Alert: Guitars Hit By Inflation Crisis! (Finally?)
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- Опубліковано 18 лют 2024
- Inflation sucks. Nobody wants to see inflation make an impact of their lives, let alone their passion for music and guitars.
But the reality is actually something of an open secret in the guitar industry, and you don't have to dig very hard at all to find the facts.
Guitar products (electric guitars, acoustic guitars, guitar accessories, basically ALL musical instruments) have historically NOT kept up with inflation. Not in the slightest.
In this video we are going to go over some historic advertised prices for various bits of guitar gear and compare those with what an inflation calculator shows that dollar figure would be today.
Keep up the vids!! The numbers are mind numbing when calculating yesteryear to today dollars. On a Miami Vice episode in 1985 there is a reference to the stock market. The comment was “do you think it will ever cross 2000 points?
2000 points? WOWOWOWOW!
Speaking as a pedal builder, most inflation on the input parts I’ve seen has been:
-anything aluminum (the tariffs from a few years ago are gone with the administration change, but the prices just stayed up)
-component prices (specific chips got hard to find and prices exploded, then post supply chain problems the prices came down a bit)
-anything on the used market (Reverb expanded the customer base who can compete for stuff)
Silver lining though: I think this is good for smaller manufacturers. With increased prices of vintage pedals, the choice to go with something brand new vs something used is a little more of a tough choice.
I could go on and on, I’ve obviously thought about this a lot lol
That jives with what I’ve seen in recent times for sure.
Such a cool video. Well done my friend. 🤘
Thank you my dude!!
Nice video and thought provoking stuff on the cost of gear...
We live in a Golden Age of guitar equipment. Sad there are not many younger kids getting involved with playing...
I don’t know if that’s as true as it once was.
Young folks seem to be reversing that trend!
Yeah that MXR price is WILD. But I also know that the first digital calculators around then were pretty expensive too. I have definitely mulled these thoughts over in my brain before. The sucky thing is the cost of parts is also widely different than it was then. Transistors definitely weren't costing MXR a few cents like they do now, I'm betting.
I've always thought that things should be getting LESS expensive as we become more efficient at producing them but apparently that's not the case. lol
In some cases the efficiency gains simply offset inflation or other increasing costs.
Not in every situation of course
Somehow this makes me feel better. Maybe I’ll go buy a gold top. I can iustify it to my wife by saying it only costs 250 bucks (in deflated 1950s dollars). 😂
$247.50!!! Let’s be accurate
Thank you for keeping us informed.
Knowing that gear is getting less expensive compared to inflation is a bit of a consolation .
I will be using this argument with my wife next time I bring home a guitar.
Better dig up those vintage price lists. 😂
Great work Fella - love your positive approach.
Thank you so much!
I was told there would be no math.
I made the computer do as much of it as I could. Lol
This is the lord's work
You are too kind dude
Did any of these numbers surprise you at all? I’m still floored by the price of that MXR.
That's the one that surprised me the most for sure. The guitar prices not as much. I used to work on a guitar store and had a customer insist that a LP Custom was only worth $400 coz that's what he paid for it back in the day. I wish that were true!
Not super surprised. My Boomer dad and I are both tile installers and I have heard him comment on how many hours he would have to work to buy a level or tile cutter.
@@carldebaun6346Yeah. The guitars are more in line for sure.
@@tileslinger31I totally get that!
But it’s “live” flanging! Worth it.
Man, I have never played a Benson, but they have to be the best looking amps out there right now. My eyes keep drifting to them in the background haha.
They are the bees kneez for sure! Thats Vincent & Vinny number one back there.
Keep it going Blake. I thought the signoff was genius "I'm hungary... I gotta go !" .... how do you come up with this stuff? 😂
Hahaha! Thanks dude. I really was hungry so not a lot of thought needed there. 😝
See, insert wife name… it’s like the same as grandpa paid so it’s fine
😂😂😂
Still not gonna pay what stringjoy charges for a non high carbon steel string
They can eat a big one. There are made in USA carbon steels for way cheaper
I don’t know who gave you your information, but by definition we do use high carbon steel.
Cores and plains are made using music wire.
“Music wire, also known as piano wire or spring wire, is a high-carbon steel alloy famous for its high tensile strength and high elastic limit.”
If we aren’t for you, that’s cool! But at least you have the info now. 👍
@@thetonemob sorry i forgot to put the word coated in there
What do you mean “finally”? Guitar prices have been rising steadily over the last decade. The pandemic was the big moment -- guitar companies took advantage of the situation, knowing full well everyone was at home looking for things to do. That was when they truly jacked the prices to gouge the consumer. It had nothing to do with inflation. It was gouging-- pure and simple.
During the depths of lockdown some companies did raise their prices, but largely pricing remained consistent even though supply chains started to get messed up.
When suppliers/shippers/import fees went up (which drove individual parts costs up around 30% on average) that started to result in raised prices for the consumer. But this mostly didn’t happen until lockdowns started easing.
By and large though, $200 USD is still considered a “normal” price ballpark for a non-import pedal with an actual warranty. Despite all of that.
Which is low when you look at the comparative cost historically.
You forget those companies had to pay more for their supplies too. You act like they should not make profit anymore?
@@Ottophil Define “profit”? How much is enough? The answer of course, there is no “enough”. If there is some more to take, they will take it.