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Help me figure out a value

johnnyjellybean

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Dec 23, 2001
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1,030
I've been playing mostly lately and am out of the loop as far as prices go on a lot of the vintage stuff. I am trying to figure out a value on a 54 wrap around goldtop that has had only the top refinished(great job!) . The back and sides are original and in good shape. about 8.5 on 10. No breaks or repairs. RS aged repro tuners (no drilling or extra holes) RS aged repro poker chip. Missing pickguard. Original case in decent shape. Any ideas on what this is worth? I was thinking around $18.5 K. Am I on or close to the mark?
54LP%20001.jpg
 
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pilotlight

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Oct 8, 2003
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Awwww man, I would've snapped that '52 up in a heartbeat! Dog bone and a bigsby!
 

Chef Greg

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Jan 17, 2002
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FWIW... Steve, I have a similar '54 (more original plastic) and would not take $18k for it... :salude
 

johnnyjellybean

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Dec 23, 2001
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1,030
Pretty dead for these. It would be tough to get $10k right now.

Here's a '56 that hasn't budged in the month it has been sitting for $13k:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1956-GIBSON-LES...ryZ38086QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Then a trapeze w/ original finish and hs repair went for $6k:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1952-Gibson-Les...ryZ38086QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A crack is a crack is a crack. You are talking about broken guitars and I am talking about a refinished top. I may be a bit off the mark with the market being soft the way it is right now but I think you would be EXTREMELY hard pressed to find a guitar like this for $10K. In fact.... if you find me one, I have a buyer.
 

shuie

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Aug 26, 2005
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A year ago it would have brought $18k within 24hrs. Today, Id just put it away and forget that I owned it.
 

johnnyjellybean

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Dec 23, 2001
Messages
1,030
Pretty dead for these. It would be tough to get $10k right now.

A year ago it would have brought $18k within 24hrs. Today, Id just put it away and forget that I owned it.


I'm with j45....

OK ... so let's assume this is the general consensus. What does that say about the condition of the market now? To my knowledge, the only other time vintage guitars actually dropped in price was the late 80s during stratmania and in the early 90s when Kosta Kovachev unloaded those 30 something bursts in one shot.(bursts recovered quite quickly since there were not enough to flood the market that badly) Strats took forever to again reach the prices they had obtained during the frenzy of the 80s . If after all the hoopla in the past couple of years including the article in the wall street journal which caused a rush to go out and buy vintage guitars by all kinds of people for solely investment purposes and prices are now starting to fall, have we seen a peak that we will not see again in the near future? Is it possible that the best days are behind us? When you think about the demographics of the vintage guitar market, then this becomes a reality. In the old days , collectors bought because they loved the guitars and not for the purpose of investment. What happens if buyers who bought solely for investment purposes don't see a return on their investment and even worse, see prices dropping and their investment dwindling? Do you think we might see a sell off from those who bought as an investment?
 
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