Sold my collings yesterday. Hate to be moribid but I'm in a rock in a hard place
 

First of all rip to the one of the greatest guitar builders ever. I want to ask for everyone's forgiveness before I go any further. I know this is to soon and I mean no disrespect at all over this post. I'm in a total rock and a hard place. I loved bills instruments.

I've owned 3 guitars and one mandolin. I'm not a vulture and feel bad for posting this. and don't mean to speculate on collings values. All I want is advice on what to do. Obviously I didn't know the bad news until today. So who ever bought my guitar must have. They snatched it up online It's a killer d2ha sunburst.

I'm out of work and won't be able to go back to work for a month. Things are tight but not that bad. I only put it up for sale last week cause of this. So I could buy more time for the right job I'm waiting on. I planned on buying another collings in the future but I'm afraid the prices in the future may become out of my range. I mean this was a $5k guitar new.

So what do I do refund the guy and keep it. or ship it off tomorrow. Again please forgive me I hate that I'm in this position. I don't want to keep it to sell later at a profit. I want to keep it because I'm afraid I will never get another one.

If you feel that strongly and are able to legally provide a refund, do just that and don't bat an eye over it. In my experience it is much better to suffer sellers remorse while the guitar is still in your possession. I would politely let the chap know your feelings and move on.

First I can only state what I would do. I would ship the guitar I sold. You entered into a contract to sell your guitar and the buyer paid you the amount you agreed upon. Secondly, I don't believe there will be any change in Collings' prices/value in the foreseeable future. Collings is a guitar manufacturing company that should continue building guitars as long as they choose to. And yes, for some here, too soon.

It is impossible to predict what will happen to Collings prices or supply now that "the man" has unfortunately passed. He did not build them all single-handedly and the employees still have a tremendous store of institutional knowledge and skill. I would expect that truly world-class guitars will still come out of Austin, Texas for quite some time. There might eventually be some cachet associated with Bill Collings era instruments versus post-Bill examples, but only time will tell.

As for backing out of the deal, if you haven't shipped yet, you still have the option of refunding the money promptly and keeping you guitar. I don't really have any good advice, other than to talk to the buyer on the phone and explain the situation. In general, a deal is a deal. But on occasion, I have let people reclaim items that I had purchased when they almost immediately had a severe attack of seller's remorse, even though I really wanted the item.
:confused:

The entire reason you want to keep the guitar now is because of a scenario that is made up in your head. There is absolutely no way of knowing what is going to happen in the future. Ask yourself again why did you want to sell it in the first place? If that reason is still true for you, then you might want to take a closer look at what is happening here. Pure speculation is causing your remorse, not reality.

That being said, if you love your guitar and want to keep it, cancel the sale. A person you will never meet might give you bad feedback over the internet, big whoop.

and earl i apologize personally and to everyone else i may have offended. your probably right. i know right from wrong. i made a deal, but if i would have known about this. i would have pulled it down immediately. just bad luck i guess.

thank you i see your point.

Collings guitars doesn't need the founder to continue their great work.

I don't see their prices going up significantly.

You are not being morbid and this is not too soon in my opinion. Your concern about the sale and questions for the forum are legitimate. I had the exact same separate conversations with brother-in-law and a very good friend yesterday. My thought is that there will eventually be a designation between the "Bill Collings Era" instruments and those made after. Though at this point, that is an arbitrary designation at best.

If you want to back out of the sale in light of Bill Collings' passing, that is your prerogative. As the buyer, I'd be bummed, but I'd understand.

Good luck with your sale, or not sale, and good luck with your job search!

ZI

I'm not so sure Collings Guitars will be able to carry on without him? The company was established on Bill's reputation as a luthier. Without that mystique how will the company continue to command such lofty prices? I wonder what sort of debt /operating costs the company might have, and if Bill Collings' heir(s) have the knowledge, and / or, desire, to operate such an enterprise? Perhaps they'd just rather cash out for whatever they can sell the company for?

Don

I've read here in the AGF many many times that guitars are bad investments. Speculating on a price increase may bring riches but I doubt it. Seems like you had a reason to sell and as long as you close to what you paid for it, my opinion is honour your deal.

He wants to hold onto it because he's afraid he won't be able to afford another one (if prices go up), not to get rich or profit here.

You made a deal and the buyer has fully paid. Its not even a moral question anymore - you dont hv a choice anynore but to cary out your part under the contract and ship the guitar to the buyer unless the buyer agrees to release you from the contract.

Fender seem to be doing ok, and Leo is long dead.