Is it a soft resell market for guitars?

[gmel555]

Probably depends on the segment, but yes, used market seems "kinda" soft to me. I think two factors:

1) Luthiers have done a great job of marketing new products, designs, woods, etc.. Just guessing here but I imagine the number of new guitars purchased rose dramatically in the past 10-15 years, as guitarists seem to both own more guitars and move them in and out of the "herd" more than ever before. That is, supply is high.

2) Demand may be high but according to my local shop many used buyers want guitars in pristine condition. Newer players/buyers don't want dents, dings, pick wear etc. So buyers are being very picky (no pun intended).

[AmericanEagle]

Originally Posted by Haasome

Having said that, I prefer to trade in unwanted guitars if I’m buying new at the same time.

That is what I did. Traded-in 4 guitars for 1 new one.

[wguitar]

How common is trading or cash & trade for a high-end guitar (say a $3-4k Bourgeois for example) ? What has been your experience with these types of transactions? Do you think it could be a transaction ice-breaker, especially in a soft market ?

[Dwight]

Originally Posted by 6L6

...Makes me sad, but I see the guitar as mostly the instrument of my own Boomer generation. Times change, guitar heroes become few and far between, and the world changes.

Not according to Taylor's CEO Kurt Listug in this issue of Wood & Steel.

Originally Posted by wguitar

How common is trading or cash & trade for a high-end guitar (say a $3-4k Bourgeois for example) ? What has been your experience with these types of transactions? Do you think it could be a transaction ice-breaker, especially in a soft market ?

Your dealer will like to make this deal!

[buddyhu]

Hard to make a summary statement about “the market”, because, IMO, there are actually many markets. I don’t think it is fitting to act as if the market for Fender acoustics is the same as the market for Santa Cruz acoustics. And there are a lot more layers than just those two, even if we can’t all agree about how to define a particular layer.

And, within any layer, there are used guitars in good or great (or even mint) condition that are priced well below the street price of the same model new, and some that are in great or mint condition that are priced very close to the new price for that model. The former often seem to seek quickly, the latter tend to sit for a long time.

Last, I agree with the poster that noted that guitar prices fluctuate with the seasons, and this time of year tends to be the “low” season.

Does all of this add up to the word “soft” as far as you are concerned? If so, then yes, the market is soft.

[Italuke]

Thinking longer term here than many of my esteemed colleagues: simple supply and demand.

Way more guitars being built now than say 15, 25, 50 years ago while at the same time actually interest in guitar is a smaller slice of the recreation pie than ever. And those two opposing forces are magnified by a third force: us boomers with collections dying off. It's a buyer's market and this won't change. Maybe small seasonal fluctuations but overall, won't get better for sellers.

[mercy]

What will happen to the market when people get their tax returns this year?

[cdkrugjr]

I hear if you’re buying, prices are up . . .WAY up . .

But I you’re selling you take a beating . . .

[dbintegrity]

Originally Posted by cdkrugjr

I hear if you’re buying, prices are up . . .WAY up . .

But I you’re selling you take a beating . . .

This is an interesting truth... like timing the market... LOL

I love high end guitars... so I buy, play them and trade or sell them..... considering a partial trade is always a great way to help the sales process along.... provided the guy or gal offering their trade is honest with its condition.... I make sure their honest by having them ship me the guitar before I send out the one I'm selling.... I've been beaten once by a forumite and refuse to let it happen again. If they complain, I simply explain that they would be expected to pay for the guitar in full before I ship it out and their trade is part payment... Once I get to know you, its another story.

[Mr. Jelly]

I'm shopping for a guitar right now. Mostly the prices seem to high. It's difficult to find the combination of a motivated seller and a desirable guitar. It seems like people don't care if it takes months or years to sell a guitar. Add that to the fact that the buyers today have experienced many guitars they bought and don't use or resold, they are not jumping on another undesirable experiment or experience.

[bil40272]

I grew up in a bluegrass family, and as a kid we would hit multiple festivals during the summer, and our house was a common place on the weekends for jam sessions.
I remember some of the older Martins, and Gibsons at the Festivals and jam sessions.
On a regular basis, someone would show up with a new Martin, and the New Martin would always pale in comparison to the older one.
"They don't make them like they used to" was often heard.
And, they were right, the newer Martins just weren't made the same.
Fast forward to that Kid being 50+ years old.
I'm at work and the subject of guitars came up, and one of the people was thinking about getting into playing guitar, and one of the older ladies in the group piped in that Martins always hold their Value to the point of never loosing money.
She was a country girl and grew up around music, and had always heard that Martins held their value, and most of the time increased in value.
I said that that was true of the older guitars, but not so much these days.
The current Companies are producing incredible guitars these days. And they continue to introduce newer "better" guitars at affordable prices, and not to mention, the ever increasing numbers of guitars.
These days you don't have to buy an old Martin or Gibson to get a great sounding guitar.
With that being said, the used guitars don't have the same performance advantages over the newer guitars of the old days.
Sure some newer guitars might attain cult status, but they will probably be few and far between.
Just a thought,.

Bill

[Pitar]

Observation -

We so-called Boomers drove the price of boutique guitars up, and spawned many builders, and now we've decided to sell those high-praise guitars for whatever reasons motivate us to do so. In doing so we have proportionately loaded the used market full of our high-praise cast-offs. In the supply/demand laws of trade that equates to a soft used market. That's just the way it works. No one will hold out forever for the retail used value.

But, what's the message to be read between the lines? Those guitars did not meet our expectations? We decided our skills sets don't warrant such spending? Our ears outed our eyes? In other words, the selling off of a plethora of high-praise guitars begs the question asking why? Are those big names not worthy of their praise? Is there a more practicable (affordable) range of products genuinely competitive with the high-praise range, qualitatively speaking?

The Boomers, which I am a member of and contributor to the foregoing, set the bar for brand reputation with our disposable income first, and skills second (if in play at all) based primarily upon our exposure to these various forums and their influences that came to steer our purchasing decisions. Now that we've spent what our curiosity directed us to, we've come to conclusions that are stocking the used high-praise market. That same influence will drive those prices down as we age and can see our money, not our guitars, are the legacy our (surviving) family needs from us.

I would continue to play the more practicable quality guitars at this point and let the used high-praise market mature and then begin to diminish in aggregate value, as it will naturally do, to a buyer's market level. That won't be a very long wait.

I anticipate, once the dust settles, the boutique market will go completely soft when the Boomers leave it because our offspring are not, by and large, influenced to follow in our footsteps. This will leave the big names in factory produced guitars hurting as well and Yamaha (et al) will emerge the least damaged as they've always been.

[Quakeroatmeal]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

That's what I'm banking on lol.

I have noticed that yes, it has been quite a bit more difficult to sell things recently, but my theory is sales tax. Ever since Reverb and Ebay started requiring sales tax, it has been quite difficult to sell for the margins as I used to sell for. I'm guilty as well, but when you factor in sales tax, it's easy to expect more of a discount to compensate.

FWIW, as a buyer this has been a huge turn off for me.

Often Ill check if the seller has a physical store/website and see if they have the same item listed on reverb, on their own website. Then check to see if I purchase directly through their site if they charge sales tax (usually they don't).

Between tax + shipping a 3200 dollar guitar turns into 3500 ish and it's no longer a deal. For that I'd rather go to a physical store and play it myself without dealing with the possible gamble.

[6L6]

Welp... now we can add the market plunge to the equation.

[SpruceTop]

IMHO, being the steel-string "Gold Standard," used Martin Standard Series and higher will always sell when reasonably priced. Even the lesser-priced 15 and 16 Series will easily sell. I've never had a problem when selling any of my used Martins.