Good guitar as an investment, around £1.5k?

robinbowes

A friend has just retired and has a lump sum to invest. He's thinking of getting a guitar - Tele/Strat/Les Paul/etc. up to a max of £1.5k.

What sort of thing would be a good investment in today's market?

R.

musicman100

If he's wanting an investment tell him not to bother with guitars. 

breakstuff

Star Wars Lego is your friend.

octatonic

To investors £1.5k is called 'lunch'.

70's Fender basses can be had for that amount and they are going up in price.
Not a huge return to be had but probably the best thing in guitars at that point right now.

You'd probably do better buying cheap stuff here and being patient about finding buyers for it on gumtree.

Voxman

If he can find a good one, perhaps an older Martin acoustic.  For electrics, perhaps something quirky and unusual that might attract collector interest in years to come.  Something like an older US made Airline/Valco perhaps. 

But either way, not only is £1,500 not much dosh, but it should be considered a speculative & higher risk purchase rather than an 'investment'.  

Rave

If you have to ask the question then investing probably isn't for you/him. There certainly are plenty of investment worthy guitars about.

He'd be best off spending that £1500 on bargains found on gumtree, ebay or other free ad sites. Guitar shops, believe it or not are another place to score bargains. The 'experts' behind the counter don't always know as much as they think they do.

If he buys the right guitars or amps he could at least double his money in a month. There are people on here who do it for a living, they won't admit it but they do!

RandallFlagg

Better off putting it on the horses

Bridgehouse

RandallFlagg said:

Better off putting it on the horses

It will fall off when they start running

Stevepage

Buy Lego, preferably special or limited edition sets. Try and find out which sets are soon to be discontinued too as people will rush to buy them at any cost.

If it's guitars he's adamant about, older Les Paul models and older Prs guitars are going up in value.

stimpsonslostson

Hello Kitty Squiers pop up on gumtree cheaply & can fetch silly money sometimes. It's hardly a secure investment though. 
With that kind of sum I'd buy a nice second hand Gibson or Fender, play it, enjoy it & HOPE to recover my outlay if I chose to sell. 

stickyfiddle

Guitars are not good investments. A handful of guitars in history have given a return good enough to be described as a sound investment (pre-CBS Fenders, 50's Les Pauls/Vs/Explorers, pre-war Martins etc). 

If he wants a £1.5k guitar that won't lose money then look at used CS Gibsons and CS Fenders because they hold their value well. 

But don't expect anything at that price to appreciate. 

Chalky

A guitar is like a company that's light on assets but pays strong dividends. The dividends are the days of getting enjoyment from playing it. Capital gains is possible but Barclays Bank shares are more likely to go up over the medium term. But they are nowhere near as enjoyable.

guitars4you

Buy the best clean, used and tidy Fender or Gibson that you can for £1500 - Don't know what his preference is, but at least in 10-20 years time it should be worth more than £1500 and even in the short term any loss will be minimal - Buy new and loose 30% or more in 2 mins

Cleaner the better and original are better options by the sound of things

hassleham

breakstuff said:

Star Wars Lego is your friend.

Anyone want to buy a Lego millennium falcon?

midlifecrisis

Buy 15 sub £100 guitars on gumtree, then punt them out at £130 over a few months. 30% return on investment.  I am serious 

Iamnobody

midlifecrisis said:

Buy 15 sub £100 guitars on gumtree, then punt them out at £130 over a few months. 30% return on investment.  I am serious 

That's a lot of effort for £450! I do hope you are not serious...

@robinbowes Does you mate mean invest in the true meaning of the word? Or does he just want to buy a nice guitar for £1500?

stimpsonslostson

midlifecrisis said:

Buy 15 sub £100 guitars on gumtree, then punt them out at £130 over a few months. 30% return on investment.  I am serious 

There's more than a little wisdom here.
Over the past 4 years i think I've had maybe 8 cheap Squier strats from Gumtree. I buy em, clean em, restring em, set em up properly & sell for £20 profit. 

usedtobe

I've never associated investment with work, before. I thought the whole idea was to sit on your arse and watch the money roll in..

mort

If Amazon have another Black Friday Gibson blow-out I would suggest he books the day off and sits by his computer all day as the best deals were only available for a couple of hours if that. Sunburst 339s for £1150, Standards for £1049, Juniors for £289 etc etc. Instant profit as well as investment potential.......

riscado

if you want a cool vintage guitar, try finding a SG junior. If you want an investment, like someone said, try starwars lego.

midlifecrisis

Iamnobody said:

midlifecrisis said:

Buy 15 sub £100 guitars on gumtree, then punt them out at £130 over a few months. 30% return on investment.  I am serious 

That's a lot of effort for £450! I do hope you are not serious...

@robinbowes Does you mate mean invest in the true meaning of the word? Or does he just want to buy a nice guitar for £1500?

450 For a few hours work. Not a fortune but it can be scaled up or down to suit.