Played A Friend's Olson Yesterday Evening - Super Nice.

[László]

If you're a pro musician, I would think purchasing an expensive guitar would be tax deductable.

Right or wrong?

Subject to certain limitations and the usual regs that I profess no expertise in, that's my understanding.

 

[Sonic Blue 55]

I'm certainly priced out of that end of the market. The music business hasn't gotten any easier, that's for sure.

And yet there's still a multi-year waiting list for lots of these custom guitars. Go figure.

But it's all about demand, and if someone can make more dough, more power to 'em.

My feeling is that we're in a golden age of wooden instrument builders and manufacturers, kind of like the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Cremona (Incidentally, Stradivari also made guitars). If so, these instruments will be heirlooms down the road, and they certainly won't get any cheaper.

There are a lot of wealthy collectors who don't mind the prices, but there are also lots of professionals who think of their instruments as lifetime investments. My friend is one of the latter. He only has a few guitars, even though he's pretty big-time.

I know symphony players who have taken out mortgages on their classic, old instruments in order to buy them. It's not unusual in the classical music world, where lots of the instruments cost the price of a nice house.

I guess it's all a matter of how much money you can plunk down, and/or how much you can earn with the instrument in your hands. It's all about context.

My college violin teacher has a Guadagnini. In the 70s it was worth more than his house.
Today it's still worth far more.

 

[László]

My college violin teacher has a Guadagnini. In the 70s it was worth more than his house.
Today it's still worth farm more.

Yup. I have a symphony player friend with an early 19th C. cello. Very similar situation, and not at all unusual!

 

[DISTORT6]

My college violin teacher has a Guadagnini. In the 70s it was worth more than his house.
Today it's still worth farm more.

Yup. I have a symphony player friend with an early 19th C. cello. Very similar situation, and not at all unusual!

What’s amazing to me is the amount of times these instruments get left behind in a taxi or subway car. A few times a year the local news reports on one being left behind in NYC. How do you forget your cello?!?!

 

[László]

What’s amazing to me is the amount of times these instruments get left behind in a taxi or subway car. A few times a year the local news reports on one being left behind in NYC. How do you forget your cello?!?!

Once Harold tried the accordion, he lost all interest in his cello.

 

[Rosewoodsteel]

Once Harold tried the accordion, he lost all interest in his cello.

I know this is an old post, but man that was funny!