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  #1  
Old 06-19-2019, 07:42 AM
ALBD ALBD is offline
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Default Price of Brazilian Rosewood guitars

It seems that pre-owned Brazilian guitars have really taken a hit. One shop is asking $6K for a Bourgeois Bryan Sutton Limited. And that's the asking price. I remember these guitars being snatched up at $10K plus when they came out. This is just one example of many I've seen.

If Brazilian Rosewood is becoming more scarce and if it really is the "grail" tonewood, why would this be? How are builders continuing to justify the huge upcharge? Is the "it's the builder, not the wood" philosophy taking over? Is Brazilian Rosewood losing it's mystique and/or overrated?

So many question.....
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  #2  
Old 06-19-2019, 07:44 AM
PorkPieGuy PorkPieGuy is offline
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There's an ebb and flow in the guitar market. Maybe right now might be more of a buyer's market as opposed to a seller's market. The person may be just trying to unload this particular guitar to free up some funds.

All of these are just guesses. I'm trying to cover up the fact that I simply don't know.
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Old 06-19-2019, 07:56 AM
llew llew is offline
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Butler ...I don't know about the used Brazilian market but I still believe the best deal going on new Braz guitars is PWGC.
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Old 06-19-2019, 07:59 AM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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Never in the history of the World has there been more guitars produced than are being produced today. Has the demand equally risen? If not, therein lies the answer to your question.

At some point, Brazilian rosewood will be just a nice wood that used to be used to make guitars, along the lines of elephant ivory nuts and saddles: the World moves on.
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:01 AM
redir redir is offline
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CITES might have closed the market down a bit too. It's harder if not impossible to sell BRW across national boundaries. Some people just don't want to deal with it. Hopefully it's an indication that the market is changing but IDK there still is a lot of love for BRW. I've got two sets left and once those are gone will probably never use it again.
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:12 AM
AndrewG AndrewG is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ALBD View Post
It seems that pre-owned Brazilian guitars have really taken a hit. One shop is asking $6K for a Bourgeois Bryan Sutton Limited. And that's the asking price. I remember these guitars being snatched up at $10K plus when they came out. This is just one example of many I've seen.

If Brazilian Rosewood is becoming more scarce and if it really is the "grail" tonewood, why would this be? How are builders continuing to justify the huge upcharge? Is the "it's the builder, not the wood" philosophy taking over? Is Brazilian Rosewood losing it's mystique and/or overrated?

So many question.....
The market, as always, dictates costs. If someone is willing to pay hugely inflated prices for Brazilian rosewood, the market will happily take their cash with no argument.
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by llew View Post
Butler ...I don't know about the used Brazilian market but I still believe the best deal going on new Braz guitars is PWGC.
I hope to own one of their brw dreads one day. Semi-affordable and sound incredible.
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:18 AM
llew llew is offline
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I hope to own one of their brw dreads one day. Semi-affordable and sound incredible.
I got mine early on when the wait was maybe a couple months. And it was about $2k under current pricing. They are great guitars!
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:22 AM
guitararmy guitararmy is offline
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Speaking of Brazilian Rosewood, I just found out about this particular guitar, the price seems reasonable:

https://reverb.com/item/8444286-sant...ngbone-binding
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:25 AM
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UncleJesse UncleJesse is offline
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Originally Posted by llew View Post
I got mine early on when the wait was maybe a couple months. And it was about $2k under current pricing. They are great guitars!
Nice! They're a little more than I'd care to pay at this juncture, maybe I'll start with a mahogany one first.
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:30 AM
llew llew is offline
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Their D (Mahogany) model is also amazing. I don't think you could go wrong with anything they build? And you can occasionally find then at one of their dealers stores. Will @ Lowe Vintage had a Model D level 1 for sale. Same pricing as direct from Wes & Ben...

***Sorry Butler...not trying to hijack your thread?***
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:32 AM
M Sarad M Sarad is offline
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You can get a Santa Cruz Brazilian for 18k. I watched a seller here drop the price to 10k after owning his Cruz for a year.
The used market is still pricey.
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:41 AM
kiva238 kiva238 is offline
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It can also depend on which guitar the BRW is on.

Consider the situation of a pre-1970 Martin made with BRW. Prices fluctuate somewhat with market and seasonal conditions, but there's less of a chance of the big downward hit. In most cases, the trend is generally up! The other side of the equation is that other BRW guitars must absorb the so called, vintage Martin factor. Think whack a mole for guitars. Limited numbers of buyers for a BRW product.

Yes, I realize I'm combining the BRW with a collectability factor, but maybe that's what the future of owning a BRW guitar may come to considering the numbers of BRW guitars produced and demographics involved.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program. . . .
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Old 06-19-2019, 08:47 AM
mcduffnw mcduffnw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redir View Post
CITES might have closed the market down a bit too. It's harder if not impossible to sell BRW across national boundaries. Some people just don't want to deal with it. Hopefully it's an indication that the market is changing but IDK there still is a lot of love for BRW. I've got two sets left and once those are gone will probably never use it again.

Yes this^^^ is a BIG part of the beginning decline in popularity of braz. Also, the young kids/musicians coming up today are just not that into the whole tonewood issue like we boomers are/were. They look at the guitar much more analytically, as the tool it really is, and they know that they can do anything with the tone that they want or need to as they record it and mix it into the tracks, so what the guitar is made of is just not necessarily all that important. With the exception of the Bluegrass and high end Fingerstyle players worlds, the sheen of "best tonewood ever" has started to come off of braz. As the supply inevitably tightens further and further, the young players and builders coming up will just find other woods to use that will work just fine for them.

You see it starting now, but the current trickle will grow into a torrent in the not too distant future.


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Old 06-19-2019, 08:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mcduffnw View Post
Yes this^^^ is a BIG part of the beginning decline in popularity of braz. Also, the young kids/musicians coming up today are just not that into the whole tonewood issue like we boomers are/were. They look at the guitar much more analytically, as the tool it really is, and they know that they can do anything with the tone that they want or need to as they record it and mix it into the tracks, so what the guitar is made of is just not necessarily all that important. With the exception of the Bluegrass and high end Fingerstyle players worlds, the sheen of "best tonewood ever" has started to come off of braz. As the supply inevitably tightens further and further, the young players and builders coming up will just find other woods to use that will work just fine for them.

You see it starting now, but the current trickle will grow into a torrent in the not too distant future.


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher
While as a GenX'r, I do not wish for anone's demise, it does make me wonder where the market will be in 15 year's time.
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