You know what I mean, The Rich Guys who buy up all the vintage Guitars/Basses for Investments only. They put them away to sell later never playing them. I think it s***s any comints.

well....Its one of the most sound investments in the world, people will never stop wanting vintage guitars, and the price is guaranteed to rise...

I've only played my 57hotrod a couple of times in the near year i've owned it, exactly for investment purposes. Suppose that includes me then.

I'd say we as guitarists and both fender and gibson owe a lot to collectors of yore. How else would these 2 companies have gotten vintage instruments that they could clone. The original spec's for the strat and tele were lost a long time ago during the cbs takeover. Todays reissues are based on vintage instruments that fender have managed to study.

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Yeah, they do the same with old cars too. I am getting to the point of hating the term Antique and vintage. “it’s just old” and to be charged 4 times the price of something new because its “Vintage” or old insults me and really gets under my skin. An item is only worth something if it is worth something t you. I have never taken much interest in the whole vintage thing, I can’t afford to get my foot in the door and never will. I guess I will just play the instruments I have for many years until they are old, beat to crap and considered vintage; then sell them to some dip dunk with nothing better to do with their money.. The only sound investment in the world today is LAND, you aint gonna’ get more vintage or limited edition that that. Don’t get me wrong there are a few items that were limited run things that I would like to have but for the outrageous money they are going for I have come to the conclusion I will never own them and will spend my $$ on things more practical.

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

Due to ocwen federal bank among others land isnt that good a investment at the moment. If we do get out of this depression it will return to normal though. In october i was considering a nice house in ohio going for the price of a masterbuilt strat.

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Unless you have a Custom Shop guitar, I really can't see a huge rise in value. It's not like the old days where people actually cut the bodies, formed the necks and hand wound the pups. They are cnc machined and mass produced so unless it's a very limited run, I'd just play the snot out of it. My 72 Strat has really climbed in price. Why? I don't know. It's all original and I play it all the time. It was 300 bucks new with a case. I've been offered close to 5 grand for it but it has too much sentimental value to me to sell it.

I find no fault with collectors hoarding "vintage" instruments. Would you expect a stamp collector to actually use his collection for postage? Or a coin collectoer to spend his efforts at the soda machine? Hardly!

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

the ones i don't like are the guys who buy up good working vintage guitars then part them out for a stupid amount of money. i mean come on $3000 for 57 pup covers

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Now thats a statement i do agree with. A 52 year old neck without the body and hardware to match is worth around £150 of anyones money in my book. Probably less, after all its not like a new warmoth or something. Value should only be attributed to complete instruments. After all why is there only the neck for sale? Did the body get damaged? If so its likely that the neck or whatever took a hit too.

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No no and no

right on nick i also agree with your above post i don't much play my 83 elite as it still has the $1000 price tag from 83 on it and all the case candy though it was given to me by my uncle i will some day hand it down to family and i want it to be in great condition still in 20 years. i'm also wanting to buy a 50th deluxe like yours for collectibility

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Far as the real vintage '50s guitars are concerned, I think it is sometimes interesting to compare things with the world of old violins, where they are a couple of centuries further ahead with these issues.

With Stradivari violins, they fall into two groups: those that are played and those that sit it glass cases. Most people think most of them should be played and by the best possible musicians - otherwise what's the point of their existence?

On the other hand, people are very glad of the few that live in cases in museums or in bank vaults, because they don't get damaged or modified and are a permanent record of how that type of instrument was in its original state.

Nikininja (above) said that unplayed collected guitars provide useful models for modern makers to study and get the specs right - and that is exactly how it has worked out in the violin world too. So a very important resource.

Against all that though, I do like Dave Gilmour for actually playing his #001 Strat, not just storing it in a bank safe! Very cool - and in his case, of course, adding to the notional value of that guitar...!

Cheers - C

EDIT: dorky spelling...

The collector's urge is one I don't understand. Owning things so you can ... own them? I don't get it.

I mean, I know why people do it... I just don't know why.

I need all of you to go out and burn your strats, so mine will skyrocket in value!!

Although I am of the mind that guitars were built to be played, i am glad collectors are preserving some of them. if all the 50's strats were work horse gigging machines, they'd be lost forever.

When CBS had fender, they sold off all the prototypes (idiots,) so there were no pieces to use as a benchmark at the factory.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.