I had a conversation with a friend not too long ago, he was whining about the domestic after-market; how he put up a guitar for sale but attracted no offers at all. It's compounded by the fact that the guitar in question is a 'rare' commodity & souped up with 'upgraded' appointments in terms of hardware & electronics. But my understanding of the situation is this:
- Discontinued = rare? I blame Gibson & Fender, mostly. They started this trend but it is a deserving phenomenon- the Fenders & Gibsons of yesterday are indeed tone treasures, worthy of their exorbitant price tags. But people out there have the understanding applied to other brand names which is sadly not that applicable. A discontinued 5-year old Ibanez is worth lesser than a Fender/ Gibson of the same age, fundamentally. It's the power of brand name goodwill (which Gibson is currently extending to other non-guitar products). Yes, discontinued stuff are rare in the current context but it doesn't automatically appreciate in value, this we have to understand. It's all down to demand & supply. Yes, you have a very precious 10-year old Ibanez (no offence, I'm a big Ibanez fan) but are there people out there who wants one (demand) & are you the only dweeb who own it (supply)?
- Upgraded features = value appreciation? This is perhaps the one manifesting the most misconception- putting in after-market replacements, especially the branded, big name stuff, won't yield a higher value for your instrument. You can try this with your Gibson/ Fender- 'upgrade' the hardware & see if it attracts buyers- you know what I'm driving at. You'd argue that some appointments really improve the instrument's overall performance (eg: locking tuners for Les Pauls) but this remains subjective as the subsequent owner may/ may not agree with your 'upgrade'. So the moral of the story is, things are best left as they are when you want to sell them off. Putting in 'upgrades' in them is a hit-miss affair in this aspect because you are not the final authority in this price determination, it's a mutual agreement between buyers & sellers.
- No deal = blame the market? When it comes to business, everything plays a part. Just because you put up an ad doesn't mean you get offers automatically. Also, there might not be fans of what you are selling here. This brings to mind my encounter with the Gibson nighthawk which is a hit in Europe but not in this part of the world. Selling a Nighthawk here is a great hurdle, never mind if it has that 'Gibson' label there.
Last but not least- it's about the price. Some of us won't budge with our pricing when we know we won't move our products unless we swallow some pride & revise our prices downward. We believe our Fenders & Gibsons should be priced according to our valuation but that's not always the case, yes? Fenders & Gibsons are indeed the benchmark in value retention- this is the reason why they command a good 70% of their original price tag in the after-market & not an immediate appreciation unless it's a special case.
2 comments:
As a buyer i find some sellers expecting a bit too much. I guess there are some rare and unique epiphones out there but still, its an epiphone. I wonder why the seller put it in gibson's price range. At the end of the day, it is still an epi. Also some sellers thought warmoth custom guitars deserve their asking price. I know its unique but come on. You built the guitar to YOUR spec, not mine. Dont expect custom guitar to command the same pricing that you spent. If you think you are making too much loss, then better keep the guitar to yourself.
it's all circumstantial isn't it? those Jap Epiphones still featuring open-book type headstocks- those command a good re-sale price. the Epiphones of today- still based on demand/supply situation.
warmoth makes good replacement parts- i respect their QC but it doesn't equal a high selling price for assembled products. i think 'custom' had been used loosely to describe such guitars.
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