Vintage Guitar Collectors Can Still Find Deals

If you're a recent vintage guitar collector, the stories you've heard are true. You once could step into pawn shops or flea markets and find vintage Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Stratocasters for $50 to $100. True. These guitars now sell for thousands of dollars on Ebay and Gbase.

Those days are gone -- but there are still deals if you know what to look for.

The simple thing to remember in vintage guitar collecting is ... American guitars. Not to say Japanese or European luthiers haven't made fine guitars, but the vintage market isn't looking that way. If you stay American-made, you'll have the best chance of an instrument that will appreciate in value.

Next, forget about those who claim certain years of American guitars aren't desirable. It's true that folks once looked down on '70's Stratocasters -- but folks are now scrambling and paying top dollar for 70's and 80's models! Same thing with '80's Gibson guitars -- once thought of as poor-quality examples, people now bid high amounts for them.

Why? Well, once the most desirable pieces are gone, whatever's left is going to command attention.

So -- to find the next "deal" -- look for American made guitars that collectors are currently ignoring. Because -- soon enough, these will be at the top of the food chain.

How about specifics? Well, think "student" models. Some models are already desirable -- Fender Mustangs and Gibson Melody Makers, for example; other models haven't gained notice yet ... but they will!

For instance, Fender Bullets, made in the early 1980's, are student model guitars, but are American made and use parts found in Telecasters of the same period (pickups, etc). These are great-sounding, easy-playing, and nice looking instruments. You can still find Bullets for less than $300 ... although they're beginning to gather attention. Note, we're not talking the Squire Bullet Stratocaster-type model, but the American-made Fender model (looks like a Telecaster).

Fender also put out a Lead series -- the Lead I, Lead II, and the Lead III. Again, these were an American made student series -- but are great playing, solidly made, and sound wonderful. You can still pick up Lead's for less than $300.

Gibson Melody Makers have already been discovered by collectors -- but there's not a lot of action with Gibson's Kalamazoo line ... yet. These student models are similar in quality to the Melody Makers and Fender Mustangs. I've found Kalamazoo models for less than $100!

I haven't mentioned other brands -- Epiphone, Gretsch, Guild, etc -- because either their student models have already exploded in price or they really don't have student models. Stick with Fender and Gibson, stick with American made, and keep your eyes on lesser-known student models ... and you'll find deals that will likely join other lines in appreciating over the coming years.

Joey Robichaux operates the Free Sheet Music site at http://www.freesheetmusic.net and is an avid vintage guitar collector.

---

Born to sing, Britney Spears is as big as ever today

Britney Spears was born December 2 1981 as Britney Jean... Read More

The Gong - An Instrument Everyone Can Play

What exactly is a Gong?The gong is a musical instrument... Read More

Why Do Music Lovers Still Prefer to Buy Records?

In the late 1940's, the 45-RPM record replaced the 78-RPM... Read More

Free, Legal Music Online

Almost everyone has heard about the massive crack down on... Read More

Make Money with Your Music ? the Top 5 Ways

Songwriters dream of making their living by writing, and sometimes... Read More

Launch Pad Introduces Subliminal

Who would have ever thought that a call out for... Read More

How to Buy an Electric Guitar

For most of us, making any major purchase, such as... Read More

10 Music Download Legal Points

Everybody's doing it: downloading music and sharing files. People who... Read More

Ouch, It Hurts When I Sing!

When I first set out to write this article about... Read More

Social Networking and Music: MySpace Puts It All Together in a Virtual Community

Today's music fan interacts with a "community" that is far... Read More

Music Downloads: Free & Low Cost Ways For Musicians To Get Their Music Known All Over The World

Music downloads are highly compressed audio files transferred onto a... Read More

Review: The Dissociatives - Self Titled

In 1994 Daniel Johns and his group Silverchair were catapulted... Read More

Fiddle Tab Makes Learning Fiddle Fast and Easy

Learning fiddle tab is so intuitive and so easy that... Read More

5 Sure Fire Ways to Get Radio Play for Your ?Independent? Music!

You have to find radio airplay time if you're going... Read More

Top 50 Music Quotations

Discover the phenomenonal complexity of music and reflect on the... Read More

Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord Progressions

Piano arranging is the process by which you take a... Read More

The Three 8 Mile Battles

Three battles at the end of the 8 Mile movie... Read More

Guitar Players...Learn About The Point Of Discipline

Have you ever started learning a lick or exercise and... Read More

CD Clubs: How to Get the Best Deals Online

(1) The BMG Music Service offers the best deal you'll... Read More

Good News for the Musically Untalented

Have you ever been told that you were good at... Read More

Liberate your iPod

When Akio Morita came up with the idea of the... Read More

How to Create Interesting Textures

A lot of new age piano music consists of repeating... Read More

Musicians: What Chords Do You Absolutely, Positively Have To Know?

As you probably know, there are thousands and thousands of... Read More

Taking iPod Culture into Clubs as Well as Cyberspace: Jonny Rocket Interviewed by The G-Man

Already making plenty of noise in the marketplace is a... Read More

Right Hand Guitar Playing Tip

This lesson can open for you a secret of high-speed... Read More