Has the price of low end Guilds gone up recently?

[Br1ck]

Weird? Is this tongue in cheek?

As for prices, I could have bought a D 18 for $275, $400, $750, $1000, $1400, $1800, $2200, and $2895. I could buy a comic book and a 16oz soda for a quarter, but I'd need to return an empty.

I think a Guild D 40 is a better value than a D 19 or a J 45. Martin and Gibson are in the envious position to tack on money for their name alone. It's just good business. I bought my Guild D 35 at a time you could get a good player for $800-900, and a decent Westerly D 25 for $600-800. It was unplayable due to neck and bridge issues. I paid $250 for it, then ten years later I paid a luthier $1100. When I got it back I was underwater about $300. This was of no consequence because it wasn't a consideration. A 70 Guild lives to play another day. Today I'm probably ahead of the game and my D 35 is a close second to my Santa Cruz. If you pay $1000 for a D 25 when you remember them being $600, it's just that you are getting older. Get used to it. I had to bite the bullet and pay $413,000 for my hundred year old house twenty years ago. Not so nice neighborhood, but I wanted control of my life. Am I crying that I don't think my house is worth the $1.2M current valuation? No, but since I'm not moving, the value is meaningless except as a safety blanket should I have to sell.

When D 18s were $275, people bought D 28s for $350. They all probably think today's value is not worth it. It is what it is.

 

[GeoffHW]

Weird? Is this tongue in cheek?

As for prices, I could have bought a D 18 for $275, $400, $750, $1000, $1400, $1800, $2200, and $2895. I could buy a comic book and a 16oz soda for a quarter, but I'd need to return an empty.

I think a Guild D 40 is a better value than a D 19 or a J 45. Martin and Gibson are in the envious position to tack on money for their name alone. It's just good business. I bought my Guild D 35 at a time you could get a good player for $800-900, and a decent Westerly D 25 for $600-800. It was unplayable due to neck and bridge issues. I paid $250 for it, then ten years later I paid a luthier $1100. When I got it back I was underwater about $300. This was of no consequence because it wasn't a consideration. A 70 Guild lives to play another day. Today I'm probably ahead of the game and my D 35 is a close second to my Santa Cruz. If you pay $1000 for a D 25 when you remember them being $600, it's just that you are getting older. Get used to it. I had to bite the bullet and pay $413,000 for my hundred year old house twenty years ago. Not so nice neighborhood, but I wanted control of my life. Am I crying that I don't think my house is worth the $1.2M current valuation? No, but since I'm not moving, the value is meaningless except as a safety blanket should I have to sell.

When D 18s were $275, people bought D 28s for $350. They all probably think today's value is not worth it. It is what it is.

The funny part about this is I'm only 25 and started looking for a guild when I was 24. So really I'm saying in about 6 months the normal price seems to have gone from $600 to $1000 for a decent condition D-25. Or I just got lucky and found them for that much that long ago. Either way, I can pay the money. That's no issue. It's more so just the idea that the price seems to have suddenly made a big jump in a few months from my perspective. Being someone who only started playing seriously in December and has not kept up with market changes.

 

[HeyMikey]

The funny part about this is I'm only 25 and started looking for a guild when I was 24. So really I'm saying in about 6 months the normal price seems to have gone from $600 to $1000 for a decent condition D-25. Or I just got lucky and found them for that much that long ago. Either way, I can pay the money. That's no issue. It's more so just the idea that the price seems to have suddenly made a big jump in a few months from my perspective. Being someone who only started playing seriously in December and has not kept up with market changes.

Perhaps too small a sample size. Things do fluctuate. I think if you are not in a hurry and just keep looking around you will eventually find what you want at a price that is more reasonable to you.

 

[wileypickett]

The best deals seem to be on Facebook these days.

 

[bobouz]

Regardless of all the causal factors, the market is finally treating Guilds like the quality US-made instruments that they are. Doesn’t look like the clock will be turning back anytime soon.

 

[Br1ck]

Location is very important too. $600 was a very good steal pre covid in the Bay Area. $800 was more like it for a mid Westerly D 25. Even then it was likely to need work. But I've long been resigned to everything being high here. I agree about sample size. And all the D 18 pricing I mentioned was beyond me at the time. I just had to provide the wife with valuations of my guitars for the trust we are creating. Needed to explain that wasn't what I paid ten or twenty years ago. Still, it was sobering to see on paper. I'm not so old I don't remember when even one Martin was not doable. I was paying off my daughter's $12k cello. Didn't buy a Martin until my 40s. The bright side is you only really need one. I've never been into toys. Instruments is it. No boats or motorcycles and cars don't do it for me. I could use more art, but even then I have some nice painting because the other half wanted them too.

But I can tell you, my D 35 is high on my favorite list, and I might get $1500 for it. Might. So Guilds are still pretty good bargains. An no, I had no idea how much I'd like it when I bought it unplayable so many yers ago, perhaps twenty. It was just a hunch it would be worth it to fix. I can still hear Richard of Gryphon tell me not to buy it to save money. It was not worth Gryphon's shop time to fix. Probably not today either.

I'd get x amount of cash together and go play guitars. I've looked for things for years. My Weber mandolin was a three plus year search and I stumbled on it two months after I'd decided I didn't need a fancy F style. They were all $2000 more than I wanted to pay, then it was there for a thousand less. Same sort of thing when I got it into my head I wanted a D 18 to go with my Guild D 35. First I bought a Martin D 35 that Bryan Kinsey had after I asked if he knew of any D 18s for sale. He said no, but trust me you want this Martin. He was right. Then another five years went buy until I picked up my SCGC one day. Hey, mahogany back and sides, beautiful bear claw top, perfect tone and herringbone trim to boot. It was instant love and cost me three good instruments and a wad of cash.

 

[Boneman]

I think it’s all relative, today’s $1,000 is last years $500. I agree with everyone else; patience and persistence, just bide your time, and the right deal will present itself.

 

[davenumber2]

The way I look at it is, if you love the guitar, what’s the difference if you pay a couple hundred bucks extra? That’s assuming you can afford it at the time. Over the course of the time you’ll have the guitar it’s really nothing.
I like a great deal as much as the next guy but are we looking for a deal or a great guitar? Sometimes you can get both but not always.

 

[Br1ck]

I've found one truth, and that for me is never give what you paid for a guitar a second thought once the money leaves your account. I do not buy guitars on a whim, but I can make very good decisions in a very short time because I've had enough experience to judge the special from the good. The special is worth paying for. If I were not on forums, guitar value would rarely enter my thoughts. Of the four guitars I play regularly, two were instant bonds, one a crapshoot hunch, and one bought sight unseen from a trusted source. I know there were some that weren't willing to buy that D 18 that was two years old for the almost new pandemic price. I feel sorry they didn't overpay a bit and enjoy their seclusion. Then there is the splurge of paying a lot more than you ever have. That lasts for me about a day and a half. Never a twinge of regret.

 

[Midnight Toker]

Keep in mind, in this world of owner/sellers online market, asking price is hardly ever the real current going price. People list things for all sorts of exaggerated prices, and I’m sure some people w/ deep pockets that buy things on a whim will bite, but you really have to go to both Reverb and EBay and check the sold history on those items based on condition and find the high and low price from the last 12 months and somewhere in between will be your legitimate current price point. You can always message the seller, copy and paste a few sales histories to them and make them a fair offer. Especially if their asking price has caused it to just sit there for a while.