Guitar Values, in Perspective

Subject: Guitar Values, in Perspective
From: Easy Rider
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 01:22 PM

There has been a lot of talk lately about the "right" guitar to buy and about the values of old guitars. I would like to offer these two articles, to help put the whole topic in perspective. I found them thought provoking. I hope you will too.

The FIRST, by George Gruhn, is about searching for the perfect guitar:

The Holy Grail

The SECOND, written by a private collector, whose name I can't remember, is about APPRAISALS:

Are APPRAISALS worth anything? In my opinion, the answer to this is "no". The recent trend in vintage guitar appraisals has been to over appraise vintage guitars. "Why", you ask? This is purely a business decision from the appraisal people. Since most appraisals are done by vintage guitar dealers who want to sell your vintage instrument, it is to their benefit to appraise high. This gives the impression that when you want to sell your vintage guitar, they will get you a higher price. This especially applies to the larger vintage guitar dealers who do mostly consignment sales (another scam). Since consignments involve little to no cost on the vintage guitar dealer's part, appraising your guitar high and taking it on consignment is advantageous to them. Because of this, I feel appraisals are little more than a scam (most dealers charge $20 for a formal appraisal). If you want to know the true value of your vintage guitar, ask a couple dealers, "what would you pay, cash, right now, for my guitar?". This amount will be significantly less than the appraisal, but is the true value of what you can sell your vintage guitar for. Yes of course the dealer will try and sell your vintage guitar for more than they are offering (after all they are in business to make money). But they have access to an international market and client list that you and I don't have. And they may be willing to spend the time (as much as years) selling your guitar "retail". My opinion is, "so let them try"... when APPRAISALS were fair: I remember back a fews years appraisals were legitimate. When I was buying a vintage guitar from someone that was nervous about its value, I would tell them to send $20 and a front and back picture to Grhun Guitars in Nashville for an appraisal. And the appraisals were fair; I would pay near or at the appraised value. But it didn't take a rocket scientist for the vintage guitar dealers to realize what was happening; they would appraise the vintage guitar fairly and it would get sold to someone else local to the guitar! Because of this, all the vintage guitar dealers that do formal appraisals are over-appraising. This makes the "local" deal look bad, and their consignment scam look good.