Take the average guitar person round any guitar store or guitar show and chances are what they will see is a lot of guitars with some blokes (and they invariably are largely male) stood behind them. In reality what we have there is a market and a behind the scenes largely undercover market at that.
What most people will not realise is that the high end of guitar dealing is like a combination of a poker game and a giant game of chess with guitars moved around like poker chips or chess pieces. Take my mate John (not his real name) who deals a certain type of guitars. Whilst John is likely to have guitars from all periods in stock, what you are likely to find at his house (if you even get invited) is some lovely turn of the century handmade European guitars. John deals almost exclusively with and within the trade and I only met him through a deal I did for him on some rare German bone tuning pegs I had acquired in the bottom of a box of junk. John only buys with an eye on the eventual buyer and his address book is bulging with names of dealers across Europe. He will buy guitars which appeal specifically to buyers in certain markets and I have known him to travel the length of the U.K. for a rare Italian "parlour" guitar just because he knew he had a buyer in (obviously) Italy. John rarely sets foot in guitar shops and only occasionally do I see him at guitar shows. He keeps himself to himself and is always discrete in his dealings, never boasts or brags about his victories, and takes any setbacks quietly on the chin.
In a world of the impatient and hasty, John is a gent of the first order, he will wait on buying guitars sometimes for months and has the patience that I personally lack (I recently blew a deal on a 1972 Martin because with hindsight I was too hasty). John buys on merit and his knowledge of what is a fairly minute sector of the total guitar market is second to none, but here dear readers is the moral of this piece. John never buys on price...he never tries to get a guitar as cheaply as possible. When I once asked him about this, his cryptic reply was "Karma young man...Karma".
Over coffee at his house, he told me the tale of going to buy an early Gibson archtop when a young dealer, and deciding to settle at the price in the newspaper advertisement, £275 in those days I kid you not! Having met the seller, an elderly widowed gentleman who had once owned a music shop and played in Dance bands in the 1930's. John was treated to afternoon tea and the deal was done in a civilised way with no haggling. On leaving the old bloke told John that he needed a tuning peg for a Maccaferri type "Django" guitar. John left his card and sent him the tuner a few days later.
John never heard from the old boy again until he received a phone call 18 months later from his daughter to let John know that the old lad has passed away and that he wanted her to sell his "guitars" to John as he seemed like an honest bloke. John went round to the house and in the upstairs bedroom was stacked around 30 or so cases which contained early Gibsons, Epiphones, a Selmer Maccaferri and some nice early Hofners amongst others all priced up at what John now refers to with a wink as "the right price" for that time. John paid again in full, never haggling and left happy his car stacked to the roof with some lovely collectable and saleable guitars. So its a clear choice dear reader.... a quick and easy buck today or establish a relationship with both buyer and seller as see what transpires. As John says.... Karma! and not necessarily the "instant" kind!
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