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| Passion Investments: Collectibles |
Sound Investments
Lee Sherman
12/01/2004
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Those who grew up on rock ’n’ roll once saw electric guitars as tools of
protest against the establishment. Today, many are rekindling their love for
guitars, but this time with a more pragmatic bent: Vintage guitars have become
profitable, and enjoyable, investments.
 | ERIC CLAPTON'S 1964 cherry-red Gibson ES-335 sold in June for $849,500,
establishing a new world auction record for a Gibson guitar. (Photograph courtesy of Christie’s.) |
As yesterday’s rockers have aged and
mellowed into cultural icons, the value of the instruments they played in their
heyday is skyrocketing. Leila Dunbar, the director of Sotheby’s collectibles
department who oversaw the Johnny and June Carter Cash estate auction in
September (which grossed nearly $4 million), says, “More people know Johnny Cash
than Picasso.”
This past June, an auction of celebrated guitars at Christie’s
in New York struck a resounding note with collectors. Instruments once owned by
Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Brian May and other veteran rockers smashed
records. Clapton’s “Blackie,” a black and white Fender Stratocaster that he
played extensively throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, went for more than
$959,500, the most ever paid for a guitar. Every item up for bid sold, amassing
a total of $7.4 million and bettering the $5 million grossed during a
Clapton-only sale organized by Christie’s in 1999. (Both auctions benefited a
drug and alcohol treatment center Clapton founded in 1997.)
Long labor in
the service of music legends is not the only factor driving these high-decibel
prices. Guitars are increasingly being valued for characteristics traditionally
reserved for haute collectibles such as fine art. The most sought-after
collector guitars have an intrinsic value measured by variables such as age,
condition and, as with a Stradivarius violin, rarity. These guitars are prized
as much for their craftsmanship as for their tonal attributes; experts examine
the quality of the finish, body shape, type of pick guard and variety of tuning
pegs.
VALUE JUDGMENT
The guitars played to entertain a generation of music lovers are quickly becoming investment-quality collectibles. One of Eric Clapton’s instruments
recently sold for a world-record $959,500. Clearly, this is not a field for the
dilettante rock ’n’ roller. Celebrity ownership can inflate a guitar’s price far
beyond its resale value, while vintage-style reproductions are rattling an
already noisy market. |
The minutiae can baffle the uninitiated; this is not a market for
dabblers or rock music fans hoping to rekindle their youth. Celebrity worship
can blind collectors who fail to perform their due diligence and they may
overpay dearly. “You need to be able to spot whether [the guitars] have the
correct tuning pegs and know the number of screw holes in a pick guard,” says
Ward Meeker, editor of Vintage Guitar magazine.
Les Is More
Aficionados are most enamored of electric guitars made by
Fender and Gibson that date from the dawn of the rock ’n’ roll era, stretching
from the early ’50s to the mid-1960s. As rock became popular after this period,
instrument makers ramped up production to meet demand, and a once highly
creative manufacturing process gave way to mass production. This continues
today: Gibson manufactured as many Les Pauls in 2003 as it did between 1952 and
1961.
Former Saturday Night Live bandleader G.E. Smith once owned 700
electric guitars, but has narrowed his collection to approximately 100 pieces,
each of which he appreciates for its uniqueness. Vintage instruments boast
individuality, Smith says, that is missing in today’s assembly-line guitars.
“It’s a magical thing; it only takes you an instant to know whether it is right
or not,” he says. “It’s got to smile at you when you open the case.” Many
collectors see playing guitars and collecting them as two sides of the same
coin. Clapton himself is a collector, who, like many others, purchases guitars
partly as a paean to musicians who inspired him. “Clapton bought a Fender
Telecaster because Muddy Waters played one, and he thought that’s what a blues
guitar was,” says Kerry Keane, head of Christie’s musical instruments
department.
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