How's your "4001(k)" doing?

[johnallg]

I think I'd like to see just one old Rick in my neck of the Michigan woods....

[drkatherine1]

This thread expresses many of my sentiments with regard to collecting Rics and guitars in general. I see it as a chance to collect something I love to play abet poorly, while possibly having something of value in 25 to 30 years. Heck, my retirement fund is not doing well and guitars are a heck of a lot easier to collect than sports cars.

Our 4001K

Our 401Ric........with 1 wannabe Ric. Where's Waldo? No matter how many times I tell this guitar he will never grow up to be a Ric........he never stop trying. Poor Waldo.

[cheyenne]

i buy mine both to play and to sell if i get the urge. i get bored easily so i like to keep my stock rotating.

Aint that the truth.....

[cheyenne]

Doc, (can I call you Doc?) You need a Redhead in that group!

You have a very nice collection...

[wints]

The "golden years" of American guitars, the 50's and 60's, have already been cast in stone, and these are the primary instruments that will always been collectible. Gibson and Fenders from this period will always be the most coveted, as the pinnacle of guitar making. Everything else follows in the slipstream.

They aren't going to make them any more, and that's that. A RI simply isn't the same.

Like the golden age of violin making with a Strad, or mandolin with a Loar, the critera has been laid down and it's probably not going to change. What one would pay could vary depending on the perceived financial situation, but they are probably a solid investment for their custodian.

Dr.K, nice collection. One of my clients was talking about Jamul yesterday. She's off to visit there in August/Sept...

[jwr2]

In economics we have all heard of supply and demand ... when the price goes up the demand goes down.

Well there are some things that react the opposite way ...

for instance inferior goods ... In Ireland during the potato famine the potatoes were the cheapest thing on the table to eat. But as the price of potatoes went up they had less money to buy other food so they had to buy more potatoes.

Another catagory is collectables. As the price of a collectable item goes up the demand goes up because people percieve it as a good investment. Rickenbacker has done a good job of positioning their products in the market to where more and more Rickenbackers are percieved as collectable. As Rickenbacker raises the price collectors just buy more. At the rate we are going a 4003 will list for $3000 to $5000 each in the next few years.

We have all seen the price of homes go way out of bounds for similar reasons.

[alanz]

Looking around my home studio this afternoon I see that I have 5 guitars and basses of various makes, models and vintages out on stands with 3 of them plugged into the board right now. That sight inspires me to say this:

Get yer instruments out from your closets, from under your beds and in from your climate-controlled music rooms and play 'em fercrissakes. Who gives a rat's *** how much they're "worth"?

[jps]

I did just that Friday evening and this afternoon.

[ram]

I tend to play and not worry about the cost too much... more for insurance reasons than anything else. As far as I'm concerned mine are priceless to me. But they are instruments and deserved to be played! So play away I say! The instruments will thank you for it.....

[jingle_jangle]

Looking around my home studio this afternoon I see that I have 5 guitars and basses of various makes, models and vintages out on stands with 3 of them plugged into the board right now. That sight inspires me to say this:

Get yer instruments out from your closets, from under your beds and in from your climate-controlled music rooms and play 'em fercrissakes. Who gives a rat's *** how much they're "worth"?

[Ric N. Backer]

The may rankle some (especially on "tax day"), but with the downturn of the American dollar and the upswing of Rickenbacker prices (new and used), Ricks are quickly becoming wise investments. Just working on recollection here, typical prices of used, good- to excellent-condition Rick basses have risen from just under one grand to nearly 2Gs in the last couple of years. I've shown this trend to my wife and we are convinced that Ricks are out-performing our stock portfolios, especially in the last six months. I don't feel guilty at all about the collection I've amassed, knowing it is money well spent, and most instruments can be easily liquidated for profit if the need should ever arise.

Who knows how long the trend will continue? It is likely that RIC's order backlog will decrease (or maybe even disappear) in the next few years, and there's always the possibility that the collector interest and value may wane. But for now, this Forum's collective interest in owning, playing, or collecting RIC's handywork doesn't seem to be hurting our personal "economies."

Your thoughts?

So, 2.5 years later, what's changed?

An interesting thread indeed.

[libratune]

Here's a recent interview with a fund manager on CNBC regarding his putting together a multi-million dollar fund to purchase vintage instruments as investments.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1687072767

I don't agree with everything that's stated, but it's thought-provoking and not a topic one usually finds discussed in the financial media. I found the vintage index vs. Dow Jones graph at the end interesting (provided you get that far!).

[Ric N. Backer]

Here's a recent interview with a fund manager on CNBC regarding his putting together a multi-million dollar fund to purchase vintage instruments as investments.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1687072767

I don't agree with everything that's stated, but it's thought-provoking and not a topic one usually finds discussed in the financial media. I found the vintage index vs. Dow Jones graph at the end interesting (provided you get that far!).

That was way cool. Thanks for posting!!

[jps]

I just got the 2011 edition of VG's Buyer's Guide with an article in it about the 42 guitar graph.