Does a guitar's history contribute to price?

[Heroditus]

For me to pay a "celebrity premium" price for a guitar it would have to have been owned by Bob Dylan or one of The Beatles. Otherwise, it's just a guitar. But certainly, there are people out there who are huge Doyle Dykes fans who would probably pony up a few extra bucks for a guitar that he once owned. As much as I admire his talent though, I wouldn't be one of them.

[RLetson]

I believe that documentation of ownership--provenance--is part of the X-owned-this-instrument game, which is itself only marginally related to the musical worth of the instrument. The situations where such things matter most are with historical exemplars in original condition (or with well-documented maintenance histories), where the actual instrument might explain something about the way the music sounds. (For example, the Selmers that Django favored or the violins and fortepianos for which classical composers might have designed their compositions.) Museums and scholars care about such matters.

Otherwise, it's a matter of personal connection. I'm told that before I owned it, Cyril Pahinui played a few tunes on my Goodall Standard at a gig in Duluth. I love the guitar, and I knew Cyril, so I find that bit of mojo pleasing to contemplate. But I'm not sure it would mean much should I choose to sell it on--though the qualities that Cyril liked in the guitar would presumably matter whether or not I mentioned him.

Associational mojo can be strange. I believe old Guild M-20s still command a premium thanks to the (now discredited) notion that Nick Drake played one on "Bryter Layter."

[Wade Hampton]

Doyle Dykes is famous to a hard core of acoustic guitar fans, but he’s not even semi-famous to the general public. Don’t spend any more money than you would for the same model instrument without any “celebrity” connections. You will not recoup a dime of the extra money you spent should you decide to resell it.


whm

[The Bard Rocks]

I have guitars that were first played by Jackson Browne and Gordon Bok and can't say they are worth any more as a result. But I can see someone trying to make up their mind between two instruments and finally selecting the one with the story behind it.

[BoneDigger]

Thanks folks! I am still on the fence about this one.

[rllink]

It doesn't do anything for me.

[vcs700s]

Originally Posted by musicman1951

Couldn't care less. It's the sound and feel.

My thoughts exactly.

[rwmct]

I think to really get a boost in value, a guitar has to not only be used by a famous musician, it must be used for iconic recordings or concerts.

The Greeny (Greenie?) is the obvious example. I doubt it went for $1 mil., but it was a lot of money.

[tinnitus]

Beyond what the guitar is, condition, intrinsic value, etc., it would depend on who the artist is/was. Or maybe if the guitar is tied to a particular song/performance/album/video/era. How much more? Impossible to say, but not a whole lot for me. Maybe a few hundred more because of the cool history. But $800,000 for Lennon's Rickenbacker? Not so much.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

I have guitars that were first played by Jackson Browne and Gordon Bok and can't say they are worth any more as a result. But I can see someone trying to make up their mind between two instruments and finally selecting the one with the story behind it.

I’m familiar with both Browne and Bok, and Browne is famous enough to affect the value of the guitar - provided that he owned it and that provenance can be proven. Bok has his fans but, again, he’s not mainstream famous. So unless you get lucky enough to connect with a Gordon Bok super-fan, you can’t expect to get a premium price when you try to sell.


whm

[The Bard Rocks]

Nah, no such luck, I owned them at the time but hadn't yet seen them much less played them; Browne & Bol just played them before me. I figure it as an interesting tidbit of information that someone might like to know. (Assuming I was selling either.)

[Guilty Spark]

I acquired an Ovation Custom Legend C-779LX that was owned by Matt Sorum. I purchased the guitar for $900, sold it for a bit over $1K about five years later. The buyer even uncovered a Youtube video of Matt playing the guitar in a small club gig with the chick band he was promoting.

I don't believe his prior ownership had anything to do with the price I got. I'm inclined to attribute it to prevailing market conditions at the time of the sale.

[Mr. Paul]

When I see a guitar for sale once owned by X that means X didn't like it enough to keep it.

[TheJackal]

I've seen Doyle Dykes perform several times. (He signed my baby Taylor guitar but I didn't notice that it's value increased at all.)

Here's my concern, an acoustic guitar only has a finite number of good notes built in. A player like DD or Tommy Emmanuel (who also signed the baby Taylor, with no immediate increase in it's value as well), uses up many of the good notes in a guitar so the only remaining notes are more bad than good. I have scientifically verified this fact. Using my baby Taylor as an example, both DD and TE played it for a brief time before they signed it. When I played it afterward, the notes I played were bad since they had used up many of the good one. The science is clear and indisputable, don't buy a guitar previously owned by one of the acoustic guitar masters. There will be very few, if any, good notes left in the guitar. You would be better served buying one of my guitars since I have played most of the bad notes on them and most of the good notes still remain, though I am unable to find them easily.

Some of the above may be true (like good notes.)

[BoneDigger]

Originally Posted by TheJackal

I've seen Doyle Dykes perform several times. (He signed my baby Taylor guitar but I didn't notice that it's value increased at all.)

Here's my concern, an acoustic guitar only has a finite number of good notes built in. A player like DD or Tommy Emmanuel (who also signed the baby Taylor, with no immediate increase in it's value as well), uses up many of the good notes in a guitar so the only remaining notes are more bad than good. I have scientifically verified this fact. Using my baby Taylor as an example, both DD and TE played it for a brief time before they signed it. When I played it afterward, the notes I played were bad since they had used up many of the good one. The science is clear and indisputable, don't buy a guitar previously owned by one of the acoustic guitar masters. There will be very few, if any, good notes left in the guitar. You would be better served buying one of my guitars since I have played most of the bad notes on them and most of the good notes still remain, though I am unable to find them easily.

Some of the above may be true (like good notes.)

This is just too funny! And in my case way too true.