DH,
As someone who's exhibited at the Texas Shows before, dealers come to a show for several reasons:
1) They may have a few big ticket items they want to sell (or may not!).
2) They definitely want to sell things they can't get rid of in the home market.
3) They may want to trade with other dealers and bring back different merchandise to the shop.
4) They are looking for instruments that will interest a list of customers, as in, "Get me a green SG", or, "I'm looking for Washburn parlor guitar."
People come up to all the exhibitors all the time and show them guitars.
Me, or my booth partner, "Hey what you got in the brown case?"
Seller, "I've got an 'Abednego 12' here, how much you want to give me?"
Me, "Let me see it." I look at guitar. "Dude, that guitar has such an outrageous paint job, I can barely see that crack in the body! I'll offer you $900."
Seller, "Mmmn, I need more!"
Me, "Good Luck!"
Seller walks off and comes back an hour later, "I'll take the $900!"
What's about to happen here? Nothing! The guy's walked the whole show and I'm the only one who offered $900, so I"m too high on the price in terms of trading it to another dealer at the show. So unless I have a special customer back home ("I need an Abednego 12 in a nutty color, Man!"), I'm going to offer the guy less or just tell him I changed my mind.
DH, another thing, most of the big buying is done the night before the show opens. All the big overseas or national buyers will spend most of their money with the dealers as they set up their booths. So, if you're lucky, there will be a few left on Saturday morning. Get there early and walk the guitar.
I'd have a pic of the guitar, with description, on the outside of the case (some people even put a pic on the back of their shirt, so a dealer can tell what you have if they happen to walk behind you). If someone sees the picture and asks you about the guitar, I'd say, "I have a first year Guild archtop in very good condition." If they smile and say, "thanks", they don't want to see it. If they ask you to open the case, then you have someone who is interested. I'd shoot them an offer a couple hundred over what you really want and see what happens. If they come in way below, you can say a couple of different things, like, "That's best offer I've had all day, but I'm looking to get a little more than that," or, "Thanks, Man, but I need to keep looking." "You can always say something like, 'Hey, I like that Shadrach 6. Maybe I'll come back and talk to you!" That let's the dealer know that you're not pissed off with him, but that you're going to check out some options, blah blah.....
Obviously, you are going to want to stop by booths that have electric arch-top guitars and Guilds. I think the 'first year made' factoid is a good thing and could make a difference to some one who is not even a Guild buyer (as in the following phone call, from a prospective Buyer to his customer back home, "Rodney? It's me, Billy from Meshach Guitars in Peoria. I got a first year arch-top! What? Oh, it's a Guild X-something, like the 28th made! Guy wants 22 bones. You want I send a pic? Okay, right now, Man"). If somebody gets close to what you were going to get out of this guitar when 'Guild Guy' had it on consignment, I think you ought to sell it and call it a good day.
There are still some big Japanese buyers, but the Glory Days are 20 years gone. As well, it depends on the size of the show. Overseas buyers usually show up at the 'Big Shows", not the little ones. Interestingly, the Biggest Overseas Buyers usually turn out to be whoever has the best 'home country vs. American dollar' exchange rate that month (week?). Sometimes it's the Brits, sometimes it's the Scandinavians, Aussies, Germans, etc. You never know. Ask the dealers when you talk to them. "Hey, who are the strong overseas buyers this year?" "The Swedes, Man!" "Yeah, do they have a booth?" "Uh-huh, look for the two Vikings over at a small booth against the main wall, blah blah."
Treat it like a game, go out there to make some friends, I bet you do fine.
Good luck, pal! HH
