Chocklit_Thunda wrote:
The only problem with this is that it drives those in the know to the second hand and copy market which also leads to an increase in these prices..... Basically you're gonna be paying 8.5K for an Epiphone LP studio in a few months time.
Similar to this recent vintage Japanese guitar craze..... Many of those guitars are utter shyte but have gone from R1200 last year to people wanting R3000 for one of them...
I believe you have spotted the same thing that I have, hence the reason for my other thread trying to garner current sentiment of those in the know.
If those in the know are Gibson's target market, which I think we can agree they are, then Gibson are, at first impression, making a serious mistake here. One hopes that they have a long term strategy which will be revealed in time, but nevertheless, in the short term they are going to lose potential sales.
It would be reasonable to expect some form of change, probably as early as 2016 in price(small drop), but more probably, an increase in quality and/or features to try to revive sales.
The short term effect of the current decision though is that demand for new Gibsons will fall, and the demand for second hand will therefore increase, not proportionally though, as many will turn to other brands.
The simple rule of supply and demand dictates that second hand prices MUST rise therefore. The perceived value of a second hand item is a percentage of the same item new, so with the demand for second hand increasing over the next few years (remember that fewer new sales also means fewer 'new' second hand guitars coming onto the market), I believe that it is not unrealistic to expect the second hand price to start climbing towards the same percentage of the new retail in a relatively short time.
My entrepreneurial spirit is screaming 'buy second hand Gibsons now!!'
**DISCLAIMER** This is my opinion don't go spend your life savings on second hand Gibsons without doing your own research. I am probably completely wrong.
