In these hard times.......guitars as gold

We're all experiencing it. The home devaluations, the 401K's shrinking worth, gasoline and medical costs soaring. So what's this have to do with guitars? Well how about a place to "stash your cash." Let's face it, very few of us can afford to buy that perfect '59 Sunburst Strat worth $60,000. Or that pre-war Martin worth 100K. If you ARE one of the lucky owners of these fine instruments and can afford to sit on them, then you know their value will only increase over time. Some estimates have shown upwards of 25% per year for the right pieces. For the rest of us, there is still hope. It's been my experience that a quality guitar only gets better with age. This is more noticeable with acoustic and hollowed bodied electrics, primarily because the aging process of the wood tends to give the guitar a richer, deeper sound. I will say though the same is true for solid body guitars as there seems to be a "burn in" period for the pickups and playability of the fingerboard. Something like a finely tuned sports car. You gotta drive it awhile to see what it can do. The key word here really is quality. A guitar with an established brand name and design that's been around for many decades will stand the test of time. There are many "knock off" brands that can give you the look and feel of a Les Paul, Stratocaster, or Martin D-28. But believe me......it ain't the same! So if you're thinking of buying that knock off Strat 'cause it looks like the real thing, I would suggest thinking twice and saving up another few hundred bucks to buy a good new or used "original." History shows it won't lose value and if you take care of it, it just may be a better return on investment than those mutual funds we've all seen take a dive recently.