OffsetGuitars.com

A stunning array of minty vintage guitars from Norm's warehouse trip on youtube today - lots of JMs, fewer jags, and I think the LPB JM got the biggest gasp of all guitars ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFjK951N7x8

Mostly been in storage for 30+ years.

Hopefully means some good upcoming GOTDs.

Some cool stuff there...wonder how many other people have got huge hoards like this...

Also makes me wonder if there's anything rare lurking in some of those other crates. Custom colour Fenders, 335s etc are more collectible/sought after than ACTUALLY rare, what if there's like, a Harvey Thomas/Paul Bigsby/G L Stiles section, makers where you learn something new from each new example that shows up

Kind of almost reassurring (?) to know that those wooden containers aren't all filled to the brim with cases. Or are they? Who knows?

I mean, it's great he's breaking the seals & getting them out there but the whole thing really is obscene. I say this as a genuine fan of him & the show too. It just kinda looks like he's reached that point where he knows he has a sickness when it comes to buying/selling gear & he really doesn't know what to do with them all any more.

I just hope there are plenty of other brands besides Martin, Gibson & Fender.

the black jaguar got my vote.

s_mcsleazy wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:57 am

the black jaguar got my vote.

Which one? There were two!

PorkyPrimeCut wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 4:04 am

s_mcsleazy wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:57 am

the black jaguar got my vote.

Which one? There were two!

it doesnt matter to me. id rock both

was quite surprised that some of those semis were tuned to pitch btw...even assuming it's climate controlled etc, I'd have thought that a little risky to leave em for thirty years!

Honestly this video mostly makes me sad. There are literally hundreds (maybe thousands?) of pristine vintage guitars just sitting unplayed in a warehouse, all owned by one dude. Sorta stupid. They're just sitting there.

Well this thing excites me as much as it makes me happy, weird.

I mean, the guy had the right gut feeling back in the day... so kudos to him.

Of course there things have increased in value sooo much over the years... But theoretically., knowing that all that stuff is there and WILL come out some day, shouldn't the market value decrease... (I wish pffft)

Notice how Norm doesn't really look proud? It's almost as if he's looking at those guitars and thinking "I can't believe I've left stuff get to this point!". Meanwhile the young guys are going crazy, looking like little kids in a candy shop. Literally

adamrobertt wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 6:40 am

Honestly this video mostly makes me sad. There are literally hundreds (maybe thousands?) of pristine vintage guitars just sitting unplayed in a warehouse, all owned by one dude. Sorta stupid. They're just sitting there.

But if you think about it's not THAT bad. They will eventually find their way to someone who's going to play them. And they will be in great condition... If all the rare/vintage guitars were being played maybe there wouldn't be any clean examples to look at in 30 years idk

I think Norm is mostly just an astute businessman who also got lucky with the way the guitar market went. After all he doesn't actually play guitar, and lots of them (esp the offsets) would have been very cheap when he bought them, because few people wanted them. He was kind of ahead of the vintage craze. Helped by Fender and Gibson producing whole eras of crap new guitars, which led people to look to the old ones. I read his book partly to see if there were any good tips to buying. In his early days he would wait outside the newspaper offices for the first edition of the classifieds to come out, and then get on the phone and drive to people before anyone else got there. And also cold-calling everyone in the Musicians Union directory to see if they had anything to sell. So not exactly techniques that would work today. Now he just seems to go to guitar shows every few months with a huge checkbook and come back with a truck load of vintage guitars he admits he often pays inflated prices for, which he then charges even more for in his shop.

Now this would be obscene ! Luckily they're not all his. But I've heard there are guys with vintage LP collections like that.

timtam wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 6:00 pm

I think Norm is mostly just an astute businessman who also got lucky with the way the guitar market went. After all he doesn't actually play guitar, and lots of them (esp the offsets) would have been very cheap when he bought them, because few people wanted them. He was kind of ahead of the vintage craze. Helped by Fender and Gibson producing whole eras of crap new guitars, which led people to look to the old ones. I read his book partly to see if there were any good tips to buying. In his early days he would wait outside the newspaper offices for the first edition of the classifieds to come out, and then get on the phone and drive to people before anyone else got there. And also cold-calling everyone in the Musicians Union directory to see if they had anything to sell. So not exactly techniques that would work today. Now he just seems to go to guitar shows every few months with a huge checkbook and come back with a truck load of vintage guitars he admits he often pays inflated prices for, which he then charges even more for in his shop.

I don't think luck comes into it! He's taken guitars that were made in absolutely huge numbers, hoarded so many of them that it has contributed to the impression of them as 'rare' and waited to cash in. Now he overpays at guitar shows and sells them for even more in his legendarily well stocked shop, all of which reflects well on the value of the huge numbers of guitars he bought for $200 in 1983 and took out of circulation. He's basically one of the main architects of these mass produced guitars being worth 20, 30k etc

It's kind of a boring thing for me to harp on about and maybe I'm just stating the obvious and everyone knows this, but if you look at pictures of bands from back in the day, not just famous ones, but no marks who never played outside their home town, the guitars you see most often are Fenders and Gibsons.

I'd love to see sales figures, but what guitars sold more than Strats/Teles/Jags/Jazzmasters/SG/335s etc in the sixties? To describe any of them as rare is, pardon my French, bollocks.

Watched the video last night and I can only say, “wow.” Those things were in minty shape, too!

aliendawg wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 7:53 am

Notice how Norm doesn't really look proud? It's almost as if he's looking at those guitars and thinking "I can't believe I've left stuff get to this point!". Meanwhile the young guys are going crazy, looking like little kids in a candy shop. Literally

It seemed more to me like Norm was emotionally detached from it and has purely been dealing with it all from a business point of view. Like when he tells Lemmo and Todd to stop jerking around and get on with it.

timtam wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 6:00 pm

Now this would be obscene ! Luckily they're not all his. But I've heard there are guys with vintage LP collections like that.

SUSTAIN!