[quote name='DavidMcKay' timestamp='1444856176' post='2886814']
Hi All
I was chatting with a fellow BC'er and we came to the conclusion that hand-made guitars produced by expert luthiers - what you may call boutique - aren't fetching their market value when being sold, whereas the usual suspects - Musicman, Fender, and such like - always seem to do well on the For Sale thread.
Do you agree with this position? If not - then why aren't the boutique guitars fetching what they should? If so - then why don't more players consider hand-made over mass produced?
If we extrapolated this argument to furniture then I am sure most people would go for bespoke, hand crafted as a first choice.
[/quote]
I think it depends on what you define as market value. As mentioned above a lot of luthier-made instruments are to an individuals’ personal spec. and thus will not necessarily appeal to another player; taste is a very subjective thing and is neither good or bad in my view, just personal. The more mass produced basses are very much a known quantity which must help I guess.
I am fortunate to own a few ACG basses. With one possible exception the ones in my possession now will never appear on the market place (although I did get through a few to really understand what I was after). I think if you don't mind looking at wood you can get some fabulous basses for not much money on here.
It would be interesting to see how depreciation works for basses in a wider context. I have limited experience, however the two most recent comparisons I would make would be:
Fender RW Jazz: New about £1,150 is, market value c.£650 to £700 based on recent sold posts so now worth about 60% of new price. ACGs typically seem to go for around 55% to 60% of their new cost in my experience. One this very limited snapshot it would appear that the gap may not be as wide as one might imagine.
Can anybody else throw some examples into the pot?