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Feruary Edition of the Vintage Guitar News and Views
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How much is my guitar worth? Seems like a pretty cut and dry question doesn't it ? Well a lot of factors can contribute to the final answer. How much is it in relationship to the present market is one answer. How much do you expect to get for her is another. How much will a buyer ( dealer) pay is quite another answer. Is she straight and clean? Have any parts ever been changed? Is it refinished? If parts were changed do you still have the original parts? Were the changes done professionally? Hang tags? receipts? case candy? All these items come into play with that one simple question.
Can you and will you send pictures of all the appropriate parts and different views if needed? This may require you to take apart to some extent your guitar , are you comfortable doing this? Sure you can look at one of the auction sites to get a general feel for prices ,and if that is all you want then that would be my suggestion. If you do rely on one of these( shudder ) sites for this information then why even bother calling for quotes? Are you selling your guitar or amp or do you want to know if you paid a fair price for it when you made the purchase?
If you are selling the item then know that most purveyors of fine fretted instruments will not nor can not pay top dollar for your item. Certain overhead has to be met to remain in the arena here ,so please do not take offense if you are offered less than you saw on that auction site( which we tend to completely ignore).Now as far as the condition is concerned,pictured are nice but never tell the whole story, any changes,let me repeat myself, any changes whatsoever will impact the price of an instrument even if these changes made the guitar or bass or amp a better piece of equipment,especially in the collectors circles.
Speaking of circles, there are some basic price structure circles to know about.#1- collectors quality,only the best examples of the most desirable pieces fit into this category and prices are on the steeper side. #2- collector / players grade, The item still retains most of the original parts.#3- players grade ,most parts still there but may have wear or finish issues.#4-players,Some parts changed ,and finish redone or lots of wear.#5- beaters , almost none of the guitar or amp is as it left the factory when new .and within these groups are even further sub groups all with pricing criteria and fluctuations.
So if you call someone for that elusive but attainable answer to you question, know that you should know most of the answers to the questions that you will be asked also. Have detailed pictures ready to send via email and be honest, Let the guy on the other end of the phone know why you are interested in knowing the price, let us know if your selling,shopping, or need an evaluation rather than a quick answer. If you do want an in depth evaluation you may be asked to pay for one, Yes time is money and nothing worthwhile is ever free, so be prepared to pony up, so to speak.I Recommend that you purchase a price guide on line or at a book store , these are helpful but not the rule in establishing a fundamental price , but again if your guitar is worth 1000.00 dollars , no one will pay that ,because they in turn have to sell it to make a profit ,so they can not pay what they have to sell for.Like everything , their are fluctuations,standards and exceptions to every rule. Like always this is just my news and view. I hope it has been somewhat helpful.So until next month, may all your days be memorable, all your friends stay true and all your riffs be killer, Greg at Greg's guitar.
How much is my guitar worth? Seems like a pretty cut and dry question doesn't it ? Well a lot of factors can contribute to the final answer. How much is it in relationship to the present market is one answer. How much do you expect to get for her is another. How much will a buyer ( dealer) pay is quite another answer. Is she straight and clean? Have any parts ever been changed? Is it refinished? If parts were changed do you still have the original parts? Were the changes done professionally? Hang tags? receipts? case candy? All these items come into play with that one simple question.
Can you and will you send pictures of all the appropriate parts and different views if needed? This may require you to take apart to some extent your guitar , are you comfortable doing this? Sure you can look at one of the auction sites to get a general feel for prices ,and if that is all you want then that would be my suggestion. If you do rely on one of these( shudder ) sites for this information then why even bother calling for quotes? Are you selling your guitar or amp or do you want to know if you paid a fair price for it when you made the purchase?
If you are selling the item then know that most purveyors of fine fretted instruments will not nor can not pay top dollar for your item. Certain overhead has to be met to remain in the arena here ,so please do not take offense if you are offered less than you saw on that auction site( which we tend to completely ignore).Now as far as the condition is concerned,pictured are nice but never tell the whole story, any changes,let me repeat myself, any changes whatsoever will impact the price of an instrument even if these changes made the guitar or bass or amp a better piece of equipment,especially in the collectors circles.
Speaking of circles, there are some basic price structure circles to know about.#1- collectors quality,only the best examples of the most desirable pieces fit into this category and prices are on the steeper side. #2- collector / players grade, The item still retains most of the original parts.#3- players grade ,most parts still there but may have wear or finish issues.#4-players,Some parts changed ,and finish redone or lots of wear.#5- beaters , almost none of the guitar or amp is as it left the factory when new .and within these groups are even further sub groups all with pricing criteria and fluctuations.
So if you call someone for that elusive but attainable answer to you question, know that you should know most of the answers to the questions that you will be asked also. Have detailed pictures ready to send via email and be honest, Let the guy on the other end of the phone know why you are interested in knowing the price, let us know if your selling,shopping, or need an evaluation rather than a quick answer. If you do want an in depth evaluation you may be asked to pay for one, Yes time is money and nothing worthwhile is ever free, so be prepared to pony up, so to speak.I Recommend that you purchase a price guide on line or at a book store , these are helpful but not the rule in establishing a fundamental price , but again if your guitar is worth 1000.00 dollars , no one will pay that ,because they in turn have to sell it to make a profit ,so they can not pay what they have to sell for.Like everything , their are fluctuations,standards and exceptions to every rule. Like always this is just my news and view. I hope it has been somewhat helpful.So until next month, may all your days be memorable, all your friends stay true and all your riffs be killer, Greg at Greg's guitar.
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, Feb 1 2009, 9:05 AM EST
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