The Vintage Guitar News and Views April / May Edition
Time is money
The April / May Edition of The Vintage Guitar News and Views.
Time is money and money is time applies to just about every aspect of our lives today.I know some people who do their own yard work and I know others that have it done as their time is better spent pursuing other matters. Buying and selling vintage and collectible guitars is in many ways no different than the other things we do in life. I cannot speak for other guitar dealers but I spend a lot of my time in all things stringed. Not being in the position to purchase every guitar dealt my way I have to do my research accordingly. Some dealers can and do buy everything they can and there is nothing wrong with that; they even the market spread and save other items for future sales based on their own time spent doing research. Some guitar dealers buy only certain brands of guitars and concentrate on that market ,others buy guitars made in a selective few years based on their expertise and research. Within these certain niche markets I am probably correct in the assumption that each guitar dealer has spent considerable time investing into research and at reaching their business model conclusion.Personally I can not afford to gamble buying every guitar that is offered to me for sale,so I do market research and try to read into what I perceive the future and present state of the guitar market is and what it may be (speculation).
Retrospectively speaking anyone can say "you should have bought this or that" or "you should have sold those items when the market was better",whether it be in stocks,real estate or vintage guitars. When the facts are already a known given price wise it does not take a genius to make an educated guess.
As guitar dealers most of us spend a lot of our time reading reviews, talking to players and collectors, feeling out forum rooms for talk about certain guitars, and pour over magazines, news articles and our peers publications. We read every book with pertinent facts,pricing guides and index's on our wares. I spend a lot of time looking into buying trends, visiting big box outlet and seeing what age groups are buying and interested in which products. Yes, time is money.
Even when all this is considered, things in our ever changing industry can still be murky at best. After all we are selling a luxury tangible item and know one really knows what the future may hold. Even still I spend my free time (what is left of it anyway) looking into archival reports, articles and literature on certain years,makes,models,colors within certain manufacturers that have peaked my interest. I look to see what changes occurred in what years, were they received as good changes or bad changes and how that effects the vintage guitar market.Sometimes the payoff can be huge and sometimes it is small, it is all relative to what measure you hold for success. In my case I feel successful by what I have achieved by myself and that is good enough for me.
I any not be able to offer very many "401K" guitars for sale ,mainly because I do not have that kind of money to spend or risk, but what I do have and will always enjoy i the amount of information I gather that make reflect on what I do buy and offer for sale to you the client.These days it is not enough to just offer an item for sale that will differentiate you from the other guys with a slick website,but it is the amount of time and work that I actually put into this passion of guitars. I am sure this can be felt and seen when dealing or talking with me as well as visiting my website and making that "wish list" of your very own. After all you too do your own investments in time when looking at the various guitars you will or would like to purchase someday now don't you ?
So remember than when you call to ask about a certain guitar and sigh at the price that may be asked for it, that a lot more than just plunking down some cash for any old guitar and throwing it up on the website may contribute to the price. On another note, if you are scouting for a price on your guitar remember that most dealers do charge a fee for this service as the spend time doing the research and after all "time is money" .
Remember that this is just my news and view and may differ from yours , but I hope you have enjoyed this installment of The Vintage Guitar News and Views and as always , may all your days be memorable, all your friends stay true and all your riffs be killer, till June ( as we are now going to a bi-monthly publication format) Greg.
