Menu
I spotted a Jag on Ebay - a '62, beat like a Sunday-morning boner, in
what the seller described as rare Fiesta Red. It's price was already
at $2,750, and the reserve hadn't even been met! This just sounded
outrageous to me. Does this price make sense to anyone?
Even more outrageous was, the guy self-graded it at "a conservative
8.2" ? presumably on a 20 point scale! It really pisses me off that
people can try and pass off well-used and poorly cared for stuff as in
excellent or very good condition.
Here's how one vintage guitar store defined a "fair" and "poor" guitar:
Fair - A fair guitar is quite playable, but has a significant number
of dings, scratches, and wear.
Poor - A poor guitar shows a great deal of wear and has suffered an
abundance of scratches and bumps; it's playable, but maybe not as
playable as you'd like, and it certainly isn't attractive.
I'd place this Jag in the fair category. I have a 30 year old ES-335
without any buckle scratches, chipped paint, or fret wear, and I'd
only rate it as "good" due to a poorly-executed neck repair and some
holes made by some goof who added a Bigsby tremelo!
Hope this Jag isn't being sold by someone on this site, as I will have
put my foot firmly in my mouth! (IF so, however, I offer no apology
for my opinion!)
Gavin "Windansea Beachboy"
I think the whole vintage thing has always been a
little out of hand, but it seems like it's getting
even more ridiculous lately. The money that some
things are fetching now is absolutely ridiculous. I
was looking at a Jag on eBay a while back that was
totally wrecked. It was a '65, it had most of it's
original hardware and pickups (which all looked a bit
worse for the wear, rusted, etc), but the thing was
beaten to death; it had several nicks and gouges in
the body and had a pretty ameteur looking refinish in
some oddball color. The neck finish on it was pretty
much gone and the headstock looked like it might have
some burns on it. I bid $500 and the reserve wasn't
met. It went all the way up to $650 and it still
wasn't met by the auction's end. By the time you've
paid more than that for the guitar and then spent the
money to get it fixed up cherry, you could easily go
buy a new reissue. When it comes to vintage stuff,
people tend to cheat a little on the grading by saying
"for it's age" or "but it's a vintage instrument." If
you tried to pass off a newer guitar in the same shape
that way people would laugh you right out. I gave up
on the idea of ever owning a real vintage instrument a
long time ago.
Richard
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
The next time a guitar show comes through your town, go late on a Sunday
afternoon and take cash.
Maybe you will find the guitar you want, maybe not. Be patient, stick to your
price, and don't be
afraid to flash the cash.
ferenc
Richard wrote:
>
> I think the whole vintage thing has always been a
> little out of hand, but it seems like it's getting
> even more ridiculous lately. The money that some
> things are fetching now is absolutely ridiculous. I
> was looking at a Jag on eBay a while back that was
> totally wrecked. It was a '65, it had most of it's
> original hardware and pickups (which all looked a bit
> worse for the wear, rusted, etc), but the thing was
> beaten to death; it had several nicks and gouges in
> the body and had a pretty ameteur looking refinish in
> some oddball color. The neck finish on it was pretty
> much gone and the headstock looked like it might have
> some burns on it. I bid $500 and the reserve wasn't
> met. It went all the way up to $650 and it still
> wasn't met by the auction's end. By the time you've
> paid more than that for the guitar and then spent the
> money to get it fixed up cherry, you could easily go
> buy a new reissue. When it comes to vintage stuff,
> people tend to cheat a little on the grading by saying
> "for it's age" or "but it's a vintage instrument." If
> you tried to pass off a newer guitar in the same shape
> that way people would laugh you right out. I gave up
> on the idea of ever owning a real vintage instrument a
> long time ago.
>
> Richard
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> .
> Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
Richard wrote:
>
> If
> you tried to pass off a newer guitar in the same shape
> that way people would laugh you right out.
Yeah, well - you obviously haven't been reading the recent Fender
catalogs. That "beat to death" look is aparrently really trendy. Fender
will happily sell you a new strat (at ten times the cost) that's been
"aged in-house" for that beat-to-death look. Paint sanded down, rusted
hardware, battered and worn fretboard. Nicks, scratches, even cigarette
burns on the neck. I nearly laughed myself sick when I saw the display
of these things at Guitar Center. I mean, if you're really desperate to
buy a guitar that just makes it look like you've been playing for years,
you could get one of the $350 strats hanging right next to it and sand
the paint off it yourself. Leave it in your yard in the rain overnight -
instant "relic" guitar.
The salesman seemed quite annoyed about my laughing at his $2000 guitars
- especially when I only ended up buying a $100 Squier strat.
I guess image really is everything, to some people.
-c*
