. The shine, the smell, the possibility to deflower the instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmonsh Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 i have a new cj-165 on order for the first of march. non cutaway,aura electronics. cost me under 1800 with warrenty. have seen them go used with not as good pickups for 2000/ why would i buy new? easy. also 45 day return policy.used maybe 7 days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Jones Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 i have a new cj-165 on order for the first of march. non cutaway,aura electronics. cost me under 1800 with warrenty. have seen them go used with not as good pickups for 2000/ why would i buy new? easy. also 45 day return policy.used maybe 7 days   That sounds great. Who did you order through if you don't mind me asking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I fully believe the contemporary Gibsons will sound indescribable good when they become vintage many years from now. Most of them sound terrific already after 6-12 month and I'm one of those who think age is a plus. Still agree with the people who get a thrill from taking mint ones home. The shine, the smell, the possibility to deflower the instrument. Pervert. You don't think anyone touched that new guitar before you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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