Vintage, Rare And Collectable Guitars
Perth, West Australia
AUSTRALIA'S NUMBER 1 VINTAGE GUITAR DEALER!!
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WHAT is a Vintage Guitar
"Vintage" is a term that has acquired a new meaning apart from
its original usage. The term is a combination of
Vint
(of the vine) and
Age
(time of creation). This term is used in the wine industry to indicate a wine's
harvest date. The use of "vintage" has been modified by collectors to mean old,
such as a Vintage Car, or Vintage Clothing. This extension of the meaning is
used in guitar terminology to mean "an original, older guitar."
Most collectors value guitars from the mid 1920's to 1970. Guitars prior to the
mid 1920's are too primitive in design for most collectors. Guitars after 1970,
even though they are over 30 years old, have no great collectible appeal. All
the U.S. guitar manufacturers were in dire straits during the 1970's. They were
either bought out by larger conglomerates looking to make guitars as quickly as
possible, and/or their quality and choice of materials had become sub-standard.
Many people ask me if I think their new guitar will be valuable
in the future. Frankly, I just don't know. But my off-the-cuff response would
be,
"no"(*See
amendment below). The materials, environment and society of pre-1970 was
much different, thus producing different instruments which I feel
can not
be duplicated today. For Example, Brazilian Rosewood (used on even cheap
department store guitars till the late 1960's) can not be legally imported into
the U.S.
But many people counter with, "Gibson stopped making my L-6S in the 1970's after xx units, and therefore it's rare and valuable". This just doesn't hold water. Anything made since 1970 can be easily replicated today with currently available materials. 99.99% of the time the reason it's not currently being made is because there was no demand for it then or now.
*Having seen many finely crafted instruments I have come to revise this statement to say 'yes' Some individual makers/luthiers are still producing such high quality guitars today that there is no doubt that these will continue to gain in value over many years to come. As with art these particular guitars are 'works of art' in their own respect and as such command a price which reflects this.
I would conclude by saying that many mass produced guitars from the 70's onwards will probably not gain the equivalent as fine hand crafted guitars from luthiers such as Mark Lacey, John Monteleone, Bob Benedetto and not to forget some of the most talented Australian luthiers such as Barry and David Kerr (Woodtone Guitars), John Slight (Jaslight Guitars), Ray Berketa (Berketa Guitars), John Liddy, Don Morrison (Donmo Resonator ) to name a few!!
If I've forgotten anyone please forgive me as this is only a representation to reflect the quality that we have here in Australia and does not represent all of the most talented luthiers that we have.
