Not a good investment regardless

[West R Lee]

Now if we're just talking retaining monetary value, there's no question Westerlys do that better than any Guild guitar with the possible exception of some Hoboken guitars......especially the high end Westerly models. Heck, I still see Westerly D55's and F50's listed for $2000 and much more. Of course, someone will ask, "But do they get that price?" I have no way of knowing, but shops are the expert sellers, or at least should be. Other than the Corona 50th Anniversary Brazilian D55 for which the seller wants something like $8000 :shock: , and has been for sale for 6 or 7 years, I've rarely seen a Corona guitar listed in the $2000 price range, nor a Tacoma guitar, but I guess you can ask anything you like for any item. I will say that I don't think it's fair to even discuss N.H. guitars in that light as they're just too new to the market to establish a fair used value. New N.H. guitars are like driving a new car off the lot or buying anything else new.........lose a bunch of value as soon as you take ownership, unless of course you find a screaming deal like the new sunburst New Hartford D50 that was posted here a few weeks ago for $1200-$1400 or something like that. I think the jury is still out on used N.H. guitars. The other manufacturing facilities have come and gone and are fair game for the purposes of this discussion. Heck, Guild wasn't in Corona or Tacoma long enough to establish any sort of a following.

It's so very clear that Westerly's retain more monetary value, or at least sentimental value, just by the sheer number of sellers, both individual and shops, who emphasize that a guitar was built in Westerly in their listings....... it's used as a selling point, and that is easily demonstrated. I was actually questioned about that statement once by our very own Frono, and posted several listings in which sellers do just that (emphasize that a guitar was built in Westerly). There's simply no question which factory produced guitars which have best retained monetary value.

But the fact remains, that if you bought a $2000 D55 12 years ago, and are lucky enough to sell it for $2000 today, inflation got the best of you, and as a monetary investment, you still didn't come out on top.

West

 

[fronobulax]

but clearly the narrow view of investment with a fairly short-term horizon is not applicable to buying Guild guitars.

But... but... It is precisely because there are people whose posts sound as if they advocate the alternative view that this thread exists.

:wink:

 

[fronobulax]

Now if we're just talking retaining monetary value, there's no question Westerlys do that better than any Guild guitar with the possible exception of some Hoboken guitars......especially the high end Westerly models. Heck, I still see Westerly D55's and F50's listed for $2000 and much more. Of course, someone will ask, "But do they get that price?" I have no way of knowing, but shops are the expert sellers, or at least should be. Other than the Corona 50th Anniversary Brazilian D55 for which the seller wants something like $8000 :shock: , and has been for sale for 6 or 7 years, I've rarely seen a Corona guitar listed in the $2000 price range, nor a Tacoma guitar, but I guess you can ask anything you like for any item. I will say that I don't think it's fair to even discuss N.H. guitars in that light as they're just too new to the market to establish a fair used value. New N.H. guitars are like driving a new car off the lot or buying anything else new.........lose a bunch of value as soon as you take ownership, unless of course you find a screaming deal like the new sunburst New Hartford D50 that was posted here a few weeks ago for $1200-$1400 or something like that. I think the jury is still out on used N.H. guitars. The other manufacturing facilities have come and gone and are fair game for the purposes of this discussion. Heck, Guild wasn't in Corona or Tacoma long enough to establish any sort of a following.

It's so very clear that Westerly's retain more monetary value, or at least sentimental value, just by the sheer number of sellers, both individual and shops, who emphasize that a guitar was built in Westerly in their listings....... it's used as a selling point, and that is easily demonstrated. I was actually questioned about that statement once by our very own Frono, and posted several listings in which sellers do just that (emphasize that a guitar was built in Westerly). There's simply no question which factory produced guitars which have best retained monetary value.

But the fact remains, that if you bought a $2000 D55 12 years ago, and are lucky enough to sell it for $2000 today, inflation got the best of you, and as a monetary investment, you still didn't come out on top.

West

+1 on the too early to assess NH.

On Westerly as a selling point, I agree that it is information that sellers include to differentiate their offering and suggest that the seller is more knowledgeable than the typical seller.

However...

When I was but a lad, CBS bought Fender. Now hardly was the ink dry but people started advertising stock as "pre-CBS" and demanding a premium for it. Since there were no changes in production for the first several months of CBS's ownership to my youthful eyes this was irrational market behavior. There was no evidence to suggest that the initial CBS products were in any way inferior and so the market was being driven by the fear that CBS products would eventually be inferior.

With that background I see a lot of people who act as if Guild was owned by the Dronge family until the 1990's at which point Fender took over and everything went to heck.

Hence I will often challenge people who claim Westerly built guitars are better or even different and, if so, whether the difference was cause by some factor that had nothing to do with the specific factory. Perhaps every guitar maker was experimenting with scalloped bracing?

With that somewhat cynical background I will question Westerly (and West R. Lee :wink: ). So my current thinking is that people who actually know Guilds and the history and have played guitars that span decades and factories can articulate differences between Westerly produced guitars and other factories as well as differences across the decades at Westerly. These are real differences and discernible by other people as well. But there are people who have no clue what they are saying who make the same claims.

And I still think anyone who buys Guild guitars now in hopes of having more money later after a sale, is not playing the odds correctly.

 

[chazmo]

but clearly the narrow view of investment with a fairly short-term horizon is not applicable to buying Guild guitars.

But... but... It is precisely because there are people whose posts sound as if they advocate the alternative view that this thread exists.

:wink:

Everyone's entitled to be wrong.