Attractive and confusing, many things in life can be described that way. To a lot of us, autographed guitars fall squarely in that category.
Assuming you can authenticate the autograph, it is so attractive to know that famous person actually held that guitar and put their personal mark on it. Many times, it is a guitar they never played or would even consider playing. Well, that’s a little confusing. In those cases, the guitar has very little value. All the value is in the autograph.
Occasionally, you will find a guitar that was actually played on stage by the artist and then autographed. That increases the value of the guitar beyond just the autograph. For example, you can find a Van Halen autographed Strat for $3K. You can also find one he played in concert and autographed for $125k. That is the same autograph, but now the guitar becomes very special.
Millions of dollars change hands every year to acquire these specific collectible guitars. The value is what a collector is willing to pay. The confusion, for me, is understanding that those guitars will rarely be played again for fear of damaging the signature.
Like any piece of art, the value is a combination of the fame of the artist, the history of the piece and the quality of the work.
We got to hold a crazy custom guitar played and signed by Steve Vai.
I think it may be undervalued.
Watch this episode of Every Guitar Has A Story and make your appraisal in the comments.
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