PROJECT 91
There wasn’ t a global price check you could run in 30 seconds. Today, someone goes on Reverb and says,“ Well, one sold for $ 35,000— so that’ s what mine’ s worth.”
So, I asked George,“ Back in the day, before the internet, how did you decide what to price these guitars at?” He said,“ We looked at the market. We looked at the customer.” And every good vintage dealer has what they call whales— serious collectors. If something special came in, you’ d call your Strat guy. Your Tele guy. Your Les Paul guy. Your D-18 guy. You knew who might want to add that particular instrument to their collection.
George told me he believed it was important for vintage guitars to hold their value— especially if people were still using them to make music that people today actually want to hear. And I said,
“ Well, that kind of rules out some of the old Martins, doesn’ t it?” He laughed and said,“ Yeah, those aren’ t really in that ballpark.” Not because they aren’ t great guitars— they absolutely are— but when was the last time you saw someone onstage digging in on a Stauffer?!
He also said it certainly helps if the headstock says Fender, Gibson, or Martin. And then there’ s the wildcard— provenance. This ties into something like the Jim Irsay Collection coming up for auction. George said,“ If the guitar was owned by a celebrity, all bets are off.” And he’ s right. All bets are off.
I remember Joanne Hale, who was director of the Gene Autry Museum when we did the original Gene Autry reproductions. She told me that once in a while she’ d get a call from a collector saying,“ I want to buy Gene Autry’ s D-45.” And she’ d say,“ You do
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