If there are so many vintage guitars and amps available, why aren't the prices going down? There's a bus load of vintage dealers in the country, every day you can find vintage guitars and amps on ebay and craigslist, and theres always someone who has a vintage item to sell. I can remember going into pawn shops back in the 80's and buying a 60's Strat for less than $200. I got a '59 212 tweed Bassman in a pawn shop in Lincoln Nebraska in '86-traded strait up for my Peavy 215 Musician.
I think the internet had a lot to do with the rising prices of vintage in the pawn shops and private sector. But still, with all the vintage dealers and shops and private sellers always selling their vintage gear, there seems to be a real overstock and supply of them. Doesn't that usually make the prices go down?

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

I've seen more vintage guitar and amps for sale since the economy has been bad and you would think that the prices would go down,but they won't since people seem to be paying those outrageous prices.
See,I was around in the good ole days like you and remember 60s Strats going for less than $300,and there's no way I would pay $30,000 for one...people have been brainwashed into believing that because a Strat was made a long time ago it sounds $30,000 worth...that ain't always true.
The internet and especially ePay has caused a situation where there seems to be no good deals to be found now.
Remember when you could buy a 50s/60s Strat and tweed amp for less than the new stuff because "it was old" and Uncle Joe never really learned to play it and put it in the closet?...if you do you remember the golden years of guitar buying....that's when you had to buy a paper and look in the ads.

Hey i understand what your sayin' I'm a younger dude Born in the eighties and In 1995 when I satrted playing my pops took me down to the pawn shop and there was a 70's Strat for $850.00 I belive in great condition ( not the reissue the real deal). I was a fool and wanted a "brand new" guitar and didn't get it to my dads surprise (first guitar-Squier Strat ). Well for two years that thing sat there in that shop and when the demand for Vintage guitars went up I watched it go from$850.00 to $1200.00 to $2100.00. Thing never sold. Ebay came along local paper runs an article on how the pawn shop had sold a "true classic Fender" on E-Pay for over $3500.00.
Needless to say another in a long list of regrets of mine..

I'm with you lads, I miss being able to walk into a pawn shop and walk out with an actual DEAL. Nowadays I see used stuff (not "vintage" just great condition pre-owned) that is ridiculously priced.

Old doesn't mean better, hell it just means OLD.

However, if folks refuse to pay the inflated prices maybe they'll come down. Instruments should be in the hands of players, NOT collectors.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Remember when they were called used or second hand? It's nice to know there's other geezers here.

At least those are instruments, just look at baseball cards, comic books and other assorted stuff that used to be toys. I'd never thought there would be a day where a Hot Wheels would be the same price as a Porsche 911 >____> I guess value always lies in the eye of the beholder.

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Well the funny thing is that the economy is so bad and according to the biggest dealers in the country it is a total buyers market. The problem is the dealers do not want to except it and drop the prices of there gear which a lot of them bought 3-4 years ago when the market hit its peak, yet they want everyone else to sell there gear for nothing. Maybe that is why when I went to the Philly guitar show I saw maybe 2 guitars sold.

I really cant complain about ebay as I have found some gems on there, the whole thing is you have to be patient. Fenders are one of the best names to get a great deal on because if you punch in Stratocaster over 2,000 listings come up, then you have to sift through them. If I was looking for an Eric Johnson Strat I could of grabbed a dead mint one for $1,300 last week with not even a fingerprint on it. But on the otherside of the topic a guitar company that is not big and might only show 20 listings everyone is going to play follow the power seller and ask for top dollar even if they did not know what it was worth.

It also is not like people buy vintage and destroy them.lol There are still big numbers of them and due to hard times you probably are seeing more because people are selling them because they need money, and that is when you can score something nice.

The really sad thing is people like me owned "vintage" guitars and amps way back when and sold them for something we wanted that was new and we thought was better....looking back on things I wish I still owned some things,like a '65 Sonic blue Strat,or the Marshall 50 w 2x12 combo that I sold for $400,I never even bothered to find out what year model it was.I saw one of those in Guitar Center for $10,000!!!
Talk about feeling sick.

Good question masterhacker, but no, not yet. I would like to answer this for you better but my mind is gone and what common sense I had left I traded for a sandwich and a pack of Marlboro's tonight. on the bright side I got a crush on the lady cashier when I was paying for that stuff and while waiting for the rain to let up another beautiful angel ran under my awning to get out of the rain as well and while watching her pull her miniskirt down, smiling and apologizing to me for being drenched and beautiful I swear at that moment, no worry's.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I recently searched for vintage fender stratocaster guitars on ebay just out of curiosity to see how much a 1960's era original issue was going for. I found a Vintage 1964 Fender Stratocaster with a bid price of $17,564.64! That was the starting bid! Unbelievable! There weren't any bids, however, with just over 1 day left for the auction. These are hard times, after all.

Hopefully folks are getting smart again. Truly, when you "get right down to brass tacks" an old guitar is just an old guitar. Sure they are cool because they are old, sure they are cool because there aren't many of them around but paying out the wazoo like that is just irresponsible.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"