how do you determine vintage value..$$??

help i have a 1936 or 37 martin 00018 #67746 its a one owner that belonged to a old friends dad.... its in pretty good shape ,,,due to bad choices he has turned his life into a large,, TURD // and needs money how can i get a fair price and not get reemed on the deal i have found lots of info on the net but no $$$ info thanks ,,, john bateman

That is a very nice model, quite desirable and could be worth a pretty fair bit of money, as described. It is worth something even if not.

I won't hazard a guess as to what it's worth because it depends upon condition, originality, the state of the market and other stuff. If it were me, I'd get it appraised at a leading vintage guitar dealer. This may cost a bit, but will be worth it because they will uncover any "issues" with the guitar that may impact it's value, also any repairs (w. cost) that it might need. I don't know dealers in your area but have dealt with Gruhn & Elderly in the past. A phone call to either can be a good start, just to sort options.

A good vintage dealer can give you a ballpark figure that it might go for on the open market. They won't, however, offer you anywhere near that much because they have to make money on it should they buy it and resell. Some dealers will consign it, taking a percentage of the value to do so. This may seem like an odd way to sell, but it puts the guitar in the dealers hands and they will advertise it & have their stature behind the description. I have done this with vintage stuff.

To make absolute top dollar you have to sell it yourself, and outlets for that are right here, plus HC, TGP, others, along with Ebay. A recent appraisal from a major vintage dealer should help show potential buyers that the guitar is as you describe, should you go this route.

You can also search websites such as Gbase and Ebay for values of comparable models.

I'm sorry to hear your friends life is such that he must part with it. Good luck.

gbase turns up two, a 1936 one thats had extensive repair work to the body for 9,900.00 dollars, and a 1938 thats had less work, but is a refinish, for 13,500.00.

I am guessing that a top quality one must be over twenty thousand dollars. This is a pure guess.

you can use gbase to, it allows you to search most guitar shops inventory, around the country. i just typed in 000-18, and both guitars appeared on the second page.

www.elderly.com

They have a form that you fill out on-line and email it to them, they will send you an appraisal. They are usually right on.

They always have many vintage Martins and I think they take 15% if you consign with them........

http://elderly.com/brand/MARTIN.html

Here is the consigning evaluation form.....

http://elderly.com/cgi-bin/elderly/evalform.pl

I have bought two new martins and two new PRS guitars from Elderly. They have the best staff that I know about. Great people.

[QUOTE=timgreene;1215011]gbase turns up two, a 1936 one thats had extensive repair work to the body for 9,900.00 dollars, and a 1938 thats had less work, but is a refinish, for 13,500.00.

I am guessing that a top quality one must be over twenty thousand dollars. This is a pure guess.QUOTE]

Those repaired models can sell for pennies on the dollar to what a good condition axe might bring.... maybe 10 to one or higher for certain coveted guuitars. I won't make a guess to final sales price, but if repaired/refinished guitars are offered at 13 bills, a good condition & playable axe should go for more than 20. Please keep us posted & the best of luck to both of you!

PK

thanks to all replies ,,, i took it a high end guitar rare guitar store in tarzana ,,,,,,ca,,,,, the neck needs to be re-set and a small crack repaired ,,,,on the side ,,, my dumb ass friend sold it for 4,000,,, i asked the guy at the store if he would call me.... when he gets it back from martin ....so i can play it one more time ,,,,, a sad end for a great git thanks again john

It's worth a lot. Check out how much they are going on ebay and vintage sites. I think Gruhn guitars has a vintage guide that you should get. They have been in the vintage guitar business for a long time and are well respected.

My dumb ass friend sold it for 4,000,,, i asked the guy at the store if he would call me.... when he gets it back from martin ....so i can play it one more time ,,,,, a sad end for a great git thanks again john

John
Your friend really is a dumb a$$. He could have consigned the guitar at Gruhn or Elderly, as is without the repairs done, for $12 K or so, an received a check for $10K within two days. If the guitar is pretty clean, he could have gotten closer to $20K. (That would be a rather high, but not totally preposterous price given the fact that 1936 or 37 is an absolute primo year for that guitar and vintage martins in general)

I imagine the same life skills that got him to the point of needing to sell his dad's guitar let him sell the darn thing for a quarter on the dollar or less.

Let's hope he sold it to someone who'll appreciate it more than him.

Too bad that someone wasn't you. Or me.
best
Allen

Wow! That's criminal that your friend let it go for a fraction of its worth.

Wow! That's criminal that your friend let it go for a fraction of its worth.

Agreed. Of course, if he'd sold it to me, I wouldn't have a problem with it. ;-)

Agreed. Of course, if he'd sold it to me, I wouldn't have a problem with it. ;-)


I guess that's what the dealer was thinking too. In today's day of information, I think most people with a little time and patience should be able to muster up the knowledge for a guitar value. A trip to the book store like Barnes & Noble or Borders would have done it it in this case....