Urge to Purge

]-[@n$0Ma☩!©

]-[@n$0Ma☩!©

Zombie Zero, DFZ
Joined
Aug 1, 1985
Messages
7,325
To sell or not to sell. That is the question.

Me: "No it isn't!"
Also Me: "Yes, it is!"
Me: "Yeah... you're talking to yourself man. That’s Les' schtick."
Also Me: "Whoops, sorry Les."

There are a plethora of threads out there with guys talk about the inevitable 'urge-to-purge' that goes with pre-retirement planning. I'd say that horse is dead. But I am not near retirement and I don't want to spend the next 15-20 years without a pile of guitars to enjoy. At the same time, I don't want to find myself sitting on a pile of guitars I can't sell (in 15-20 years) when I'm ready for RV life.

What I want to know is whether we think the guitar market will be this hot in 15-20 years. I don't think it will be.

What say you.
 
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I agree with you, Hans, on both points.

I recently retired, and sort of downsized by selling some guitars I didn’t play a lot, to buy fewer, more expensive guitars I play more. But I still have a dozen or so, even after the trades. The music stuff I have was hard-earned over many years of weekend warrior gigging, so I saw no reason to go into retirement by returning to my one guitar, one amp teenaged self! I’m not in the Joe Bonamassa “Nerdville” inventory class but I’m well set for guitars and amps.

The used market is higher than I’ve ever seen right now, and while I think it’ll result in a residual slightly higher trend in the short term, this isn’t a long term rise... especially once all the COVID effects, such as the combination of business closings and stimulus checks, end. My guess is that there’ll be peaks and valleys, as it’s always been. Time will tell.

I’ll be putting a few up for sale, but it’s (again) to finance another PRS I’ve wanted for years. At this point in my life value more means “how much I enjoy them” and less what their market is. That’s resulted in less variety and much more personal preference, which is fun.

I’ll be curious to see how you and some of the other forum guys with really cool collections view this.
 
I'm in the same boat as Hans. I've got some cool guitars, and I flirt with the idea of selling some every couple of months. But, as I sit here in the basement, and look at the 10 I have down here, I don't know what I would sell. I mean, I don't have duplicates of anything but the West Street, and who wants to only have one Westie?! :rolleyes:

I struggle with this because it appears to be a sellers market. Don't think that will last once we're past Covid. No telling, though. I did hear yesterday that Americans savings are at an all time high. No one is spending money on travel, etc. Not sure what impact re-opening will have on that, or how it will impact the guitar market.

Guess I'll hold on to my stash, for now, and hope that when the times come prices are good enough to motivate me to sell.
 
You have quite the collection and I have enjoyed watching your journey over the years.

The collection is important to you and part of you.

For the important pieces "It doesn't cost anything to keep them"! For the ones that don't matter - sell them and cash in.

I use to be a collector and then I found that many were not the right fit. When the chips were down I went right to the CU24. I have had numerous models and tried everything. I am down to 4 core.
I could part with my prized SCT from a practical standpoint but it has a special place emotionally.

When I look back at all of the guitars I have sold I do not regret selling them.

Less is more. You won't regret it.
 
It’s an interesting problem.

To answer the specific question: I don’t think resale prices will be nearly as good 10-15 years down the road. People will go back to spending more money on travel and events and less on stuff. Manufacturers will catch up to demand making used stuff less attractive.

While I’m not in a hurry, and will likely miss the peak in the sellers market, I’ll start getting smaller, not Airstream small, but smaller. Some is easy, like a spare HB and a CU24 (I always play the Santana), 12 string (I prefer the 9). Harder: the Archtop, which is great, but I just don’t play it.
 
]-[@n$0Ma☩!© said:
To sell or not to sell. That is the question.

Me: "No it isn't!"
Also Me: "Yes, it is!"
Me: "Yeah... you're talking to yourself man. That Les' schtick."
Also Me: "Whoops, sorry Les."

There are a plethora of threads out there with guys talk about the inevitable 'urge-to-purge' that goes with pre-retirement planning. I'd say that horse is dead. But I am not near retirement and I don't want to spend the next 15-20 years without a pile of guitars to enjoy. At the same time, I don't want to find myself sitting on a pile of guitars I can't sell (in 15-20 years) when I'm ready for RV life.

What I want to know is whether we think the guitar market will be this hot in 15-20 years. I don't think it will be.

What say you.
Click to expand...

You can do my schtick any time, Hans!

I go back and forth, though I doubt I'll formally retire, since I run my own show and might as well do the projects that come in, at least for as long as they still come in. Since the guitars help my income, I'll keep them. But I still occasionally go through a 'what do I need all this stuff for' self-questioning every so often.

Here's my thinking as it stands today:

One question I've asked myself is how significant a financial difference will there be down the road to sell now. If it isn't enough to materially affect finances, there's really no point in selling. Might as well enjoy what I have. And there's always the possibility that I'll regret selling great instruments and will want to replace them. Of course, by then, new prices may be higher. And there's no crystal ball on used prices, anyway, especially with the tone wood supply dwindling.

After Paul retires, his hand-signed PS guitars and limited runs may increase in value. They may not. No one can predict the future.

If the dough you get from the guitars will make a substantial difference down the road, then by all means sell a bunch, but keep enough to stay happy. You're a very successful and intelligent guy, and no doubt you've planned well for the future. I have every confidence that you will make the right call.
 
I hear you. I'm not close to retirement but I have been thinking about selling everything off. I decided over the weekend I am going to sell 11 of my 14. I just need to get the pictures taken and the ads posted. I don't know if it will lead to my first Private Stock, building another collection again, or being happy with the three I keep.
 
i've been doing this with some of my guns and a boat. I'm just flipping that money into guitars. If you buy good ones they will always be worth what or more than you originally bought them for over time. I'm late to the guitar game but since I started playing over the last year, I have 6 nice ones with another coming next month. Three of these are core PRS. Once I get better and figure out what I like best I will have a Private Stock made for me. I'm not educated enough yet to know what that would be. The three PRS I have are all very different and I love them all. I'm lucky so far that all the guitars that I have are really nice and have different personalities.
 
I have the purge urge from time to time, but it's especially intense of late. Some of that is aging and things like medical expenses becoming more significant, but also that my playing has changed, and I've learned more about what works for me.

Related to that, after a few years with one guitar I progressed a bit and want to experience as many different styles and sounds as I could. (I began playing guitar in my 30s; my main instruments were sax and clarinet). So I acquired a few at a rate of about one per year. I have seven. The PRS Mira was the last of them and has become my favorite.

I now have a better understanding of the sounds and feel I prefer. And there are some mixed things, like one guitar I love the sound of but often get a forearm welt from playing it. Another I associate with some rather difficult memories.

Mainly, though, with the Mira I tend to lose track of time, quell intrusive thoughts, and just play. I can get a bit of that with a couple others, but with most I set down before long and pick up the PRS.

So I'm thinking of doing a major purge, possibly selling several and buying one that I gel with as much as the Mira.

Convincing myself to actually do that is difficult, however. A major obstacle is my social awkwardness and introversion (even though I really took to being on stage and publicly speaking), and some issues based on where I live.

So I've toyed with the idea of contacting a couple of the larger, independent dealers, even those a fair distance away, seeing what they'd offer, loading up the car and going for a drive. But then I decide something else is more pressing or fun.
 
I'm within 3 years of retirement, and where I'll be living, I just won't have the room to keep everything I'd like...

So... I've been slowly whittling down my collections of everything... I'm keeping what is very special to me...

It's both sad and liberating at the same time...
 
Markets are cyclical. Inflation matters too - we’ve had a low rate of inflation for some time now, odds are it will go back up. So one needs to think about this question in terms of real versus nominal fiat dollars :) plus the more relevant supply and demand dynamics during the time window of selling an instrument.

I’ve been forced out of the work force for the past 2 years due to my chronic illness which just flared up again after some modest improvement in symptoms. Just started working with a new group of doctors after the challenging move.

I’m now thinking of selling my McManus acoustic and Pernambuco guitar in addition to the ME I SCT and Knaggs I’ve dragged my feet on selling for 2 years. I love them all, but I haven’t really been able to play much for 3 years now. Reality can be harsh!
 
I've thought about this a lot. When we retire will will be spending a great deal of time on our ultra classic seeing every inch of this country.

Not sure I want a pile of nice guitars laying around being vulnerable to theft, fire and the likes while we're out living large.

Probably keep 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6..................
 
I think the current "sellers market" bubble is a temporary fluctuation caused by Reverb.com and the COVID crisis. When Reverb increased it's fees, sellers increased their asking prices to compensate. Since people have been spending more on guitars during the various shutdowns, it adds up to an artificially inflated market perception, especially considering people are paying the inflated prices plus sales tax. Where people used to use eBay completed sales as benchmarks, they are now looking at Reverb sales and extrapolating what people are willing to pay. Prices on CL are going up accordingly.

Long term I think there will continue to be a 'vintage guitar' market which will continue to rise, and used guitar asking prices will continue to reflect the reverb-world pricing, at least until selling prices fall through sellers get tired of letting things sit and take much lower offers, assuming that's how peoples buying habits shift.
 
My urge to purge is not related to the current resale market or pending retirement. It's related to how many I have and how often I play them. I enjoyed the hunt and the journey of purchasing a number of PRSi as the company continued to innovate through their pickup offerings and design changes. I didn't start off as a collector, but as a player. But it seems I've become the former. I'm very good at buying and terrible at selling. I'll be reevaluating the herd, it might be time to pass along a few for others to enjoy.
 
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