Man, you have to give them away right now....

[fitness1]

Never seen the market so soft in the last 20 years.

That's all.

[Kerbie]

Good for the buyers, I guess.

[bitraker]

Never seen the market so soft in the last 20 years.

really soft - a good reason I won't buy a new D-28 - I hope to pick up a used one on the cheap - I can wait...

[fazool]

Where are we seeing this? I read the industry report from 2016 and it was a record breaking sales year (again)

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by fazool

Where are we seeing this? I read the industry report from 2016 and it was a record breaking sales year (again)

The classifieds. Ebay. Reverb.

I've got a mint D'angelico that sells new for 1450 I can't get 800 for.

Not to mention my Charis that's been for sale for over a month.

I'm not going to give either one away.

My guess is you are speaking of new instrument sales.....and, a lot of things have happened since the beginning of the year

[fazool]

Originally Posted by fitness1

...
My guess is you are speaking of new instrument sales.....and, a lot of things have happened since the beginning of the year

both quite true

[SongwriterFan]

Yep, the stock market is up quite a bit!

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by SongwriterFan

Yep, the stock market is up quite a bit!

Not sure what that has to do with anything.......might want to hold on to your hat on that one, though.

[SongwriterFan]

Good stock market performance is typically good for high-end consumer sales.

[SongwriterFan]

I've had one on consignment for over a year now . . . might be time to lower the price some.

Or raise it . . . I've heard that actually works!

Originally Posted by fitness1

Never seen the market so soft in the last 20 years.

That's all.

There is softness, but some of that is your chosen time of year to sell and what you're selling. I never post guitars for sale in the summer. If I want to sell something I try to aim for October-April, those are the best timesl. People hoard cash for Christmas about now and they're also short on cash after spending too much on their vacations, so luxury items go on the back burner.

Your two guitars, while great, aren't mainstream and have a smaller audience than say a Les Paul or a Martin HD28. Have you considered putting your Charis for sale on commission somewhere you trust? I think that is one of those guitars with such a tiny audience that you'd have better luck snagging a sale if people could see, touch and hear it. Otherwise, a person would have to know that guitar to pay $3500 for it online. I'm not trying to be a nit to you, just conversing while I wait for the soup to heat up.

[ManyMartinMan]

Originally Posted by fitness1

..Default Man, you have to give them away right now....

You really don't. Keep it/them. They'll sell when they sell.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by Dominus Mortem

Have you considered putting your Charis for sale on commission somewhere you trust? I think that is one of those guitars with such a tiny audience that you'd have better luck snagging a sale if people could see, touch and hear it. .

There are reasons people hoard their money all year long now - tax time, for example (for the self employed) I avoid selling/shipping guitars during the winter months here in MI for obvious reasons.

I would NEVER put a guitar like my Charis on consignment for the same reason I'd never sell an instrument with an "inspection period". Don't want to get it back in a mess. Very particular about my instruments.

[Methos1979]

That's part of the reason I got out of the buy/sell/trade rotation I'd done for six years and had great success and fun doing! That said, I still look at the classifieds a lot and quite frankly I'm just seeing a lot of (admittedly nice) guitars for sale that in my opinion are just way overpriced for a used guitar.

Sure, it's in mint condition. But unless it's something really popular to a lot of people, it's going to sit until just the right person comes along or you drop the price really low. Your Charis sat for QUITE some time before you bought it back, as I recall. It's a beautiful guitar but will only appeal to just the right person. I see nice Martins and SC guitars sell quick because they are priced right AND they are coveted, popular guitars.

I've also noted in the past that the $3k to $5k range seems to be the dead zone for guitar sales. Nice guitars below $2.5k and oddly above $7k seem to move fairly well. I had a beautiful Bourgeois Slope D that languished here that I eventually sold on Reverb. It was a $3k plus guitar that I let go for well under that.

Fortunately I only had $2.2k into it so still made a few dollars. But that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Been out ever since!

[Authentic]

The problem might not be the market. It might just be that outside of AGF, not many people have heard of Charis. Furthermore, not many people are particular fans of the standard Sitka/Mahogany combination for a boutique build.

Never heard of D'angelico either.