What Is A Vintage Guitar?

What Is A Vintage Guitar?

In the mid-sixties, almost all at once, a number of artists discovered the Gibson Les Pauls produced from 1952 to 1960, particularly the Les Paul Standard from 1958 on (called "bursts" by those in the know). These guitars were originally marketed to jazz guitarists but never really caught on with their target market, for a number of reasons.

By that time, Gibson had replaced the Les Paul with the SG (which originally did bear the 'Les Paul' moniker, but Les Paul requested that it be removed from Gibson's new iteration because he didn't like them... there's also some speculation that he did this because of his divorce with Mary Ford). Because the idea of "collectible" guitars was at least a couple decades away, these fifties guitars were seen as little more than old guitars.

Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green, and a number of others saw the potential in these instruments and because they were cheaper and sounded better than many newer guitars of the time, many started trading them or giving them to other artists.

And just like that, the vintage guitar market was born. Add a generation or two of the most popular music in the world being made with these instruments, and you'd eventually see a '59 Les Paul that might've been $200 (or less) in 1965 being offered for sale for upwards of $300,000 in the mid 00's.

Obviously, not all vintage guitars are bursts. There are plenty of other quite collectible and valuable guitars that won't cost you more than your first home. From Fender Jaguars to Gretsch 6120's, from Martin 00-18's to Epiphone Caballeros.

The most collectible and desirable pieces (the proper Vintage stuff) typically ends at 1972, though some would say 1969, '68, '65, '62... there are infinitely many different opinions on what is "vintage" and what isn't, but as far as we are concerned, anything that has some degree of vintage collectibility (meaning it's collectible because of some context it conveys relating to its time) is close enough.

Some things are collectible because they're quality, but this is definitely not always the case. Some things are collectible because they're rare, but this is also definitely not always the case. A good general consensus might be "is it at least a bit old and would someone think it's cool?"

I personally am not a fan of Stratocasters in general, with a few exceptions, but I would never say a 1979 strat with a replaced pickguard and knobs wouldn't be cool to anybody.

Wondering if the guitar in your closet is vintage - and if it is, what’s it worth? Contact us here to start your appraisal process and we’ll let you know.