Used gear market is kinda weird right now.

[Steinmetzify]

Not even bothering.

I won a few years ago when a good friend sold me a Diezel Herbert for $1500 shipped.

I bought a Caparison last year and it’s every bit the guitar I wanted it to be.

I haven’t sold anything since and don’t intend to.

These buyers that want $2900 for a used Schecter can fuck off. No thanks, I don’t care what you paid during the pandemic, I’ve been doing this 30 years and there’s no way I’ll ever pay these prices.

No thanks.

 

[budda]

Wonder how long some pedals will sit if i list them at normal prices, compared to my not-cheap guitar

 

[narad]

How do you mean?

Looks like everyone's pretty much picked up on it in the meantime on page 3, but 79% decrease in purchasing power in 3 years was clearly not correct. I don't know what sort of inflation rate would be necessary for that, guessing something like 20% vs. the 3-8% we had in that time? Though if 8%+ becomes the usual maybe I'm actually going to come out ahead by spending all my money on gear.

 

[Sacha]

I feel bad for people starting out looking for the 'name' brand stuff, the prices on things like Mesa or recording gear like say a Distressor new are bonkers now. They definitely do not track with just inflation I feel like. I don't know what the margins are, if it is just the cost of doing business is that much higher, or the ownership are trying to extract more profit, or all of the above. On the flip side there IS a lot of cool gear available in the value price range, made overseas or clones etc. if you want to get something more reasonable. It just won't be the 'real deal' if that even matters.

 

[Shask]

You're not wrong about house prices being lower than they were a year ago, however as others in the thread have mentioned, buying power has gone down. That means that even though housing prices have gone down, affordability hasn't. It's still the same or worse than it was a year ago.

Prices have went down, but interest rates are way up, which is making them seem more expensive. I know I locked in my mortgage at like 2%, but now it is like 7% or something ridiculous for new buyers.

 

[budda]

I feel bad for people starting out looking for the 'name' brand stuff, the prices on things like Mesa or recording gear like say a Distressor new are bonkers now. They definitely do not track with just inflation I feel like. I don't know what the margins are, if it is just the cost of doing business is that much higher, or the ownership are trying to extract more profit, or all of the above. On the flip side there IS a lot of cool gear available in the value price range, made overseas or clones etc. if you want to get something more reasonable. It just won't be the 'real deal' if that even matters.

Holy shit he’s still around!

 

[MoistTowelette]

Prices are high but the reverb experience is still the same. My mark iv came in today with a busted R2 channel. The seller said that he was going to open a shipping insurance claim with reverb. When I told him that I didn't think this was from shipping damage and that I wasn’t comfortable participating in a claim because of potential fraud, he gave me the most political answer, saying that he never claimed that it happened during shipping but that he didn't notice the issue before shipping it out. Good ole reverb sellers

 

[technomancer]

Prices are high but the reverb experience is still the same. My mark iv came in today with a busted R2 channel. The seller said that he was going to open a shipping insurance claim with reverb. When I told him that I didn't think this was from shipping damage and that I was comfortable participating in a claim because of potential fraud, he gave me the most political answer, saying that he never claimed that it happened during shipping but that he didn't notice the issue during shipping. Good ole reverb sellers

Shady folks gonna' shady

 

[Drew]

That's the ultimate goal, but you don't know what fits you best without trying stuff. It's not really about the latest and greatest. I mean I went from a Jackson Custom Select, to a Mayones Duvell Elite, to a Jackson Mick Thomson import when I was looking for a "metal only" guitar

For me though, that wouldn't have happened if I started in the past 2 years. I wouldn't have been willing to put out the money to try the Custom or the Mayo given all the circumstances I mentioned.

I mean, thinking about this some more, it's also rare for me to order something entirely sight-unseen - I'd always loved rhe Mark IV sound and had played Vs on a number of occasions before I ordered mine (in a custom leather enclosure), I only got interested in Suhr seven strings after playing one and falling in love with the neck, and by the time I ordered mine I knew exactly what specs I wanted, etc. These days I can look at a simple spec sheet and be pretty sure if I'm going to bond with a guitar (provided I'm familiar with the neck carve). It's undoubtably saved me a LOT of hassle flipping over the years.

 

[budda]

Im a big proponent of neck profile as make or break. This is also why I avoid even clicking on 2016 les paul links

 

[MoistTowelette]

Im a big proponent of neck profile as make or break. This is also why I avoid even clicking on 2016 les paul links

I'm kind of the opposite. Maybe its because of how I play but neck profile and thickness usually never bother me. The only neck profile that I could not get used to was a standard thickness kiesel 8 string (shit was like holding a 2x4)

 

[budda]

I'm kind of the opposite. Maybe its because of how I play but neck profile and thickness usually never bother me. The only neck profile that I could not get used to was a standard thickness kiesel 8 string (shit was like holding a 2x4)

I would be financially precarious if necks didnt matter to me much

 

[Emperoff]

I would be financially precarious if necks didnt matter to me much

I would have like 20 Ibanez guitars if that were the case

 

[protest]

I mean, thinking about this some more, it's also rare for me to order something entirely sight-unseen - I'd always loved rhe Mark IV sound and had played Vs on a number of occasions before I ordered mine (in a custom leather enclosure), I only got interested in Suhr seven strings after playing one and falling in love with the neck, and by the time I ordered mine I knew exactly what specs I wanted, etc. These days I can look at a simple spec sheet and be pretty sure if I'm going to bond with a guitar (provided I'm familiar with the neck carve). It's undoubtably saved me a LOT of hassle flipping over the years.

Yea, I'm not a spec person at all. I use different guitars for different things, and I play them differently. I don't like redundancy. I have short scales, 25.5", single cuts, super strats, PRS, pointy BC Rich, fat necks, thin necks, jumbo frets, medium frets, C shape, D shape, Asymmetrical, all different radius, etc.

I don't know if I like something until I try it and see what happens. I have very few actual deal breakers.

 

[budda]

Yea, I'm not a spec person at all. I use different guitars for different things, and I play them differently. I don't like redundancy. I have short scales, 25.5", single cuts, super strats, PRS, pointy BC Rich, fat necks, thin necks, jumbo frets, medium frets, C shape, D shape, Asymmetrical, all different radius, etc.

I don't know if I like something until I try it and see what happens. I have very few actual deal breakers.

This tells me you’re 100% a spec person, you just have different assignments for different specs.

I think most Fender type guitars look, sound and feel great. I was on a huge jazzmaster kick mixed with PRS kick. But a les paul is home base.

 

[Drew]

Yea, I'm not a spec person at all. I use different guitars for different things, and I play them differently. I don't like redundancy. I have short scales, 25.5", single cuts, super strats, PRS, pointy BC Rich, fat necks, thin necks, jumbo frets, medium frets, C shape, D shape, Asymmetrical, all different radius, etc.

I don't know if I like something until I try it and see what happens. I have very few actual deal breakers.

I mean, I do this too - my go to rhythm guitar is a PRS Singlecut, even though I'm not really normally a mahogany guitar, largely because I like where it sits in a mix, and normally anything wiht a TOM would be a non-starter for me. But, when I bought it, it wasn't like I'd never played a PRS Singlecut before, you know? I really don't know when the last time I truly bought something blind was.

 

[protest]

This tells me you’re 100% a spec person, you just have different assignments for different specs.

I think most Fender type guitars look, sound and feel great. I was on a huge jazzmaster kick mixed with PRS kick. But a les paul is home base.

I don't know. I think we have different definitions on what makes someone a spec person. I don't assume that I will like or dislike a guitar based on specs, which to me is the antithesis of a "spec person." I've had zero clue on what the specs were at the time of purchase on the majority of the guitars that I've owned.

I mean, I do this too - my go to rhythm guitar is a PRS Singlecut, even though I'm not really normally a mahogany guitar, largely because I like where it sits in a mix, and normally anything wiht a TOM would be a non-starter for me. But, when I bought it, it wasn't like I'd never played a PRS Singlecut before, you know? I really don't know when the last time I truly bought something blind was.

That makes a big difference. +90% of my purchases are made blind. I currently own 2 guitars that I played before purchasing, no amps, and 1 pedal. You're going to naturally acquire and sell more things when you're making blind purchases.

 

[Drew]

I don't know. I think we have different definitions on what makes someone a spec person. I don't assume that I will like or dislike a guitar based on specs, which to me is the antithesis of a "spec person." I've had zero clue on what the specs were at the time of purchase on the majority of the guitars that I've owned.


That makes a big difference. +90% of my purchases are made blind. I currently own 2 guitars that I played before purchasing, no amps, and 1 pedal. You're going to naturally acquire and sell more things when you're making blind purchases.

Yeah, I mean, my point here is maybe it makes sense to try to NOT order things sight-unseen. If I'm curious about a guitar, I go out of my way to try to play that model or a comparable one somewhere, even if I end up ordering one off the internet somewhere or buying one used. It's saved me a lot of trips to the post office!

 

[OneTwoThrill]

Really interesting international thread! I didn't know such inflation occurred in the US, Asia...

Inflation on woods, new restrictive policy on woods (and it's good for Earth and human works!), rare components, monopolistic position from a exporter... all that stuff lead to incredible inflation on new gear and impacts on second hand market.

During Covid crisis, artists could not play on stage and now they pay their work tools more expensive than ever. No one of my professional friend has a 2K guitar nor amp. I was staring at a famous german shop a week ago and found the last EBMM JP model for 8K or a golden Satch for 6K.

Brand new gear is made for businessmen not for musicians.
Second market follows the trend.

Keep good care of your gear and play it!

 

[mpexus]

Prices have start to come down. I keep seeing stuff that gets their prices lowered and even then they dont sell. The retarded abusive price of Covid are disappearing.