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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15664
Location: SoCal | A Breadwinner Ltd just sold on ebay for $810. I love that prices for Ovation solidbodies seem to be going up.
On the other side, a 1537 Elite just sold for $430 on ebay, a ridiculously low price for a tremendous guitar. I can't figure out the used guitar market at all. | |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13987
Location: Upper Left USA | Paul,
For the sake of discussion here's my forecast for the future.
Elites and single holes, except for those with special history, will level off or decline in price. this is due to the better acoustic sounds coming in the next few years. Also I believe, because of the limited number of "Artists" to push them.
Solidbody's will increase in value as long as they are a quality instrument in an acheivable range - no more than 70% of new instruments price.
I believe as the new Ovations reach the market the older ones will have to be bargains to catch peoples eye/wallet.
There will be a lot of good deals. Stay ready. | |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Ovations could be in a very good position to jump in price. They've been around long enough to stand the test of time and there's enough different models that the really good ones stand out.
If there were to be several contemporary guitar heros start playing them on TV and in their shows and talk about them in the magazines and carry them along when they do the Letterman and Opra and Ellen shows and WAIT!!!!!!!!
Sorry, getting carried away there.
CLICK! | |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Timely conversation. I have noticed an increase in the solid-body prices myself. Actually they have been on a steady rise (although slow) for several years. As CWK2 put it, the time is right. There is no formula, but lately I have had several conversations with guitar players in my studio that go something like "I wow, I remember those" or "I didn't know they made electrics." No matter which starter happens, we usually end up playing some guitars. Usually a Breadwinner, UKII, Viper, UltraGP and PF-22. After they comment on how nice the guitars are, is when I unleash the fact that they are all over 20 years including the Breadwinner which is over to 30 years old. I usually then explain the technology behind especially the Breadwinner and the UKII. At that point, we try to figure out who is making a guitar in the USA in the comparable price-point to what these guitars were back then. Even the GP fits into the conversation because it was at least assembled in the USA along the likes of the economy Schecter line.... and then we are back that these guitars are over 20 years old, been played well, and still play well. They were built like tanks.
Ok... move to soapbox number two. As evidence by groups such as Outcast, QOTSA, White Stripes and many others, artists are looking for something different now more than ever. The "music video" is coming around where people want to see "performance" shots, but the artists want to be remembered, so although Fenders and Pauls are still out there, a lot more "what in blazes is that guy playing" is starting to be seen.
Move to soapbox # 3.... The environment. Good sound, and good to the environment. I'm surprised Ovation hasn't jumped on that bandwagon, and maybe it's about time. Wood is at a premium, and it's pretty hard to sell your "bo good to the environment" while playing a piece of wood that came from a tree that may already be gone, or will be gone soon. As I write this, although they are not guitars, I am looking at a pair of the industry standard Yamaha NS-10M speakers that I almost feel guilty for owning, because the rare tree from which the wood came from to make the cones no longer exists (hence the speakers are no longer made). I use them as my daily reminder to by kind to the environment.
So after three perspectives, and I am sure there are more, I see "the market" realizing what Ovation has been doing. I think next year, with the 30th Anniversary of the Adamas happening, folks may realize that those other "composite" companies are just trying to copy something that as existed for a long time. Smart buyers may go after the original if presented in the right way. | |
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Breadwinner Ltd