Is this a sign of increasing collectability???

[KenC]

I just took a look at GC's used and vintage websites. There are several newly-listed pre-BBE ASATs, and every one of them has a model year listed in the description. I haven't seen this too often in major chain websites' ads before. Seeing three examples pop up at once, with a single model, has me curious. Are we seeing a sign of broader public interest, or something the marketing folks will start hyping? The folks who wrote up those listings weren't very familiar with older G&Ls, as each one of those three ads has a clearly incorrect year for the features...

Ken

[darwinohm]

Ken, this is typical GC stuff. Very few of the employees locally even know what a G&L is. One of the local salesman has owned one but the others are pretty unfamiliar with them. They usually do e-bay research on things and anything even close to vintage they call the hollywood store for advice. I just bought a $5 item at the GC last week and I had a call from a firm doing followup yesterday. I'm not sure if they are actually trying to find out what we really think or if it is a feel good marketing ploy. There are only a couple of guys that I talk with at the local store. The others are young kids who do not know their products. Our local store is no longer stocking high end stuff but you have to go to a different store in Edina, I forget what they call it. I bought many guitars in the past and it has been over 2 years since I bought one from them. The prices on used stuff is now way out of line. If they have something I want, I wait until it has been there a long time and them give them a low offer. In past years I had incredible buys but those days are gone in this area. --Darwin

[KenC]

My local GC puts stupidly high prices on the couple of used G&Ls that show up. They have had a recent Legacy hanging on the wall, with a sticker price higher than it would cost new from a dealer. Every now and then something is reasonably priced at some other store, so I keep an eye out. I was more curious about this cluster of ASATs they are listing with dates. That seems a lot more in line with how they list the "collectable" instruments, for example, older Gibsons and Fenders, '80s PRSs, etc.

[meowmix]

Is this the case of the Internet getting smarter?
- Google and other web searches knows what you search for.
- Sells info to buyers
- Go to buyers website and all you see are ads of things you searched for on internet.

It is impossible to do anything without being tracked.
Your internet provider is storing data, then passing over to NSA.
Your email provider is storing data, then passing to NSA.
Your search site is storing data, then passing to NSA.

There are things you can do to minimize, but in the end, if the company resides in the USA, sooner or later, they will have to hand the data over to NSA.

We are watching your every move.

[Elwood]

S.C.M.O.D.S.

[Elwood]

Elwood - you warned Jake about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tim

I think he's still miffed about the cigarette lighter
[youtube]yil9wlfa0yo[/youtube]



(sorry for the tangent Ken)

[Salmon]

A local dealer has a used G&L and did some research using Google. They were able to narrow the year down to a decade and reference it a such. I suspect music store sales staff do not focus and comprehend enough in the process. You would have to learn of this forum for one thing. Then you would need to read the FAQ to understand the way G&L has handled serial numbers. When these guys are at work with half their attention manning the business it is doubtful they would be very successful as detectives. It would take a dedicated G&L fan with personal experience or enough interest to do some research at home.

[KenC]

It's always interesting and fun to see where a thread is going to run off to! The thought I had when I posted this was just that big retailers like GC won't usually post years in their ad titles unless they think it will matter to buyers. If a Fender, Gibson or other "desirable" instrument is from the 70s or 80s, the ads will be pretty specific. A "who cares" brand won't get the same treatment. Ever see an ad pointing out that an Epiphone was built in 1989? Aside from some very early G&L basses, it's a lot more normal IME to just see the brand and model - which may still be wrong. It seemed unusual to me that clerks in a couple of different stores thought it was worthwhile to point out that these ASATs were from the '80s, which would seem to indicate GC thought that would make them more desirable.

Ken