What's the next collectable on the second hand marketthen?

[Mediocre Polymath]

Just a follow up thought on this. I don't think there's likely to be another generation after the baby boomers for whom the electric guitar – and to a lesser extent the electric bass – is such a potent cultural symbol.

[BigRedX]

16 hours ago, spencer.b said:

I wonder if Sei and Shukers will go up a lot in years to come , they're mad cheap 2nd hand at the moment for what they are 

 

Sei's in particular are far too personal to the person they were originally made for them the become collectable just for the name IMO. Shuker makes too many different designs many of which are copies of other brands.

 

For luthier-made instruments to become collectable in themselves you need a situation like Wal where there are a limited number of designs, which are not over-personalised to the person they were originally made for, and a couple of well-respected players with distinctive sounds to start using them exclusively. And then for the supply of new instruments to become limited. I can't think of any others that fit those criteria at the moment.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

Seriously though, I think there are just too many guitars on the market and that they won’t hold their value. Personally I think electronic equipment (synths, samplers, drum machines etc) are going to keep value as will some boutique pedals.

 

Anything that wasn't made in massive numbers is already seriously overpriced. Also many of the classic instruments from the 70s and 80s are full of discontinued components with an ever-increasing chance of terminal failure. It depends whether the market considers that a nice-looking example of a non-functioning instrument is actually worth anything.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

It seems so much is done on MPC and groove boxes these days , plus synths and software . There will always be a retro angle on things . Turntables back in fashion etc.

Maybe upright , EUB and quirky basses like old Kubicki and Steinbergers will always hold their value . It just takes something in a film to make certain instruments fashionable .

 

So many basses and guitars made in Indonesia these days . Doubt if they'd hold the value . Much more lighter basses and guitars out there, and the beginner basses are really good quality these days compared to the past .  Synths were losing popularity in the late '80s / early '90s but those 'vintage ' synths cost a premium now .

 

Get a Moog Liberation and keep it ! For gigs you can get a cheap Begringher version . Maybe Keytars will be the next collectible thing 😬

[Burns-bass]

9 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

Anything that wasn't made in massive numbers is already seriously overpriced. Also many of the classic instruments from the 70s and 80s are full of discontinued components with an ever-increasing chance of terminal failure. It depends whether the market considers that a nice-looking example of a non-functioning instrument is actually worth anything.

Yes, I know - that’s why I can see them increase in price!

 

Even stuff like MPC samplers are now rising in price. Studios will want to have some of these items in house for musicians. 

[BigRedX]

18 minutes ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Get a Moog Liberation and keep it ! For gigs you can get a cheap Begringher version . Maybe Keytars will be the next collectible thing 😬

 

Most keytars are only suitable for miming on TotP and in videos. I used to own a Yamaha KX5 which needed extensive modification in order for it to perform reliably on stage. I believe most of the world's supply of these instruments is owned by Howard Jones who cannibalises them to keep a couple working for his personal use.

[BigRedX]

11 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Yes, I know - that’s why I can see them increase in price!

 

Even stuff like MPC samplers are now rising in price. Studios will want to have some of these items in house for musicians. 

 

But are they worth anything if they don't work? I can see a few examples ending up in museum display cabinets a bit like those ancient stringed instruments that no longer have the structural integrity to be strung to a playable pitch.

 

Studios don't want stuff that isn't reliable, and I certainly don't want to be wasting my money in studio where one of its USPs decides to expire half way through a session. I grew up using most of these instruments in 80s and I'm glad I can do it all on my computer now. The cheap stuff wasn't very versatile or robust, and the expensive stuff was far more unreliable than its price tag warranted. It wasn't until digital synthesisers and samplers were starting to be made in significant numbers that reliability picked up to a usable point.

[la bam]

13 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

Maybe Keytars will be the next collectible thing 😬

😬

 

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! 

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

[Burns-bass]

19 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

But are they worth anything if they don't work? I can see a few examples ending up in museum display cabinets a bit like those ancient stringed instruments that no longer have the structural integrity to be strung to a playable pitch.

 

Studios don't want stuff that isn't reliable, and I certainly don't want to be wasting my money in studio where one of its USPs decides to expire half way through a session. I grew up using most of these instruments in 80s and I'm glad I can do it all on my computer now. The cheap stuff wasn't very versatile or robust, and the expensive stuff was far more unreliable than its price tag warranted. It wasn't until digital synthesisers and samplers were starting to be made in significant numbers that reliability picked up to a usable point.

Studios want authentic sounds. Stuff like Mellotrons, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer pianos, Tape-based echo systems and (to some extent) vintage guitars are all fragile, yet expensive.
 

I guess we should accept that logic doesn’t necessarily have a huge part to play in nostalgia and vintage value. 
 

I may of course be wrong and all this stuff will end up in a skip.

[Beedster]

Perhaps as is the case with many orchestral instruments, and as raw materials become too expensive and in some cases prohibited, the quality of an electric/electronic instrument will win out over it's emotional/cultural value?

[Cato]

Given the curren vogue for headless instruments, with several companies launching new lines in he last few years, it will be interesting to see if it has any effect on the prices of the original wave of headless instruments.

 

In some ways Steinbergers, for example,  have gone from being a bit of a historical curiosity that had a fairly brief moment in the 80s to being the grand daddies of a whole new lineage.

Edited Monday at 08:29 by Cato

[BigRedX]

3 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Studios want authentic sounds. Stuff like Mellotrons, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer pianos, Tape-based echo systems and (to some extent) vintage guitars are all fragile, yet expensive.
 

I guess we should accept that logic doesn’t necessarily have a huge part to play in nostalgia and vintage value. 
 

I may of course be wrong and all this stuff will end up in a skip.

 

IMO most people after "authentic sounds" are listening with their eyes rather than their ears.

 

Studios can get away with lots of impressive LOOKING vintage gear so long as client bookings can be measured in weeks and they have an excellent tech on hand to keep all the equipment running in a usable condition.

 

Unfortunately IME a lot of what is turning up in these places as "authentic" and "vintage" is the sort of crap that back in the day was only being bought because we couldn't afford the instruments and effects units we really wanted.

[Burns-bass]

16 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

IMO most people after "authentic sounds" are listening with their eyes rather than their ears.

 

Studios can get away with lots of impressive LOOKING vintage gear so long as client bookings can be measured in weeks and they have an excellent tech on hand to keep all the equipment running in a usable condition.

 

Unfortunately IME a lot of what is turning up in these places as "authentic" and "vintage" is the sort of crap that back in the day was only being bought because we couldn't afford the instruments and effects units we really wanted.

To be fair, you’ve effectively described the vintage instrument market in about 3 paragraphs.

 

I’m not suggesting any of these things is *worth* the cash - far from it. The original post was asking what the collectibles of the future will be, and it will inevitably be the stuff that’s discarded.

 

None of this stuff is logical, is it?

 

We exist in a world where some kids aren’t eating 3 meals a day and adults are paying thousands of pounds for boxed Star Wars toys and Pokemon cards.

[Krysbass]

On 16/03/2025 at 10:22, Mediocre Polymath said:

Just a follow up thought on this. I don't think there's likely to be another generation after the baby boomers for whom the electric guitar – and to a lesser extent the electric bass – is such a potent cultural symbol.

Agreed.  

 

And the huge rise of solo-artistes in popular music in recent years seems to have come with an almost equal reduction in the number of bands.

 

And with fewer bands in the mainstream public eye, there may be less attention or aspiration to buying and learning to play the instruments that bands typically play. 

[Beedster]

4 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Studios want authentic sounds. Stuff like Mellotrons, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer pianos, Tape-based echo systems and (to some extent) vintage guitars are all fragile, yet expensive.
 

I guess we should accept that logic doesn’t necessarily have a huge part to play in nostalgia and vintage value. 
 

I may of course be wrong and all this stuff will end up in a skip.

 

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

IMO most people after "authentic sounds" are listening with their eyes rather than their ears.

 

Studios can get away with lots of impressive LOOKING vintage gear so long as client bookings can be measured in weeks and they have an excellent tech on hand to keep all the equipment running in a usable condition.

 

Unfortunately IME a lot of what is turning up in these places as "authentic" and "vintage" is the sort of crap that back in the day was only being bought because we couldn't afford the instruments and effects units we really wanted.

 

46 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

To be fair, you’ve effectively described the vintage instrument market in about 3 paragraphs.

 

I’m not suggesting any of these things is *worth* the cash - far from it. The original post was asking what the collectibles of the future will be, and it will inevitably be the stuff that’s discarded.

 

None of this stuff is logical, is it?

 

We exist in a world where some kids aren’t eating 3 meals a day and adults are paying thousands of pounds for boxed Star Wars toys and Pokemon cards.

 

All of the above are true, but taking the middle point, IME most studios are businesses, while most people acquiring vintage gear are either individuals or businesses looking to sell to those individuals. All the studios I've worked in over the last ten years or so - while using quality old school mics and desks - have been using digital processors, largely because thy cost less, require less space, don't require constant maintenance, are easier to integrate into workflow, and ultimately sound pretty much the same to 99.9% of the paying audience the studio (or more specifically the people paying the studio) are catering for. My gut feel is also that even given potential investment value, a lot of people will stay away from electronic gear simply because of the vagaries of electronics; when a Precision Bass goes wrong even an idiot like me can fix pretty much everything with the possible exception of a sudden and dramatic neck bow (which I once experienced with a 80's Fender), so wood and metal instruments feel quite safe in that respect. I'm not saying that electronic gear won't appreciate in the same way as instruments, but I suspect the market will be much smaller because of higher risks and lower returns. 

 

Also, when it comes to decor, a tin box with knobs on doesn't ever look quite as sexy as a '59 Precision      

[chris_b]

Collectable guitars and basses will be like stamp collecting. . . . but not as popular.

[Woodinblack]

Kay guitars - as the generation who know how shit they are and wants to burn them, people will buy them for retro cool.

 

[Doctor J]

That used to apply to 70's Fenders, too. Now look at the state of the planet!

[LeftyJ]

6 hours ago, Cato said:

Given the curren vogue for headless instruments, with several companies launching new lines in he last few years, it will be interesting to see if it has any effect on the prices of the original wave of headless instruments.

 

Good call! I came here to say Status Graphite. With Rob Green's recent semi-retirement, and his departure from all-graphite necks, I expect prices on used models to go up.

 

Same for Pedulla and Vigier, Michael and Patrice have also retired but their instruments remain popular. 

[tegs07]

There probably needs to be a distinction made between rare guitars bought by collectors on the basis of cultural heritage and nostalgia and guitars bought by musicians.

 

I can’t see Status or Warwick for example reaching the kind of stratospheric prices that vintage (and fully original) Fenders have obtained in recent years. The cultural capital or nostalgia is not there for collectors.

 

If there is say a Justin Chancellor effect then maybe so with musicians paying top dollar.

[Stub Mandrel]

16 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I paid £6,000 for this collectable 1960s Kay!

 

Whoops. No I didn't, I paid £60.

[BigRedX]

12 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I paid £6,000 for this collectable 1960s Kay!

 

Whoops. No I didn't, I paid £60.

 

You were robbed. Worth about the same as what it would have cost new from Woolies back in the day - about £19.95

[snorkie635]

1 hour ago, LeftyJ said:

 

Good call! I came here to say Status Graphite. With Rob Green's recent semi-retirement, and his departure from all-graphite necks, I expect prices on used models to go up.

 

Same for Pedulla and Vigier, Michael and Patrice have also retired but their instruments remain popular. 

 

Interesting projection @LeftyJ. I wonder if things will fall into the pre/post situation we have now (Fender by Leo, Fender after Leo, Fender post CBS, Etc.), and we'll see 'real' Wals as those made by Wal himself and/or Pete the Fish? What will be a 'desirable' Overwater? When Chris retires, will current owners be sitting on gold mines? Oh, for a crystal ball (pre-acrylics of course).

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, LeftyJ said:

Good call! I came here to say Status Graphite. With Rob Green's recent semi-retirement, and his departure from all-graphite necks, I expect prices on used models to go up.

 

Too many different models for them to become collectable just by brand. The signature models and the all-graphite ones will probably start to appreciate in value. The rest of them not so much and confusion over models and construction methods may well keep the price of the more desirable ones down. (All IMO)