The Value-able Guitar

After an arrow thudded into the wall above my desk, with a message wrapped around it demanding “I write my blog about ‘value’ and that I tidy up my coffee cup pyramid”, I set about post-haste. I chewed on my wacom pen thinking up an angle to attack this article, value for money, intrinsic value, instrumental value, how about perceived value? It was about then that my neglected guitar popped into my thoughts… its dusty frets beseeching… (beseeching? Really you are going to use the word ‘beseeching’? It’s 2016 – Editor).

It was then I thought about the worth and value of a guitar. A product, a branded product at that. Hmm! And here it is that I am writing / rambling for a few paragraphs about the value in the humble guitar as a product.

The ‘gat’ is a portable instrument that spreads value through happiness and foot-tappiness – according to wikipedia that’s called “Instrumental Value” (happiness would be ‘Intrinsic Value’).

The guitar through its make-up and mechanics must be made with precision for it to even play in tune. They are beautifully hewn, carved, worked and finished. They are ergonomic and belong in your hands. A musician could have one for their whole career generating millions of dollars… the guitars monetary value growing as the musician becomes more famous and / or dead.

Yes, a guitar can be played to generate income, kept as a currency, a collectable investment. Investing in guitars and not destroying them is an age old tradition Dads and Mums the world over have partaken in. Telling the spouse and children that it’s for ‘investment reasons’ that you have a wall of guitars; being the other age old tradition. Guitars only gain in value with age and don’t appear to fluctuate anywhere as wildly as other investments.

Then you have the brand. The guitars brand can create a sense of confidence in your playing. They can convey the style you want to exude and come through in your tunes. The brand gives you the needed confidence in investing all that money in a great guitar (and bragging rights with fellow gear-heads).

Being able to inspire through music, inspire through design, create revenue and their investment value – the guitar as an object, is a great item of value in all meanings of the word.