The vintage (and used) guitar market is a world unto itself. Over the past twenty to thirty years a few hundred people in the U.S. and a lesser number of European and Asian people go to guitar shows to buy, sell, and trade many of the same guitars among themselves. The economy in the world market will dictate if (for instance) the Japanese vintage guitar people are buying all they can buy or dumping what they have bought in recent years. The "civilians" attending these shows may buy or sell one or a few items. But they rarely get involved in the buying and selling of holy grail type instrument. A few hobbyists with very deep pockets may buy a very pricey piece or two. There are dozens of guitar shows around our country compared to a few drum shows of any significance. Some people make their living by being guitar show gypsies who travel from show to show. These people also buy, sell, and trade the same guitars among themselves time and time again. I write this post to offer a comparison with the collector aspect of drums vs guitars. I have attended and participated in dozens of the largest guitar shows and observed the things I write about in this post.

I took note of the sale shown in the attached picture from eBay yesterday evening. This set went up for auction before Christmas and closed at 8:00 PM EST. No bids showed up untll the last 3 seconds. Obviously, the winner put in the bid of $1414 ahead of time and speculated on a ceiling for $$ interest, but there were several others in the climaxing moments. I took interest as I'd once had a nearly identical set and regretted selling it (second picture). However, I wasn't in a position to bid on this one as I have way took much stuff at the moment.

A good deal for the buyer in my view as it had tight serial numbers 101xxx to 102 or 103xxx (bass drum label a bit difficult to see if it was 102xxx or 103xxx), likely to have been togehter from day one, the inlays were complete, no cracks in the pearl (I asked the questions of the seller), hoops and rods on toms appeared to be correct with some incorrect ones mentioned on the bass drum. Fair shipping cost at $125 and local pickup offered. This exact wrap is very seldom seen. I've only ever seen it on the 1968 drums and on very few occasions in 30 years of watching. I really like that pattern on a Rogers set as opposed to the Ringo wrap used later when Ludwig must have given up on it for the bowling ball version and Rogers started using it.

Seemed a decent example of the market still holding its own though the end of 2022. It will be interesting to see how things go this year as the fairly likely event of recession takes hold based on inflation and high interest rates.

Apologies, photos got dropped.