Age old question, sell or keep vintage gear?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bkemp23
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Sell or Keep?

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bkemp23

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Well, I've been thinking about selling some vintage gear but can't quite commit. I have a great condition ADA MP-1 and a bunch of Moogerfoogers, all of which have been discontinued and have appreciated in value significantly. If I sell them, I really doubt I would be able to afford to purchase them again because the prices only seem to being going up (although that may be stopping for now). The catch is i don't really use them and if I do use them, it is usually for a short time and then I put them away again. They are cool for a specific sounds and when I find something cool it usually inspires a riff but I imagine any gear would do that. I'm a guitar hobbyist who doesn't play out or record much and I also have minimal time for playing.

What thought process has made you decide to either keep or sell your gear?
 
Basically whether or not I even use it anymore..

And how much dough I can get out of it and use to buy something I wanna use/try now.
 
If it's something that you think you could never find again and you think you will use it, keep it. If you honestly don't think you will ever use it again, sell it. Everyone is different though, there are guys with 50 guitars and haven't touched most of them in years but owning them makes them happy, and thats their right. I personally don't understand it, I really only keep what I use on a regular basis...but then again I don't have the money to have thousands of dollars worth of guitars/amps just laying around going unused.
 
I’ve got three LPCs all refretted (or being refretted) and all in great condition. I won’t sell them unless I have to because A) proper refret jobs on high end guitars are hard to come by and B) I’ll not get them again for what I have in them in current market trends. The final and last reason is that C) high end vintage gear isn’t selling right now - all people want to do is read your article and hunt for stupid reasons why they don’t want to pay your price and expect you to bend over. I’d rather keep it than eat a shit sandwich on vintage gear.
 
glpg80 said:
I’ve got three LPCs all refretted (or being refretted) and all in great condition. I won’t sell them unless I have to because A) proper refret jobs on high end guitars are hard to come by and B) I’ll not get them again for what I have in them in current market trends. The final and last reason is that C) high end vintage gear isn’t selling right now - all people want to do is read your article and hunt for stupid reasons why they don’t want to pay your price and expect you to bend over. I’d rather keep it than eat a shit sandwich on vintage gear.
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As for high end vintage gear not selling, some is. The clean original desirable stuff still moves and at a decent price. The stuff that is not the grade a stuff, not so much.
 
If you have multiple of the same moogerfoogers, I'd sell

but dont sell them if theyre all different
 
Greazygeo said:
As for high end vintage gear not selling, some is. The clean original desirable stuff still moves and at a decent price. The stuff that is not the grade a stuff, not so much.
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Had a mint like new condition PCM81 with the rare dual FX card for sale in the classifieds for months and no dice. Just lots of bitching.
 
I always have a tough time letting go of pieces I know I can't replace, unless the market gets really stupid.
 
If I don’t use it I sell it . I know of lost money actually because of this but I got OCD about using stuff I own . I sold 2c+, mk IV, first run vht Deliverance , a 1950 Gibson , and others that would be worth a shit ton .
 
Would personally sell before the trend declines if it had little use to me. I sold a 59' MM for $4.5k during peak covid sales, and doubt I could get half that now. If it's something that you're on the fence about, post it for top dollar. If it sells, great. If not you still have something you're inclined to use once in a while until it comes back into fashion.
 
Funk'n Metal said:
Would personally sell before the trend declines if it had little use to me. I sold a 59' MM for $4.5k during peak covid sales, and doubt I could get half that now. If it's something that you're on the fence about, post it for top dollar. If it sells, great. If not you still have something you're inclined to use once in a while until it comes back into fashion.
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This is a great idea! I think this will be my approach.
 
RaceU4her said:
be careful with that advice, people asking for top dollar are looked at as domestic terrorists by many around here lol.
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Just post it on FB Deutschland, they love that stuff.

...then delete this thread.
 
glpg80 said:
Had a mint like new condition PCM81 with the rare dual FX card for sale in the classifieds for months and no dice. Just lots of bitching.
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Yeah rack gear for the most part is such a niche market. Have to find the right person that doesn’t already have one. I still have some odds and ends sitting around that will never get used. Not worth the time or hassle of even bothering trying to sell them.
 
Depends why you have the gear in the first place.

Collector vs Musician.

I have some older amps because of the way they sound, not as an investment.
So i'm not looking to sell any of those amps regardless of what they're worth.

Vintage digital rack effects on the other hand are getting harder to service and fix when they stuff up.
Vintage amps can always be repaired.
 
I'm not a collector so selling is always the best option when stuff is basically just lying around and I'm not bothering with hypotheticals anymore.
 
anomaly said:
There are a few amps I really regret selling. There's no getting them back, just remember that.
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Very well said. If your guitars or amps are one offs, low in quantity, in better than average condition, or not easily rebuilt/modded, hang onto them. They’re only going to continue to increase in value.

Every single amp I have is modded/one off/rare/a custom build. They aren’t going anywhere because I’d not be able to replace them with any amount of money (except for maybe the Bogner but It would take a while)

All of my guitars are keepers because my wife either loves them and I can’t sell her favourites or they sound great and play great - I’d rather hang onto them than sell.
 
Reading through this thread and thinking about my husband the other day (and most before that, haha) telling me to sell off some gear before buying more like 10 minutes after he opened his 2nd 3rd 10th gear order of the month.
 
If were talking years of not using them then move them out--sell. Surely you could put that extra dough somewhere else.
 
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