Why does this enrage me so?

[rfurtkamp]

The old Strads etc are loaned out to musicians to get played generally by their wealthy owners.

These are going to be put behind glass.

But if it makes somebody happy to do it, more power to them. If they can drop that kind of coin, they're realistically already paying out the nose in taxes and other things, and for them, it's not a big deal.

Sort of like buying a 100k sportscar or whatever, it's just what makes you happy and you can.

I'd play it if I wanted it, and if I could afford it, I'd get it. Same as anything else.

Chances are it wouldn't make me any happier than any other LP I've ever played but I don't hate those who can swing the $$$.

It really wasn't an "ordinary" instrument back when it was made either though, those were stupid expensive pieces of wood that you didn't casually buy even then.

Not a house-worth, but a large sum. Same with any of the old instruments.

Thing to remember is that even clunkers appreciate with inflation in ways that are boggling.

I can see paying six figures for that before I could see paying $500 for a Teisco.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Haha yeah prices for "vintage" crap that was crap then and is worse now are weird.

And I don't hate people who buy this stuff, I don't care what they spend their money on and it's not like the strads, there are plenty of les pauls out there without this one in the pool so these people aren't stealing guitars from the rest of us or anything, spending that much on an instrument just doesn't make any sense to me.

[rfurtkamp]

Different people value things differently. For them it's an icon of their youth (in most cases) or a link to a golden age of stardom before they were born (in youngsters with sudden cash). When you have the things you want already, and nothing's appealed for a while, or what it's what you've always wanted....

...sort of like the guys who buy a $600 action figure playset to open it because they never got one for Christmas.

[wafl]

...sort of like the guys who buy a $600 action figure playset to open it because they never got one for Christmas.

That sounds hella creepy.
Like pushing serial killer territory there.

[rfurtkamp]

Not really, you always wanted it, you can swing it now, cross it off the list of regrets.

No functionally different than the people buying vintage (oh, how that word makes me snicker when used with the following) video game systems and pining for Sega and Nintendo games.

[friendship]

Value is weird. Don't think too much about it. Money isn't real and guitars barely so.

[devnulljp]

It shouldn't enrage you that someone is trying to sell a vintage guitar for $245,000. After all, it's a free market and people should be able to ask whatever price they think they can get for an item. What should enrage you is if someone actually buys the guitar for anything close to $245,000. You could do something really positive with a quarter million that would benefit an entire community, instead of selfishly buying an over-priced status symbol to impress other horrible people.