Question:
We all know that old Gibsons and Fenders are fetching really high prices these days. But I wonder if the guitars we're buying today will ever increase in price over the years. Guitars don't really expire or fall apart too often, so I'd imagine these current guitars won't really become "rare" anytime soon. There will be almost as many 2008 guitars in existence as there are 2060 guitars (assuming guitars don't explode in popularity).
The one factor I can see increasing the value of current guitars is the dwindling supply of certain tone woods (e.g., mahogany). Other than that, I dunno...
Just something I'm curious about.

Answer:
Normally I would say "no", but some people out there are currently paying crazy-stupid money for Norlin-era Gibsons and CBS-era Strats, so I guess anything is possible.
I wouldn't worry about it. It's like wondering if your current rookie baseball cards might someday be worth Ty Cobb's.
Buy your guitars to play them.
For Investment, get a Roth IRA and max out your 401k at work.
"There is no power in the universe greater than compound interest."
- Albert Einstein

Answer:
The Gibson Custom Shop Les Pauls that weigh in at less than 9 pounds with Easter Maple tops no chambers or weight relief holes will be in demand a couple of decades from now. Lightweight mahogany is getting nearly impossible to source in sizes large enough for a 1-piece LP-style body.
Early versions of Les Paul Classics with Plus and Premium Plus tops will demand top dollar in 2028. They will be seen as viable and cheaper alternatives to 1990--2002 Custom Shop Les Pauls.
Orange amps from the '90's and early '00's will be in demand, especially the handwired AD Series. Also, Vox amps made in the Marshall plant during the same period will skyrocket as the 60's versions are locked away in collector's vaults.
Any amp made in England will become collectible.

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I'm just praying that some SUPER famous future musician plays Line 6 and Schecter Diamond Series guitars.....

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If my memory doesn't fail me, Mazi Bee can travel in time. Perhaps he can be of help here.

Answer:
The Gibson Custom Shop Les Pauls that weigh in at less than 9 pounds with Easter Maple tops no chambers or weight relief holes will be in demand a couple of decades from now. Lightweight mahogany is getting nearly impossible to source in sizes large enough for a 1-piece LP-style body.
Early versions of Les Paul Classics with Plus and Premium Plus tops will demand top dollar in 2028. They will be seen as viable and cheaper alternatives to 1990--2002 Custom Shop Les Pauls.
Orange amps from the '90's and early '00's will be in demand, especially the handwired AD Series. Also, Vox amps made in the Marshall plant during the same period will skyrocket as the 60's versions are locked away in collector's vaults.
Any amp made in England will become collectible. Good news for me. I bought the 5th AD 50 ever made.

Answer:
I don't see it with the big manufactureres - they just have too high volume. But perhaps some of the niche builders, some of the smaller operations: I could see a market for "pre fender" Hamers, there's already a market of sorts for the older PRSi, perhaps older Suhrs. stuff like that

Answer:
For Investment, get a Roth IRA and max out your 401k at work. I don't have a 401K (I get 75% of my highest salary adjusted for inflation when I retire), but I do have a supplemental account that is like a 401K. It's been performing horribly over the last year or so. In fact, I pulled most of the money out and paid down the principal on my house with the proceeds and then refinanced for a shorter mortgage.
Vintage guitars have not fared very well in the last two years either. The prices have gone through an "adjustment" after being Oprah-money priced a few years ago.
But the economy will rebound, that's the only thing that we know for sure. The questions are "when?" and "has it bottomed out yet?"
Still, I think that people who own nice examples (I'm talking higher end US made Custom Shop) of recent Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, PRS and other popular guitars will do well in the decades to come. The resources used to make them are finite, and Gibson has been having trouble finding good, lightweight South American mahogany since 1983 when they started drilling holes in the bodies of Les Pauls. So hang onto those Custom Shop Standards for awhile.

Answer:
I don't have a 401K (I get 75% of my highest salary adjusted for inflation when I retire), but I do have a supplemental account that is like a 401K. It's been performing horribly over the last year or so. In fact, I pulled most of the money out and paid down the principal on my house with the proceeds and then refinanced for a shorter mortgage.
Vintage guitars have not fared very well in the last two years either. The prices have gone through an "adjustment" after being Oprah-money priced a few years ago.
But the economy will rebound, that's the only thing that we know for sure. The questions are "when?" and "has it bottomed out yet?"
Still, I think that people who own nice examples (I'm talking higher end US made Custom Shop) of recent Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, PRS and other popular guitars will do well in the decades to come. The resources used to make them are finite, and Gibson has been having trouble finding good, lightweight South American mahogany since 1983 when they started drilling holes in the bodies of Les Pauls. So hang onto those Custom Shop Standards for awhile. Investing in paying down your mortgage debt is always a good use of your extra income, especially when the market is doing badly. I did a no-cost re-fi of my house to reduce the term from 30 years to 15 while chopping the interest rate WAY down.
But even with my sub-6-percent new rate... Do I want to count on some CD or mutual fund to return 6 percent on my investment, or just make some more of by debt go away?
That's why the only money I have in the market at all right now is in some flavor or another of retirement accounts, where at least I get the nice tax dodge out of it.

Answer:
No.

Answer:
Only the good ones.

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Here's a secret...just get a cheap MIM Fender, mod it a bit to make it a great player and tone monster, then get really famous playing it and only it. Make it yours like Clapton did with Blackie and SRV did with his #1 and Page did with his LP. Then 40 years or so from now put it up for auction for a charity and have it go for like $500,000.
Other than that, I doubt there will be some incredible find where someone bought at MIM Strat and put it under their beds for 40 years and have it be worth 40 grand.

Answer:
The best guitars for investment will be limited, custom, signature, one off, ect., of the Major and boutque manfactuers. They will increase in value greater than standard issues.

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My SX guitars will be worth something someday
Prolly about a dollar two eighty:thu:

Answer:
The only guitars that will be sought after years from now are limited edition guitars where only a certain number were made and possibly guitars by a small company/luthier which were extraordinary and in very limited supply.

Answer:
I bought one of the SG Classics because it doesn't seem to be a very popular or widely available guitar (it isn't even on Gibson's website). Now I didn't buy it to be a closet keeper, I bought it because it was exactly what I was looking for. But the idea that it probably won't drop in value was a nice consolation and a good bullshit justification to run past the wife. Plus I got it with a nice discount so I am basically ahead on it right now.
Now as for most of the other stuff it really is a crapshoot because its all about supply and demand. Most of those older guitars are from smaller production runs and only a fraction of that original batch has survived. Plus you've got the fact that they were made differently than they are today. I don't care what guitar you buy today, the wood isn't going to be as high grade in most cases just because the good stuff's been picked through.
We also have to consider the fact that there are a ton of these guitars floating around now. I would really be interested in seeing just how many LP's were made this year vs 1960 or 1970. Rarer = more value.
And we also have to take into consideration that Gibson and Fender ended up being the poster children for rock. There wasn't much competition back then except for Rics or Gretsch which don't have quite as broad an appeal. Who knows what guitar from today is going to become the nostalgic must have guitar that so and so played.

Answer:
Though some guitars jump up 2 to 3 times in value in just a few years. Take a look at the limited edition of the Jimmy Page signature LP...the 25 or so that were played by Page and numbered and signed by him. Aren't they going for like $40,000 or so now? Granted, you had to pay like 10,000 for them, maybe more. But still, good return on your investment if you got in on it.

Answer:
We're going to get hit by an asteroid in 2012.
It won't matter.

Answer:
no. guitars are dead. just for playing, I'm afraid. (at least in our lifetime - till all the lumber becomes unusable.)

Answer:
After the apocalypse any guitar still intact is gonna be worth bucks.
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