Supply and Demand

[William2]

I often wonder with all the guitars that are produced if at some point demand for them and prices will go down. And I wonder how it affects the used guitar market. As a lefty player, I follow sites that sell lefty instruments. One in my state is Daves Guitar Shop. He has a bunch of new Martin and Taylor, and Gibson instruments for sale. It seems like the Martin's are always on sale. I never see any Gibson's on sale. I wonder if Gibson produces less instruments and the demand for them is greater. I never see new Taylor instruments on sale there either. However, my main dealer told me when he gets a Taylor as a trade in, he can't offer much for them as there are so many out there for sale. I wonder if this overabundance of instruments has crushed the used guitar market. It is always a treat when I see a used lefty Larrivee for sale on Reverb. I guess I'm attracted to companies that produce smaller amounts of quality instruments and appear to be a multi-generational company. 

[B0WIE]

The used acoustic market has been bad for more than a year. It's largely due to people unloading excessive pandemic purchases. It's also partially due to the major group of acoustic buyers, the boomers, slowing down or selling off much of their collection. That may continue to have a large impact on the more high end market. We'll see.

There has been a bit of a rebound in the past month, as there always is this time of year. It looks like new guitar sales may have seen a slight recovery too. I've been waiting to sell a few of mine, which are about to go up for sale. Interestingly, the electric market received a mixed impact. Many went down in value but, some types are rapidly going up. Guys in their 40's and 50's are now in a position to buy the toys they wanted as a kid so those wild 80's guitars are becoming desirable. I've seen a couple of mine triple in value just in the last few years.

[StringPicker6]

I too often wonder if the world will be swamped with extra guitars in the next 10 years. I remember a few years ago when a young coworker in his 20's telling me that he "hated music with guitars in it".  My jaw almost hit the ground!

[John in Charm City]

I too often wonder if the world will be swamped with extra guitars in the next 10 years. I remember a few years ago when a young coworker in his 20's telling me that he "hated music with guitars in it".  My jaw almost hit the ground!

interesting comment.  so much of today's pop has at best a guitar relegated to a rhythm role.  keyboards, keyboards, keyboards.  I think folks would faint if a fuzz box showed up.

John

[B0WIE]

 I feel that music is, like many things, cyclical. Sometimes, things need to go away for a while in order to be cool again. Rap just fell off the Bilboard top 40 for the 1st time in decades. Things change. Guitars may or may not find a prominent spot in popular music again but one thing the guitar has going for it is that it's an easy way to be a musician and have a talent. Young people, more than ever, are seeking an identity. All day they are bombarded with people on social media displaying their talents, their personalities. They want to be able to say "I do ___" and guitar is an easy way to have an identity, a skill.

 I think the guitar may rise again, though it's going to have to do it in a different way than just copying what's been done before. I see a possible direction coming from guys like Ichika Nito of Japan whose guitar-based songs sound more like video game music. And, if you don't know, video game soundtracks are big now.

[StringPicker6]

Good point about cyclical trends. Remember back in the 80's when so much pop and rock music had saxophones? Springsteen, the stones, Huey Lewis and others all included saxophone. Now you never hear it.

[teh]

The issue of supply and demand has been around forever. It's up to each of us to promote the long term benefits of playing musical instruments including acoustic guitars to future generations. Just imagine a world where video game companies stopped innovation once they introduced Pong.

Three things that set the acoustic guitar apart from most other instruments are portability, versatility and affordability. Unlike the piano or an upright base, the guitar is a relatively portable instrument except when flying on an airplane. The guitar is versatile: with its three octave range an acoustic guitar can be strummed, flat picked, finger picked, played with a slide, set up in open tunings (just listen to Leo Kottke or Joni Mitchell) or used with a wide selection of strings, picks or capos. Finally, the guitar is affordable. You can buy a kid a nice starter guitar for less than $150 while the cost of a Happy Meal from McDonalds is $5 to $7.

[William2]

Good point about cyclical trends. Remember back in the 80's when so much pop and rock music had saxophones? Springsteen, the stones, Huey Lewis and others all included saxophone. Now you never hear it.

And whatever happened to the accordion?

[Silence Dogood]

Good point about cyclical trends. Remember back in the 80's when so much pop and rock music had saxophones? Springsteen, the stones, Huey Lewis and others all included saxophone. Now you never hear it.

This is a good point, and one I'd not thought of regarding sax.  It makes me think of the early 2000s when it seemed like every other song had a nylon string guitar solo.  It seems like that went by the wayside as well. 

[Myopic Squirrel]

And didn't The Drifters introduce strings to R&R with "There Goes My Baby"? (man, I AM old!)