Guitar You Want But Is Out Of Your Price Range

1: 1975 or later Ovation Breadwinner or Deacon. You used to find them in forgotten corners of the Mom & Pop shops for $400 or so, and I could never make the jump when I was younger. Then the guitarist from Rage Against The Machine played one in a video for about 1/2 second, and it came out he used one for recording a song or two, and suddenly they're $1200 and up unless they're trashed. The Eastwood Breadwinner tributes go for around $800, but aren't all they could be, and even $800 is a little too rich for me right now.

2: A regular ol' standard Gibson Les Paul in Black or Natural. I'd love to own one just because the ones I've played have been very nice, but great googly-moogly, I've paid less for the last couple of used cars I've owned. GLPs are nice, but not THAT nice.

 

I'm currently gassing for one of the new Vintera Modded Telecasters. It isn't really out of my price range, but it's definitely out of my impulse purchase, it-would-be-sort-of-nice-to-have-that price range. So I've been thinking that if I sold a few of my lower-end guitars, weeded out the collection, and waited for a sale, it would be easier to rationalize.

 

Gibson J 200 or hummingbird

 

I'm very content with what I have, but I've always hankered after an early 60s 335 ever since I heard Gregor Hilden play several on his YouTube channel. The sound of the gods !

Anyway, I'm just a hobby player these days (and cheap) so I simply can't justify the cost. At least hearing those guitars taught me what my dream tone is and I've been able to upgrade my Epi Dot to approximate it.

 

Gibson L5 thinline

 

I'd love a Ric 330, Gibson Firebird I or a Danelectro Doubleneck 6/6 baritone/standard.

 

I would like a Tricone National. I don't want to pay for a new one- but since they are a specialised item and don't always keep their value as well as their quality of build indicates they should, I expect one will find it's way into my hands, at some point.

 

1. Fender American Vintage/Original Jazzmaster: $2k new, around $1500 used.



I get that it's a US made guitar with nitroglycerine finish, but it really doesn't do anything that a MIM '60s Lacquer doesn't do and I can't justify the extra money for incremental differences. I've tried to talk myself into buying one several times, but my rational mind always wins out. If you have the cash laying around and want to go for it they're fine instruments, but I can think of a lot of other ways to spend the extra $1K.


2. "Vintage" Fender 1966/67 Jazzmaster in custom color: $10-15,000



I know that no one buys guitars in this price range to play them, they're essentially antiques. In my personal paradigm these are the coolest guitars ever made, but there's no rational way to argue that they're objectively worth 5-10 times more than a US Vintage Reissue, or 10-20 times more than a '60s Lacquer. Maybe if I found a crashed plane full of unmarked drug money.

 

You gotta be just joshin’.

Assuming you may not be, and that the OP is really looking for great deals...

Used guitars can be fantastic instruments, at a great price. Used doesn’t mean it’s from a garbage can. I’ve sold a lot of nice guitars but that’s not the same as throwing them in the garbage, certainly. Used can represent a great value, unless you’re talking one of those garbage can “vintage” guitars that go for so much (jk). Some of the best buys I’ve ever made have been used guitars that I now treasure.


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Anything that is reliced by the Fender CS. I'm sorry, but IMO, a guitar that has been painstakingly handmade and then beat to heck so it looks like it is 60 years old and then has a $4k+ sticker slapped on it is not worth the price.

 

I don't marry my guitars, though- it's WAY easier (and cheaper) to get rid of guitars when you're tired of them and want to move on, so my bar for guitar acquisition is a lot lower. And I generally make money flipping guitars, I don't know many guys who ever made money in a divorce.

As for divorced women, there's a lot of, uh, "untapped potential" in that market, just like used guitars. I'm sure somebody here knows what I mean...

 

Every guitar has issues, new or used.
Every woman and every man, too

Nothing is perfect
Nothing is finished
Nothing is permanent

 

1950 Broadcaster...

 

Call it the exception that proves the rule
I don’t like relics BUT
Fender Custom Shop 1961 relic would do it for me

 

Gibson Flying V in Silver Sky color. Gibson only used the finish for a few years around 1980 and in very limited numbers. It was a whitish silver color, with age most of them have yellowed a bit. I have an SG that was the same color that I ruined many years ago (still have it, but it's been refinished half a dozen times).

Gibsons with this finish are very rare and go for $7K+ now.