Vintage guitar
Encyclopedia
A Vintage guitar is an old guitar
usually sought after and maintained by avid collectors
. Musicians and dealers commonly claim that older guitars have superior craftsmanship to modern mass-produced ones.
Besides the considered better sound quality because of the craftsmanship it also is considered a safe money investment.
s were discontinued in the past. Afterward those objects became collectible objects. Some of them are considered sounding better than new guitars, because of old production methods, such as more hand work/luthier
s instead of the newer industrialized products.
Examples of vintage guitars are for instance the pre-CBS guitars of Fender. Fender Jazzmaster
s, Fender Jaguar
s and Fender Mustang
s were vintage guitars which afterward became well-known and desired objects because Nirvana
and Sonic Youth
began playing on second-hand versions. CBS bought Fender in 1965, and by 1970 "pre-CBS" had become a catch-phrase for a quality Fender. In that corporate era, product quality also suffered at Gibson, Gretsch, C.F. Martin & Co and other U.S. brands.
Danelectro
is a famous example of a cheap mass product, which afterward became collectible guitars. Guitars from other manufacturers like Epiphone
, Guild
and Rickenbacker
have out of stock models which nowadays are expensive on eBay
.
Also other vintage musical instruments and equipment like amplifier
s, Roland tape echos, effect pedals (stomp boxes), Rhodes pianos, analog synthesizers are nowadays sought after.
Due to the desire of old looking guitars, Fender began producing so-called relic
guitars with scratched off paint.
Also rare guitars like for instance the Glittler guitar became increasingly expensive objects, because of the combination of the relative small amounts it was manufactured in and the cultural appreciation of this applied art object
. MOMA
has one instrument in their collection.
vintage guitars instead of new equipment, because the price won't decrease very fast after purchase. There is a tendency to speculate
by investing
in instruments produced in small series. The Gittler guitar and Fender Swinger
are known examples of this. Like vintage cars and other applied art objects vintage guitar are considered more stable in price as an investment than art
or share
s, due to the lack of fashion trends present in art and its proven useful value being an instrument to play on. In the nineties Japanese investors bought large stocks of 60s guitars, regarding it as a safe investment. Also European retailers import American guitars since the Euro increased in value related to the Dollar. Sonic Youth is known for owning hundreds of expensive guitars bought for a very cheap price in the eighties, which afterward became very expensive objects. Their bus was stolen in 1999 with a large part of their stock. The Stratocaster #0001, currently in the possession of David Gilmour
has become a very expensive collectible object.This guitar was originally owned by Leo Fender
who gave it to Seymour Duncan
and sold to Pink Floyd's main equipment coordinator and guitar technician Phil Taylor for the meager sum of $900 in the early 1970s. David Gilmour purchased the guitar in the late 70's for an unknown sum that allowed Taylor to purchase a house soon afterward.
Bass Guitars
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
usually sought after and maintained by avid collectors
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
. Musicians and dealers commonly claim that older guitars have superior craftsmanship to modern mass-produced ones.
Besides the considered better sound quality because of the craftsmanship it also is considered a safe money investment.
Background
In the late eighties vintage guitars became increasingly popular among musicians. Musicians discovered some old instruments sounded better than the new ones. Many of these old guitars, mainly electric guitarElectric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s were discontinued in the past. Afterward those objects became collectible objects. Some of them are considered sounding better than new guitars, because of old production methods, such as more hand work/luthier
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
s instead of the newer industrialized products.
Examples of vintage guitars are for instance the pre-CBS guitars of Fender. Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as an upmarket sibling to the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed at jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s...
s, Fender Jaguar
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar introduced in 1962. A descendant of the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar quickly caught on in the emerging Surf music scene...
s and Fender Mustang
Fender Mustang
The Fender Mustang is an electric guitar by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models then consisting of the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990.In the 1960s, it was used in Surf...
s were vintage guitars which afterward became well-known and desired objects because Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
and Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
began playing on second-hand versions. CBS bought Fender in 1965, and by 1970 "pre-CBS" had become a catch-phrase for a quality Fender. In that corporate era, product quality also suffered at Gibson, Gretsch, C.F. Martin & Co and other U.S. brands.
Danelectro
Danelectro
Danelectro is an American manufacturer of musical instruments and accessories, specializing in rock instruments such as guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers and effects units.-History:...
is a famous example of a cheap mass product, which afterward became collectible guitars. Guitars from other manufacturers like Epiphone
Epiphone
The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...
, Guild
Guild Guitar Company
The Guild Guitar Company is a USA-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music-store owner, and George Mann, a former executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company...
and Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
have out of stock models which nowadays are expensive on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Also other vintage musical instruments and equipment like amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
s, Roland tape echos, effect pedals (stomp boxes), Rhodes pianos, analog synthesizers are nowadays sought after.
Due to the desire of old looking guitars, Fender began producing so-called relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
guitars with scratched off paint.
Also rare guitars like for instance the Glittler guitar became increasingly expensive objects, because of the combination of the relative small amounts it was manufactured in and the cultural appreciation of this applied art object
Applied art
Applied art is the application of design and aesthetics to objects of function and everyday use. Whereas fine arts serve as intellectual stimulation to the viewer or academic sensibilities, the applied arts incorporate design and creative ideals to objects of utility, such as a cup, magazine or...
. MOMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
has one instrument in their collection.
Vintage guitars as an investment
For bands it's financially safer to buy second handSecond Hand
Second Hand is the title of an album by Mark Heard, released in 1991, on Heard's own Fingerprint Records. The album was listed at #4 in the book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music ....
vintage guitars instead of new equipment, because the price won't decrease very fast after purchase. There is a tendency to speculate
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
by investing
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
in instruments produced in small series. The Gittler guitar and Fender Swinger
Fender Swinger
The Fender Swinger was a short-lived electric guitar model released by Fender in 1969, with few made...
are known examples of this. Like vintage cars and other applied art objects vintage guitar are considered more stable in price as an investment than art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
or share
Share (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
s, due to the lack of fashion trends present in art and its proven useful value being an instrument to play on. In the nineties Japanese investors bought large stocks of 60s guitars, regarding it as a safe investment. Also European retailers import American guitars since the Euro increased in value related to the Dollar. Sonic Youth is known for owning hundreds of expensive guitars bought for a very cheap price in the eighties, which afterward became very expensive objects. Their bus was stolen in 1999 with a large part of their stock. The Stratocaster #0001, currently in the possession of David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
has become a very expensive collectible object.This guitar was originally owned by Leo Fender
Leo Fender
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short...
who gave it to Seymour Duncan
Seymour Duncan
Seymour Duncan is a company that is best known for manufacturing of guitar pickups, and currently has a line of effects pedals. The company was founded in 1976 by guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and his then-wife Cathy Carter Duncan in Goleta, California, USA...
and sold to Pink Floyd's main equipment coordinator and guitar technician Phil Taylor for the meager sum of $900 in the early 1970s. David Gilmour purchased the guitar in the late 70's for an unknown sum that allowed Taylor to purchase a house soon afterward.
Fender
Guitars- Fender StratocasterFender StratocasterThe Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
- Duo-Sonic I and II
- JaguarFender JaguarThe Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar introduced in 1962. A descendant of the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar quickly caught on in the emerging Surf music scene...
- Fender MusicmasterFender MusicmasterThe Fender Musicmaster is an electric guitar by Fender, and was the first of their 3/4 scale guitars. With a single pickup and no tremolo arm, it was a basic but functional instrument....
- MustangFender MustangThe Fender Mustang is an electric guitar by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models then consisting of the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990.In the 1960s, it was used in Surf...
- Jazzmaster
- Fender SwingerFender SwingerThe Fender Swinger was a short-lived electric guitar model released by Fender in 1969, with few made...
- Fender MarauderFender MarauderAfter introducing the Jazzmaster in 1959 and the Jaguar in 1962, between 1965 and 1966, Fender prototyped the Marauder. There were two versions made: Type I, with pickups hidden underneath the pickguard, and Type II, with the pickups mounted in a more conventional fashion on the pickguard. The...
- Fender Bass VIFender Bass VIThe Fender Bass VI, originally known as the Fender VI, is a six-string electric bass or Scale Baritone Guitar by Fender.The Fender VI was released in 1961, and followed the concept of the Danelectro 6-string bass released in 1956, having six strings tuned E-E, an octave below the Spanish guitar...
- Fender Electric XIIFender Electric XIIThe Fender Electric XII was a purpose-built 12-string electric guitar, designed for folk rockers. Instead of using a Stratocaster-body style, it used one similar to a Jaguar/Jazzmaster body style. It was also a departure from the typical "Stratocaster"-style headstock, instead featuring a long...
- Fender TelecasterFender TelecasterThe Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
1950-1953
Bass Guitars
- Fender Bass VFender Bass VThe original Fender Bass V was a quirky and unusual electric bass guitar model produced by Fender between 1965 and 1970. It was the world's first five string bass guitar, a popular concept today....
- Fender Precision BassFender Precision BassThe Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...
Gibson
- ExplorerGibson ExplorerThe Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar that made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its sibling, the Flying V. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.The...
- FirebirdGibson FirebirdThe Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson from 1963 to the present.-History:The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fender's instruments, such as the Telecaster and Stratocaster. After success with the Les Paul in...
- Gibson Les PaulGibson Les PaulThe Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
- Flying V
Famous rare guitars
- Frying panFrying pan (guitar)The "frying pan" was the first electric lap steel guitar ever produced. George Beauchamp created the instrument in 1931, and it was subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro...
- Strat #0001
- The Twang Machine (Bo DiddleyBo DiddleyEllas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
) - Annihilator guitar
- Gittler guitarGittler guitarA Gittler Guitar is an experimental designed guitar created by Allan Gittler . Gittler felt that sentimental design references to acoustic guitars are unnecessary in an electronically amplified guitar, and designed his instrument with the objective of reducing the electric guitar to the most...
- Red SpecialRed SpecialThe Red Special is an electric guitar owned by Queen guitarist Brian May and custom-built by May and his father. The Red Special is also sometimes named in reviews as the Fireplace or the Old Lady, both nicknames used by May when referring to the guitar. A guitar that would define May's signature...
(Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
)