Conference napalm::guitar

    I had a 65 Jaguar which I sold a few weeks ago. It is a nice guitar.
    It is hard to say if it would be a good invesment. To me it was,
    but I did not pay or got, when I sold it, as much money as you are
    looking at.
    
    If you are looking to buy as an invesment, I would say you are paying
    top dinero for it. It is worth $450? How much do you want it? You
    will not know if it is a good or bad invesment until the day some
    one puts money in front of you for it.
    

    Don't assume that a guitar in a collection doesn't get played. True,
    some collectors are merely hoarding guitars, but many I know are
    serious players.
    
    It's impossible to predict what a '64 Jag will be worth in 20 years,
    but $450 is a reasonable price now for a mint one. I've seen a number
    of Japanese copies with Fender stickers, so be sure it really is
    a Fender. A CBS one would be worth somewhat less, and a custom color
    one somewhat more. Most dealers would ask about $550 for a Pre-CBS
    Jag.
    
    You're right--prices on American-made guitars are climbing. The
    most collectible right now are Pre-CBS Strats, original Les Pauls,
    '50's Gretsches, Pre-war Martins, D'Angelicos, Strombergs, early
    D'Aquistos, pre-'70 Gibson Archtops, '59-'61 Gibson semi's, Gibson
    Reverse Firebirds, Explorers & V's. 
    
    There are people collecting things like Danelectros too, so I'd
    hate to limit it to the above list.
    
    Danny W

    This is such a difficult subject.  Since I was an accidental collector
    for quite a while, I watched prices go through the roof on many
    items.  Others never moved much.  But I focused on acoustic instruments
    (Martins, Gibsons, Vegas) and stayed away from electrics.  Oh, I
    owned a Les Paul and a Tele while I played in a rock band, but they
    were pretty much average pieces.  I have since sold most of my
    collection for a number of reasons: 1) Not enough money to REALLY
    collect (like, have one of every Martin "28" models); 2) not enough
    room (I had 16 instruments, in cases, in one room of my house);
    and 3) I found that when I wanted to play I usually picked up one
    of my favorite 2 guitars, while the others just sat most of the
    time.  I have two friends who are "serious collectors".  To me,
    that means they have >30 instruments in their collections at any
    one time.  One of them now has >60.  In some ways it great.  I can
    go there and look at and play all kinds of things one doesn't see
    regularly.  On the other hand, they mostly just sit in their cases,
    increasing in value.
    Back to your Jaguar.  Unless you are like one of these guys, who
    frankly get a bigger kick out of FINDING their next acquisition,
    I'd buy only those instruments that you will play and enjoy, and
    don't get too caught up in the "investment" side of the equation.
    The Jag might be worth something >$450 in 2010.  But unless you
    plan to play it a lot, it won't mean that much to you.  I made some
    nice money on pre-war Martins, but I actually played them and, with
    only two exceptions, I did not buy them with "investment" in mind.
    
    Paul

	I've always believed that collecting guitars for the sake of
collecting was never within my financial capabilities nor could I
justify the luxury. I have a friend who collects non-vintage guitars
for the sake of it. He has 6 electrics and 3 or 4 acoustics. If you
    consider this collecting?
	I personally collect guitars which have different tones and
textures that I like or hear from music and would not consider them as 
an investment to make money on. 
	I buy sell and trade to only maintain and improve the capabilities 
of the collection. However I do not own anything that I don't use and
went through a phase where I didn't play a particular guitar because
I was concerned it would get damaged or abused. I changed my mind
because I rationalized that it was worthless sitting in it's case
and it sounded great. I did sell it eventually to help with a down
payment on a house.
	Collecting guitars for profit is kinda like playing with
the stock market to me.  
	However if I was to have an extra 5-10k around I would probably
invest it into a guitar which would ultimately be designed for me
for feel and sound with intensions of keeping it until my fingers couldn't
move anymore and then hand it along to someone in my family. But I've
always been happy with your typical $200-$500 production guitar and 
passed up many a deal on a vintage instrument. If you buy it buy it
    to play it or for it's tonal capabilities......

                                                   

							Rick

    The only people who really make money from the vintage guitar market
    are the dealers. I've almost never met a real collector who does
    it for the sake of investment (tho it's always nice when you do
    make some money selling a guitar). Most of the collectors I know
    love quality instruments and have a theme or purpose to their
    collections.
    
     I personally don't consider someone who owns a half
    dozen utility instruments a collector. For example, anyone doing
    studio work needs a dozen different instruments. Gruhn's analogy
    is a plumber with a dozen wrenches.  I also don't consider someone
    with two dozen similar Strats a collector, just a hoarder (the "der"
    is silent). 
    
    I don't think there is any particular number of guitars that makes
    a collector. Tom Van Hoose has about 20 Super 400's, with each variant
    and model change represented with a beautiful specimen. This qualifies
    as a collection, IMO. On the other hand, Ted Nugent's stash of 18
    Byrdlands was just a player who liked a specific guitar trying to
    insure a supply of them.
    
    A big exception to this is the growing number of Japanese collectors
    who have been grabbing hundreds of fine instruments just to own
    them. Unlike most US collectors, these guys have *lots* of money
    and probably won't put these guitars back in circulation.
    
    Danny W