George Gruhn wrote something interesting in the latest issue of Vintage Guitars, talking about the state of the market and the role of speculators versus players (tool-users) and collectors. Speculators, says George, drive the prices up beyond what players and collectors will pay. When we have a market correction, like now, speculators run away from the market and prices drop back to what players and collectors will pay. Reads true to me.
Now, are any players paying $100K+ for something to actually play? If so, are they using such guitars to make their music? And if they are, does it matter to you and me? Does the specialness of that guitar reach our ears? Or is the specialness only useful to the extent that it makes the owner want to play?
WordMan and I have discussed this for years.
Eric Clapton had a Martin OM from the 20s or 30s that was auctioned for huge money, and I think that model and year are generally worth big bucks. He used the guitar on his unplugged concert, which included the hit single of the unplugged “Layla”. Did anyone hear anything from that guitar that was worth anything more than a $500 guitar?
I know that Mark Knopfler has numerous vintage Strats and at least one very valuable sunburst Les Paul that he uses to record. I also know that he doesn’t take any of those guitars on the road. I feel, having seen him in concert several times, that he sounds better on the road than he does in the studio. Maybe he feels better playing those high-dollar guitars in the studio, but does it make any difference that we can sense?
I started a thread a while back about the brief time I got to spend with my pastor’s father’s 1938 Martin R-18, which is only worth a couple of thousand dollars. I recently got to play a Martin from the 1850s, a very nice nylon-string guitar, which is apparently only worth about 5K, despite probably having been handled by Christian F. Martin his damn self. Prices are funny.
Sorry, WordMan, I loaned my copy of Clapton’s Guitar to a friend, so I can’t supply the correct Martin model and year for the Clapton guitar.