$192,100 but reserve not met.

[Calvin]

Who cares who is buying the vintage instrument.  If people have the money, then they should have the freedom to buy it, musicians or not.  If a rich bachelor can live in a mansion/drive a Lambo, should he be told he doesn't need it/can't drive the car to its limits?  If man walks up to me on the street and said I dont need my sports coupe, I'd be like "what's your problem buddy?"

Nevertheless I can see where some of the frustration is comming from.  But I must also quickly point out, todays guitars are just as good if not better than the Pre-war Martins. Let's say a musician has to have a prewar D45, when any of the Boutique makers or even the factories can produce one 99.99% indentical to it for 1/20th of the price (heck you can buy a very decent Larrivee or Martin for under $1500), doesn't that make the musician as "pretentious" as what some of the collectors are accused of being.

I bought a guitar (err...  :EM> GuitarSSSS) because I love the way they are and how they look and sound.  But most importantly, I bought them because I love music.  Most people that own 250 dollar yamaha's play 250 times better than I do, but does that mean me owning Larrivee's (or any other high end brand for that matter) make it... well... WRONG?

[didymus21]

I would venture that the reserve is at least $225,000. Happy bidding.

If it doesn't hit reserve, they'll just sell it to the highest bidder.  It sold a week ago for about $230K, so I bet it's $230K.  The last guy didn't pay.

[cldplytkmn]

so why have a reserve then?

[didymus21]

so why have a reserve then?

To entice people to bid higher.  For all we know the reserve could be $500K.  All sorts of little tricks to play in ebay.

[TrinityGuitars]

The news from my Martin rep is that a similar guitar sold last month for $285,000
  That is more that 1/4 of a million dollars for a guitar. Bet its seen the end of playing bluegrass out in the rain!

[didymus21]

The news from my Martin rep is that a similar guitar sold last month for $285,000
  That is more that 1/4 of a million dollars for a guitar. Bet its seen the end of playing bluegrass out in the rain!

[cldplytkmn]

wow... you guys see the end of the auction?  spot pony had his max bid at 255,000... and 'hennythehammer' bid with about 15 seconds left and got it.  henny has 4 feedback, the most recent of which was over a year ago... hope for the sellers sake the guy is legit.

[Calvin]

What is this guitar worth?  BMW M3 CSL + MERCEDES BENZ CLK 55 AMG + AUDI RS4 + PORSCHE CARRERA GT3, give or take.

[jeremy3220]

What is this guitar worth?  BMW M3 CSL + MERCEDES BENZ CLK 55 AMG + AUDI RS4 + PORSCHE CARRERA GT3, give or take.

Except this guitar is a better investment.

[mazareth]

This has turned into an interesting thread. And has given me a lot to think about. I've never had the privalege of playing any prewar guitars. The closest for me was a '47 Epiphone archtop, which is of course a very different animal

I'm up to 9 guitars and two basses, along with assorted amps mics and PA gear. I'm getting ready cut down to four guitars and 1 bass. Once I reach that goal, I may self-impose a 1 in 1 out policy.

I haven't actually checked the auction for a while, but IIRC, the seller is doing this on behalf of a family, as much as I hate see a family sell off a part of their history, I can certainly understand the need to do so.

[drathbun]

Unfortunately this guitar will probably go to a non-guitar player collector. It is too bad it becomes about the money and not about the instrument.

[Tycho]

The winner probably used esnipe or similar program.  I was a complete ebay virgin, so two weeks ago I got a friend of mine to bid for a Les Paul I wanted.  He used esnipe and had warned me that's what he was going to do.  I was sitting there watching at the end of the auction, getting more and more agitated because my bid wasn't coming, and it showed up in literally the last three or four seconds and won.  (To tell you the truth, I was sure I'd be outbid, but it didn't happen.)

I know that there's some debate among seasoned ebayers over these sniping programs, but as I understand it, a snipe bid will only win if the bidder intends to outbid all other previous bidders, and they're helpful for buyers because they prevent bidding wars.  So in the case of this Martin, the winner might have been prepared to pay even more than he actually did, but as long as he paid more than everyone else was willing to pay, both buyer and seller still come out ahead.  Sure, the seller might have gotten even more for the guitar, but in this case I don't think he has anything to complain about.

[cldplytkmn]

yeah i don't really think that the 'sniping' is necessarily a bad thing... i'm sure he put in a number higher than the actual selling price... and i'm sure that the others had their max bid set as far as they'd go, if they didn't, they should have.

[Tycho]

Yeah, exactly.  A snipe gets you nowhere if there's somebody out there willing to pay more than you are

[schnitz]

Sold on Feb 24 for $255,100!!! "hennythehammer" must have some dollars.

[Randy_R]

Sold on Feb 24 for $255,100!!! "hennythehammer" must have some dollars.

All those $200/seat concert ticket dollars got to go somewhere...  :WNK>

[Gemnoc]

There's a 1941 D-45 on auction too, though that one seems to have been extensively repaired, so it won't probably go as high.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1941-VINTAGE-MARTIN-D-45-MUST-SELL-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ7391181236QQcategoryZ118981QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Big Martin]

$255,000

reserve met

I believe reserve was $210,000 so the owner probably made a tidy little extra windfall

hmmmpf, it's only money

[Ratishna]

High profile big dollar sales tend to bring more guitars to market.  Its been happening with vintage Strats and Teles for the past 9 months in a big way.

E. Shoaf