Hey! You got an Esteve??
Sheesh me too, I really like mine.
You still have yours?
What's the specs, if I may ask.

As for the title question.

It's the same story for everything else you buy.

Real Estate (Land) had traditionally been considered a very safe investment, recent economic downturn ruined that notion but gold is climbing.

Everything else is pretty much considered consumables
A bicycle, car, truck, boat, motorcycle, rv are such consumables.
Furniture, appliances, electronics, also are such consumables.
Clothing will lose it's value too.
Musical Instruments are no different.

Mass production is part of the problem. Supply and demand.

Antiques and works of art can increase in value.

My rule of thumb is if you must buy new, be sure that what you want is what you want and that you will be happy with it. Also, remember that
it's going to lose it's value as fast as the salesman stops smiling at you.

[quote="Twinhit"]
Real Estate (Land) had traditionally been considered a very safe investment, recent economic downturn ruined that notion but gold is climbing.


Mass production is part of the problem. Supply and demand.

Antiques and works of art can increase in value.

My rule of thumb is if you must buy new, be sure that what you want is what you want and that you will be happy with it. Also, remember that
it's going to lose it's value as fast as the salesman stops smiling at you.

[/quote

Land doesn't belong in that list mate. Ok it's price has dipped, but it hasn't really devalued. House and prices are back to being stupid and climbing like nothing ever happened, in a lot of the world.
Seem's that we can't learn from our mistakes. If your under 25 expect a mass exodus on the housing market and crash again before your times up.

Banks, financiers blame sub prime loans. But the reality is that statement is nothing more than propeganda and a vain attempt to whitewash over the cracks in the banking system. The truth is that a lot of people came to their senses about what they were paying out and decided, it's just not worth it, abandon ship. It happened on such a scale that it caused a crash.

Abe Lincoln said, land is the only commodity they dont make any more. It's always in demand. Hence it's ability to bounce back from a disaster like the one we just saw. Land value appreciation really needs to be restricted to match inflation and nothing more to stop this ever happening again.

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No no and no

if you want to see something funny, look at craigs list. i bought my mim strat at guitar center last year for 449. their everyday price is 499.

people on craigs list are trying to sell 4 and 5 year old strats (mim) for 500 or so, claiming they are selling for 600 on e-bay. when someone chimes in and says the price is way too high, people get upset and tell them to mind their own business. they must think people are stupid.

if you pay more for a 5 year old mim than a new one would cost, i would question your sanity

I've learned the expensive way also. Been through many different guitars in my life, and lost a lot of cash invested, on amps too. But thats why I am down to 1 Strat with 3 loaded pickguards. S/S/S- S/S/H- and H/H. I switch them out when I feel like I need a new guitar. It gets me over that urge to spend $1000. when I know I'll regret it later.

Well, mate, when you buy a house and get it paid for then take a loan out for the house at half value and the economy falls through the floor reducing the value of the property to half the loan, suddenly you find that all your money went down the drain.
It's happened many times to a lot of people.

I buy a lot of used guitars on Craigslist. I'm also not above buying a return from Musicians Friend. With their 45 day return policy, it is not that risky, although on some items you may have to pay a restocking fee. I never buy a factory 2nd though. There really is a stigma having that stamp on the guitar.

Recently I bought a Classic Players 50s Strat used in mint condition for $400 when they were going for $1100 new. I checked on the trade in value at MF and they offered me $200, I thought that was ridiculous and I sold it a few weeks later for $550 on C-List. To help your sales on craigslist, take really good pictures and used the HTML code to embed them in your ad. Provide a link to a site that sells the item new so buyers can see the retail price and a good description of the item. A lot of times I buy a guitar and re-sell it right away for a small profit just by making my ads stand out in this way.

I usually will only pay 50% of retail or less on a used guitar. In my area there is no shortage of used gear for sale. Buying new does have it's advantages like factory warranties and return policies, but if you do your homework the real deals are often to be found on the used market. It does not hurt to be able to do your own setups and simple repairs too, there are even more deals to be had when someone is selling a used item with a faulty switch or pickup. Usually a quick shot of solder and you're good to go.

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a lot of it has to do with mark up too.
stores wont pay for mark up, but they sale the h3ll out of it.

MF used is the way to go too..and there are often sales on it as well!! (with the same awesome 45 day return policy!)