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In these times of financial uncertainty, many investors are looking for new ways to make their money grow, leaving behind more traditional opportunities. Instead, these money makers are looking towards items such as vintage cars, comics and books and rare musical instruments to make their money. However, are vintage guitars really an investment or are they just status symbols for people with lots of money?

Previously, investors have bought comics, first edition books, rare paintings and other historical artefacts in a bid to make a financial profit. However, in recent years many of the world’s most high profile vintage guitar purchases have been made, not by guitarists or enthusiasts, but by money men that are attempting to profit from these guitars and their desirability.

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At the end of last month, a vintage guitar auction in Dallas sold a collection of 409 lots that raised over $1.5 million in total. At the forefront of the bidding action was a rare and sought after guitar, a guitar that caused frenzy. In fact the lot in question, a 1949 Bigsby vintage guitar, sold at auction for $266,500, with head-to-head bidding by two determined parties propelling the price upwards.

The vintage guitar wasn’t just any old guitar though. It was a 1949 Bigsby birds-eye maple solid body electric guitar, and it was the forth instrument to be made at this famous old guitar shop. For their quarter of a million dollars, the winning bidder isn’t only buying a stunning example of a prestigious guitar, they are also buying a piece of music history.

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Bert Weedon, the famous Play in a Day guitar teacher has died aged 91. An accomplished guitarist in his own right, working with big names such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, Weedon was perhaps best known for influencing some of the world’s greatest guitarists through his self-help book – Play in a Day.

Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Brian May, Hank Marvin and many other famous British guitarists have used Weedon’s Play in a Day tutorial book while learning their six string skills. He was a huge influence on early rock ‘n’ roll, not only teaching people to play the guitar through his book but also as a successful and sought after guitarist who played on records with some big names that include; Tommy Steele, Adam Faith, Billy Fury, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, to name but a few.

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Lee Roy Parnell is one of the best known and most respected guitarists to have ever played country music and, in celebration of the man and his music, the Lee Roy Parnell signature Gibson Les Paul has been created by the guys at the Gibson Custom Shop. The signature custom guitar is based on a ’57 Les Paul Goldtop but it features some updates and improvements to further improve the sound of this iconic vintage guitar.

The Lee Roy Parnell signature Gibson Les Paul features the classic two-piece maple body but with an all-new Big Block cavity design that achieves greater resonance and tone depth. The neck of the custom Les Paul is designed to the specifications of Lee Roy’s own Les Paul, featuring a slightly asymmetrical profile, while the fingerboard is made of rosewood and features 22 Vintage Reissue frets.

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Legendary guitar amp inventor, Jim Marshall has died aged 88 following a number of strokes during recent years and a fight with cancer. Marshall, who was awarded an OBE in 2003, which accompanies a number of other prestigious honours that he received for his services to the music industry, was known to many as the “Father of Loud” and has had many tributes paid from artists that include the likes of Slash from Guns ‘n Roses and Paul Weller, among others.

Marshall used to own and operate a moderately successful music store in Hanwell, London back in the swinging sixties, with customers such as Pete Townsend, Ritchie Blackmore and Big Jim Sullivan buying from his store. And it was a request from The Who front man that prompted Marshall to design the classic 100-watt valve guitar amplifier, as rock musicians searched for extra ‘loud!’

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While a British guitar maker and restorer was searching for abandoned instruments to return to their former glory, he made, what he described as the ‘find of a lifetime’. Shaun Newman had discovered a 100 year old Ibanez vintage guitar in a dump and, after paying a nominal £5 charge, took the battered piece of musical history to his workshop to begin the restoration.

This rare vintage guitar was in a sorry state though, with numerous cracks and chips that were accompanied by a crack that run the entire length of one of the ribs. However, being a time served guitar craftsman, Newman managed to restore the vintage Ibanez to its former glory following hours of painstaking work.

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There’s a custom guitar manufacturer in New York who is offering his customers the chance to own a brand new, vintage sounding and feeling guitar, a guitar that is also a piece of history. 62 year old Rich Kelly makes custom guitars using reclaimed wood from famous building in New York, and these handmade custom instruments carry a modest price tag too.

Kelly has been making custom guitars in New York since the late 1960s but recently he has taken to using reclaimed timber from some of New York’s most famous historic buildings to create his works. Chumley’s Pub, the old Lincoln Hotel and the famous Hotel Chelsea are just some of the buildings that Kelly has used wood from to create these unique custom guitars.

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When it comes to vintage guitar auctions, they don’t attract much more hype than the auction taking place in June this year, when some of Les Paul’s guitars and equipment are to be sold. That’s right, rare guitars, effects pedals and other highly sought after goodies will be going under the hammer in just a few weeks time.

Celebrity auction house, Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills will hold the three-day auction in the beginning of June to coincide with what would have been Paul’s 97th birthday. The guitar auction will feature a wealth of music history including; vintage guitars, mixing consoles, various effects pedals and even a grand piano that was used in Paul’s home recording studio.

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