Price watch (95): BFG edition

Pic: Sweetwater

Greetings, folks. This is not another issue for contention but an attempt to understand the after-market climate & it's price related. I'm sure you've come across the Gibson Les Paul BFG before. It's that bare-bones LP which received a generous number of plaudits & disdain, depending on which camp you are from. The LP BFG used to be available at Swee Lee & listed for $1.5K +/- before further iterations were made available along the way with the accompanying price variations. 

I cam across a couple of BFG listings in the after-market recently which offered food for thought when it comes to pricing discontinued products. The first listing depicted above shows a $1K asking price. I personally find this a fair proposition as the guitar is in a well-played condition & it comes with a hard case of similar condition.

The other listing is a little confusing (it depicted other BFG models) & the asking price is way more. There is no way to assess if this figure is a deserving asking price for the guitar as no actual pictures were included (maybe seller can provide to you personally upon request). 

How much does a BFG go for these days? The politically correct answer is - it depends on demand & supply forces. Do we peg the price according to after-market listings which are not from this country (I currently know of one store here listing their pre-owned products using this formula)? No because the demand-supply conditions are different there compared to local circumstances which I believe is fair application here. So it all boils down to value perception; the seller lists the guitar for that amount which he thinks is deserving. We need not agree to the amount because our perception of value is different as a buyer. 

Of course, there's this arguably false consideration that all discontinued products should command a hefty price tag due to its scarce availability. Then again, we need to return to the demand-supply understanding; the final price of the guitar is what had been agreed by both the buyer (demand) & seller (supply) & not a virtual strict adherence to scarcity.