Do Ibanez guitars not accrue vintage value?

[jb4674]

Find a Stanley Jordan Ibanez and it would be worth something. The same would go for a Lee Ritenour Model or even an original George Benson one from back in the 70's.

I'm sure some Ibanez models will skyrocket in value but they'll never go as high as a vintage Fender or Gibson will.

Jimmy

[Ploki]

becasue they will always be ~30 years behind :P

[HSH]

150151797585


[swoons....]

[primerib]

I'm glad they don't go up in value. I'm a player, not a collector.

[reguv760]

seems like early 90s - mid 90s RG's have been increasing in value exponentially... years before the 550 reissue, most RG's of the same made can be found for <$400... I've scored several of 'em for friends around that price range; I personally got a 760 for <$200 years ago cause I envied my friend's red 770DX that I found for him. Today, i'd be suprised to find a really good condition Japanese RG/S for <$400. Look at the 565 for example, they are odd guitars but its seems like they're around the $700 range nowadays.
So yea, "vintage value" isn't quite the term for these player guitars... if Ibanez continues to cut production costs by making great guitars elsewhere, these older Japanese RG's will increase in value (and demand) over time... and I think inflation has something to do with it

Reg

[Hikey Mikey]

Originally Posted by Brando Clean

It's like rain on your wedding day.
Its' a free ride when you have already paid.
It's that edge pro III advice that you just didn't take...

Ah well, who would have thought or figured?

Lol, that's pretty funny.

"Bizarre" is absolutely the correct term for the vintage electric guitar market. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. (And I hope that my opinion wouldn't change if I suddenly won the lottery. I hope if I ever could afford a '59 Les Paul cherry sunburst, I'd go play it at open mic night, rock 'n roll with it, which is where it belongs. I hope I'd do that and not let money spoil me.)

The closest I can get to answering your question is that the Ibanez brand has always been more highly esteemed among GUITARISTS than among the general public. If you want to play guitar, and you're putting down your own cash you earned washing dishes or mowing lawns or throwing papers, you're
not gonna care so much what name is on the headstock. Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls have acheived iconic status among the non-playing public, for whom the headstock name, the design of the instrument, is all there is. The subtleties of the shape of the neck, the ease of the trem, the tone of the pickups, are all lost on them.

[brianxtr]

some guitars have something magic in them.like the original swirls.a 1954 strat also.i don't reconize that fender but the universe multicolour just more!(i have seen one on a old rock album cover i thougt) its just what you like.and the vintage guitars?that make no sense at all!but i think people call the old jems vintage very soon.and yes its about status.

[matty]

I have 2 RG20th (RFR and DY) and they sit in their cases, not because I'm hoping that they will make me some cash some day, although that would be nice, it's becasue my 89 550 just plays so damn good, and feels so much better in my hands. it may not be worth much, and it may ot be considered a collectors guitar, but who cares? It is my go to guitar, so why not consider an older 550 over a new one?

[rob777vdy]

these early 777 jems were £1400 when they first hit the market.that was a lot of money in 1988.im sure in 20-30 years time they will be worth lots and lots of money,providing the condition is good and origanal case

[Devon8822]

Get a used rg550!!!! they are awsome plus cheap

[dagblix]

This discussion makes me wonder what my 2 best guitars could be worth. I'll never ever sell them-but itd be fun to know.
ANybody know any resources

[jl2556]

Hands down, for a Ibanez that goes up in value EVERY SECOND OF
EVERY DAY, it's all about a JS3 I hear folks have gotten more than
$15,000 for them!!!! It's funny what the guitar blue book lists them for.
I think it's like $1100.....-

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by Hikey Mikey

I hope if I ever could afford a '59 Les Paul cherry sunburst, I'd go play it at open mic night, rock 'n roll with it, which is where it belongs. I hope I'd do that and not let money spoil me.)

I guarantee you wouldn't - money or not, you aren't going to take a $300K guitar for a bar room bash when all it would take is some drunken bozo to knock it off its stand, crack the neck and subtract $100 000 off the value of your guitar! Besides, in some ways it's not totally bad that most of these end up in collections - they are 48 years old now, and it's kinda nice that most of the ones still in good condition are kept that way for future generations to see as they should be - they may end up like Stradivari violins, which are almost invariably owned by banks or uber-wealthy investors, and bequeathed on a more or less permanent basis to whomever actually plays them - reason being that violins actually degrade tonally if they are not constantly played. Strads make '59 Les Pauls look bargain basement, pricewise, by the way.

As for Norlin Gibsons and Seventies Fenders - well, they do go up in value, but shouldn't; in the words of George Gruhn (paraphrased), the first thing a collectible guitar should be, is a GOOD guitar!

[Hikey Mikey]

Originally Posted by David McCarroll

I guarantee you wouldn't - money or not, you aren't going to take a $300K guitar for a bar room bash . . .

You're probably right. I guess my point is that it's insane for a guitar to be worth that much. Actually, I'm pretty sure that if I had that kind of money, I wouldn't buy it at all. Much better ways to use that kind of dough.

Another point I was trying to make is that guitars ought to be played-- it's a shame to have an instrument like that sit under glass. I doubt that someone rich enough to own a Stradivarius would allow it to be played by someone else, but if it's true, more power to them to recognize its potential to make music, rather than $$$.

[David McCarroll]

Originally Posted by Hikey Mikey

You're probably right. I guess my point is that it's insane for a guitar to be worth that much. Actually, I'm pretty sure that if I had that kind of money, I wouldn't buy it at all. Much better ways to use that kind of dough.

Another point I was trying to make is that guitars ought to be played-- it's a shame to have an instrument like that sit under glass. I doubt that someone rich enough to own a Stradivarius would allow it to be played by someone else, but if it's true, more power to them to recognize its potential to make music, rather than $$$.

It's true - almost no Stradivari are owned by the musicians who actually play them - you are talking about an instrument who's value falls between millions and just plain out and out priceless! However the legacy of "classical" stringed instruments (violins, viola, cellos etc) is that they in fact MUST be played to retain their value, and moreso, the pedigree of such an instrument improves by the quality and skill of the musicians who have played them.

This is particularly at odds compared to collecting guitars where the general idea seems to be that some industrialist searches out the ultimate Les Paul, or 58 Explorer then locks it away in a bank vault where not only does the instrument not get played, but almost no one sees it......

..... Dunno, doesn't make sense to me - it's just another sign of the me-too (or maybe me-only) philosophy of life that so many people seem to admire these days, where you are the sum worth of your possessions - compare this attitiude to the people through the years who have proven their worth by buying Picassos, Rembrandts, Matisses and then instead of locking them in a vault bequeath them permanently to a museam/gallery for the enjoyment of all..... I know which approach I'd rather take if I was in this position!