Collecting Guitars and Amps
The resale of vintage music gear, especially tube amplifiers and old electric guitars, has boomed in recent years, despite the availability (or perhaps because) of cheap solid-state gear made overseas

Even effect pedals have become collectible, a most interesting phenomenon because in 1980s, when digital state-of-the-art rack systems were in vogue, effect pedals were basically considered "old junk."

Because there so much interest in the market for vintage tones and gear, it became a no-brainer for companies to seek to fulfill the demand by creating re-issues.Naturally some of these recreations are more faithful to the original than other.

The decision to buy a vintage piece of gear or a reissue can be difficult and many factors need to be examined. The purpose of this article is to unravel some of the mysteries and point out many of the facts with regards to both versions of gear so that you can make the best purchasing decision.
There is no right and wrong and there is no way to say vintage is always "better" compared to a reissue and vice versa.

Having said the above, the decision to buy vintage is always at least in part an emotional decision. Who wants to play on the same type of amplifiers as played by Jimi Hendrix or the Beatles?

The history of a amplifier or guitar model is a major factor in driving up the price of vintage gear. Secondly, as manufacturing processes change, it becomes harder and harder to duplicate the sounds of yesterday with newer gear.

How much guitarist out there want to pretend they are Santana on the magic day when he first grabs a Mesa Mark amplifiers, wails on it and then exclaims: "Don't that thing boogies..."

And let's be honest about manufacturing. Over the decades, tube amplifiers vendors have been espeically notorious about cutting manufacturing costs to increase profitability at the expense of sound quality (I'm looking at you, CBS when you owned Fender). When did they last hand wire an amplifier?

With the introduction of spreadsheets and global competition from low-cost countries, cost plays a much larger role today and so doing things such as reducing costs by using lesser-grade components is just one method used to compete today. So for many muscians, there is nothing as satisfying as playing on a good piece of vintage gear.

However, there are many issues surrounding the decision to obtain vintage gear that must be addressed.First, please note: because some of the values are so astronomically high, it can be enticing for a con-artist to make a good forgery and then turn an even greater profit.And it must be said that there have been some great forgeries! For example, there are excellent forgeries of 50's-era Fender Stratocasters, with attention being made to almost every detail.

Another issue surrounding vintage gear is verifying originality. Even if the gear is not a forgery of some kind, for many pieces of gear (amplifiers in particular) maintaining 100% originality is very difficult.In the case of amplifiers, obviously tubes and filter capacitors have a limited life and will need replacement.In addition, other parts may have failed during the amp's lifetime and needed replacement.

This brings up the question: are you a player or a collector? If you are a collector, then having an amp with 100% all-original components (even if they make the amp sound bad) is worth the added cost you'll undoubtedly pay.

Not every part in a component is necessarily date coded, and in the case of a company such as Fender, it is not uncommon to have parts used within an amplifier or guitar to have all different years of date codes. Fender worked like any other stock house and would stock up large quantities of parts.If there were extra transformers or guitar bridges around in stock during the transition to the "new" year, these "old" parts would inevitably be used.

So basically while collectors and players share similiar interests, it's the collector who has to pay exquisite attention to every detail, like date stamps, whereas the musician can focus on the playability of the gear.

But even as a player, originality to some extent should still be important, especially if you are after a particular sound.What would a Vox or Hiwatt be without their Woden or Partridge transformers?

The best advice given to somebody interested in vintage gear is to do research and more research. Special attention must be given to the parts that are not easily replaceable (handwired components and wooden structures especially.

Other things to consider if you want to play that old guitar or amplifier: Even if the original parts are better than the parts of today, you will need to invest more in maintenance. Fortunately, companies like Mesa Boogie take great pride in keeping service technicians who know how to maintain their older amps. But it is a good idea the check the availability of service techs in your area.

One last note about reissues. Careful shopping needs to be done for reissue gear as some reissues aren't quite reissues at all and may indeed have a different circuit design or use different components all together. Hitting the forum boards (like Grailtone or Gear Slutz) is a really good. Harmony Central is another great place to consider other people's opinions.