# Guitars are not investments...



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Tell that to my portfolio. Its gone down the amount of about 3 Gibson R9's in the past while. The MIM tele I bought in 2020 cost $400 more to buy then when I bought it. The Les Paul Standard 50 went up $300 a couple weeks after I bought mine and I just noticed today that the Gibson R9's at Long and McQuade are up $200. Yes guitars are definitely doing better than my mutual funds.


----------



## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

Hard assets ya know?


----------



## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

When the Russians are bombing your house it's hard to run down the road with your guitar collection and not get picked off.


----------



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

player99 said:


> When the Russians are bombing your house it's hard to run down the road with your guitar collection and not get picked off.


If its got to the point where the Russians are bombing my house, no matter how well armed I am I'd be better off spending my time getting my last few notes plucked on my beloved guitars. Thats how I want to go out.


----------



## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Every guitar that I've sold/traded had a profit in my favour.
It's all timing.
ie; $200 purchase turned into $2300 trade/cash two years later.


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I figure my OCD oughta be worth a good few grand by Christmas .. lol


----------



## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

I try not to think of guitars as investments, but resale value is always in the back of my mind when I buy. Like the stock market, I’ve picked some big winners, and some losers too. At least you can play guitars. Stocks just sit there and often add to the stress of daily life instead of relieving it.


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I have pretty much never considered guitars investments. Sure, I've bought a few that were simply flipped for a decent profit because they were under-priced, but that hardly qualifies as investment, more like padding my instrument account a little.

There's a couple that would resell for considerably more (2X or 3X I would think) than their purchase price, but that's only because the builder is highly regarded and his prices have blown up in the last 25 years. They weren't bought as investments and their condition shows it.

People like me can't afford to buy guitars as investments any more than cars, land, gems, or wine.

Put me in mind of this, just change the gender:


----------



## Pat James (5 mo ago)

Guitars are not primarily investments, as that would go to their main use as being a musical instrument, however there is a whole website dedicated solely to buying/selling guitars, so no one can say that they aren't something that has a market value. I look at it the same way that baseball guitars and other things that have a collectability factor makes them more valuable over time. The thing I try to remember is that guitars are a niche market. There is a saying that goes along the lines of, "the only people who care about the quality and craftsmanship of a chefs knife are other chefs" and I think the same rings true for guitarists and their guitars.


----------



## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

If you have $20K in the bank today, and left it there for 10 years vs- You take the same $20K and buy the best (to your knowledge) investment guitars and keep them for 10 years until 2030. Which will yield the most profit?


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

player99 said:


> If you have $20K in the bank today, and left it there for 10 years ...


You'd have nothing after 10 years, if you left 20k in the bank for that long it would be eaten up by service charges.


----------



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Obviously I was making a tongue in cheek exaggerated statement contrasting how guitars are going up in price while my stocks are plummeting. Should I invest in shares with Fender and Gibson? Are they even publicly traded?


----------



## 2N1305 (Nov 2, 2009)

Somewhere, there's a 1956 Les Paul Goldtop, or 1948 Fender Broadcaster in an attic waiting to be found...

whomever finds it will be a real winner.

On a related subject, I'm sure everyone has noticed how nearly everything went up in price, including POS amplifiers and turntables on the used market, no matter where you are...


----------



## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)




----------



## Skynyrds Innyrds (5 mo ago)

guitarman2 said:


> If its got to the point where the Russians are bombing my house, no matter how well armed I am I'd be better off spending my time getting my last few notes plucked on my beloved guitars. Thats how I want to go out.



If you own Teles, you'll be safe and will be able to fight off the Russkies.


----------



## Parabola (Oct 22, 2021)

My money guy and I once had a discussion years ago, and he asked me if I knew what the difference between young money and old money was. I didn’t, so he told me “ young man money is the money that you should use while you’re young and healthy enough to enjoy it. Old man money is the money we’ll keep in reserve for when you’re old and need it for your care”.

That stuck with me, so while I’m mostly good with things, I don’t mind the odd guitar purchase because I know that the things I tend to like, others do too, and I can always resell and worst case take a small hit, but mainly it’s an investment in my happiness and a enjoyable pastime.


----------



## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Not guitar related, but I used to buy lots of Bordeaux wine back in the 80’s for unfathomable sums of money for a poor working stiff like me, it was like $50-60 per bottle. I just sold five bottles at auction for $2500. not a bad return. Fortunately I have enjoyed lots of bottles along the way, but I don’t need to be drinking $500 bottles of wine anymore. It was never meant to be an investment, I just fucking loved good Bordeaux.


----------



## HeavyMetalDan (Oct 5, 2016)

I only have 70K worth. I had to put separate insurance on them 😭
They are definitely a good investment if you only buy ones you think, can I sell that easily for what I paid.
Now what about the guys who kept there 59LP or early Fender guitars?
There was a guy in Sarnia that inherited his Grandfather's guitar. It was a 59 LP Standard. I heard Pickers Alley help him sell it. This was going back maybe 10 years. I heard Slash paid him 200K and he came to pick it up
Crazy story and not 100% sure about all the facts. But, man what did that guitar cost in 1959? 300???


----------



## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

guitarman2 said:


> Obviously I was making a tongue in cheek exaggerated statement contrasting how guitars are going up in price while my stocks are plummeting. Should I invest in shares with Fender and Gibson? Are they even publicly traded?


Both are private and no public stock is available. The recent, last 6 months, stock market has been negative, the past week a near record negative since 2008, but the prior few years it outperformed even used R9 prices.
Recent advice we got for low risk investment was to buy GICs as they're above 4% for the first time in a decade or more. If guitars do better, go for it!


----------



## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Yup. 1 years GICs at over 4%. I’m putting some savings there now. Guitars have peaked IMO.😀


----------



## hfisher3380 (Mar 5, 2006)

Wardo said:


> You'd have nothing after 10 years, if you left 20k in the bank for that long it would be eaten up by service charges.


You need to change banks.


----------



## hfisher3380 (Mar 5, 2006)

Any commodity can be an investment. In the case of guitars though, most are buying them to play them.


----------



## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

tomee2 said:


> Recent advice we got for low risk investment was to buy GICs as they're above 4% for the first time in a decade or more


So at inflation rates around 7%, you'd be losing a relative 3% with an investment like that. Hard to imagine they get inflation under control any time soon, or ever.


----------



## dgreen (Sep 3, 2016)

My approach with buying and selling guitars has always been.. take a $200 loss on what I am selling.
Then try and save $400 on what I am purchasing, all balances out in the end.

Years ago in the very early 90's when I built my studio I did buy / sell several vintage pieces. Back then prices were much lower and there were still older players with plenty of $$$ that would pay a premium price for an old quality guitar / amp / vintage fender rhodes piano. It certainly helped offset the construction costs back then.

Now I think the old vintage guitars still fetch a great price but buyers are thinning out and are very few that will pay the premium.

Also IMO current CS / boutique builders just build a better playing / feeling guitar for a fraction of the cost of a vintage piece.

And GIC's @ 4% and up, can't go wrong there at all. totally agree

And also, in terms of an investment? can anything bring more pleasure then playing a fine instrument. And to that, as they say....priceless


----------



## Derek_T (10 mo ago)

I've usually been lucky and always turned a profit on my guitars. But I would not bet on that as my retirements fund either


----------



## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

I have never sold a guitar, see, my financial advisor told me to buy and hold so I'm holding baby. This also helps to explain to my wife why I have so many.


----------



## Pat James (5 mo ago)

guitarman2 said:


> Obviously I was making a tongue in cheek exaggerated statement contrasting how guitars are going up in price while my stocks are plummeting. Should I invest in shares with Fender and Gibson? Are they even publicly traded?


Not sure whether or not stocks are the way to go, as the quicker way to make your investment back is buying and selling on the used market. If you take a gamble and know your stuff, it's possible to practically make a living off of it...but you will be glued to Reverb and marketplace, and will likely need to be constantly researching your stuff to know whether or not what you are getting is legit. Also you would have to be dealing with shipping and finicky buyers.


----------



## BobChuck (Jan 16, 2012)

guitarman2 said:


> Tell that to my portfolio. Its gone down the amount of about 3 Gibson R9's in the past while. The MIM tele I bought in 2020 cost $400 more to buy then when I bought it. The Les Paul Standard 50 went up $300 a couple weeks after I bought mine and I just noticed today that the Gibson R9's at Long and McQuade are up $200. Yes guitars are definitely doing better than my mutual funds.


Yes the price go up but the money worth less... You will sell at higher price but with the extra money, you won't buy more because everything else went up.


----------



## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

player99 said:


> When the Russians are bombing your house it's hard to run down the road with your guitar collection and not get picked off.


That is fallacy of argumentum ad verecundiam 

Besides he could be a finger player.


----------



## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

dgreen said:


> And also, in terms of an investment? can anything bring more pleasure then playing a fine instrument. And to that, as they say....priceless


----------



## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Moosehead said:


> View attachment 437926


Very nice, but there’s a LOT more cost to keep and maintain a classic car compared to a guitar.


----------



## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

I never considered my acoustic guitar herd as an investment. The total amount I got when I resold many of those quite meet the amount I had paid then taking into account the fee for selling on eBay or reverb.

But this was before COVID times and before eBay and reverb were enrolled in the taxes racket.

The market will also suffer soon when a bunch of used guitars drop into the market.

Probably the price of « vintage », « rare » and « reknowned » will increase, but the new taxes will cool that increase down.


----------



## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

2manyGuitars said:


> Very nice, but there’s a LOT more cost to keep and maintain a classic car compared to a guitar.


The quote said "can anything bring more pleasure than playing a fine instrument".

I suppose different strokes for different folks but that car gets me hard just looking at it.
And never mind keep and maintain a classic car, just to buy something like that these days will set you back an arm and a leg. 

My R9 has 2 wheels and a v twin engine. I smile ear to ear every time I ride it. Now a Harley isn't really an investment either currently. Give it 20 years though when most bikes will be electric and that may change.


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Each to their own.


----------



## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Mikev7305 said:


> So at inflation rates around 7%, you'd be losing a relative 3% with an investment like that. Hard to imagine they get inflation under control any time soon, or ever.


Compared to cash at 0 or bonds at 2% it is better. Current stock market is unknown but a down forecast, houses are dropping so yes 4% GIC is pretty good. Inflation will not be 7% a year from now.


----------



## puzz (5 mo ago)

If @OP can get the money he thinks the guitars are worth going by the numbers in the first post then maybe it will be worth it. Generally guitars are a losing bet and the market isn't exactly great on some of this used stuff.


----------



## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

puzz said:


> If @OP can get the money he thinks the guitars are worth going by the numbers in the first post then maybe it will be worth it. Generally guitars are a losing bet and the market isn't exactly great on some of this used stuff.


I tried the guitar flipping business for a little while and it is easy if you don't mind losing money.


----------



## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Stephenlouis said:


> I tried the guitar flipping business for a little while and it is easy if you don't mind losing money.


buy low, sell high.
that's what works for me.


----------



## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

laristotle said:


> buy low, sell high.
> that's what works for me.


My motto was "that looks interesting, I want to play it for a while, take my money as I'm sure I can get my money when I sell "


----------



## AJ6stringsting (Mar 12, 2006)

Guitars should be played .... not become exhibits .


----------



## AJ6stringsting (Mar 12, 2006)

guitarman2 said:


> If its got to the point where the Russians are bombing my house, no matter how well armed I am I'd be better off spending my time getting my last few notes plucked on my beloved guitars. Thats how I want to go out.


Russians .... who scared of Russians ?!!! .

What about that time , the Aztecs bombed Pearl Bayley ?


----------

