Agreed. We clearly need more build threads (guitar, amp, pedal board, etc.) or more guitar porn pix or more joke pix.
I nominate you to start one. Or two.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Okay, to slightly change the topic - here's my latest "investment" guitar.



It's a rare (almost no online info and not on any Harmony databases) 70s Harmony LP-style that came in recently on a Sunday afternoon at the local GC.



It's a solid ash body with heavy black binding, dual humbuckers that are actually fairly new DiMarzio humbuckers, not the originals. I thought when the boys pulled it down off the wall and I plugged it in that these cannot be the original pickups. They aren't.



The guitar is a "closet classic" if I have ever found one. Almost no wear anywere, including the frets. Bound neck and headstock and I LOVE the black fret markers!



Original knobs, hardware, pickguard, tuners - it's all there (but the humbuckers, which I really don't mind that much) and she plays very nicely and sounds awesome. My tech at GC, Ian, did a superb job of taking her apart, cleaning her all up and throwing in a nice set of #9s and a delicious setup - a good hour's work or more, included in the cost of the guitar.

It also came with the original "closet classic" hardshell case, not shown here. It's a fairly heavy black profiled case with lush red plush lining and FIVE latches. I just did a little reglue of some loose edge Tolex and it's as nice as the guitar.

How much did I pay?

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Okay I cant take it how much did you spend? I only have one odd question..it looks really solid..is it as heavy as it appears to be? Really pretty guitar in a cool retro way
Congrats on new Guitar

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

Well I may have a little semi-build project coming soon which can involve Cats, Beers, great socks and excruciating waits for paint to dry! Everyones favourites!

GC was asking $300 for the guitar as USED. They were going to price it at twice that as VINTAGE, until they discovered the switched pickups. I paid them their asking price of $300 since they had only had it in the store for about 12 hours and because Ian put all that time into cleaning and setup. And, of course, because it came with that great vintage case.

Yes, it is as heavy and solid as it looks, though it is pretty well balanced. I've never really minded heavy guitars (like a Peavey T-60 or my mint Ovation Viper III, both solid ash), so the weight doesn't bother me. I haven't performed any four-hour gigs lately, but then I usually take 2-3 guitars along anyway if I'm going to be doing four sets.

This guitar IS cool, plays really nice and sounds awesome - another great addition to my collection... and yes, I do play them!

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

The vintage guitar market is not near as lucrative as it used to be.It is very doubtful that any of today's guitars would ever appreciate to the extent as original No Casters,'50s and 60s Strats and 'burst and goldtop Les Pauls did.Only those who were lucky or shrewd enough to pick up these guitars when they were relatively cheap ever made a bundle on vintage guitars.Investing in precious metals,copper(maybe) and buying shares in bank stocks would probably bring much bigger dividends than the guitar market ever would .I was lucky enough to have bought several guitars in the 70s that have appreciated incredibly since I bought them,some as much as 2000% more, but that was due to luck much moreso than savy.The value of my guitars will never make money for me as I intend to never sell any of them but to leave them to my nephew and other talented relatives.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

^^^.....Damn....I knew I should have showed up last Thanksgiving.....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

much the same as cars, these days guitars are punted out an an incredible rate. when fender started, and they were producing relatively small amounts of guitars, they are instantly rarer simply because of numbers produced. now so many are produced, guitars are no longer rare - except for extremely high end stuff - which means they are worth less.

also people are now more savvy, and know (or think) that stuff will be worth loads in decades to come. just imagine how many 50's strats were binned, broken, took apart etc for one reason or another. something that would now be seen as mind numbingly stupid.

how many 60's guitars did Pete Townsend smash up? probably enough moneys worth to buy a house or 2 easy......

again, going back to the classic car analogy, i bet all our parents and grandparents are looking at cars they used to own, and wondering why they are worth so much now. for example my dad had a mk2 Ford Escort, that he scrapped because it got a bit rusty and wasnt worth anything in the late '70's, early '80's. ive seen pictures of it and these days it would be worth an easy 7 grand +, in the rusty condition.

Guitars are not investment vehicles. The only one's using them as such are people with very deep pockets and if you inquire into their portfolio you'll find that guitars are but a very small part of an investment strategy which is not based on a musical instrument which will depreciate tremendously and maybe be worth more than it's original cost, but history proves it unlikely.

One of the main reasons guitars are a very poor choice as investment is in their intrisic value.
Or I should say lack of it... We are discussing an item which has zero capability of increasing it's value. Unlike monetary funds or securities....If invested wisely a Dollar will have a return on initial investment because it has an intrisic value which can be used, bargained, leveraged or.....???
Currency is always in demand because of it's circulatory nature....
Guitars are not at all in the same realm, they are entirely dependent upon the whims of a market dictated by fashion.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "