TJ Thompson $$$$$

[wet in davis]

Wow, I knew these were hard to find an expensive… Didn’t know it was nearly 90 grand
https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/20...ce-na2013.html

[fitness1]

Saw that earlier - my old buddy is doing pretty well for himself!

[pagedr]

That's pretty much exactly like the guitar that TJ built for Mark Erelli, except Mark's has koa back and sides and a regular pyramid bridge. I guess we'll see if it sells at that price, I don't know enough about the pricing of TJ's guitars on the used market to know if that's a bit aspirational or not.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by fitness1

Saw that earlier - my old buddy is doing pretty well for himself!

TJ probably sold that guitar for $30k or less bitd. The person who is making a killing is the current owner, and the folks at Dream Guitars will earn a handsome cut.

[Wespj10]

Anyone have a sense for how long TJ’s waitlist is or if he is still accepting orders? I would assume his prices have increased to be somewhat more aligned with the used market.

[usb_chord]

Originally Posted by Wespj10

Anyone have a sense for how long TJ’s waitlist is or if he is still accepting orders? I would assume his prices have increased to be somewhat more aligned with the used market.

For all intents and purposes, TJ isn't accepting orders. I've heard in recent times that he'd like to start building a bit more than he has. I'm sure many of those will be pre-sold, due to the number of interested parties that have been in his queue for years.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by sinistral

TJ probably sold that guitar for $30k or less bitd. The person who is making a killing is the current owner, and the folks at Dream Guitars will earn a handsome cut.

I know - my comment is based on when we were buds during his Elderly days.

He's come a long way and that selling price can only help him going forward.

[Mocha Joe]

Originally Posted by Wespj10

Anyone have a sense for how long TJ’s waitlist is or if he is still accepting orders? I would assume his prices have increased to be somewhat more aligned with the used market.

10+ years. I know that he has stopped taking on new repairs and restorations so that he can spend more time on his new builds.

[steveh]

Utterly insane price and, while I know it's only YouTube, the sound clip is hardly a chorus of angels.

The very best of luck to Mr. Thompson, to engender a reputation that commands prices such as this (although much of the 87K will be dealer's margin), but the rest of us are very lucky indeed to have a plethora of less spendy instruments available for purchase.

I have owned some pretty spendy instruments myself (Traugott/Kostal/Sands etc.), but surely this bubble has to burst sometime soon? The prices being asked for some instruments is excoriating, and continues to rise inexorably.

Cheers,
Steve

[Guitars44me]

This makes me want to bust out the sandpaper and go to work on a couple necks!

I am intrigued by the Rikards banjo tuners, too.

Makes my stash seem like real bargains!

Happy picking, all

Paul

[massimo]

Originally Posted by steveh

bubble

This, exactly

[jt1]

The market is the market. Observations that X guitar is not worth Y price are silly ... when X guitar brings Y price.

My prediction is that this TJ guitar will yield the listed price. And rightly so. Very few luthiers, imvho, produce instruments that surpass the quality of vintage, golden-era guitars. TJ is one of, well, in my count, 3. Yes, 3, who can and have achieved this status.

[Rwpierce]

Originally Posted by jt1

My prediction is that this TJ guitar will yield the listed price. And rightly so. Very few luthiers, imvho, produce instruments that surpass the quality of vintage, golden-era guitars. TJ is one of, well, in my count, 3. Yes, 3, who can and have achieved this status.

I’ve never played one of TJ’s guitars but by reputation one may have to agree. Curious on the 3 that you are referring to. I’m guessing Kim Walker is one of the 3 but who besides TJ do you consider to have achieved this status?

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Rwpierce

I’ve never played one of TJ’s guitars but by reputation one may have to agree. Curious on the 3 that you are referring to. I’m guessing Kim Walker is one of the 3 but who besides TJ do you consider to have achieved this status?

I’m guessing John Arnold might be one. Perhaps not it TJ territory, but Blazer & Henkes’ guitars are pretty phenomenal.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have never been to Ashville, NC, and don't plan a trip anytime soon, but . . . I notice Dream has one of my older (successful, though not my absolute best, IMO) 00's for sale for 1/10 the price of this TJ guitar, and I have to wonder how mine stacks up? If any of you have an experience based opinion, I am sitting.