The Steel Guitar Forum

Whenever I get bored I go browse the E-Bay ads for lap steels. These folks think every lap steel ever made is "vintage" "rare", "hard to find" "collectors item", etc. Sad thing about it though is a lot of these old guitars would make good starter guitars to learn on if they were priced anywhere near their actual value. I also don't understand why the sellers don't get the message when they list them over and over again with no takers. I realize vintage Fenders, Gibsons, Valcos etc have some real value but just because it is old don't mean it is worth a small fortune.

E-Bay did well by me. When I started making lap steels I wasn't aware of the SGF. I sold more than 100 on E-Bay and had only a couple of problem customers who I blocked. The SGF is much better because it's directed to a specific market. In many stores, both locally and online, there are bargains and overpriced items. I don't think it's only E-Bay. I agree that many people think old means it has great value. People bring instruments that sold for $5 at Sears and Rubbish or Monkey Warts into my store and think they are worth a lot. Violins top the list because the label is printed Strad copy.

Robert Allen wrote:People bring instruments that sold for $5 at Sears and Rubbish or Monkey Warts into my store and think they are worth a lot.

I wanted drums so I never pressed for any of the '$5 rubbish' guitars and amps, and have since searched them out for their often great lo-fi sounds.
Never got the drums...
Oh, for a Way-Back Machine! But ebay has been pretty good to me, thank god for the intraweb, the little miracle stores just don't exist much any more.

there used too be hundreds of funky lapsteels for $30 in pawn shops and other places. that's still what most of them are worth, but people are asking $400 for them. good luck. some suckers buy them for that. there are only a few models that are really worth something.

I'm amazed by the ASKING prices on eBay lately. Sellers listing old lap steels for $799, $900, $1100 or more. When I started playing guitar in the 1960s ANY used lap steel could be bought for $30. I know inflation has a lot to do with it, but I think the internet and eBay have contributed to the skyrocketing prices. My first lap steel was a Fender Champion that someone gave to me for free. I also bought a number of used lap steels for $25 to $40. I remember buying a used Sho-Bud student model pedal steel guitar for $100 (for a student of mine) about 1982.

The first guitar that I owned was a used Stella 6 string acoustic. My Stepfather bought it for me in a Birmingham, Al pawn shop in 1956. The asking price was $19.95 but he negotiated it down to ten dollars, and I instantly became another Elvis wannabee at the age of 9.
I get somewhat amused when I see an old Stella 6 string on Ebay with a "buy it now" price of $300. Those were really cheap guitars and would hardly be considered rare since thousands of them were sold to young kids like me during the rock & roll era.
I stopped in a local music store a while back and the had a really cheapo McKinney lap steel with a 19" scale, hardly worth anything. The asking price was $299!!

I bought one of those Stella guitars. Had it for about 6 months and the neck warped. Lots of us steel players learned back then on an acoustic guitar with a raised nut so as bad as it was as a guitar, it was a usable lap steel for student purposes.

Yep, that's exactly what I mean Doug. Just because it is something they don't see every day, they think they are all rare collectors items worth a fortune.

You also frequently see Sho-Bud Mavericks and similar guitars listing for $700 - $800 and more. I just hope buyers do a little research before plunking the money down.

Doug Beaumier wrote:I know inflation has a lot to do with it, but I think the internet and eBay have contributed to the skyrocketing prices.

I think it's more due to inflation. If anything, the internet has lowered prices on musical instruments and has driven many mom and pop stores out of business. I hear it here in my store all the time. "I can get this set of strings 20 cents cheaper off the internet, so you gotta give me 20 cents off and pay the tax, too." Brick and mortar music stores don't compete against other music stores anymore, they compete against internet pricing.

Bob, I was thinking more of the vintage steel guitar market. Before the internet, older non-pedal steels could be bought fairly cheap. I think eBay, the Steel Forum, and other sites have increased awareness and demand for certain older steel guitars... Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacher, Bigsby, Emmons, Franklin all continue to increase in value. I think the internet "buzz" about them has a lot to do with it. I do agree that the internet has lowered prices on new gear.

Doug Beaumier wrote:I think eBay, the Steel Forum, and other sites have increased awareness and demand for certain older steel guitar.

It seems the fast-buck mongers that prey on the less informed and desperate amongst us simply ran out of cheaper guitars to dangle in front of glassed over eyes and saw steels as the next best thing to sucker buyers with once making noise on a steel became popular.

Ron Whitfield wrote:

Doug Beaumier wrote:I think eBay, the Steel Forum, and other sites have increased awareness and demand for certain older steel guitar.

It seems the fast-buck mongers that prey on the less informed and desperate amongst us simply ran out of cheaper guitars to dangle in front of glassed over eyes and saw steels as the next best thing to sucker buyers with once making noise on a steel became popular.

"Making noise on a steel" sure strikes a chord. I have mixed feelings about a lot of the stuff I see on Youtube done on (or to) a steel. I guess it is better than the instrument dying out, but it almost hurts to hear some of the stuff they are being used for. I guess that's a sure sign I'm getting old.

As an example there is a listing about to expire with no bids on an MSA Red Baron 3 Pedal 1 Knee Lever guitar for a starting bid of $599. From the listing it really seems like the seller has no real idea of what he has, but has probably seen other similar guitars on there at $599 and higher. The cycle goes on...

Some eBay sellers don't know anything about the lap steels they are selling. The guitar may have been in the family for years, but no one plays it any more, and they don't know anything about it. If you inquire about the electronics they have no idea what you're talking about... don't know what a pickup is... so they say the guitar is "untested". The guitar could have broken tuners, frozen control knobs, a dead pickup, etc. The seller doesn't know it because he's not musician. BUT... they have no problem saying that the guitar is a classic, looks awesome, beautiful condition... because it looks cool. I always take this into consideration when buying a guitar or amp from an eBay seller who does Not play, and I bid accordingly.

Many of the steels on the bay today are the ones that ten years ago were the Supro's and other brands that at best would bring about two hundred ,now look at what they are asking for these.

Many of the steels on the bay today are the ones that ten years ago were the Supro's and other brands that at best would bring about two hundred ,now look at what they are asking for these.

If people pay the prices being asked and do so continually then, well, there's the market speaking. This IS what these instruments are worth to buyers today and it's mostly immaterial that they went for less many in other eras. When you look at the price of a 1952 Fender steel vs a 1952 Fender Telecaster, we steel players are still coming out way ahead.

True, the selling prices are what they are, but a lot of sellers today list their laps steels for double and triple the market value and the guitars don't sell... so they list them over and over again for the same high price. I don't understand that. Isn't that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

I enjoy recording the prices that non pedal steels sell for.Looking back at the last ten years a picture from the auctions surfaces that is at times puzzling.Economics is not immaterial to me .

Yeah, thats the thing, if you monitor these auctions, with the high prices that is, there is probably less than a 10% sales rate...most of them go unsold and are relisted. I know of one home made 6 string pedal steel that has been listed at least 3 times with a starting price of $269 with no bids. Last time I saw it they had a starting price of $169. It's possible that this may be worth the starting price, but the problem is the seller gives absolutely no information on the instrument...string spacing, scale, tuning, what the pedals are set to do or anything. Under these conditions i "might" give $75 or $100 for it on a gamble that it could be modified into something useful.