Friday Breakfast Report 2-11-11

[cmguitar]

Morning Everyone !!!

I would like to say I am having fried eggs,bacon biscuits,gravy ect...
But I am only having toast and coffee.

I only have one big question today- We know BBE/G&L have done a good job of keeping there items at a good fair price.
But there is other companies that the prices keep getting higher and higher. Also the older(vintage)prices keep going up too.
Have new and so called vintage(used) prices gone too expensive? And do you think there will be a limit hit?

Chet

[darwinohm]

Chet, I had an apple this morning. I was out of town all day yesterday.

Prices are always a good discussion. Fender raised their prices by a significant amount 2 years ago. It did not fly and they had to lower them again. The economy has been different than any of us old timers have seen. I believe that we as a society will be going through a standard of living adjustment. I think we have been living in a bubble for some time and it has been good times for everyone until the last few years. The vintage prices have reflected that also. I also think that the international marked drove the vintage prices to the high prices we have seen in the past. These are my humble thoughts and I hope that we can keep inflation in check and that I am wrong. At least it's Friday but that is no big deal for a retired guy! Thanks for the LR reports this week Chet. Good to see new members stepping up. --Darwin.

[sickbutnottired]

I enjoyed your LR this week, Chet.

I think there some definite bubbles in the collectibles market that will be flattened out. I have this weird feeling that anything that is purposely made to be collectible will end up not being. I guess if Darwin is right, and I can sure see it his way--than this could be pretty dramatic. If not, I feel like in time the difference between 30 year old guitar and a 40 year old guitar, then a 40 and 50 year old guitar will stop being such a big deal. Except for the truly rare gems related to music history.

Also, one thought from yesterdays LR. I am will Boogie Bill. One instrument I would almost certainly buy either as a limited release or full production is a 12 string. I don't care much about the shape, Comanche is definitely fine with me. I do want a wide-ish neck, again 1 3/4 would be fine.

[zapcosongs]

Been very busy and worn lately. I agree. Nice week. Welcome, by the way ;+)

This may not be responsive to anything in particular, but I would just LOVE to see the day when guitar prices reflect the magic to be found in the individual instruments. The finest playing, feeling and sounding instruments would be the ones most sought after, most appreciated and most highly valued.

Have a great weekend all! - ed

[Boogie Bill]

Well, if you consider that everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie; that guitars are made by skilled craftsmen, not unskilled pimply-faced teenagers derserving only minimum wage; unions, transportation costs, etc.; then no, I think most instruments are fairly priced. If you evaluate our current dollar's buying power--we're paying pretty close to what we would have paid back in the '50 and '60s for that Tweed Deluxe and Esquire, or the Strat and BF Super Reverb. Throw in some basic ECON 101 rules about supply and demand--yeah, there's a lot of good reasons why a Gibson Custom Shop Plain-Top Les Paul Historic VOS sells for about $3,600 street and a Flame Top '59 for about five Gs. Yeah, crazy...but companies have to make a profit, employees and taxes have to be paid. Crazy, ridiculous, not fair...but I understand it.

Vintage market is a little different. One can argue that the Martins, Fenders, and Gibsons of the 1930's to the mid-1960's (as applicable) are better instruments with higher intrinsic value. But the purchase of a 1960 Strat for $25,000, or a 1960 LP Sunburst Standard for $289,000--that's a little crazy in my book. Especially when I can buy a Custom Shop Fender Strat Relic for under $3,000; or a Gibson CS Tom Murphy aged '58-'60 LP Standard for about $7,000; or one of the Gibson CS Murphy-aged Signature LPs (like the reissue of Beck"s '54 Oxblood, Gibbon's Pearly Gates, the Rossington, Clapton Beano, the Don Felder "Hotel California '59; or the Mike Bloomfield for a little over/under $10,000); then the originals have very little appeal to me.

I'm sixty, and rapidly running out of the time I have left on this planet. But I'll gladly take a good LP Historic and play the heck out of it for as long as I can--and you guys can fight over it in twenty-five years and debate if it's good as the '50's model. I'm pretty sure if I get a good one now, it will still be a good one after a little seasoning, sweat and some added mojo. That's good enough for me.

I try not to live TOO much in the past; and as much as I like vintage Strats, for me...the Legacy is a better guitar. It may never appreciate in value like a vintage Fender, but it's the right guitar for me. It has the right upgrades and improvements over a vintage Strat. (And that's one of the reasons I sold my 1960 Strat back in 1991.)

Good job this week.

Bill