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1958 Fender Telecaster Blonde Top Loader-Mint w/OHSC - $30,000 (Brookline)
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While I have your attention,
Virtually all of OUR gear is now almost worthless.
This is a post to RANT, and maybe help clear out some of the detritus that's clogging up C's L.
Another day, another boomer "retiring" from performing music and dumping their motley collection on C's L.
Apparently not many of you have received the memo: Bar gigs and hence bar bands are HISTORY, and never coming back. The mating game has gone elsewhere, the next generation has no interest in becoming proficient on an instrument (remember Rock Band and Guitar Hero?), since they didn't grow up to the soundtrack of great bands like us boomers. They got boybands and rap in the 2000's. Name one band that's in the national consciousness these days/making hit records....The pandemic instrument sales boom turned out to be a bust as most found out becoming proficient on an instrument takes a lot more time, effort and perseverance than most are willing to commit.
So, all of OUR used gear is now virtually worthless. There is simply zero demand for anything but the most desirable of vintage instruments, and even they have a very small pool of interested buyers, basically guys with great day jobs who still happen to have a band to play or at least practice with and for. All of your middle of the road, used, non-collectable pieces are NOT going to sell for anything more than bargain-basement prices IF YOU'RE LUCKY. I've watched some of you relist the same pieces for YEARS now, and I'll bet you haven't even got one serious offer for any of it (I'm looking at you Derry NH and Lowell). Do you really think that your gear will become more desirable in the future? Give me one scenario where demand goes up for live music- maybe alien overlords outlaw the internet and smart phones? Bar bands are gone forever, and with it, demand for musical gear. Guitar Center will go out of business within the next few years, podcasting and other content-creation gear is the only thing keeping them afloat for now.
My advice? Stop clogging up Craig's List, sell the gear for whatever you can, and move on with your life. Here's a concept for you: TRY LOWERING YOUR PRICE INCREMENTALLY TILL IT SELLS. I guarantee you whatever price you get for your crap, you will not regret the amount you received or cashing out while you still can.
Be grateful we got to gig as much as we did back in the day. Live music had a great run of 40-50 years or so. It was fun while it lasted, but it is truly OVER!
Update 8/26 Perhaps some additional clarification is warranted...
1)I am an ex-full time musician/bandleader who worked over 150-200 nights a year from the early 1990's through around 2008
My band and most like it regularly got paid as much as $800-1000 a night (in 1990 dollars) in clubs and played to full houses, no promotion on the part of the band needed. Gigs these days are lucky to pay $300-400 with the onus of bringing in a crowd resting solely on the band,
2)I had a collection of roughly 50-80 vintage Fender guitars and basses. Most are sold already. For a while I regretted selling some of them for what I received, but now in retrospect, I'm grateful I sold most of them for what I did when I did.
3)The purpose of the above rant was NOT to shit on run-of-the-mill used instrument, but to help sellers realize there is a reason why NONE of the gear is selling these days. Some people, esp musicians, have a hard time seeing the big picture...If you doubt this, pick a desirable piece that's listed on C's L now. Bookmark it; then check back in a month or three- it will still be there.
4)The reason I posted the rant on C's L is because it's a great barometer for the health of the music community. There are many great, desirable pieces available that would have sold quickly back when there was a viable live music scene, yet NONE of them are selling unless the seller is realistic about his pricing. HINT: If you haven't got ONE SINGLE reasonable offer on your item (and you're serious about selling), by definition, YOU'VE PRICED IT TOO HIGH.
5)Case in point: I recently sold two vintage pieces on C's L, a 1966 Fender Precision Bass in LPB, and a Fender Profession 300 bass amp. I started the bass listing at $15K, but kept reducing the price until it finally sold at $10K. The amp started at $1300 and sold for $800. To my point- if you truly want to sell your gear in this market, you need to list and sell it at a price someone's willing to pay. Relisting your item for YEARS at the same price is not going to get it done, yet so many of you continue to do so. To my question above- what do you think is going to change in the future to make your used gear more desirable?
6)Take Allston, Ma for example. Up until around 2005, there were 7 live music clubs in operation (O'Brien's, Kinvara, Common Ground, Kells, Harper's Ferry, Great Scott's, and even the Silhouette and the Sunset Grill often had small ensembles) on any weekend night paying their bands $500-1000 a night in 1990's dollars. Now there's only one, O'Brien's, paying four bands an average of what, $25-50 a set?
7)There used to be three or four rehearsal complexes in the area, often with a waiting list or bands sharing rooms. Now? Crickets....
As far as the next generation being more proficient, that's a joke. Seeing one or two basement-dwelling loners on Youtube etc who have taken advantage of the vast amounts of educational material on the web does not constitute a "talented generation". Back in the day, a sizeable portion of the music community was in GIGGING bands. Now all you have is a bunch of loner hobbyists and "content-creators" wanking in front of their computer screen, until they finally get a good take that they can post.
Berklee is propped up largely on the high percentage of rich foreign students paying close to full boat for tuition. Take them away, and the program collapses. When students realize that their music "career" will subsist of mostly creating content for Youtube and Instagram, the idea paying for an "education" becomes much less appealing. The Boston Globe recently published an article about the respective returns on investment in a wide range of college degrees. Berklee had a NEGATIVE return on all but one degree path, probably education or behind the scenes content production, certainly NOT performance.
It used to be you could find underpriced gear on Ebay, C's L etc. Now 99% of the gear is over-priced. There are some pieces I would still buy today if the sellers would price according to demand.
PS To those of you who still own a few or more high-end vintage pieces like Strats, Teles etc. be aware that there is a serious correction in market value happening as we speak. The reason? All the boomers who collected these pieces are 60+ years old and are going to be unloading them in the next five years (or their heirs will be fire-selling them while Granddad is still warm in the box), creating a huge increase in SUPPLY. Combine this with the BOTTOMING OUT OF DEMAND and you have the perfect recipe for a market crash. Again, in retrospect I'm glad I sold most of my collection over the last decade for whatever I got for it. Don't say I didn't warn you- sell now for what you can. Most younger players wouldn't know a vintage Fender from a seven-string Ibanez these days; they certainly aren't going to be ponying up $30K down the road for a vintage Strat that has no cultural context for them.
If you're still interested in the Telecaster after reading this, let me know :)