The Steel Guitar Forum

See now what happens? Because the Rickenbacker Spanish electric guitar went for $2750 on eBay, we have this fine lap steel offered for a minimum bid of $1500.

Description:1936 Rickenbacher Electro Steel Guitar. Patent#2089171. Rich sound. Short dead space in volume control. Rust on inside edge of one metal plate next to fret board. Two chips to front body edge. 2 small chips to rear body edge. Two small chips to fret board edge. Some scratches to rear body. Plastic bridge is broken at of two screws. Narrow red marks on two tuning keys.

From the photo it appears to be a postwar lap steel, certainly more in the $400-500 range.


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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
<p ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b">[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 11-13-99]</FONT></P>

Ebay has done more to screw up the vintage market and inflate prices than any pawn shop or avaricious dealer could ever dream of doing.

Case in point. A mid-70's Sho~Bud S-10 (not an LDG) was listed on Ebay for $3000 opening bid recently. Of course, no one bid on it. But some other seller with an S-10 offered his opening at $1500, saying "I've seen these things going for $3000." Wow, what a bargain!

Ignorance.

Also recently, a fellow was offering a Fender 1000. Started at $1500, no bidders. Then $1250, no bidders. 995, no bidders. I think, maybe, at $695 there was a bidder. So the market did level itself somewhat.

I realize that increased prices of new instruments invariably raise the prices of pre-owned instruments, but no knowledgeable steel dealer or trader (or Forumite, for that matter) would conscionably sell a 70's ShoBud S-10 for $3K. I certainly hope not, anyway.

There might be some people out there that will pay 1500+ for one of those post-war Ricks, but there won't be many I hope. There will still be an inflationary trend, regardless. So maybe those post war ricks that we used to get for 350-450 will now settle in the 600 range for awhile.

"Water seeks it's own level" I think that this is true of outrageously priced steels as I have seen many of them go off the board without any bids.I'm certain that this will be the case here,and I'm certain of one other thing,if there is a bidder on this one,they have much more money than knowledge of what they are bidding on.

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it's definitely not a 1936 or it would have strings through the body.

OK. I know we're in No Peddlers and all, but the madness continues...
Check out the Maverick with an $800 opening bid and this speil:
One of the most interesting items we have ever placed on EBay, this Sho-Bud guitar sells for a whopping $2,800.00 new. The guitar is in good shape with just a few nicks and scratches. It has 10 strings, 3 pedals, and plays great. Sho-Bud has been making these guitars since the mid-50's! This one is sure to be a good conversation piece in your home.

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Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net

Aloha Brad, and thank you for your words of common sense on this matter. I am a working musician, albeit part time, and my timing is all wrong. Just when I think that I'm getting decent enough to NEED a good fender, it seems the prices are going through the roof, thanks in part to the frenzied bidding going on on a certain on-line auction site. What's a mother to do ?Isaac.

Don,
Hang in there; don't buy the first thing that comes along. There are good deals out there, but you have to work at it.
Also consider some other fine instruments such as the Melobar lap steels. I don't know what kind of sound you're seeking, but these are fine instruments.
I keep track of what people are offering through Vintage Guitar magazine and through Gbase. Remember that you can usually negotiate a lower price on any guitar offered.
Finally, never use eBay as a reality check.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

is there a way to expose greedy, fraudulent liars??

by the way, the seller of the rick now claims it's 50ish and started bidding at $340.
i wonder if they read this forum...and i wonder how the crow tasted!