Guitar Forums

I saw a '64 Telecaster for sale in a shop yesterday for £2000 (about 3500 australian bucks).

Would anyone consider paying that kind of money for it? Not that I'm in cahoots with the shop owner, I'm just trying to fathom why someone would want to pay that kind of money for a second-hand guitar. What makes them so special?

Not me, that's for sure, Mikey. Tele's always feel like playing a surfboard with strings, to me.

why did one of hendrix's burnt out strats sell for £100,000?
would you hang a picasso in your front room?

they are all rubbish...except for speculators exploiting the " " market

That's the thing though . . . there wouldn't be a market unless someone was willing to pay £100,000 for a guitar that doesn't play! (I'll sell him mine for £50,000)

mikeyBoab wrote:That's the thing though . . . there wouldn't be a market unless someone was willing to pay £100,000 for a guitar that doesn't play! (I'll sell him mine for £50,000)

if it was me i would set fire to it and get another £50,000

i might get myself a chinesey strat....scrape all the traces of origin off it...kick shit out of it ..raise the action and make it unplayable after putting 30yr strings on it...put it on ebay and swop it for an house (detached)

there will always be some sucker that would do it

polyal wrote:

mikeyBoab wrote:That's the thing though . . . there wouldn't be a market unless someone was willing to pay £100,000 for a guitar that doesn't play! (I'll sell him mine for £50,000)

if it was me i would set fire to it and get another £50,000

i might get myself a chinesey strat....scrape all the traces of origin off it...kick shit out of it ..raise the action and make it unplayable after putting 30yr strings on it...put it on ebay and swop it for an house (detached)

there will always be some sucker that would do it

There's a guy in the same town as myself with a collection of over twenty vintage guitars- 30 year old Strats, National Resonators from the '40's, old Les Pauls and Martins, Guilds and Gibsons, who doesnt play a note..they are all investment, locked up like Fort Knox.

I guess these investors are more like art collectors rather than guitarists. I can certainly see some of the appeal in older instruments as, as the saying goes " they don't make things like they used to" is kind of true. however there is certainly a limit.

I would never buy a guitar as an investment, to look at only and to never play.

wish i'd have kept all my first guitars...hofner congress/senator/president/committee/verithin/club30/40
selmer futurama...had no respect..either modified them..broke them..lost them..or gave them away..
if only i knew then!...not to worry i've got a japanese strat which is worth about £5 if i set fire to it (insurance)

One of my first was a Hofner Country Gentleman, a great guitar with a raised bridge and F holes.
The later Fenders and the local main guitar brand here, Maton, are very disappointing and grossly overpriced ( the last Maton I played was a acoustic cut-away ..$2,500.00 aussie bucks, factory-fitted with Elixers, but absolute crap.

I own what they call (no longer though) a tele delux plus (1992) model
To tell you the truth it looks like it was sprayed painted in someones backyard in Mexico. This is a tele delux plus. Not sure what they sell for today, but my guess is around $2000 bucks. I bought it because of the sound , that can not be duplicated by any other guitar company, they may come close and that is about it. So if you want that American Tele sound , invest your money and buy a real American Tele. All the others only come close, they just don't have that magic

Olly wrote:I guess these investors are more like art collectors rather than guitarists.
I would never buy a guitar as an investment, to look at only and to never play.

Yes, you're right. Art collectors....They have plenty of money to burn and show off. I don't think I can afford it. Just bought a used "unbranded" guitar for my son lately. Look and sound ok to me but not as good as branded ones.

electricguitar wrote:

Olly wrote:I guess these investors are more like art collectors rather than guitarists.
I would never buy a guitar as an investment, to look at only and to never play.

Yes, you're right. Art collectors....They have plenty of money to burn and show off. I don't think I can afford it. Just bought a used "unbranded" guitar for my son lately. Look and sound ok to me but not as good as branded ones.

I dunno EG, I think quite often the quality of unbranded guitars is just as good as branded guitars.

I suppose it's like any other product, often you pay for the name.

.......and what the big deal about ' american ' guitars..similar models are sometimes 5 times more expensive
if they're 'american ' ..and thats nothing to do with import duty..just another big con

I agree watermelon john, the pretenders can look good, but they just don't have it, there's a certain magic in a real American Tele, I'm about to buy a new American Standard Tele, in either natural or two colour sunburst with the maple finger board, I'm leaning slightly more toward the sunburst at the moment,

mikeyBoab wrote:I saw a '64 Telecaster for sale in a shop yesterday for £2000 (about 3500 australian bucks).

Would anyone consider paying that kind of money for it? Not that I'm in cahoots with the shop owner, I'm just trying to fathom why someone would want to pay that kind of money for a second-hand guitar. What makes them so special?

Not for anything that said Fender on it.

For every dime I could put into a Fender, I could buy a guitar that from the ground up slays every aspect of a Fender, like a G&L ASAT, or a Bluesboy, or....

Instructor

Instructor wrote:

mikeyBoab wrote:I saw a '64 Telecaster for sale in a shop yesterday for £2000 (about 3500 australian bucks).

Would anyone consider paying that kind of money for it? Not that I'm in cahoots with the shop owner, I'm just trying to fathom why someone would want to pay that kind of money for a second-hand guitar. What makes them so special?

Not for anything that said Fender on it.

For every dime I could put into a Fender, I could buy a guitar that from the ground up slays every aspect of a Fender, like a G&L ASAT, or a Bluesboy, or....

Instructor