software

compare gear prices from the 60's in today's dollars...

from : localhost/an eye-opener.

now find one that compares percentage of income to house payment

Prices should have some down due to modernization of the building process.

Curly, I'm not sure you'd want to see that one. House payment and debt vs. income have been skyrocketing lately, it's pretty amazing (and I'm sure you knew that. )

The only thing I could offer is that my stable from 71 to 63 ( 10 of em) on average cost 200.00 in todays values. The highest being 275.00 and the lowest being 107.00 All in good shape, some mint and some scuffy but all in working condition. Knowing what to chase and what to do with em has been among the greatest music lessons I have ever had. My greatest hobby ever!!

I'm not convinced that those calculated price then versus now are a good indicator. Various goods do not linearly follow the annual inflationary increases. Have salaries followed the same schedule? How prices? Cars? Entertainment dollars saw very little increases year to year until the mid to late 80's then entertainment dollars began skyrocketting. Beef prices still low to the cattle farmer, but in the grocey store prices have sure shot up in the last couple years.

It's not the calculated price of an object, it's one dollar then is equal to x dollars now.

It's not saying a Strat listed for $154 in 1956 and now lists for $1288.

It's about the value of the dollar and applying it to gear.


Originally Posted by The Golden BoyIt's not the calculated price of an object, it's one dollar then is equal to x dollars now.

It's not saying a Strat listed for $154 in 1956 and now lists for $1288.

It's about the value of the dollar and applying it to gear.

Yes, that's right. How do you appropriately place a value on gear? I suppose I do it according to how much I am willing to spend for that gear.

Would I have been willing to pay $154 for a strat in '56, I don't know, I really have no grasp on what value $154 had in 1956, but today I'm not willing to pay $1288 for a strat.

That's one thing makers are doing now. Not all consumers have the same price point. In '56 it was one strat for one price. today it's 100 different strats and Tele's and 25 price points.

For some it's $150 other $300, another $600 and still others won't pay less than $2000 because they want to feel like they are getting the best product.


Originally Posted by Guitar ToadYes, that's right. How do you appropriately place a value on gear? I suppose I do it according to how much I am willing to spend for that gear.

Would I have been willing to pay $154 for a strat in '56, I don't know, I really have no grasp on what value $154 had in 1956, but today I'm not willing to pay $1288 for a strat.

That's one thing makers are doing now. Not all consumers have the same price point. In '56 it was one strat for one price. today it's 100 different strats and Tele's and 25 price points.

For some it's $150 other $300, another $600 and still others won't pay less than $2000 because they want to feel like they are getting the best product.

Using the actual chart and not making numbers up off the top of my head...

If you weren't willing to pay $249.50 for a Strat in 1954, you simply wouldn't have gotten one. What this is exemplifying is for someone to say quot;I would never pay $1600 for a Strat,quot; that the $249 in 1954 is equal to $1600 today (or in 2000 as the case may be), and that $1600 asking price is historically not that outrageous.

If it's not important to you- it's not important to you. But complaining about prices on quality American made gear is pointless- it's always been this expensive, it's just inflation makes it look more expensive. If it's not important to you, get a foreign made copy- the workmanship is pretty good, but your materials suffer.


Originally Posted by The Golden BoyUsing the actual chart and not making numbers up off the top of my head...

If you weren't willing to pay $249.50 for a Strat in 1954, you simply wouldn't have gotten one. What this is exemplifying is for someone to say quot;I would never pay $1600 for a Strat,quot; that the $249 in 1954 is equal to $1600 today (or in 2000 as the case may be), and that $1600 asking price is historically not that outrageous.

If it's not important to you- it's not important to you. But complaining about prices on quality American made gear is pointless- it's always been this expensive, it's just inflation makes it look more expensive. If it's not important to you, get a foreign made copy- the workmanship is pretty good, but your materials suffer.

Okay, I'll stop. Thanks for slapping me around a bit.

I still think the price of guitars is set by more than simple inflationary considerations, but I am no ecomonist. Supply goes up prices go down. Supply goes down prices go up. Then, there are micro and macro considerations. Diminishing marginal utilities, then labor costs then administrative overhead, marketing and advertsing, geesh. Too much to think about. But, I still have fun arguing about it. I think everything is more expensive than needs to be. I say down with inflation. Boo. Stop inflation now!

But, my other point was that Fender (and others) while still sell their their once $154 strat today for $1600, they have found a way to make their instruments affordable to more people. TRue, the quality may not be the same as the $1.6K strat MIA, but the $300 MIM strat is very useable and quite acceptable to many players. Case in point or 2: The Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray strats. List for Less than $1k and both can be had for around $500. Not MIA but that's ok. If they were made in america, and made in the midwest they would be sold for the same price as the MIM and Fender would still make a nice profit on their products.

Fender has befriended both quot;the price is no concern musicianquot; as well as quot;the price is a huge concern musicianquot;. Hats off to Fender. No hats off to Gibson.


Originally Posted by Guitar ToadOkay, I'll stop. Thanks for slapping me around a bit.

I still think the price of guitars is set by more than simple inflationary considerations, but I am no ecomonist.

But, my other point was that Fender (and others) while they still do sell their $1600 guitars today, they have found a way to make their instruments affordable to more people. TRue, the quality may not be the same as the $1.6K strat MIA, but the $300 MIM strat is very useable and quite acceptable to many players. Case in point or 2: The Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray strats. List for Less than $1k and both can be had for around $500. Not MIA but that's ok. If they were made in america, and made in the midwest they would be sold for the same price as the MIM and Fender would still make a nice profit on their products.

Fender has befriended both quot;the price is no concern musicianquot; as well as quot;the price is a huge concern musicianquot;. Hats off to Fender. No hats off to Gibson.

There's no slapping around going on!

One thing that's missing in the chart is the current list prices of those instruments and amplifiers. All that chart illustrates is the difference in inflation. In the example of the the 1954 Strat, the 1954 dollar was worth roughly around 6.5x more than it is today. Any $10 dollar item in 1954 would cost $65, any $100 item would cost $650.

If the chart were to say:

1954 Strat price in 1954- $250
Comparative price in 2000- $1600
Current list price American Strat- $1400

Of course it would be easier in rows and columns.

The prices drop drastically for foreign made instruments. Not only are the labor costs much lower, but cheaper materials are used. To compare the 1950s and 60s prices of American guitars to today's foreign made guitars isn't a fair comparison because of the disparity in labor and material charges.

As far as the quot;no hats off to Gibson...quot; If I recall correctly the 1959 Les Paul cost around $250 in 1959, which came out to around $1500 a few years ago when the walking price of a Standard was around $1700 and a Classic was around $1400. Besides that, Gibson offers Epiphone models of their guitars- just as cheap as MIM or MIK or MIC instruments...

I would love to be able to buy a 1954 maple Strat (of course in '54 RW was not an option on Strats yet) for 1600.00 WOW

Cool. I bookmarked that link. I've always wanted to find a list like that.
I never realized how costly Showmans were back then. You'd think they'd be major collectibles now, but aren't really.

Now I'm getting scared about what the prices will be like in 30 years! List $16,280

Here's a nice inflation calculator.

from : localhost/Luke Skywalker action figure I bought for $1.99 in 1976 comes out to a value of $6.83 now. I wonder how much Star Wars action figures go for now...

buy what you like now! Or better yet-start hoarding and restoring vintage gear. If it's rare and expensive now, it'll be worth a fortune in a decade or two.

I can just see it now - Prices rise on ebay...

Vintage amps are kind of the weird cheap cousin in the market. You can still get 1950's Fender amps with nowhere near the price increase that guitars from the era have gone through.

Which is cool with me...I dig amps and gave up on the vintage market for guitars a long long while ago.

Ditto Skarekrough. I've managed to pick up a few nice vintage amps, but I could never afford a comparable vintage guitar. Moreover, I love the tone of vintage amps, and maintenance is all I have to worry about. With guitars, I also have to worry about playability, and many vintage instruments fall short in that regard for me.

I don't know...i don't remember 1968 that well.
I have trouble with those across time inflationary numbers.

Take the Princeton Reverb 1968 at $189.50 then $938.07 in 2000, that just seems too high. Nine hundred Y2K dollars just seems too much. A Princeton in 2000 i think $500 is more believable. The inflation calculator works off an average. Not everything inflated at the same rate. As one of the guys said...I'd like to see how list prices changed year to year from 1968 to present. That would be very interesting, to see how the suggested list price changed for a Bassman or Deluxe Reverb or Marshall JCM800 from 1968 to present.

Take the gear entirely out of it. This has nothing to do with gear. The value of the dollar is being compared to the value of the dollar.

$189.50=$938.07 or $988.98 according to the other inflation calendar.

So if something cost $1 in 1968 it's relative cost would have been $4.98 in 2000. It doesn't matter if it were a guitar, a post card, a stapler, a car, a box of cracker jacks, a movie ticket... whatever.

The person in 1968 was forking out the equivalent of roughly $950 to us today (or 5 years ago, as the case may be).

Yes, Golden Boy you are right. relative cost. '68 dollar to '00 dollar. not '68 gear to '00 gear.