If you have a collectible guitar, this might not be the post for you. It is likely you already know what makes a guitar valuable in the eyes of collectors. However, my wife asked the question, “What makes one guitar so much more expensive than another?” and I really had to think about it for a minute. I used to call myself “the purveyor of cheap guitars” but that was mostly because I could not afford an expensive instrument. Most of us can relate to that, right?
I just finished watching Five Watt World’s video titled, The Bursts: A Short History. These little snippets of guitar history are interesting even if I am not a collector. Being a techie guy at heart, I enjoy the stories of how things came to be. In this video, Keith Williams goes into the lore of the late 50’s Les Paul sunbursts. An extremely collectible guitar that only the privileged few could ever touch let alone own. Williams actually says something that, after some thought, I answered the question above from my wife in the same way. I’ll get to that in a minute…or two 😉
What makes a guitar collectible?
There are basically three things that make a guitar desirable by collectors:
The look
The tone
The owner
The Look
Of all of the guitars around, the ones that catch your eye and caught the eye of many others are the ones that still catch your eye. Some guitars age in ways that make them just increase in coolness while others were groundbreaking designs in their day. Think of the Fender Stratocaster. It was a complete divergence from the designs prevalent at the time it was introduced. My blog post about, MAYA: How to Go to the Edge Without Going Over, I talk about the concept of familiar yet surprising design. Some guitars have done just that and vaulted themselves into collectability.
Simply a new finish such as the gold top Les Paul can find itself highly desirable. There is much more to it though. As a finish ages, things like patina and checking become qualities people want. A few years ago, my wife and I were looking up chandeliers on Ebay and found that two of the same models could be vastly different in price if the seller simply labeled it “shabby chic”. In my opinion, a nice way of saying beat up and well used. However, people pay good money for stuff that is roughed up these days! They even pay for perfectly nice, new items to be “stressed” by beating it with chains.
Older guitars tend to have a bit of both – patina and checking. Checking is simply what happens when the finish is subjected to rapid temperature changes. The wood responds at a much different rate than the finish to temperature and that causes the cracking. Patina is when the white parts yellow over the years. I have a Rickenbacker 4001 from the ’80s that I remember all of the binding being bright white when I bought it. It ain’t that way now!
The Tone
We all know it may look cool but what does it sound like? If it had a part in creating an iconic, unique or special sound, people are going to want it. How many of us want to sound like our guitar hero? The video above mentions the Eric Clapton “Beano” album and how that set a standard in guitar tone emulated by millions of young listeners back in the day. It has also contributed to the demand for that tone from that guitar. Think about the Beatles and their tone. It is still used as a selling point: “The jangly sound of the 60’s”.
Move to the 90’s and Kurt Cobain set the world on fire with his tone. His guitar of choice was the Fender Mustang. It was a lower priced model to the Fender line (see The Fender Mustang: A Short History). You don’t need an expensive guitar to make a mark in history. Just get playing and put your heart and soul into it!
My personal journey has been finding decent instruments that I could get for cheap because they were broken and fixing them up. They will never be collectible but they sure have a lot of my history in them both getting them playable and then playing them. I don’t worry about dings and scratches or wear and tear. Player grade is what some call guitars that have been modified from stock. This is another great option.
The Owner
Who owned a particular instrument and what they played it on can make all the difference in the world. Would anyone care about Danelectro guitars if Jimmy Page had not used one on Kashmir? I don’t think so. The Telecaster and Stratocaster were not expensive guitars at the time they were introduced compared to the Gibsons of the day. It’s all about who played them. That is the one thing that will definitely make a collectible guitar.
So, you want to make your guitar collectible? Become famous! Easy, peasy!
The Bottom Line
Actually, my point is that it really doesn’t matter if your particular instrument is, was or will be the next million dollar collector’s item to cross the auction block. Stop worrying about it. Make your axe and your sound your own. The things I look for are what draw my ears and eyes. I really don’t care what others think about it. You may have heard this before but it bears repeating: the tone is in your fingers.
The one thing that sets one instrument apart from another is who is actually playing it and that includes YOU. We can readily identify who our favorite players are by their tone and technique. Make it your own and forget about trying to sound like whoever.
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Can Your Guitar Be Collectible? How to Add Value
If you have a collectible guitar, this might not be the post for you. It is likely you already know what makes a guitar valuable in the eyes of collectors. However, my wife asked the question, “What makes one guitar so much more expensive than another?” and I really had to think about it for a minute. I used to call myself “the purveyor of cheap guitars” but that was mostly because I could not afford an expensive instrument. Most of us can relate to that, right?
I just finished watching Five Watt World’s video titled, The Bursts: A Short History. These little snippets of guitar history are interesting even if I am not a collector. Being a techie guy at heart, I enjoy the stories of how things came to be. In this video, Keith Williams goes into the lore of the late 50’s Les Paul sunbursts. An extremely collectible guitar that only the privileged few could ever touch let alone own. Williams actually says something that, after some thought, I answered the question above from my wife in the same way. I’ll get to that in a minute…or two 😉
What makes a guitar collectible?
There are basically three things that make a guitar desirable by collectors:
The Look
Of all of the guitars around, the ones that catch your eye and caught the eye of many others are the ones that still catch your eye. Some guitars age in ways that make them just increase in coolness while others were groundbreaking designs in their day. Think of the Fender Stratocaster. It was a complete divergence from the designs prevalent at the time it was introduced. My blog post about, MAYA: How to Go to the Edge Without Going Over, I talk about the concept of familiar yet surprising design. Some guitars have done just that and vaulted themselves into collectability.
Simply a new finish such as the gold top Les Paul can find itself highly desirable. There is much more to it though. As a finish ages, things like patina and checking become qualities people want. A few years ago, my wife and I were looking up chandeliers on Ebay and found that two of the same models could be vastly different in price if the seller simply labeled it “shabby chic”. In my opinion, a nice way of saying beat up and well used. However, people pay good money for stuff that is roughed up these days! They even pay for perfectly nice, new items to be “stressed” by beating it with chains.
Older guitars tend to have a bit of both – patina and checking. Checking is simply what happens when the finish is subjected to rapid temperature changes. The wood responds at a much different rate than the finish to temperature and that causes the cracking. Patina is when the white parts yellow over the years. I have a Rickenbacker 4001 from the ’80s that I remember all of the binding being bright white when I bought it. It ain’t that way now!
The Tone
We all know it may look cool but what does it sound like? If it had a part in creating an iconic, unique or special sound, people are going to want it. How many of us want to sound like our guitar hero? The video above mentions the Eric Clapton “Beano” album and how that set a standard in guitar tone emulated by millions of young listeners back in the day. It has also contributed to the demand for that tone from that guitar. Think about the Beatles and their tone. It is still used as a selling point: “The jangly sound of the 60’s”.
Move to the 90’s and Kurt Cobain set the world on fire with his tone. His guitar of choice was the Fender Mustang. It was a lower priced model to the Fender line (see The Fender Mustang: A Short History). You don’t need an expensive guitar to make a mark in history. Just get playing and put your heart and soul into it!
My personal journey has been finding decent instruments that I could get for cheap because they were broken and fixing them up. They will never be collectible but they sure have a lot of my history in them both getting them playable and then playing them. I don’t worry about dings and scratches or wear and tear. Player grade is what some call guitars that have been modified from stock. This is another great option.
The Owner
Who owned a particular instrument and what they played it on can make all the difference in the world. Would anyone care about Danelectro guitars if Jimmy Page had not used one on Kashmir? I don’t think so. The Telecaster and Stratocaster were not expensive guitars at the time they were introduced compared to the Gibsons of the day. It’s all about who played them. That is the one thing that will definitely make a collectible guitar.
So, you want to make your guitar collectible? Become famous! Easy, peasy!
The Bottom Line
Actually, my point is that it really doesn’t matter if your particular instrument is, was or will be the next million dollar collector’s item to cross the auction block. Stop worrying about it. Make your axe and your sound your own. The things I look for are what draw my ears and eyes. I really don’t care what others think about it. You may have heard this before but it bears repeating: the tone is in your fingers.
The one thing that sets one instrument apart from another is who is actually playing it and that includes YOU. We can readily identify who our favorite players are by their tone and technique. Make it your own and forget about trying to sound like whoever.
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