Does anyone on this forum living in the U.S. have any knowledge of a group called "International Vintage Guitar Collectors Association" or IVGCA.

Recently a friend in Baton Rouge told me of going to a "guitar show" in a local motel. It was touted as a vintage collectors show, but when you arrive it's a couple of guys at a table with a laptop giving offers to buy guitars.

He took a vintage Les Paul Custom and the "show men" offered him $800 for his $5,000 Les Paul.

This week the same outfit has hit Shreveport. A full page color add in the newspaper. When you search IVGCA on the internet you get a "cached" page on google, that's it.

Of course they make a lot of claims about the huge sums of mony offered to the people who walk in with their insturments.

Is anyone familiar with this orginization? It smells like a sucker scam to me. They are hoping someone will bring in "uncle Bob's old guitar" so they can give him $400 for that "old" 57 stratocaster

_________________
I remember when we were free!

AVOID

http://musicdfw.com/showthread.php?994-Be-careful-Gold-Buyers-masking-as-quot-Vintage-Guitar-Collectors-Association-quot
http://coin-fraud.com/

And finally our own musings on them.

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45298

_________________
No no and no

Thank you Niki, it is as I thought.

WILL "HELL" HAVE ENOUGH ROOM???

_________________
I remember when we were free!

Like in the other thread, I wouldn't take a check from them if my life depended on it. I only take checks from personal friends that I've known for a long time. Otherwise, it's cash.

If they have cash and meet your price, who cares what they do with it after. It's all about being an educated seller and knowing your price.

Most "horse traders" are scouring the countryside looking for someone who has no idea what they have and then jump on it quick (including pawn shops, and even some local music stores who offer to take in "trade" your stuff). I think anyone who would offer someone $500 for a vintage Strat, or $1000 for a pre-war Martin guitar should be castrated on site, but that's a different story.

Jeff

Castration by using a little "E" string threaded through the brass keeper into a loop and then applied to the anatomy to be removed.

_________________
I remember when we were free!

Oneal, JeffnLes.

Let's do it lads. I've loads of rubber bands. We could follow em round the country. As they start making low offers, the eyebrows raise in trepidation,.... then the hand slowly reaches to the breast pocket for the shears,.... as the bids get lower and lower...... Till finaly pounce, boing, AAArgggh, sob sob.
Castration in situ


Wait for em to bring out another rep.
It could become a new national sport. Give us all something to do on a Saturday afternoon. And it would stop em breeding.

_________________
No no and no

I knew a guy (haven't spoken with him since this event) who bought a mid 1930's Martin 000-18 at a garage sale for $150. The guitar was in nearly perfect condition. Normal playing wear one would expect for a 60 year old (this was in the mid 90's) guitar, but no cracks, 80%+ original finish, original tuning machines, clear searial number, just a beautiful pre-war Martin. At the time, the guitar was worth over $10,000 on the collector market. I haven't kept up on prices but would assume it's at least that much now if not more.

I asked him how he could sleep with himself for doing that. His response was "I gave her asking price without even trying to haggle her down". I found that to be one of the sorriest responses I've ever heard. Just amazing to me how some people can knowingly rip someone off and feel good about it.

Jeff

Your buddy in "red stick" isn't alone -- these scammers roam nation-wide. And the ad for the Sport City show is typical for this bunch. They've been out to the southwest as well, even stooping to C/L's posts in Phoenix and Tucson.

Ignore and avoid at all costs.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

They are in Shreveport Louisiana today right now in the Best Western Chateau Suite Hotel until 4:00 PM CST!

I am hoping local District Attorney knows about them!

_________________
I remember when we were free!

They have multiple teams going around; they have been in Louisville, KY this week.

I'm a self-employed consultant and can set my schedule so just for the hell of it I went there with my '79 Lead II on Wednsday just to try to get a value on it. You get a number and then hang out forever - I got there at 1:00 pm and got #177; right after I got there they called back #152 and #153. I hung out for about 45 mintutes and they only called 2 other numbers. I got a bad feeling about it and bailed. Saw lots of older folks bringing in discount store instruments along with a handful of people with legitamate instruments.

i went on their website and it seems like the sort of act like a middle man. THey get request for guitars and other instruments, go into a town people bring in a guitar or something and they make low ball offers so they can make a high profit when they sell them.

It is like flipping houses but instead their flipping guitars

As long as their money is real, I doubt if there's anything illegal. They make an offer, the seller accepts or rejects. I just find it unethical to lowball like that, but others don't have a problem with it. Casteratoin is still the best option

At least with guys who flip houses, they're usually buying them from a bank or out of foreclosure so they're not really ripping anyone off.

A lot of these flipping buisnesses (pawn shops, gold buyers, quick cash cash advance, these guys, car dealerships, and the like) are kind of shady (in my opinion) but not necessarily illegal.

Jeff

There's an old saying that springs to mind here - you can't con an honest man...

...well to me that's not quite true, because sadly there are too many people out there who get taken for a ride through a lack of knowledge.

Let's be honest, we all dream of picking up a vintage guitar at a bargain price - but legitimately. Actually I'd love to find one in some dodgy pawn shop where the store owner doesn't know what he/she's got..!!

_________________
How did it sound to you?

I think these people care even more about money than their, um, crown jewels. So I suppose the operation we should be thinking of is... CASH-STRATION.



- I'll get my coat.

Cheers - C

_________________

I disagree with you on the house flipping. There are illegal elements to it in just the simple fact that it is fraudulent. The problem comes in when the majority of people who bought into these transactions were already at the edge as far as liquidity.
Once locked in to their contract, the Gremlins usually don't start rearing their ugly little heads until a few months after the new owners have lived in the house.
In the housing market it is next to impossible to redress grievances in a timely manner.
This means Time and Money (lawyers) which the new owners have little of, thus they are stuck
with the problems.
As a residential builder/remodeler, I run across more problems than I can recall, for one much of the work done in these houses is performed in a sustandard manner by people who have no business doing any kind of remodeling.
Unfortunately, there is no licensing required ( and I am refering to that ridiculous Contractor Registration Requirement by the states, which amounts to having proof of insurance and registered with the state's databank. Not ever is there an exam to pass, or legitimate assurance that an apprenticeship has been performed, let alone proof of competency in structural engineering.) THis is one of the main reasons as to the housing market having tanked, sustandard structures.

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "