Interesting subject this has brought up here. How much of the price of a high-end fretted instrument has to do with its musical characteristics and how much has to do with its value as a collector's item?

Here's my humble opinion: The first $3000.00 USD is what you are actually paying for the sound and playability of any fretted instrument. I say this because guys like Bill Collings and Geoff Stelling can make an instrument that rivals anything from the "Golden Age" and sell it for about that much. Anything beyond 3K and you're paying for something besides just the instrument's ability to produce sound. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarilly. If someone has the money and the economy doesn't go totally fecoventilatory they're pretty much guaranteed to get at least as much for it as they paid. If I had won the Lotto last year and sunk a million dollars into Granadas, Loar's and Herringbones I'd be much better off than if I had put that same million into Enron and Worldcom stocks.

Bruce