I now invest and trade in vintage electric instruments. Classic cars and vintage guitars are quite similar. They represent a time when excellent design, durable materials, solid manufacturing, and artistic expression were the dominating drives in American culture and industry. Of course, we're talking about the mid-twentieth century.

 

The classic car and vintage guitar markets are also similar. I take the same approach in vintage musical instrument investing as I do with the cars. I shop hard for affordable "sleeper" instruments in impeccable, collectable condition, that are just beginning to rise in value. As with cars, I avoid holy grail instruments simply because the are too expensive. 1960 Stratocasters are $30k to $50k, and '59 Gibson Les Pauls are$300k to $500k! It's just as crazy as the collector car market.

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I learned the car market by trial and error through buying and restoring 100 cars and trucks over a dozen years. I will continue to do cars but not as many. I began investing in vintage guitars and amps a few years ago, but I've played guitar professionally for fifty years. Some of you know, most don't, that I've had a career as a performing guitarist since I was in my 20's. I still perform live occasionally, but spend most of my time composing music for the film/TV industry. Link to my music site:  https://thecrawdaddy.bandcamp.com/  

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If my intuition is right, we will see the vintage musical instrument market become increasingly desirable as values rise and more non-musicians enter the field.  It certainly happened in the sleeper car world. Ten years ago, I could search nationwide for excellent condition '71-'72 Buick BoatTail Rivieras and find 10 or 12 contenders in the $6k to $8k range. Now they start at $30k, if you can even find one.

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This brings up another point. As the world becomes more topsy turvy politically and economically, more people are moving to investing in hard assets such as precious metals, real estate, art, antiques, classic cars, and vintage guitars. In a world dominated more and more by AI intrusion, internet hackers, and outright corruptors, it's vitally important to physically posess what you own. 

 

I deal mainly in electric guitars and amps, but may expand to other musical instruments as time goes on. Have a look at the offerings and reach out with any questions.  455whip@gmail.com 

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