Vintage electric guitars command sky-high prices as baby boomers become collectors
Guitars that once sold for US$200 or less in the 1950s are selling for US$200,000 today
True love knows no fear, and legendary blues guitarist B.B. King once rushed into a burning building to save his beloved Lucille. But Lucille wasn’t his wife – it was actually his Gibson 335 electric guitar. The incident is emblematic of the respect that most musicians show their instruments.
That love has translated into a burgeoning guitar collector’s market over the last 30 years, with some instruments that originally sold for US$200 or less back in the 1950s selling for upwards of US$200,000 today. Although such guitars are rare, Kevin Drost, director of international strategy for online instrument sales site Reverb.com, estimates that one such high-rolling transaction is conducted at the site every month.
Not every instrument from the 1950s can achieve such a high price – it has to be one of the accepted classics of guitar making. For that, read one of the two main brands, Gibson and Fender, both of which are based in the United States.
Fender, then headed by its namesake, Leo Fender, popularised the use of electric guitars in the early 1950s, with guitars such as the Telecaster and the Stratocaster. Gibson drew on the expertise of musician and inventor Les Paul, who developed and designed the classic guitar that bears his name, the Les Paul, in 1952.
The design of these guitars has never been bettered, and they continue to be produced today; Gibson and Fender still dominate the guitar market. Electric guitars are like fine wines – some years are considered more desirable than others, and it’s the vintage instruments that command the ultrahigh prices.
“Fender’s early lines were the Broadcaster, which became the Telecaster, the Esquire, and the Stratocaster. A 1952 Telecaster is one of the most valuable from that line. Stratocasters began production in 1954, and the early ones are also very desirable,” Drost says.
Leo Fender sold the company to CBS in 1965, and corporate ownership was deemed bad for the quality of the guitars: “That’s why there is a big difference between a 1953 Fender and a 1966 Fender,” Drost says. (Fender has been back in private hands since 1985.)
A Gibson Les Paul from the 1950s also commands a high price. “A Les Paul from 1958 or 1959, which people call ‘the burst’ due to its sunburst finish, is the holy grail of vintage guitar collecting. There weren’t many made, and they were made popular by players like Jimmy Page,” Drost says.
