THE GUITAR MARKET IS FLOODED 

Hate to tell you, the next judgement is going to be fire and brimstone.

@@wikolib6821 Somehow I don't think you hate to tell me 😆🤣. Thanks for the heads up. I still think it's important to try, I am using fire resistant stainless steel. That thumbnail is legendary! God Bless.

@@wikolib6821 Haha, read the whole Revelations, there are No guitars in the New Heavens and Earth and No guitars in Hell also😂 (that's why I know Jeff, Chuck and Rand are probably bored down there - jk only✌).🤭........so might as well collect and enjoy them here on Earth while there still time.😁

This guy fucks

​@@1959LesPaul Are you bringing 2 of every guitar, like Noah did with the animals ❓🤣😂

where are you looking? I can find fenders and gibsons for significant discounts all day.

I couldn't even get a nibble on a mint brand new condition Les Paul 60's listed at $1750 a couple months ago. It just sat, so I'm keeping it. Not desperate.

@@MiguelMakesMusic in general, new MIM even Indonesian fenders are going for substantially more than ever. Even some Squiers are going for 400-500 on the high side and they are supposed to the budget range. Yes, inflation but the market has to correct at some point. Also, sure there are sales now and again but I’m talking big picture.

@@cataclysmicconverter yeah, Les Pauls have been so overpriced for so long and the market is flooded with them. I bet if you bring it down to 1500, it will sell. I just sold a 2022 Gibson SG 61 for a nice price last week. Priced competitively too.

@@Smart-Alex i'm seeing Player strats at $620 all day, Squier had a massive blowout last year and some Classic Vibe strats were around $200.

I bought a 01 s.g. black for 100.00 It's a epiphone but after I cleaned it up it's the four knobs nice clear knobs .

Exactly. I got my brad paisley MIM tele. And called it a day. Great guitar. I had too. It got way out of hand.

@@crazywisdom2 I have three teles. All are customized by me. One is sorts a ZZ Top belly and arm contour with custom pickups and wiring. The other is stock except for the pick guard and the other is a Khruangbin style copy with custom wiring and some dimarzio rails pickups. I’ve had lots of guitars and the Tele is the one to have and to hold 🖤 it would be hard to chose just one Tele though lol.

​@@ol48springcheck out Tease Guitar 🎸. I bought a black SBH-HD Series T Style TUMMY CUT 13.0K Alnico V Humbucker and while I was there, bought a purple one also ‼️ I'm not into budget guitars from overseas BUT I'm very happy and impressed with this guitar.... Everything about it is 👍 and it's $250

Its good for us today but also benefits them if we take all these guitars off the market for them. Its win win..

the most expensive place to buy an instrument

Discernment... It is possible to find some great deals on Reverb. My last guitar purchase (I hope) was a Cole Clark Guitar purchased new and picked out at Acoustic Centre in Melbourne, flown to the US as checked baggage, hardly played and sold at US 60% of list, which after shipping to a big US dealer is added from Australia negates much of the exchange rate. Refurbished and B-stock items show up often, and many with minor defects that have no impact on playability. Too thin a gloss finish... sounds like an open pore satin, worth a look.

I see endless kids on youtube playing

@@supernothing77 Agreed. I constantly get reels of 10 year olds nailing complete Yngwie or EVH solos note for note on Instagram.

Beato is wrong. Theres a two page waiting list for lessons at the music shop I work at.

​@@supernothing77Western kids are too lazy and attention-fried to learn, but kids in other parts of the world are more receptive to the arts and getting access to modern instruments for the first time in their peoples' history

@@VictorVectorMusicThat could be a function of local supply of teachers vs demand in the area. Your really limited anecdote doesn’t mean he’s wrong

Same. Some coworkers have kids getting into guitars and I've given them the stuff that after shipping and ebay or Reverb fees, not worth the trouble to compete with everyone else purging their crap and frees up space in my house. Which is the goal.

No kidding. The imports I grew up with were Teisco and others of the same quality from Christmas catalogs that were awful. My first "real" guitar was a used late 60's Tele for $325 and it took a lot of yard mowing to save that.

@@monstrok I had a harmony with two single coils that my parents got for $80 at a pawn shop for my first electric. I stuck with it and the next year I got a Peavey predator (made is USA) for $125 from the same shop. Traded that out for a T-30 and then landed on an Electra sg copy that I played well into my twenties. It got stolen and I got a real 82 lp in one of those once in a lifetime deals. Bought it playing pool for a bar league. Paid $450 with the original case and some random stuff dude just didn't use anymore. A Roland keyboard amp with an awesome clipping circuit... It was actually made like the newer little black stars etc... where instead of having one 6 or 8 in speaker it had 4 little tweeters. But yeah with all the gear I've had over the years I'm still amazed at the rig you could put together for $1000 or less these days.

Also a lot of trash to swift through "affordable" guitars cut a lot of corners

Have you ever thought about investing in a time share startup, but not condos that’s so 80s and 90s but a yacht time share Blues Lawyer ? No quicker way to lose excess money than boats and timeshares why not combine the two. You could light your money on fire and throw it directly in the ocean from your yacht (on specific days of the year ((Tuesdays and Wednesdays)) during non peak seasons, Holidays are prohibited availability may be limited due to maintenance and or repair of the vessel.

@@brandonjackson5865 Excellent idea! I approve of this message! You could more than make up your money by setting up and selling franchises in Boat Owner Associations (BOA) at every Marina. This is a winner!

Still have my Hondo electric. Heavily modded, currently in pieces but still have it. Cost $300 in 1983

That is true, but I've been amazed at all the young people out there on social media doing covers of Jimmy Page/Zeppelin, Yes, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, etc. and digging deep in to the roots of older rock and blues. Having grown up with all the classic bands, I envy them hearing it for the first time after choking on autotune since birth. And not only the boomers aging out of playing, they'll be aging out of collecting. So it will be interesting to see THAT market with all the vintage and obscure stuff that's been hidden away so long see the light of day again.

@@cataclysmicconverter yep, sadly, high end vintage guitars usually last longer than people so they are all hitting the market at some point

A lot of Gen Z is actually really into 90’s alternative right now (the music of their parent’s generation). Hopefully that will encourage them to pick up the guitar. When I was a teenager the music of my parents generation (the 70’s) really inspired me to play.

I totally agree. Music these days is not your guitar band music. I am happy with my twenty guitars and not about to buy another.

@@pitviper7924 20? Clearly, I have some catching up to do.

Be lucky you have a theater around you. Last movie I saw in theater was finding Dory when we brought my young kid. That was probably 9 years ago now

imagine having a family of 4 and going to olive garden !!!!!!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that every ounce counts. The lower the weight I can get (within a type of guitar I’m considering), the better. 8.2 lb Les Paul? Yes, please!

Heard that! I recently scored a mint NOS condition American Original 50's Strat for $1400. If they accept a lowball, it's not your fault.

@@cataclysmicconverter Score! Absolutely, they are glad to get it sold, Im glad I got a great deal, and these guys are glad we are taking these off the market so they can get back to business as usual, its really a win win.

@@simonsmith2642 Thank you! Yeah, with the all lacquer finish and beefy neck, it's a slice of heaven and rings like a bell.

@simonsmith2642 Are you offering on reverb or marketplace or where are you having the best luck?

@@silvel2edge Reverb offers, FB, and calling shops and just asking for deal on a wall hanger.

Good to know. I'm in Canada too and inventory is hit and miss for models I'm interested in. I like to try it before I buy it. But all the major manufacturers have had various sales recently, not great deals, but some reduction. The best was PRS pre Christmas SE factory sale with 20% off so I bought the Swamp Ash SE on that sale.

If you don't mind aesthetics. There are 182 factory seconds/flawed in their Reverb Demo Shop as of this posting. Which speaks volumes about their QC. Or lack thereof.

Those are rookie numbers. We’ve gotta get those numbers up baby. I’m on 22 and bringing home 23 this week. Bought my first one in January. 😅 so that’s… almost 4 a month… fuck nevermind... maybe I should stop

@@buckkylem Haha, yes, I admit it's rookie, I want more!!😂 The problem is the house space, I don't know anymore were to put the extra. Dogs are running over them. I fear for their lives and broken neck😆....... but congrats mate on your 23rd, keep em comming and keep collecting, guitar collecting is the best and most therapeutic hobby, it always feels good when you have the best guitars in your house👍... You need to make that up to 50.😆 John Mayer has 200+, Slash has 300+, Bonammasa has 500 and counting. So you cannot have too many guitars. More is more!😁

@@applehead252 lol.

Have a 100 series Taylor, also. Played every guitar GC had under $600 (quite a few years ago), went in to buy a Seagull, went home with the Taylor.

Your right that I don't see amazing deals from the big sellers, in the UK, or in Europe. The second-hand market is where to look for midrange guitars. Especially I see some great deals on left-handed guitars. On Reverb etc. I got what I needed on Reverb this year, while the second-hand prices were good. Got a Fender Vintera Tele, Vintera Strat and a Gibson Les Paul Special. Like the guys said, I didn't feel these kinds of good second-hand deals on Fenders and Gibsons would last forever. Only other thing I'd like to buy is more niche: I'd like one of those cheaper Epiphone Firebirds for around £550. Which I might grab before they discontinue those cheaper vintage burst ones, so they can push those crazy priced for Epiphone, £1500+ ones. a Danelectro 12-string would be nice, but very much not essential.

Completely agree.

Almost 100% the same here. And with Music Go Round stores I am in instrument heaven.

yeah, over the past 30 years and 100 guitars ive bought and sold, ive had like 2 new guitars, the rest have been used. i go to pawn shops and most of the time i find them in mint condition. and they are usually so cheap i even make a profit when i decide to sell

30 years ago I found a great guitar for $100 at a pawn shop. Strat body with a Guild 3x3 neck. Got rid of it when I moved to Vegas. regret that. Now I can buy a new guitar for less than what they want for used. Maybe it's just Vegas.

@@villageidiot9867 THAT was the time, man. Even around 1997 before pawn shops got internet savvy and ebay came along. I picked up a bone stock, clean '68 SG with orig. case for $650 out the door and shortly after a minty '79 LP Deluxe for $799. Even let me put them on lay-away. End of an era.

🤣

Same. I buy to play not to collect so vintage stuff is dangerous in my hands especially since I’m on the road so much with singers. I actually prefer parts casters or little locally built guitars. Because they come exactly how I like with the configs I like in my electronics which can be a bit strange at times. I mean heck I play a Variax on the road a lot so that should say what I mean enough. . Plus I want to be the one to give the guitars their scars and stories not the other way around. I bought exactly one "vintage" guitar. A 1988 MIJ Fender Strat (62 reissue) in a butterscotch finish. I really fell in love with it and the story was even cooler. The owner was the original owner and brought it from Osaka to the states with him for work and to eventually perminantly stay in Seattle. Passed away. Kept it in damn near mint condition and probably put a whole 10 hours of actual playing into it. He kept it in a display case in his office as a conversation starter. And took it to a shop every year to have it kept in basicaly tip top shape. When he passed his daughter sold it to that shop. 24 hours after it came in I was there for work on my birthday and decided you know what a present for myself. At the time I was in the market for something strat style with an HSS setup, but they didn’t have it. But the guy (Knowing I wanted something with as low of action as possible and something different. Something with an interesting story) goes let me grab something. Brings this thing out and sets me up with a really nice amp from a builder in Tacoma. Tells me give it a shot…. And it was the guitar for me. I felt so bad though because this thing was beautiful. It looked like it just came off the line and I was like man I feel terrible because I’m a player. I buy to play and its going to get scuffed up and I want to at least replace the bridge pickup minimum with a mini humbucker. The coolest part? The old man had left a note with the guitar and all it said was may the next owner of this beautiful instrument play it the way it deserves and the way I just never could. Guitars are made for playing and I hope you get a lot of experience with this one. Love from Japan. So I bought it. Brought it home and showed my tech in my city and his face just went slack like how did you find this in this condition? Told him the story and he just looked betrayed when I told him it was pickup swap out time. But we did it and when he played it with the mini humbucker in it he got it. Its probably the only vintage I’ll ever buy and that is because of the really interesting story behind it. All of my guitars have a name and my wife named this one the Monogatari (The story) in Japanese. Fun fact it technically has come full circle because my wife was also born and raised in Osaka Japan before coming here to the states and meeting this big dumb goofy idiot and deciding hey I kind of like him and I kind of like it here so maybe I’ll keep him for a bit.

A lot of people, even in large suburban areas, don't have a lot of options to go look and play at local guitar stores. I have one Guitar Center in my area that hasn't had anything much worth looking at in years, a couple small chain stores that only sell cheap learner models, and maybe a little boutique shop. Sure, you can always get new guitars from brands like Cort, but you know what? They're hit or miss too. My first brand-new electric (bought just before the covid boom) was a Strat built by Cort, and even though it was highly reviewed, I could never get it to the point where I enjoyed playing it. Since then, I've bought two used, out-of-production MiM Fenders sight unseen, and they both blow that Cort out of the water, for not much more $. As for vintage, if you're talking *real* vintage (not like '90s-'00s), that's a whole different beast. If you're shopping for a '62 or whatever, then you definitely need to know what you're looking at. But then you're definitely not cross-shopping a modern import.

@@CHChris A "lot" of people? Don't you mean alot of people? Don't have alot of options? I value my Sweetwater connections more than ANY other I can think of? With the internet and the constant stream of new information available on guitars. I think anyone with even half a brain, can make fairly educated decisions on new guitar purchases. If they do some homework. When it comes to used guitars that are still worth at least $1k. I'm not sure too many Cortek products make the cut? Sure there's some exceptions. But generally speaking, I'm not paying over $1000 for a used guitar unless it's something limited edition, or in very high demand. Now, a vintage used guitar. That's a whole nother ball of wax. ANY, decent vintage used guitar, should fetch a minimum of $1000U.S. these days. If it doesn't? Why would you even bother? Listen, the guitar market, and the guineas that are involved with it. Are a fickle bunch. Everyone thinks they're an expert. Yesterday Gibson featured Paul Stanley from the band K.I.S.S. in the archives the band has. Senior Stanley happens to be building another house right now, so ALL his gear is at the archive. It was very interesting to listen to how he approaches what he personally for him, considers a vintage collection. Every example is meticulously went over, and done properly for what HE wants. And THAT right there, is the secret to the whole game brother! ANY, guitar can be "the one". If you make it the one.

@@CHChris I like buying new and used guitars from Guitar Center. GC gives a long period of time after the sale to try out the guitar, and if you decide to return it at your local GC store, the most you lose is the roughly 25 dollar shipping if they had to ship a used guitar to your local store.

Correct.

It’s comin your wayyhayyyyyaahhhhhh!

@CasinoGuitars4 no way !

@CasinoGuitars4 ohh, I see this is not really casino guitars. Let me guess. You just want my credit card number.

Great questions- but the answers aren’t good.

Ya if skilled workers move back to cabinet making...​@@ironsave3201

Yes

@@metalfatigue whammy trem guitars were mostly 80s rockers. Newer music doesn't seem to use that.

@@pandaman1968 I'm starting to see them drop down around 2k, people were listing them for close to $3500 which is absolutely insane. Of course it's no pre-covid price. I recently scored a '69 Princeton for $1000, like the guys are saying, if it sits long enough you make a reasonable offer. Good luck!

People are struggling

@@pandaman1968 Sounds like a major win.

Here in phoenix I'm seeing tons of mint les Paul's on craigslist for 2200, 2300... and they ain't moving for months. So I think 1800 is about right if you want to move one.

So basically in order for this to happen, someone would have to pay $3000-ish for a new Les Paul Standard, baby it for however long so it still looks brand new, take it in to Casino Guitars to trade it in, Casino Guitars decides for some reason to make an insulting offer of $900-ish so they can sell it at $1500, and the guy would somehow accept that offer. And then it would somehow have to not sell for long enough for them to call you for you to try to see if they could knock a couple hundred off and then take a couple days to convince your wife. Do you see how ridiculous this is starting to sound?

Get yourself a nice Tokai for 1500 that’ll probably be built better than the Gibson standard anyway and if you must upgrade the pickups and hardware, you can find some pretty nice Tokai Love Rock (that’s what they call their LPs) for around 1500 you can even find MIJ Tokai around that 1500 dollar mark.

@@brandonjackson5865 actually now that you mention it the Eastman LP’s are damn near Gibson Custom Shop level guitars and those can be had used for around $1500-ish. They blow the typical Les Paul Standard out of the water.

​@@Plexi417Stranger things have happened 🛸

@@mattjackson7859 yes I was just there. New, Made in Pennsylvania Martins were actually cheaper than you can get them in the States at current exchange rates. I’m not sure how that’s possible as shipping to Tokyo ain’t free.

@@seniorp9444 The Japanese guitar market is a little different than the American market. So the price that a Martin can be sold at in a shop here might be a little lower than in America even when taking the currency exchange rate into consideration. It may be higher for other brands, but I don’t pay much attention to it since I like to play not shop.

@@pandaman1968 uh nah man the ending cost was like 5200 once u add in shipping and tax after this discount. TLDR: gear prices still insane

Musical instruments, in particular, attract time-wasters. One reason I stopped selling

Because the wealthy are still getting bank.

@@pandaman1968 Yeah, I hammered and hammered on Wild West Guitar on a $15999 MSRP PRS Private Stock and after a lot of effort and a week.. I got them down to $13000 delivered to my door... but that's no 50% off ... more like 20... which I've had on guitar's many times over the years... I also tried to get a Gibson Custom 5A 1 piece top directly from Gibson, they're asking $10199... and they won't go down a cent.. just offered me "Free overnight" shipping.

​​​​​@@pandaman1968 When a company hires a ton of people and rushes their training it definitely has an impact on quality. And that definitely happened. I also suspect more guitars were being made before the wood was properly seasoned, but that's obviously just my limited personal experience.

@@tom.m Absolutely