From: feit@ERA.COM (Mark Feit)
Subject: Vintage?  A Scam?
Organization: Engineering Research Associates, Vienna, VA
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 13:47:43 GMT

It's really difficult to say that a '65 [fill in your favorite guitar
here] is any better or worse than this year's model.  Guitars are much
like people: no two come off the assembly line exactly alike, and each
has its own personality.  Randomly-selected '65 and '92 [fill in your
favorite guitar here] could be lousy and great (respectively) or vice
versa.

Cases in point: Most people I know (myself included) have a pretty low
opinion of Fender's Squier line, yet I managed to dig up a Squier Jazz
Bass (made in Korea, of all places) that plays wonderfully and sounds
great.  My '73 Telecaster looked at first glance like one of the "worn
out pieces of s***" that Mr. Askew seems to think all old guitars are.
But after playing it, I saw through the grime and the grunge and
bought it for $220, case included.  After a clean-up and a set-up, I
have a guitar that's worth more than every penny I paid for it and has
a stack of people who want to buy it when I decide to give it up.
(It's gonna be a long wait, fellas!)  I still go to the guitar shops
where I usually shop to play the latest and greatest, and I've found a
mix of great ones and lousy ones ranging in price from cheap to
outrageous.

What I'm trying to get at here is this that a "good" guitar doesn't
necessarily have to be one that Jimi Hendrix barfed on or is in demand
by the collecters (that's pronounced "investors").  A friend of mine
who'd never owned a guitar in his life bought a no-name fixer-upper
from a pawn shop for $40, spent about $50 on new tuning machines and
electronics and ended up with a really great axe.  Yes, he had a
little bit of help with it, but from that experience he learned how to
shop for a used guitar and fix it up.

kew@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (steve.w.askew) posts:
 > These old guitars are just wood with wire stretched over the top.

And that's all a new guitar is, too.  Only the finish is a little
nicer and the tops of the frets are a little rounder.

I agree it's unfortunate that "vintage" guitars are commanding the
prices they are, because those of us who buy our guitars to play and
enjoy instead of as an investment are getting shut out of the market.
(The same thing happened in the late '80s with the muscle cars of the
late '60s.)  But there are plenty of excellent used instruments out
there at reasonable prices, it just takes a little patience to find
the "right" one.  It may not be one that's high on the prestige list,
but if you're making music with it instead of letting it gather dust,
something must be right.

Happy NATIONAL GUITAR MONTH.  Slap a collector (uh, investor).  :)

						- Mark

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Xref: sparky rec.music.makers:5549 rec.music.misc:13980