Official Luthiers Forum!

I just cleaned out the shop&found 2 catalogs from the 70'early 80's

Michael Gurian -Braz. sets $40.
Indian $16.
Hogwood-$9
Euro Spruce for $10-$25.

Metropolitan Music-
Euro Maple-High Flame-$35.00
Euro Spruce tops-$5-$27.50 for Premo!
1st grade Ebony F.Bs-$7.50.
Cedar tops-$5-$10 low to high quality!
Braz.f.boards for $3.00

The stock market has nothing on guitarwood futures.
Mike

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Mike Collins

And Ebony has skyrocketed. I think it's over $100/bf now.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

When I consider my stash, most of which is 15 or more years old, I see the current prices have more than doubled, maybe closer than tripled on some.

I still have Indian rosewood I paid $45 a set for, Asian Rosewood that was $40, special grade coco I bought for $95, Zircote that was a whopping $165 and on and on.

The bad news is all prices including soundboards are headed north at a rapid pace.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Like any bubble, prices will rise until they collapse. Look at any market crash. If the price of wood rises far enough, wood will be replaced by plastic or guitars will be replaced by some sort of electronic instrument.

Just my opinion.

Bob

I hope you are right Bob but I'm not so sure. Seems all wood, even soundboard stock is getting more and more scarce. More people+less trees=higher prices

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Going back a little farther.....Bill Lewis luthier supplies in the early 70's....$9.00-$10.00 for EI rosewood and $12.00 for Braz. and many steel string builders wondered if it was worth the extra$2.00.
Even some classical builders weren't sure of the price difference, but they're REALLY conservative and pretty much had to spend the extra two bucks
As a side note,if you don't know who Bill Lewis was, Google him. He made many different types of guitars, including a custom electric guitar for a your British kid passing through Vancouver (Canada)
who went on to record a great album with it. Maybe some of you have heard Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd ???

Brent

Serge de Jonge told a story about he and J Larrivee going to a local Toronto hardwood shop in the early 70s to buy wood .. they picked out about a dozen BRW boards and took them up to pay for them .. when the guy at the couter said 12 bucks a BF, Larrivee scoffed and says I am not paying 12 bucks a bf for BRW, and they put them all back and left ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I just don't see the wood market collapsing, ever. The supply dwindles as demand constantly rises. So many people getting into lutherie and so many picky buyers wanting perfect tonewoods. And buyers that must have the coveted Brazilian rosewood. It's amazing now that a nice straight grained set of BRW for $500 is a good price.

I think a decent part of the 'problem' is that major manufacturers all across the world are buying up every bit of anything (leaving us small timers in a pinch) looking towards the future...I have no issue with calling it hoarding, though I'm sure in their eyes it is simply smart business...

I can't picture the price of tonewood going down in the future. It may fluctuated with the value of the dollar, economic conditions, etc. But not much. Since 2008 the economic climate has been poor, but the price of exotics has gone up and up. Too many people after an ever dwindling resource. Top that with the illegal harvesting of tropical woods and the supply goes quickly. Another important factor is the number of people around the world who are achieving a middle class or better living standard. The demand for great guitars isn't limited to developed countries, but is now worldwide.

Everyone laments about the good ole days when Brazilian Rosewood was $50.00 a set. Count Cocobolo, Ziricote, Honduran Rosewood, any type of Rosewood, Wenge, Pau Ferro, Pau Rosa, etc. etc. etc. etc. in the same class in a few years.

Too many people and too few resources. I heard a report on NPR today that the Chinese believe that the optimum population for their country should not exceed 600 million. They already have twice that number of people. You do the math.