Martin LX Jimmy Buffett guitar

[summeriscool]

Hi all. Been around awhile as a lurker. I was just wondering if anyone has tried selling their Martin LX Jimmy Buffett guitars already. I saw one on Ebay that went for $350.00 but it was modified with an electric hook up. With only 300 made and no longer available, shouldn't they be worth more than the selling price? Thanks.

[Crazy Navy Flyer]

Should be worth much more than that, I paid $500 for mine new and with only a limited number made I would think it would it would be worth more than 5.

[summeriscool]

I would think so also. Fallen on some hard times and thinking of getting rid of mine. Trying not to though. I saw the one on ebay that sold for 350.00. Hoping it was because it was modified with an electronic acoustic pickup.

[WinchWench]

Modification can definitely affect the pricing but you also have to remember that when tough economic times roll around, sometimes "collector" value can take a hit...folks might just not have as much disposable cash around right now. We have a family heirloom 1960s era Sears Silvertone electric guitar with the original amp in case....a couple years ago I could have sold it for over a grand, today comparable ones are going for $650-$700 on eBay. A local guitar shop has one of the limited edition Felix the Cat Little Martins that they've had a $500 price tag on for several years now and still it sits in the shop collecting dust. I almost bought it for my son but since I was looking for an instrument for him to seriously play, not a collector's item investment, I decided it made a hell of a lot more sense to get the LX1E model with the built in pick up and tuner for $150 less.

[Crazy Navy Flyer]

Modification can definitely affect the pricing but you also have to remember that when tough economic times roll around, sometimes "collector" value can take a hit...folks might just not have as much disposable cash around right now. We have a family heirloom 1960s era Sears Silvertone electric guitar with the original amp in case....a couple years ago I could have sold it for over a grand, today comparable ones are going for $650-$700 on eBay. A local guitar shop has one of the limited edition Felix the Cat Little Martins that they've had a $500 price tag on for several years now and still it sits in the shop collecting dust. I almost bought it for my son but since I was looking for an instrument for him to seriously play, not a collector's item investment, I decided it made a hell of a lot more sense to get the LX1E model with the built in pick up and tuner for $150 less.

My first electric was a Sears Silvertone, got it in high school back in the 60's and played it in my first band. I can't remember what happened to it, never dreamed it would be worth much.

[WinchWench]

My first electric was a Sears Silvertone, got it in high school back in the 60's and played it in my first band. I can't remember what happened to it, never dreamed it would be worth much.

Yeah, even at $650-$700, that's not bad for an original investment of about $60 from the Sears catalog, even with inflation. The one we have was my brother-in-law's first guitar that he passed on to our son last year for Christmas and looks a lot like this:


Part of the value comes from the fact that these guitars were often heavily modified after purchase or the case with amp was lost over the years etc., so if you have one with the case/amp and all original pieces, especially the lipstick tube pickup, it's kind of rare. Plus I think there's just a lot of nostalgia around these guitars and a particular era of music history...lots of people who went on to become "classic rock guitar gods" got their start on one of these and lots of people who never made it further than their first garage band in high school did too.

I'm not sure the Buffett edition Little Martin will ever do quite as well as far as collector value, but I bet they will be worth more in a few years. And if not, at the end of the day, they are just great, fun little guitars so if worse comes to worse, just enjoy playing the thing and don't worry about the "value".

[capndar]

I am looking for a Buffet Martin LX but to play, not to collect. I'd probably put a pickup in it

[caroltz]

Check out this thread from July 2011. Someone named trooper583 was looking to buy one.

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