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You Guys R Nuts...


jedzep

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Some vintage guitars sell for way more money than a new one. The really rare and desirable Gibsons from the 1930s & 40s sometimes sell for 3-4 times what a new one would cost. All depends on which models you are referring to and what era do you really consider vintage. I played a 1965 J-50 at GC in Memphis once and it was way better sounding than a new one and it wasn't even in great condition and had the Adj bridge on it. There are so many other factors to take into consideration. I'll vote for vintage every time.

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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.

Corrected on the math...right, I meant to use 1930-60 as the time range. Thanks.

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That sounds great. Who did you order through if you don't mind me asking?

musiciansfriend has them. they have them being shipped beginning of march. with a 45 day return policy cant be beat. cant find 1 around here at all, even used. i had a 15% coupon that took the price from 2078 to 1768. i see that gc has a 150 coupon off now on orders over so much. sure mf will match

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Umm I beg to differ....

 

DougsMustang.png

 

That's nice Doug, but I'm not sure that it's quite as nice as the '65 fastback that one of the cutest girls in my high school got for her 18th birthday. I just wasn't right: cute girl, cool car.

(And yes, it was a brand new car. It was a long time ago.)

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I've played some pretty nice sounding brand new Off the Rack guitars. In the same breath, a friend of mine has a 60's Gibson B-25 that has soo much going for it, if you didn't look at it you'd swear it was a high end-high end. So, to each there own. Like said, if no one bought new, then we wouldn't have any used ones to pick through.

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Whether it's acoustic or electric, I'm just not a vintage kinda guy. When I'm looking for a particular instrument I look for one that is POLN (previously owned, like new). This has several advantages over either vintage or brand spankin' new. First of course is cost. New guitars can generally be bought for around 60% of MSRP but there is little if any room for negotiation. High end POLN guitars have most likely been taken care of and usually, in the case of acoustics, have had some time to open up. Private owners are more likely to entertain an offer. A guitar that is virtually new but was purchased six months ago for MSRP-60% can often be bought for a few hundred less. Regarding voice and playability I agree that, old or new, there are good and bad guitars on the market. As for "mojo" (and I'll get flamed for this), I think the word must have been coined by a fellow trying to sell a beat up guitar. I have over forty instruments of which only two were bought new. These two came from a friend that is an authorized dealer and gave me a very good deal. The remainder are in excellent condition. If there is a scrape, rub, scratch or dent on any of them, I put them there and each one has a story...... my story not someone else's. Lastly, I believe quality makers like Gibson and Martin take a great deal of pride in their high end products. With the advancements in luthier technology, and the commitment to quality that is required by market competition I'm confident that today's quality guitar is as good as has ever been made.

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Rock and Reel.....do you only buy Gibson's and Martins, or do you throw an occassional Huss & Dalton or Collings in there from time to time??? 40 guitars??? Now I don't feel so bad....lol!

 

Whether it's acoustic or electric, I'm just not a vintage kinda guy. When I'm looking for a particular instrument I look for one that is POLN (previously owned, like new). This has several advantages over either vintage or brand spankin' new. First of course is cost. New guitars can generally be bought for around 60% of MSRP but there is little if any room for negotiation. High end POLN guitars have most likely been taken care of and usually, in the case of acoustics, have had some time to open up. Private owners are more likely to entertain an offer. A guitar that is virtually new but was purchased six months ago for MSRP-60% can often be bought for a few hundred less. Regarding voice and playability I agree that, old or new, there are good and bad guitars on the market. As for "mojo" (and I'll get flamed for this), I think the word must have been coined by a fellow trying to sell a beat up guitar. I have over forty instruments of which only two were bought new. These two came from a friend that is an authorized dealer and gave me a very good deal. The remainder are in excellent condition. If there is a scrape, rub, scratch or dent on any of them, I put them there and each one has a story...... my story not someone else's. Lastly, I believe quality makers like Gibson and Martin take a great deal of pride in their high end products. With the advancements in luthier technology, and the commitment to quality that is required by market competition I'm confident that today's quality guitar is as good as has ever been made.

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Whether it's acoustic or electric, I'm just not a vintage kinda guy. When I'm looking for a particular instrument I look for one that is POLN (previously owned, like new). This has several advantages over either vintage or brand spankin' new. First of course is cost. New guitars can generally be bought for around 60% of MSRP but there is little if any room for negotiation. High end POLN guitars have most likely been taken care of and usually, in the case of acoustics, have had some time to open up. Private owners are more likely to entertain an offer. A guitar that is virtually new but was purchased six months ago for MSRP-60% can often be bought for a few hundred less. Regarding voice and playability I agree that, old or new, there are good and bad guitars on the market. As for "mojo" (and I'll get flamed for this), I think the word must have been coined by a fellow trying to sell a beat up guitar. I have over forty instruments of which only two were bought new. These two came from a friend that is an authorized dealer and gave me a very good deal. The remainder are in excellent condition. If there is a scrape, rub, scratch or dent on any of them, I put them there and each one has a story...... my story not someone else's. Lastly, I believe quality makers like Gibson and Martin take a great deal of pride in their high end products. With the advancements in luthier technology, and the commitment to quality that is required by market competition I'm confident that today's quality guitar is as good as has ever been made.

 

i've been in shops that dont have 40 guitars . and i'm afraid i dont understand how someone ends up with forty guitars . even englbert humperdink only had ten

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Down here in Australia, 60s j45s turn up second hand rarely, and when they do, they come with a larger price tag than a new version. For me , I don't like those thin 60s necks either. WHen I got my 1 of 6 Nick Lucas signed by Ren, there was a 50s j50 on sale for around $1,500 more that looked like it was turning into a pumpkin. It also had one of those feedback blocker rubber things in the sound hole, and the owner had told the shop that it couldn't be removed - wasn't going to touch that. Some guy even had a mid 70s j45 on consignment with $3,500 on it - good grief. Thats a stack more than I paid for my new AJ or Roy Smeck.

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Sorry Cfingers...you get the big shrimp on the barbie, we get the big guitar selection. Ebay was made for you, as I've managed to get my lovely little 'collection' that way. Just make sure ahead of time that returns are OK.

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i've been in shops that dont have 40 guitars . and i'm afraid i dont understand how someone ends up with forty guitars . even englbert humperdink only had ten

 

The hardest part about having a bunch of guitars is storing the cases! Forty guitars isn't really a huge collection. Some of the big stars, Eric Clapton, Joe Perry, Jimmy Page etc. have literally hundreds. Eddie Van Halen recently donated 75 of his own personal guitars to the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation in LA. We have some extraordinary makers here in Virginia. Huss and Dalton is at the very top and then of course there's Wayne Henderson who is in a class by himself. I haven't yet decided which H&D I can't live without and I probably won't live long enough to have Wayne build me one of his masterpieces. I do have a Stelling Staghorn banjo... I can't play it but I've got one!Below is a pic of Wayne and my friend Bob Brown as he picks up his new Henderson D-18.As for too many guitars, the truth is I only really need one... the next one!

Henderson.jpg

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R&R...got my '36 L0 from a relative of one of the members of the Virginia Vagabonds. I had never even heard of Huss and Dalton 'til the owner mentioned it had been looked at by one of their luthiers. ( here's a pic provided by a chronicler of 'Piedmont Blues' artists. my little guitar is at the far left in the hands of the big eared dude, Earl Smith). The wealth of small guitar builders is evident when you visit local shows and luthier festivals. Awesome works of art everywhere.

 

Oops...the file's too big to load photo.

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R&R...got my '36 L0 from a relative of one of the members of the Virginia Vagabonds. I had never even heard of Huss and Dalton 'til the owner mentioned it had been looked at by one of their luthiers. ( here's a pic provided by a chronicler of 'Piedmont Blues' artists. my little guitar is at the far left in the hands of the big eared dude, Earl Smith). The wealth of small guitar builders is evident when you visit local shows and luthier festivals. Awesome works of art everywhere.

 

Oops...the file's too big to load photo.

 

 

I looked at some new H&D's at the Orlando show yesterday, and they were beautiful guitars.

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You GOTTA post an image... otherwise you could be called a pic teaser![laugh] Now that's funny!

Hey R&R...I can't websize this for some reason. My email is jedzep@gmail.com Send a hello and I'll shoot some pics to you.

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Sorry Cfingers...you get the big shrimp on the barbie, we get the big guitar selection. Ebay was made for you, as I've managed to get my lovely little 'collection' that way. Just make sure ahead of time that returns are OK.

 

 

Dropping $200 or so on postage one way is bad enough, but with the thought that I may have to send it back, there goes 20% of a decent guitar budget right there. And if I'm going to go that way, I'd go new, seems like fewer surprises to be had. I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with 6 or so 30s L-00s and 2 Legend series ones recently, and the 30s ones were all over the place, not good or bad, just each one different. Maybe time brings out their uniqueness. If I had a choice of all of them, a 30s one that had orignally been sold in johannesburg that looked like it had been used as a broom on the front porch for 20 years had the sound, but I'd never pay for something in that condition without picking it up.

 

And the final insult, I don't eat pranws...

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Dropping $200 or so on postage one way is bad enough, but with the thought that I may have to send it back, there goes 20% of a decent guitar budget right there. And if I'm going to go that way, I'd go new, seems like fewer surprises to be had. I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with 6 or so 30s L-00s and 2 Legend series ones recently, and the 30s ones were all over the place, not good or bad, just each one different. Maybe time brings out their uniqueness. If I had a choice of all of them, a 30s one that had orignally been sold in johannesburg that looked like it had been used as a broom on the front porch for 20 years had the sound, but I'd never pay for something in that condition without picking it up.

 

And the final insult, I don't eat pranws...

Yep! Guess I see that. I once sent a guitar to Japan for $90 on the slow route. Boy, slow was an understatement. It got there though.

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