Vintage

[fronobulax]

There is no universal standard definition. It varies when you are talking cars. 20 or 25? Where are you? Objects from 1875 are antiques in Nevada and need to be 100 years older to qualify in Virginia.

If I wanted specific values for guitars I would look at how Guitar Center uses the terms. Since the return policy is different for "used" and "vintage" how old does something have to be before GC calls it vintage?

 

[Westerly Wood]

Probably not going to use the guitar center value system on anything of real value. Lol.

 

[fronobulax]

Probably not going to use the guitar center value system on anything of real value. Lol.

Well their definition of "How old is vintage?" might be closer to a standard than LTG's guesses.

 

[GAD]

From what I've seen, guitars that they don't want people returning in 30 days are listed as vintage. They just use it as a filter to keep the tire-kickers at bay.

It's basically "same as used, but nicer and we think it's worth more"

 

[fronobulax]

From what I've seen, guitars that they don't want people returning in 30 days are listed as vintage. They just use it as a filter to keep the tire-kickers at bay.

It's basically "same as used, but nicer and we think it's worth more"

I got the idea that is was age related since the GC employee I talked to years ago seemed to have some criteria as to whether it could be priced locally as used or needed corporate to price it as vintage. But I don't know for sure.

 

[davismanLV]

Autos have been mentioned and I know that's not the original question, so it's veer-ish. But Nevada has two types of plates that you can order for your car if it's 20 or more years old. Both the Classic Vehicle and Classic Rod plates are available for cars over 20 years old and (this is why the number of these plates has skyrocketed) are exempt from smog certification. You should see some of the heaps these plates appear on!!

As far as guitars, the above discussion proves why there is so much abuse of the term, as there really is no common definition either in terms of era or quality or even year.

 

[Guildedagain]

Like someone mentioned, "moving target". People put down 70's guitars as junk until 60's guitars dried up, 80's buttrock guitars were the next to suddenly appreciate, and so on...

20 years ago;

"Pancake body" Norlin era Les Pauls derided as being insanely heavy with definite tonal issues stemming from unusual/inferior construction imposed on the factory floor by the "bean counters".

10 years ago;

"Pancake body" Norlin era Les Pauls touted as having incredible tone because of the pancake construction of wood scraps found laying about production floors and dumpsters, as well as the weight suddenly being the best thing since sliced bread, so much better than those silly "chambered" guitars.

 

[silverfox103]

Antique cars in NH, over 25 years old, can get antique plate. I have 3 of them with plates.

Tom

 

[adorshki]

I got the idea that is was age related since the GC employee I talked to years ago seemed to have some criteria as to whether it could be priced locally as used or needed corporate to price it as vintage. But I don't know for sure.

I think anything older than the typical GC employee qualifies for "vintage".

 

[GAD]

I got the idea that is was age related since the GC employee I talked to years ago seemed to have some criteria as to whether it could be priced locally as used or needed corporate to price it as vintage. But I don't know for sure.

If memory serves once a vintage guitar has been priced by corporate, the store can no longer discount it without their approval.

To be fair my previous post was a fair bit snarky. While I don't have links for proof, I seem to recall seeing the some model listed as vintage and used on different occasions, and the only real difference was the condition and therefor the value, and thus I came to the conclusion that GC uses "vintage" as a means to control discounts and return abuse on nicer guitars.

 

[walrus]

If memory serves once a vintage guitar has been priced by corporate, the store can no longer discount it without their approval.

Yes, that has been my experience s well. If you want to sell to them, it's the same thing, it has to got through the corporate "Vintage Department".

walrus

 

[fronobulax]

Yeah. My conversation established that there were two paths. One was the item was merely used and thus could be priced locally and discounts could be negotiated at least locally. The other path was that the item was declared vintage, the price was set by Corporate - (based upon hopefully better pictures than were published and based on a conversation with the employee who had their hands on the item) - and the price was not negotiable through normal channels. I thought the item's age was what the employee used to decide whether to call Corporate or the local Manager to price it. The restrictions on negotiations were to allow for some revenue sharing between the store that bought the item and the store that sold the item and to keep them out of direct competition.

 

[DrumBob]

I have always believed that a vintage guitar was built before 1980, but I don't think there is any hard and fast date. That's the date I use. YMMV.

 

[GGJaguar]

G&L has only been around since 1980 so, to me (and other G&L collectors), vintage covers the Leo Fender years (1980-91).

 

[Uke]

Isn’t a vintage automobile considered 20 years or more?

The term is used and abused so much as to have no real meaning any more. The 80s were 40 years ago! How did THAT happen?

The 80s were 40 years ago! How did THAT happen?

Mind-boggling, isn't it?!