Members nylon rock Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Yeah, I was there. Mandolin Bros. In the big room. Running out of things to try. Getting a little edgy from too much stuff, too much tuning up, playing what I know and forgetting a lot that I could try musically. Wondering, what does an over the top, old guitar sound like, really, that makes it to die for? I find an old looking guitar in the corner, look at its price tag, it reads $65000. It doesn't dawn on me that that reads 3 zeros. For some reason it just doesn't register because when I look at it, it doesn't look all that great. But it is old and so I take it into one of the small isolation rooms and give it a go. You know, the strings were dead. That must be it. Because the guitar did nothing for me. What I really noticed was the full semi-circle neck. Definitely not a low profile but, rather, half a baseball bat. Lots of scratches all over it. Signs of a once huge pickguard, now gone, but a giant tan line up towards the neck on the right upper bout. Maybe looked like some other stuff had been replaced, like a bridge, and a heel cap. Sixty five thousand dollars. No way was the guitar worth that much. Guess I don't get "collecting." After all, I'm just a player who wants a player's reasonably priced guitar. Still, I have to wonder what it would sound like with new strings. Mando, in their Vintage News (Feb Mar 2006) highlights it on their first page, but it has the large pickguard on it. Guess they took it off to try and move it. Also understand that it has been reduced to $50000. Still not there yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Even if I were Bill Gates rich, I couldn't fathom spending that kinda dough on any git. I don't judge anyone who does - I envy them the means to do it, if not the actual act of purchase or the item itself. I've played a few super-old gits and mostly they just sound to me the way you'd expect a super-old git to sound: super-old. I've often wondered whether my hearing is just bad. Could be. Probably is. But if so, I'm grateful to my bad hearing for saving me quite a lot of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cripes Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Collectors are a breed-apart, IMO. In this case sound evidently isn't in the valuation. I was on Breedlove's site a couple days ago and they have a new collector's guitar coming out - all handbuilt by Kim Breedlove - that looks like some of the pics marcellis posted of those highly decorated Vietnamese guitars. The price was 57K. Kim adorns the thing with wandering snakes in various hues of MOP. There's only a pic of a small part of the MOP work at the site. It's definitely first-cabin work but obviously aimed at a collector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 That's a common experience in today's vintage market. People who have an old valuable Martin or Gibson that sounds killer never want to part with it. The occasional BAD examples (every company has them) more often get eyed by the owner as a way to make a nice buck selling. So eventually the GOOD old "pedigree" guitars leave circulation... while the BAD ones stay in circulation, passed around from dealers to players....It probably causes a lot of people to scratch their heads and wonder what this whole vintage worship is all about. The few "vintage" examples that they are exposed to in stores have a higher than average proportion of crappy tone, flaws, wear and issues. Basically there was a time when these old guitars were better than the modern stuff... but that hasn't been the case since the mid 80's or so. If there ever was a "golden age" of acoustic guitar building I believe we are living right now smack dab in the middle of it. Even considering the perfectly made/perfectly preserved example vintage guitars....There may be a reason to spend 50 grand on a vintage acoustic guitar...but it's superiority over modern instruments as a tool for making music is NOT one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 0rbitz9 Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Did you ask if you could put the guitar on layaway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jessz1 Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 I would love to lay my hands on that guitar. The history, years of music made on it, wondering who has played it before... I wouldn't even care if it sounded like {censored}e. Just the opertunity would be something to behold. Would it be worth 65,000 bucks? Not to me. But who am I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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