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Topic: Lap Steel's as a hedge against inflation |
Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 18 Mar 2005 3:49 pm |
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I'm playing my new Rick Bakelite and it is just wonderful. An amazing sound. Since I paid a grand for it I thought I would go back over past posts for an indication of its worth. Interestingly, back in 2000 folks were amazed when one of these went for $650, in 2002 $850 seemed to the price that people were amazed with. Not long after that $1,100 was considered high but not out of line. That's about a 40% increase in value in just a few years.
My guess is that lap steels will continue to increase in value and that there is a lot of growth still out there. For folks used to paying 10, 20, even 30k for a vintage guitar, being able get in and own a pre-war Rickenbacher for much less may seem like a steal. I'm happy as a pig in poop with mine, and have no buyers remorse.
I'll place a time capsule here and say in 4 years, this will have doubled in value. 4 years from now, we can pull this post up and see if I'm right. |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Alan Kirk
From:
Paso Robles, CA, USA
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Posted 18 Mar 2005 6:42 pm
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I've recently seen a few Supros on eBay go for less than I thought they would. I've been watching the eBay lap steel market for a couple years now, and I've been wondering if it's starting to flatten out a little bit. However, a lot of the higher prices I do see on eBay are from bidders with only a few eBay transactions under their belts.
A couple months ago I met a Swiss guy in Monterey who has been collecting lap steels but he doesn't play them at all.
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 18 Mar 2005 8:18 pm
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| I don't think the vintage market is a baby boomer thing. I think it is a middle age thing. Granted their are a lot of baby boomer middle agers out ther driving up the price through supply and demand. But the thing about instruments that they break, get distroyed, burn up and are otherwise pulled from the available market. So even if the demand goes down, the supply may go down even further, driving up the price. I have yet to see any vintage instrument go down in price. |
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Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Mar 2005 8:38 pm
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| Quote: |
| a Swiss guy in Monterey who has been collecting lap steels but he doesn't play them at all. |
That's who drives prices of vintage instruments up - collectors, not players. How many local guitar players in your town play a '57 Stratocaster? None, because they're all on walls in Tokyo, Berlin and places like that. If you can find one for sale it'll cost you $25,000 or more.
Some collectors are after vintage Steels now, and that jacks up prices and decimates the supply.
So a biscuit board that sold for $59 fifty years ago brings 20 times that now. Why? Because somebody will pay it.
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 18 Mar 2005 10:36 pm
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| I'll stick to real estate. |
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Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Mar 2005 11:11 pm
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Right on Howard! Ya gotta have Real Estate - otherwise where would you keep all your Steels?
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Craig Hawks
From:
North Ridgeville, Ohio, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 7:12 am
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Rick,
You're right about taking nice instruments to gig's. Buddy of mine took an Epi Les Paul rather than taking his Gibson to a gig. Some guy took it right off the stage. As he was being chased down the sidewalk he tossed it into the street thinking that we'd go for the guitar and leave him be. Not the case! The Epi had a bad case of Road Rash, the thief...let's just say I'd have rather been the guitar. And, the thief had outstanding warrents, so he's in jail.
So I guess these days, keep the nice stuff at home unless you can afford security to watch it.
Still, I'm hopeful that my guitars will at least fetch some nice bucks for my kids after I go. I've alread coached em on values as of today.[This message was edited by Craig Hawks on 19 March 2005 at 07:14 AM.] |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 7:13 am
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and I have wrestler toothbrushes unopened in the packaging. The Rock, Mankind, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Big Show. I'm serious.
In another 15 years I'm gonna cash in. I'll be toothless though....  |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 7:19 am
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How many of us had the first Fantastic Four and Spiderman comics? How many of us threw those old comics away 'cause they were piling up and we were becoming more interested in girls?
The baby boomer theory with regard to steels does make sense to me.
Anybody wanna buy some vintage Eastern Airline Stock Certificates? They're real pretty. |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Jay Fagerlie
From:
Lotus, California, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 8:04 am
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I have a few original Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.....
I still think Fat Freddie's Cat is the coolest cat around....
Jay
do I smell drift???......sorry[This message was edited by Jay Fagerlie on 19 March 2005 at 08:05 AM.] |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 11:32 am
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| I have found the trend of hoarding vintage instruments to be a bit distressing, personally. I am happy that so many people see the value in playing, but I know many collectors that simply store or display what are eminently playable, wonderful instruments; this drives the prices sky high and assures that someone who really wants these vintage pieces will not be able to afford them. Current costs for domestic production of good guitars is extremely high, so the era of the inexpensive lap steel appears to be gone. I guess it wouldn't bug me so much if they got played, but most end up being wall art. Bummer. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 1:50 pm
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| This is a concern with all instruments, not just the lap steel community. When I was playing Uilleann Pipes, the same complaint was voiced: all the great instruments were being collected and hung on a wall. I'm afraid its the nature of collecting and collectors. I don't see that changing much. |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 3:11 pm
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| Quote: |
| I was playing Uilleann Pipes |
My girlfriend had hers removed....  |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 4:50 pm
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Okay,
I think this thread has been officially highjacked. 
I must admit, my wife was happy to see the Uilleann pipe phase of my life move on. So were the neighbors. So was my teacher for that matter. |
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Paul Osbty
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 6:46 pm
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It might work (I doubt it, myself), but you have to sell your instruments to realize any benefit.
If you are a player, you won't.
If you are a collector, you aren't a member of this website. |
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 19 Mar 2005 7:51 pm
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| I'm not sure what that means. I'm a player and I buy and sell instruments all the time. You buy something, play it for a while, realize you want a different sound, or want to go in a different direction. With laps, it is sometimes the only way to try them out. I bought one weissenborn, then got my baritone and I'll probably sell the first weiss to finance a second 8 string baritone I'm talking to luthier about. And I think most people on this forum would qualify as collectors. Just take a look at the list of instruments people have. Being a collector and player are not mutually exclusive. |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 20 Mar 2005 11:54 am
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| Not to say that you can't have more than one instrument and be a player, sorry if it came across that way. I have more than one instrument, tones and tunings make this a multiple instrument kind of situation. I guess my issue, at this point, is with the guys who have 30 and 40 or more guitars that never get played, they are simply acquisitions for bragging rights, or investments; the former being kind of lame, the latter somewhat understandable but annoying as that is the reason the prices are so inflated. The idea that a guy would pay nearly $1k for a champ is ludicrous; You could get a fine handmade guitar from George or Herb for less and have a lovely guitar. It just bums me out that the pricing elevation has written me out of a "Fender owners club" kind of deal, when I'd love to have hat sort of tone at my disposal. I certainly wouldn't pay that much, though; George would get the funds for that lovely koa guitar first. |
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2005 12:52 pm
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Let's do the math.
If you take $1000 and invest it in the stock market or mutual funds and get a 5% return on your money each year you will have $1628 after 10 years. Eight percent yearly (which isn't hard to do if you invest wisely) will yield $2158 after 10 years.
I'd go the stock market route over vintage instruments any day. You are not dealing with a fickle market in which some instruments are more in fashion than others.
Yeah the stock market is volatile, but it runs the world. If the market goes into the toilet the value of the vintage instruments will do the same.
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association
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Bill McCloskey
From:
Nanuet, NY
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Posted 20 Mar 2005 1:44 pm
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BTW, in case it wasn't obvious, this whole post was written with tongue firmly in cheek.
I never for a moment was seriously thinking people should raid the 401k and stack up a bunch of lap steels. I thought it was obvious but based on some of the seriousness of the replys, I guess it wasn't.
The post was just meant to hightlight how much certain laps have increased in value over the last few years. Thats all. |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 20 Mar 2005 1:55 pm
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| Hehe I guess you touched a nerve! Vintage Guitar magazine has recently run articles on the "investment worthiness" of instruments, which has served to set some people on an unwise course. Ask anyone who "invested" in the baseball card collecting boom of the '80's and early '90's... they make great coasters! |
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