AustinNoName Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Hi folks, Apologies for my potentially dumb question/statement... I have noticed today, in my daily dose of Guitar porn which I view, whilst mascarading as a good employee when in fact I am perusing t'interweb, that it appears that over the weekend, Gibson prices for new guitars has gone up circa 15-25%... a J45 MC before the weekend was GBP £1100 give or take, now is £1400 or so....!! I'm assuming this is to do with the dollar strength/weakening pound...?? Thats another couple o'months before I get mine now. Grrrrr..... Boo hiss anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 I agree, the price hike will almost certainly be due to the relative weakness of £. There was some discussion on this subject earlier in the year where I and others speculated the prices would drop for a while but come back again. At that stage £ had got to US$2 whereas now it's US$1.50 ish. Given the UK gov's solution to the recession (which technically we're not yet in!!) is to spend our way out of it, then there's every chance the £ will weaken further. I guess that will depend on Mr Obama as well. If so expect UK prices to go up further. Who said Keynsian economics was dead?! You pay a man to dig a hole in the road and then pay someone else to fill it in, instead of paying unemployment benefit. Then let the multiplier effect do the rest. The problem with UK is that, on the whole, we need Eastern European immigrants to do the jobs we won't do! Sorry - politics alert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Hi folks' date=' Apologies for my potentially dumb question/statement... I have noticed today, in my daily dose of Guitar porn which I view, whilst mascarading as a good employee when in fact I am perusing t'interweb, that it appears that over the weekend, Gibson prices for new guitars has gone up circa 15-25%... a J45 MC before the weekend was GBP £1100 give or take, now is £1400 or so....!! I'm assuming this is to do with the dollar strength/weakening pound...?? Thats another couple o'months before I get mine now. Grrrrr..... Boo hiss anyway. [img']http://forum.gibson.com/public/style_emoticons/default/eusa_boohoo.gif[/img] Austin There are plenty of fine luthiers in the UK making fine guitars. The huge advantage is that you don't have to buy from a catalogue, you can visit the man who makes the box and discuss your precise requirements. We've had so many discussions here about the paucity of Gibsons to try, frankly I don't care whether it's Gibson the distributors or the shop causing the problem....the nett result is exactly the same! The problem in the past with a "boutique" guitar has been the cost but now with Gibsons, Martins etc going through the roof, perhaps we should start "backing britain" again and get ourselves a far better deal in the process! That is what I am going to do when I get the dosh together, go to Knights or one of the others and get them to build me a J300 clone Cost £3000......won't be long until a stock Bozeman one will hit that! Food for thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Austin! Good to see you back here! How's your good self? I spoke to the manager of GuitarGuitar in Glasgow, and he said that Gibsons were due to drop a little in price in the UK late this year due to a change in supply (Rosetti are now no longer the Gibson distro company, and Gibson are supplying direct, or so I am told). For example, a Dove should, theoretically, now have a street price of around £1699 as opposed to £2300 or so as it was in the Rosetti days. But, I fear, this theory and welcome dip in price for our beloved Gibsons has been knobbled by the current weakness of the pound against the dollar. John, that is a great theory about returning to boutique local luthiers for our boatpaddles...I for one would love to have a guitar specced and handmade to my whim (a Rosewood J200 bejewelled with all the Abalone the oceans of the world have to offer, methinks!), but the issue with luthier built instruments is, and always has been, a lack of branding and resale value. You mentioned **** Knight...I played one of his exquisite archtops in a shop down south recently, it was about 10yrs old and had some lacquer checking and playwear but was a truly inspiring piece of kit. It was up for around £350. If it were not for my skintness it would have come home with me. Anyway, the point I was making was that if you shell out £3000 for a handmade, custom-specced luthier built instrument and don't bond with it, you're going to lose a LOT of moolah in the resale market. A 6 month old SJ300, bought for, say, £2250, would still fetch £1800 or so. A comparable small-shop luthier instrument of the same spec and calibre, though, would probably hang around for a long time on a shop rack and end up going for £1000 or so, if you were lucky. Plus, a Gibson is...well...a GIBSON, innit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Same happening in Canada. Some 12 months ago the USD was trading at a 10% discount to the CDN$. Now with oil down and commodities as a whole beat up, the CDN dollar is down to $0.82 US. Many Canadian dealers are continuing to sell existing stock which was acquired/priced when the Canuck buck was strong and as a result someone with US money can score a good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Austin! Good to see you back here! How's your good self? I spoke to the manager of GuitarGuitar in Glasgow' date=' and he said that Gibsons were due to drop a little in price in the UK late this year due to a change in supply (Rosetti are now no longer the Gibson distro company, and Gibson are supplying direct, or so I am told). For example, a Dove should, theoretically, now have a street price of around £1699 as opposed to £2300 or so as it was in the Rosetti days. But, I fear, this theory and welcome dip in price for our beloved Gibsons has been knobbled by the current weakness of the pound against the dollar. John, that is a great theory about returning to boutique local luthiers for our boatpaddles...I for one would love to have a guitar specced and handmade to my whim (a Rosewood J200 bejewelled with all the Abalone the oceans of the world have to offer, methinks!), but the issue with luthier built instruments is, and always has been, a lack of branding and resale value. You mentioned **** Knight...I played one of his exquisite archtops in a shop down south recently, it was about 10yrs old and had some lacquer checking and playwear but was a truly inspiring piece of kit. It was up for around £350. If it were not for my skintness it would have come home with me. Anyway, the point I was making was that if you shell out £3000 for a handmade, custom-specced luthier built instrument and don't bond with it, you're going to lose a LOT of moolah in the resale market. A 6 month old SJ300, bought for, say, £2250, would still fetch £1800 or so. A comparable small-shop luthier instrument of the same spec and calibre, though, would probably hang around for a long time on a shop rack and end up going for £1000 or so, if you were lucky. Plus, a Gibson is...well...a GIBSON, innit?[/quote'] A few things Jinder Where was the Knight? Secondly, regarding Rosetti, I belive Rosetti ceased to be the Distributor about 15 months ago. AJ will know a more precise date. Accordingly I would have expect any resultant price drop to have materialised by now. I am not certain at all that a Gibson IS a Gibson anymore. There are so many variants colours etc, confuses me. As for resale values you make a very fair point assuming that one buys a guitar to be a) dissatisfied with it and wish to move it on. or b)perished the thought, purely as an investment. Your point re branding is incredibly valid but it wasn't too long ago that George Lowden was a boutique luthier. I am having a look at this guy on the coast twixt thee and me in Lewes. http://www.benjaminguitars.co.uk/ Please tell me where the Knight was/is Christmas is coming and I am sure that Sharon would rather buy me that than 6 pairs of M&S socks! Did you get my PMs? BR John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Rosetti ceased to be their distributor on 31/3/08. The exchange rate at the time was about $2:£1 and stayed at this rate until about a month or so ago. It's now $1.50:£1 which means that US imports are approx 33% more expensive. There is clearly a time factor issue here as well as many shops with stock at 31/3/08 would have already paid for them and would still seek a margin. Now I think shops are ordering new stock direct from Gibson and will see the effect of any reduction in price from not having a distributor, but against that everything is 33% more expensive so it's no surprise we as consumers don't see too much difference. Anecdotally, I agree with Jinder, prices seem to have dropped compared to pre march 08 but the exchange rate is going to have an effect now, so I'd expect prices to creep up again over the coming months. Personally, I can't afford another Gibson at the moment and I'm batoning down the hatches. Anyway, the Somalian pirate industry seems to be the only thriving world industry at the moment and I wouldn't be surprised if the next few container ships full of Gibsons ended up being diverted to East Africa. They must be more valuable than crude - how many Gibsons can you get in a barrel of oil? ............................There must be a deal there somewhere, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 john, the Knight was at Oasis Musical Instruments in Ringwood, Dorset. I have a sneaking feeling that I may have confused the price with a similar Hofner archie that I played that day. It is definitely worth enquiring though...their website is www.oasismusicalinstruments.co.uk if you fancy a peek. It lists the Knight as being 50s/60s but I am sure that is wrong. I just picked up your PMs...damn, I would be all over that Kiso 12 if I wasn't skint! Thanks so much for the heads-up :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig10119 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Austin! Good to see you back here! How's your good self? I spoke to the manager of GuitarGuitar in Glasgow' date=' and he said that Gibsons were due to drop a little in price in the UK late this year due to a change in supply (Rosetti are now no longer the Gibson distro company, and Gibson are supplying direct, or so I am told). For example, a Dove should, theoretically, now have a street price of around £1699 as opposed to £2300 or so as it was in the Rosetti days. [/quote'] That's a good choice of store. Sound control (now reverb) in glasgow put the price of a les paul custom up £600 overnight, even though the exact same one was going for the old price the day before. Guitar guitar's prices stuck... If you wanna buy somewhere, have a look there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 john' date=' the Knight was at Oasis Musical Instruments in Ringwood, Dorset. I have a sneaking feeling that I may have confused the price with a similar Hofner archie that I played that day. It is definitely worth enquiring though...their website is www.oasismusicalinstruments.co.uk if you fancy a peek. It lists the Knight as being 50s/60s but I am sure that is wrong. I just picked up your PMs...damn, I would be all over that Kiso 12 if I wasn't skint! Thanks so much for the heads-up :-)[/quote'] Yes mixed up prices, they are asking £1500 which is all of it's money! I missed a beautiful maple Knight 12 string on Ebay which went for just undet a grand, I so regret that the Kiso 12 is at £137 with two days to go! Buy A lotto ticket LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Aren't you guys paying ENOUGH already????? Damn.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 . . Johnt - I thought you had a cunning plan involving a Takamine in a a hard case, a trip to the homecoming and a visit to the shop whilst in Bozeman..... this talk of buying guitars which are NOT Gibson is confusing me - especially having played a few lately. Only reason I am GASsing for a £450 Epi 355 is because the man's £4,500 Gibson 355 (late 60's and delicious.....) is beyond my means (and then some!). Should add - the Epi has Gibson humbuckers and a frequensator tailpiece and is so, so nice. Come on lottery..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Therm....I like that Epiphone Sheraton too....nice guit for the money..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 I get confused..... .....these were 355's, and I thought the Sherry was a 335. Whatever - doggone nice guitars to play. Reminder to self: Sell soul to devil to buy guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinNoName Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 I have an Epi Sheraton II, in the old skool VSB... your GAS is well placed, it's a beaut. However my delightful father (A far better blues player than I) has decided to borrow it in the short term, and he is doing her justice. I fear however I may never see her again.... boo! The flip side, is if I "sell" to him, I'll still get to nick it back and play her, AND make some cash, which may be tantamount to the stinkin' 20% Gibson price hike!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Why didn't you guys buy when the US dollar was in the toilet????? Are used Gibsons going up in price too????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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