Price watch (21)

This is a very difficult proposition; a 'limited edition' Gibson going for $2K in the after-market.

It is an SG Special, signed by local artiste, JJ Lin.

This is the description of the guitar. The designed by label there is contentious; which part of the guitar was designed by the artiste? From the image provided, it's fair to say that custom graphics were added to make the instrument look unique & this might just be the extent of the 'design' by the artist. Other than that, it's a regular SG Special, just a little celebrated. I'm not putting down the artiste here, I have no intention to, all respect to him; it's just the guitar. Granted, it's given a special touch to commemorate a special event but guitar fans won't be won over by these details. They will just view it as an SG Special with custom graphics that extended onto the body surface & might be too problematic to get rid of should there be intentions to restore this guitar to its former self. There might be a JJ Lin fan who is also a Gibson fan out there but in the mean time, he / she is not manifesting himself / herself to secure an interest.

The way I see it, in order for this guitar to garner some interest:

1. Charity sale. There is a higher chance for a philantrophist to be interested. There are indeed individuals who would commit to charity regardless of what's on sale.
2. Open invitation. Do away with an asking price, consider all sensible offers. This requires an objective consideration by the seller who would need to swallow some pride & understand the after-market which is quite devoid of Gibson fans who are OK with JJ Lin appendages on the instrument.
3. Lower the asking price. If there should be any price enticements here, the figure should be lower than the current listing. In fact, it needs to be very much lower. An SG Standard could be had for this price plus some spare change, do keep this in mind.