-John Allan

Here is an article on vintage guitar that i read on article creative.com site.  It makes for very interesting reading, I just thought that I would share this with you.

Your Guide To Vintage Guitars

By: Richard Saldana

Music is the language of the soul, as the poet says.
Listening to the strums of the strings of the guitar can relieve stress, soothes the mood and relaxes the mind and the body. With every pluck of its string speaks of emotions and the music it brought defines the meaning of the unspeakable.
Guitars are musical instrument that have known to have a long life. Most guitarists have custom made guitars. The older it gets, the beautiful it sounds. Vintage guitars collectors, either electric vintage guitars or acoustic, understand its’ worth and appreciate it audibly.

Historic relevance does make the vintage guitars and the vintage electric guitars a medium of priceless visual art. Age is not the only aspect that is considered when classifying a vintage guitar. A guitar to be considered as vintage should be made between 1920’s and 1970’s. Vintage guitars are original guitars by the manufacturer or a rare special guitar made for specific musician between 1920 and 1970.

These breed of guitars stand in class all their own. Prior to 1920 they were thought to be too primitive. Post 1970 – the guitar manufacturing world changed, it became more about production lines, computer controlled routers and cutters. Anything past 1970 is still not considered antique, and the value is more on the association with the previous (famous) owner.
Here are ways to appraise or classify any vintage guitars:

1.Guitars should have the original finish. Any signs of refinishing take away value.

2.The guitars original condition is also considered, meaning the craftsmanship should be perfect.

3.It should have its original parts, no modification and no repairs made. Check points are of utmost importance and add value to the piece.

4.Check for any signature of maker or manufacturer, look for any unique details like does it have any silver or gold highlighted frets or any precious stones inlay on it.

5.Limited edition guitars are far more valuable than the mass produced guitars.

The pre-World war II flat top Vintage Electric Guitars are the most desired and adorned. Manufacturer such as Gibson, Fender, and Gretsch produced a number of unique electric guitars in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

One of the most popular vintage guitars made by Fred Gretsch Jr was the Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins. The Chet Atkins made its way on stage in 1954 with its signature engraved signpost on the pickguard.
Leo Fender’s guitars was not only the best brand of guitars that were made in the 50’s, the Stratocaster was also the most popular guitar favored by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

The real success of the electric guitar was with the ES-150 Gibson (which stood for Electric Spanish guitar) in the late 1930’s and made popular as part of the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Les Paul, Leo Fender, and Paul Bigsby work together on electric guitars to make a solid body guitar to eliminate unwanted vibrations on the guitar’s top wooden plate. Epiphone Guitars, at the same time experimented with solid wood bodies that resembled a railroad tie with a neck and pick-up.

George Harrison played a Rickenbacker 360 12 string guitar in the early 1960’s to obtain a fully rounded sound during recordings. His guitar may have been one of the total of 36 ever made! Because of the low numbers of this model of guitar (360/12 OS), finding the other one made during that year would make this vintage electric guitar extremely valuable.

The best way to check its value and appraise a fine vintage guitar is to pick it up, handle it, and spend quality time with the instrument. Touch it, strum the strings, the guitar itself will tell you all you need to know. Collecting Vintage Electric Guitars, or collecting any sort of guitar, is a very personal hobby.

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