Loar signed A5's

[Spruce]

Back then, nobody was trying to make a living at it.....

I recently saw a Loar that I know sold for around 230-250K 10-12 years ago, selling for 160K...
And that was on consignment...

Someone took a nice little hit on that one...

[Jeff Mando]

I recently saw a Loar that I know sold for around 230-250K 10-12 years ago, selling for 160K...
And that was on consignment...

Someone took a nice little hit on that one...

Whole different world 10-12 years ago........people paid retail and two months later were able to sell for a huge profit. Remember back then Les Paul Jr's were $12-15K briefly......now $4500 buys one -- they went back to the "old" price.

In the high-end category, many instruments were bought for $50K, a phone call was made and 5 minutes later it was sold for $100K.....it kind of spoils ya into thinking you are the world's greatest salesman............and it makes it seem like torture to piddle around in today's current (slow) market....

Don't know the answer......these are luxury items.....nobody needs them....can't eat them.....etc.

[fscotte]

If you took out the investment aspect of a Loar, I wonder how much people would be willing to pay then? Maybe as much as any Gilchrist?

[Timbofood]

The thing about investment is its not always going to work and you have to be in a position to buy right and wait, and wait and ....wait.
I used to get people who thought they would become diamond moguls when they bought a 1/4 ct. ring. Never exactly anything, not .25 D Flawless more likely, .23 H-I SI2 basically buying a Harmony thinking it was a "Ginyouwine" Lloyd Loar.
I was always reminding them they are buying at the "fishhook" end of the trade route.
Same is true with mandolins, if you can get things right, you might make a buck

[j. condino]

There lies the essence of the problem. Someone who does not give a $#!@ about the finish or originality or return on investment or all of the other bs that the "vintage" market has created, feels like they are getting cheated out of the ability to play a great instrument for the reasons it was actually created- for the volume, tone, and playability- by wealthy hipsters coveting instruments that only dirtbag musicians played a couple of decades ago....

Having daily exposere to the greatest instruments made in the last 300 years has had a profound effect on me as a player and as a working luthier. Even after four decades in the craft, there are times when I have difficulty accessing certail historic instruments. I often wonder what the effect will be on the next generation when all of the great instrument are locked up in private collections and museums and those folks grow up only having access to the plague of Chinese instrument shaped objects......

j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com

[Timbofood]

My most used "You will not influence the market" line was:
"Buy it because you love it and for the joy you will share with it, not money."
The advice holds true for instruments as well unless, one has ridiculous money and, plans to live another hundred years.