James Holland
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2020 3:46 am |
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All good thoughts. Many collectable instruments have peaked and flattened or fallen off in value over the last decade or two. I remember with pre-war Herringbones were projected to hit seven figures by 2010. They are barely holding six figures, and that's only the best examples. The basketcase examples that were bringing 70k then, are bringing less than half that now.
Pedal steels are different, since there were so many changes and versions, they seem to be personalized from the beginning, and no clear definitive "strad" or "herringbone" "Loar" or "pre-war mastertone" or "burst" or "Mary Kaye", etc. I think pedal steel popularity may wane amongst the weather-balloon types, because the entry cost is just too much for the casual buyer. Somewhat the opposite of electric guitar, where $200 buys a very cool Squier that you can display (and never learn to play).
But I think the unique attributes of the beautiful, distinctive music that can only be made on a pedal steel will always be in demand, and the daring artists who fall in love with it, will always demand complimentary tools of the trade. That, combined with the limited numbers, I think supports reasonable value retention. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 13 Mar 2020 6:10 am
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| Matthew Walton wrote: |
To be fair, I'm not exactly the best person to be defending modern music since 90% of my iTunes library is stuff that came out before 1980, is by artists who got their start before 1980, or is in the style of music before 1980! But wouldn't it be cool to hear some jazz fusion a la Chick Corea etc. with steel guitar? Or maybe play a (gasp!) video game that includes pedal steel in the soundtrack, whether prominently or not?
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You have reason to be proud Matthew! You're that "one-in-a-thousand" music lover that most of us depend on and can relate to. Like you, I find very little that's interesting in newer music. It seems an essence of sameness has swept over just about everything in modern culture, music included. |
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