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Used electric guitars are way overpriced. IMHO current guitars, regardless of country of origin (and often price), are of better quality than almost everything built from the 70’s through the end of the 90’s.
I have a few guitars, across the spectrum from early 50’s Gibson family heirlooms, beat up 80’s shedders, 90’s Guitar Center trash specials, all the way to a Fender masterbuilt reissue Tele.
IMO you pay what it’s worth to you. If you like the way it sounds and you play it well, you’ll know what it’s worth.
I’m not sure what some of my fancier guitars are worth, but I know the one that sounds the best and I love to play the most is the bottom dollar Epiphone I’ve had set up and replaced the electronics in. I’m probably up to $700 all in on that instrument over 30 years and it just sings for me.
Spend what you want, if you love it then it’s worth every penny.
Do you understand that few items made today will last 25 years, and that durability is one of the things that makes vintage guitars valuable? A guitar from the '90s is now considered vintage, and it’s not just about how “good” it is compared to modern guitars.
Take a '59 Les Paul for example—it’s not $10,000 because it’s necessarily better in every way. It’s $10,000 because it’s rare and has historical significance. Vintage guitars represent a piece of history that can’t be replicated, and that’s what collectors and players are paying for.
I’m actually selling a vintage guitar right now, and it’s hilarious how many people misunderstand this. They’ll tell me they can get a new one for cheaper, as if I didn’t already know that. Others argue about when the guitars “got good,” but that totally misses the point—it’s about rarity, craftsmanship, and the fact that guitars from this era have stood the test of time.
Counterpoint is some of the stuff produced in the 70s and 80s was garbage. Now what you do have is survivorship bias, meaning if it lasted this long, it can be reasonably assumed to continue to last. If you got a good one from any period and it is still good now, yeah, its probably worth the price to someome who wants it.
If you come across a true, authenticated 50’s or 60’s instrument that looks in mint condition, be wary. Either the original owner bought it and never learned to play it, or the most likely explanation is that it’s a “dog.” A bad instrument. The good ones are beat to shit. Because they were played. A lot.
I am old enough to have played and guitar shopped in the early 80’s and 90’s. So much of what was sold was what I consider trash quality and doesn’t hold a candle to the precision CNC stuff being cranked out on the cheap now. I doubt that age would have magically made those old stock guitars better.
I do agree with your general sentiment, if I understood it correctly. I have been a watch collector and a classic car collector, so I do understand the concept of owning history or owning a product of craftsmanship rarely found now. Not all old stuff has memorable history or quality craftsmanship. Sometimes old stuff is just old.
It’s like he didn’t even read my post but decided to respond anyway
A guitar from the '90s is now considered vintage
Didn’t let them hear you on The Gear Page
That kind of talk will get you kicked out of the Country Club Cargo Short Jam.
“Oh… an Epiphone. Cute…”
he is not arguing against vintage guitars in general - he has multiple as he explains in the video. He’s just saying the values right now seem to be very high, compared to fairly recently.
I didn’t think hardly anybody watched the video lol.
