Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Why is this guitar called the Brock-Da Pra Les Paul ??
    Apparently, this particular instrument has added value,
    simply because it appeared on the cover of the Book,
    or perhaps due to previous owners notoriety, etc.
    
    I can't believe the price of all nice 59 burst will soar
    to this level just because of this one exceptional case.
    Then again, I'm sure the value is increasing steadily.
    
    Jimmy, at Mr. C's music in Marlboro showed my a hardcover book
    that is not available in the US (so he claims) which shows
    the private collections of several differant people including
    some Japanese collectors. Some of these people only collect
    59 Les Paul Sunbursts, others only collect Sunburst Strats. 
    I'd love to get a copy of this book. Anyone familiar with 
    it ?
                                                
    Mark
    

    Mark, that sounds like it could be Mac Yasuda's book, which is
    available in the US. Don't believe anything at Mr C's
    
    Brock & Da Pra were two well-known (in collector's cicles)
    owners of this guitar. And while I don't think the price of
    this one has any effect on sunburst in general, Japanese collectors
    have been exerting an overall influence on the price of vintage
    guitars that I find distressing. And I doubt that those guitars
    will ever find their way back to the US.
    
    Danny W

    So where can I get a copy of Mac Yasuda's book? What is the name
    of the book ?
    
    Any other good books on guitar collecting that you would recommend?
    I already have "American Guitars", the softcover "Gibson Guitar from 
    1950", and "Fender Guitars" (another softcover like "Gibson Guitar",
    but by a differant author,-bright green cover-). I have the Guitar
    Player book, but this has little to do with collecting.
                                                  
    I have a somewhat sketchy collection of Guitar Player magazines,
    and would like to find a source for back-issues to fill out my
    collection. I have all the issues from the last 5 years, but before
    that I am missing copies, and have some beat copies. Any idea, who
    carries old back issues. New or used is fine.
    
    thanks,
    Mark

    Mark:
    
    Yasuda's book may be out of print, but one place to try is The Bold
    Strummer ( I can remember their #, but they often advertise in the
    guitar mags.
    
    Tom Wheeler's books are fine. The books by Bishop and Archerd should
    be burned. The best book on Gibson is The Gibson Electric, PT 1
    by A. Duchossoir, but it only covers electrics to 1961. Pt 2 is
    not, and may never be published. His other books on Guitar
    Identification and Strats, are very good too. Another book that's
    okay is Guitars From The Renaissance to Rock by Evans, but it doesn't
    have much of use to collectors.Smith's book on
     Rickenbackers is exc. The Tsumura book has beautiful pictures,
    but the text is nonsense.
    
     More than one person is working
    on a Gretsch book. George Gruhn is also working on a book. This
    might be the best of them all (he might have some of my guitars
    in it, so it has to be good). Other collectors are also planning
    books, including one on Tom Van Hoose' Super 400 collection (I may
    be in this one, too).
    
    I have no idea where you can get GP back issues. Watch their
    classifieds.
   
     Danny W.

I was shown a '59 Les Paul sunburst at a guitar shop in Harvard Square that I
understood had been bought from an old music store.  Supposedly this guitar had
been sitting in its case for about twenty years and this fellow bought it for 
the price on its original tag.  When I saw this guitar, it had all of the 
original tags still o it and not a single mark.  It also was a vary pretty
instrument.  I was shown it because I was considering buying a '58 Les Paul
that had been stripped and given a sunburst finish - probably the nicest playing
guitar I have even had it my hands.  I passed on this one for $2400 and bought
a new one for less than a quarter the price.  At the time I saw this '59 Les 
Paul, the owner had said that he had been offered $15K for it.  This would have
been around 1982.  I wonder if this was the same guitar in the base note?

    
    I thought at leas part of the reason some musical instruments  gain
    in value is the fact that they'd been played and kept in tune for 
    a long time. But a chunk of wood with out of date electrics in it 
    for 15k?
    
    Surely not.
    
    Richard.

    re: -.1,-.2
    
    The Brock-Da Pra 'burst was not in New England in 1982.
    
    Collector's guitar values are not influenced by the amount a guitar is
    played, except negatively--playing wear lowers value. A refinished
    guitar drops in value substantially, so the guitar you mentioned was
    probably overpriced.
    
    Danny W.

    I heard that 'classical' stringed instruments (cello, for example)
    increase in value partly because lots of playing over the years
    develops their tone or response or something. So if you make a violin
    and lock it in a box for a coupl of hundred years, it doesn't sound as
    good as one that's been kept in tune and played reguarly. 
    
    Is the same not true for solid guitars? 
    
    Richard.

    Doesn't matter whether the tone improves or not, as far as collector's
    value. To a collector, an unplayed guitar will be worth more than one
    with lots of use, all other things being equal.
    
    There has been interminable debate over whether solidbody tone is
    improved by use. For my $.02, I've never noticed any difference between
    '50's solids with lots of playing and with almost none. Some sound
    better than others, but it doesn't seem related to use.
    
    Danny W.

    
     As an observation....wouldn't the tone of an acoustic instrument
    have more of a chance of changing over time than a solid?
    
      - Bob

    Re .10
    
    Yes -- I'd have thought so. There's no doubt an old tele sounds
    different to many new ones, but I put that down to electrics rather 
    than wood. So if you select a new tele that has good intonation and
    no bad resonances anywhere, then stick decent pickups on it, you're
    scoring over someone who pays over the odds for an old one.
    
    Richard.