Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Full Version)

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BarkellWH -> Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 22 2014 13:18:04)

For those on the Foro who are interested in vintage electric guitars. The September 22, 2014 Washington Post has an article about a 1960 Gibson, Les Paul model, "Sunburst" electric that was bought new for US$320 in 1960 and just recently was put up at auction and went for US$140,000. The article states that prior to the financial meltdown of 2008, mint condition Les Paul Sunbursts were going for close to US$400,000! (It appears that there was a vintage guitar "bubble" every bit as out of control as the housing bubble.) I never played electrics, but wish I had bought one back then and kept it in its case as an investment.

Bill



Ruphus -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 22 2014 19:32:56)

In the AG forum we had lots of threads about insane vintage pricing.
In my opionion it has only to do with the sick social gap that is all inflating further.

Only a few years ago I mentioned on the foro a number of billionaires at around 400 at that time who are now amounting at far over 2000 heads.

Think of their entourage alone, now hundreds of thousands of people for who, money drops in totally irrational proportions and who literally don´t know how to deposit affluent funds.

That is how comes that completely arbitrary criterions are being made up to allocate value to objects like factory-made guitars from decades ago.
Before that we had / are having still "modern art", swatch watches, sneakers and many other of mediocre products suddenly elevated to collectors´ value merely for the new rich to get targets to invest utterly affluent budgets on.

Anyone here who don´t know how to pay their rent despite of fulltime jobs?
Just keep on accepting the cool aid of alleged fairness and democracy out there.

Cheers,

Ruphus



estebanana -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 23 2014 6:54:29)

It's good the price came down to 140K, it means the economy is getting more stable.

Alan Greenspan former US Fed bank chairman had an indicator to track consumer confidence called the Underwear Index. It tracked when people bought underwear more than outer wear. The theory was that when people bought underwear they were spending more money than when only buying outer wear, because you don't ( normally) see underwear worn to show affluence or that you are making good money. So in tough times people tended to get along with the same old underwear waiting until they sensed a good economy to purchase undergarments.

So I take the sales of a Les Paul at less than bubble value to be an indicator of improving economy.

I would call it the 'Less is More Paul Index'.



tri7/5 -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 23 2014 12:32:39)

'59 Sunbursts are considered holy grail in the vintage market and are usually valued at around 250k. Considering this was a '60 the price was likely a little bit less because of it. I have seen one '59 burst in person, at a museum exhibit. It was dead mint and all original. I'm sure it's rare to find such a specimen that hasn't been modded and beat up.



estebanana -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 23 2014 13:00:41)

They are beautiful instruments and iconic. In a sense they are a bit of cultural patrimony to the US and musicians alike.

The vintage market, what a crazy thing. You know one of the reasons these things are so expensive is that once an object develops enough cultural value the price can go up far in excess of what we assign as in line with the objects cultural value. It's kind of a double edged sword; the value increases because those who can afford to pay such high prices will have the option of donating the object to a museum. The high price means a higher tax write off. Which is fine with me as long as I get to study the original Sunburst Les Paul.

The other wonderful result of these instruments going for prices out of reach of most musicians is that it means the contemporary builders market becomes more solid. If you can't afford 250K for a Sunburst, you can have someone make one for you that will look a play just like one for a lot less, Paul.



orsonw -> Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for more than US$1million (Sep. 26 2014 18:19:01)

According to this, Peter Green's 1959 Les Paul recently sold for more than $1 million.


http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/news/rich_tone_music_and_the_holy_grail.asp



Leñador -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 26 2014 19:42:57)

quote:

The vintage market, what a crazy thing. You know one of the reasons these things are so expensive is that once an object develops enough cultural value the price can go up far in excess of what we assign as in line with the objects cultural value.

Like the Dutch tulip bubble lol

There's a lot of junk Les Pauls out there too because Gibson knows they can just play off the name now. I've actually never even played a nice one. I know there's tons of nice ones out there but there's waaaay more junky "jr's" and Eps.
I hated fenders too until I finally got to play a nice one, changed my opinion around entirely, but again there's tons of junky strats out there.



Paul Magnussen -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 27 2014 18:15:57)

quote:

there's tons of junky strats out there.


How does one differentiate a junky Strat from a good one?

I ask as an utter ignoramus.



Escribano -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 27 2014 19:45:28)

quote:

How does one differentiate a junky Strat from a good one?


A good Strat just feels right and you should get some very different sounds from the pickup selection. It is the silkiest, "go to" electric guitar. I love my Mexican Strat since I changed the pickups to Bar Knuckles (the ceramic Mex. pups were insipid), put in a steel tremelo block and Fender vintage springs. Difficult to explain, but you will know after trying a few. However, the Bare Knuckles cost more than the guitar [8|]



Leñador -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 27 2014 20:01:25)

Escribanos right. A good strat feels good, meaty, and even almost sounds nice without an amp. A junky strat feels like balsa wood and sounds like a bag of nickels.



BarkellWH -> RE: Vintage Les Paul Gibson goes for US$140,000 (Sep. 27 2014 20:11:38)

quote:

sounds like a bag of nickels.


Great descriptive phrase, Lenador. If I get a chance to use it I will do so, and promise to attribute it to you.

Bill



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