Are you buying as many now as you were?

[Jeff Albertson]

I was kicking around a few guitars, Jackson, that is. Not actually "kicking them" but trying to figure out what to buy. I have a few extra bucks.
It's been a few years now since I bought a (*USA) Jackson, not so much Charvel, I've grabbed a few of those. Before the Fender deal and the price increases, I was buying maybe 3 a year or more. After talking to my usual dealers, the prices are at least $250-$650 higher. And that's with my "put your kid through college" dealers. Now, I'm thinking twice.

Is it me or are the price increases going just a little bit too far?

[emperor_black]

Its called inflation. :ROTF:

[danastas]

It depends on the guitar. I would definitely pay up for a Soloist archtop made by one of the builders who know what they're doing (Santana, Shannon) but not if they had just the stock USA Select features. The market drops out for those pretty quick, and you can get a good deal on a used one. But I paid up for my archtop, it's my best guitar, and I couldn't be happier. It's better than my Fender Custom, LP R7, Anderson Drop Top, GMP Roxie, etc. All high end guitars, not a one as good as my Soloist Archtop.

[Jeff Albertson]

Actually, I thinks it's called testing the inverse price ratio curve.

The last few I bought in 2003 or so..SLATQH $1400, group A WR-1 for $1000, Group D SL1 for $1100, Group B SL2 $1000, SLS $1400, group D KV2 $1250, Group A KV2 $1100. All new from reputable dealers (except one guy). I think those days are long gone.

[danastas]

Yup, those are prices you'll never see again for new Jacksons, although I bet a few stranded SLATQHs will for that brand new.

[LEOKV2]

Rico Jr....

[Leo Chang]

Price aside, I have decided that I will dedicate the next little while to upgrading / modding / repairing all my current guitars before buying any new ones... and I'll try to do all the work myself so I can learn some basic luthiery skills.

Otherwise, I'll be spending a LOT of money if I were to give all those jobs to a tech.

[Wizard of Ozz]

[In Bobby DiNero voice] Yeah... a bit... just a little bit.

[mrrs]

Price aside, I have decided that I will dedicate the next little while to upgrading / modding / repairing all my current guitars before buying any new ones... and I'll try to do all the work myself so I can learn some basic luthiery skills.

Otherwise, I'll be spending a LOT of money if I were to give all those jobs to a tech.

I just did this to all my dusty guitars that have been sitting for a while.
Replaced pickups, worn nuts, setups,ect........I did what I could and paid a local tech to do the wiring and nut job.
It was like a breath of fresh air as gay as that sounds.

That was early last year, I've bought 6 guitars since then.
We're all sick in the head aren't we?

[H8Red442]

I've bought eight guitars in the last two years and kept three and waiting for delivery on one.

There's just not much out there that lights my fire. I do however want a KV2 bad but I am very picky about finish. I want either transblack or natural. New they're way too expensive and trying to find one of those two finishes used is kinda rare or I am at least having a difficult time doing so.

I found a new transblack KV2 on ebay last week and called to make payment arrangements with the dealer but they had just sold it. Cry for my sad story.

[wilkinsi]

Some shops will put prices up because they know (or just think-) they will sell. I paid £379 for my KE3, but they wanted £479 originally. "Haggle" is mandatory, or you get ripped off.

[Spivonious]

I think the increases can be related to inflation and the general higher interest in guitars.

[xenophobe]

No. I'm not buying guitars like I used to.

I was going through Jackson Imports and USAs like crazy, until I started realizing all my favorite Jacksons were custom shop guitars. After going through a couple, found the ones that I like the best, and now that I have my 'main' players, don't need to keep buying and selling guitars to find 'the one'.

I really think that buying and selling lots of guitars, for the player and not the 'collector', that you go through a bunch of guitars when you're not perfectly happy with what you've got and are striving to find that one guitar you can't let go of.

Of course you may get tired, or want to try new stuff, but most people seem to find out what they like and stick to it.... but the difficult part may be actually trying to find out what works best... and once that's attained, you lose the drive to purchase 10 guitars a month... lol

[Inazone]

I have never been a big "buy new" guy when it comes to guitars. I bought a few new or NOS USAs a few years back, but there aren't that many Select Series guitars with specs that appeal to me. The SLS would have been perfect for me, but by the time I had the available $$$ to buy, they were long since discontinued. I bought a DK2M mostly based on looks, and was pleasantly surprised, but I won't buy another unless they add some new finishes.

At this point I'll keep watching eBay until I can afford a custom order. Nobody is making what I really want in a production guitar, so I don't mind spending more on a custom (despite the J/C price increases) if I can get exactly what I want.

[slayer]

MY CS Soloist from 2006 is probably my last new Jackson. The prices are way to high now. If they drop back down to the older prices I will buy more new ones. It is a shame FMIC is raking us now. Jack.