What age does a guitar become vintage

Rocker

As per title. Is a '70s instrument vintage or will it take a few more years... Just wondering.

randomhandclaps

It varies. I read that at Music Ground a guitar took approximately 40 minutes from being unpacked from the factory box to become a vintage collectable.

xmrchi

For me I only class a guitar as vintage at 35 years but that's just me

iseverynamegone

It' becomes vintage In the time between deciding to sell it and listing it for sale.

Philly_Q

Isn't there some kind of unofficial "rule" about guitars qualifying as vintage after 30 years?

I may be imagining that....

Sarge

25 years is the general consensus.

Brize

Yeah, 25 years.

Philly_Q

So 1990 is vintage now?  Bloody hell, to me that seems like yesterday.

Chiliwailer

randomhandclaps said:

It varies. I read that at Music Ground a guitar took approximately 40 minutes from being unpacked from the factory box to become a vintage collectable.

Probably the best thing I've ever read on a forum!

ESchap

With cars, vintage is pre 1930! There to 1973 approx is classic and after that well, modern really. >:D<

MattFGBI

I think it's probably 70's and older. You don't really see any reissues from the 80's!

UnclePsychosis

Philly_Q said:

So 1990 is vintage now?  Bloody hell, to me that seems like yesterday.

Come July we're closer to 2040 than we are 1990. Eek!

p90fool

Never in most cases. Gibson and Fender had "vintage" periods when their older guitars were better than what was being currently produced, which is what kickstarted that market.

A 2001 Strat or Les Paul will never be "vintage", even in 40 years' time, it'll just be old.
There was a golden age, largely before The Beatles effect quadrupled guitar production, and anything outside of that is just another guitar.

octatonic

The 25 year rule only worked when the 1960s was 25 years previously.

1990's cannot be considered to be vintage- it is just silly.

There is no real consensus- it depends on whether you are talking to someone like Gruhn, or someone trying to flog an instrument that might get a bit more money by claiming it is vintage.

Most museum curators and vintage guitar experts agree* that the 'vintage guitar' period ended when Fender was bought by CBS, or around then.

That might have to change somewhere down the line.

Vintage is somewhat a meaningless term, in many ways.

*Agree is a relative term as well.

ICBM

MattFGBI said:

I think it's probably 70's and older. You don't really see any reissues from the 80's!

Considering your very own company reissued some of their amps from the early 90s - the Blues Deluxe and Deville - you may want to re-think that .

It's odd - as I've said before, when I bought my first amp in 1985 it was a 1964 Centurion Hi-Fi Five, 21 years old at the time, and seemed ancient. It was completely unlike any 'modern' 1980s amp, very primitive and basic.

I now own a Mesa Trem-o-verb which was made in 1994 and thus is also 21 years old, but still seems entirely modern to me, and really no different from most current amps.

Brize

octatonic said:

Most museum curators and vintage guitar experts agree* that 'vintage guitar' period ended when Fender was bought by CBS, or around then.

I seem to remember some guitar authority claiming that 1968 was the cut-off year as far as he was concerned. For me it's 1965 when CBS bought Fender and when Gibson went to the narrow nut width.

xSkarloey

I like the simpler use of the term as used in the wine world. Am I right in saying that, with wine, 'vintage' might have connotations of 'old' if it's a bottle from a while back, but it mainly means 'this wine is from a year declared very good for its type'. 2006 was declared a vintage year in Bordeaux for instance.

I think when it comes to flogging guitars, 'vintage' is too often indiscriminately thrown around as an epithet applied to various stuff, some of which is old, rare and good and a lot of which is rubbish.

Skipped

A first year Historic Les Paul (1993) cannot become a vintage guitar in 3 years time or 7 years time. It is impossible. The idea is ludicrous. So we will have to rethink our use of the word and I think it will become associated with the golden era periods of several USA guitar companies.

I have no idea whatsoever what should be done with people who insist that a 1973 Les Paul Deluxe is a vintage guitar. I never said this was going to be easy. I would suggest a 2 week ban as a reasonable starting point.

timhulio

1980 is the cut-off point. If you describe a '85 Japanese Strat as vintage it sounds dumb, whereas as '79 International Color Strat could be called vintage, even (as is likely) if the MIJ instrument is far better quality and comes from a 'golden age' of guitar production.  

timhulio

A 1973 Les Paul Deluxe is a vintage guitar because a) OLD and b) THIS GUY

cj73

Awesome…my RG will be vintage in 2 years….