THE TRUTH ABOUT KIESEL GUITARS RESALE VALUE...

Join me today for a discussion regarding why Kiesel guitars typically have poor resale value.

[robertp]

If you are buying a guitar thinking about how much you'll get for it when you sell it, it's the wrong guitar for you. Resale value shouldn't matter for a custom-made guitar. You should have ordered exactly what you wanted. This has nothing to do with Kiesel and everything to do with custom guitars and people buying guitars and getting rid of them rather than holding onto them. I've heard tons of people expressing regret over selling an instrument they shouldn't have, which is why I have 13 basses.

[lesnacke]

basically if ur worried about resale value, dont spec your guitar out like a clown

[zz-.-]

I scour the Kiesel for sale listings for this exact reason. Anything that is ordered so specific to the original buyer that isn’t *very* limited/hard to get, is going to take a huge hit on the secondary market. I’m here for it 😈

[wurm]

I have 3 Kiesels that I had built to spec and thought about this when I had them done. Still did it. I don't buy guitars with resale or what the next owner thinks of it in mind.

[benburnett]

When you make a "custom 1 of a kind" you have to find the "1 kind" whom wants to buy the guitar after the other "1 guy" ordered it. That's a whole lot of custom and not a whole lot of "popular"

[uvicjames]

Yes, if you bling out a Kiesel to your specs you can have a tough time finding someone else who wants to buy it. That cuts both ways though. I have a few Kiesel in-stocks that went for stupendously low. A DC that would cost you 4100 that sold for 2600 as an in-stock. I have a couple from the used market, and two that were custom made. The custom guitars (SH550s) went on black friday sales for a good discount, and if you compare them to their competitors (Sadowsky or Benedetto) the value is really good for what you get. If you are paying full price, make sure you are reconciled to a potential drop in resale. If you are buying in-stock at a discount or used, you won't do too badly.

[ME_RR]

Not necessarily true. Considered Dingwall bass guitars. A lot of their used customs go for their full resale value and often even more. Now a BIG part of that is because there’s a good 24 month wait for a custom.
Thing is, Dingwall doesn’t make a bad bass guitar. They also have outstanding customer support. Unlike Keisel, they don’t blame their customers when something goes wrong with an instrument. Not that Keisel always does that, but there’s definitely many documented cases.
I think the problem is that they’re pumping out way too many custom instruments. It’s like diamonds. The value of a diamond is partially due to its rarity. Keisel’s are VERY common. Why would I buy someone else’s custom when I can get my own in just a few weeks??
When you deal in the boutique market where build times are 12+ months, resale value is much better.

[stephenstark]

Stoked to have found your channel - Thanks for putting in the work and making consistent, interesting stuff. Happy to be an early subscriber of yours!

[chasing_dragons]

What I don't understand is why Guitar Center thinks they are going to get close to new retail prices for their Used/Pre-Owned Kiesels. I have seen this over and over again.

It takes an eternity for GC to realize that people can actually access the interent to find other Kiesels for way cheaper because Kiesels don't hold their resale value in the first place OR people can just order directly from Kiesel NEW and to your specs.

Sam Ash was so much worse and with ALL Used/Pre-Owned guitars not just Kiesels. Sam Ash absolutely 💯 would NOT budge on any of their Used prices regardless of make or model.

I'm not trying to be mean either. In fact, several of my comments about Sam Ash''s Used/Pre-Owned policy on other videos about the Sam Ash closing thing were deleted, so I don't know why the whole Used guitar topic and especially my decades long observations of Sam Ash triggered people to delete my comments.

[Azathoth]

I'll call out the elephant in the room and take the hate for you...brand recognition. Just not enough people familiar with Kiesel. Doesn't say anything about quality.

[MarcAndreLevesque]

I have two Carvin guitars, fantastic guitars, nothing crazy in terms of customization, however, if I wanted to sell them ... I would be lucky to get 500$ for them and one of them is a DC400W and back then was 2000$ ... so with inflation and Covid this would be at least a 3000$ guitar... so if you buy a Kiesel, buy to keep and play, forget about selling them.

[bearmadden]

Great points about the very custom stuff impacting resale value. It's especially true when you put your own original inlay design on a custom guitar. I mean... I don't want my 12th fret to say "STEVIE GUITAR GOD." lol. In my experience with selling a LOT of used custom guitars, I found that the most important factor is WHERE you list them for sale. You have to consider your potential customers, and those are going to be way different on FB marketplace and a specialized guitar forums. You will be able to get better money on the specialized boards. If it's not a collector item or a guitar previously owned by someone famous you definitely will still lose money on the transaction, but it won't be as much as when selling on "normie" platforms. This, at least, was the case for me, and I've sold close to a hundred guitars so I'd imagine there must be something to it.

[megostryder]

This really depends on the model and how many upgrades you pick. If you pick the right model and keep it near default and avoid the $500 tops, etc resell is pretty good. I have the Greg Howe signature (GH3) and just searching GH3 today I see them going from $1300 all the way to $2200. Mine ran around $1500 new a few years ago and the only up charge I picked was an Ash body and I think a $40 black burst on the paint. Another plus on the GH3 is it uses the old body...which is significant as Strat players like to mod and swap out pickguards and pickups. Jeff's designs (like the Delos) are almost like Apple computers. Not only don't aftermarket pickguards line up with the screw holes the actual screws themselves are a different size. Any change is going to involve drilling, filling wood and cutting the pickguard. I just won't touch any Jeff Kiesel designs as although the guitars are made well the hardware is underwhelming from pots to pickups. Pick any fender strat like the fender American standard and you'll see them going for far less than original cost.

[Prometheus]

A cheap plain built Aries is going to resale decently. But a highly priced exotic body with very particular eye candy choices. Why buy a second hand 4k guitar when you could just as easily order your own, custom made to demand? Another reason for the resale value issue is that a lot of Kiesel customers spec out their guitars in quite a tasteless way. I don't really get those people that keep buying guitars and also keep selling them. Are you a musician, a collector, or a speculator? A guitar is a tool to make music. If you are a pro, you may need more than one. But most people don't need more than 3, for sure. If you just want to buy new guitars all the time for some endorphin hit, because you are addicted. Then you need to sell your old ones. And a Kiesel one likely won't sell very well.

[ryanwarsh]

I would love to have a Kiesel bass built for me someday. If I saved up 2-3 grand and had one custom built, I wouldn’t dream of selling it unless I was desperate for the money. At the same time, I could also see myself saving some money and getting one used. There are plenty of them on Reverb for under $2000. I’d even settle for an older Carvin!

[tonepilot]

I’m not seeing any deals on Kiesel on the used market. Seems like they’re holding their value.

[ignadrs]

man, guitars are just like luxury watches (although there are watches that are good investments lol), buy them because you love them, not as investments.

[SPINESPLITTA]

I’ve scored some amazing deals on Kiesels in the used market. I usually get them when they’re barely played with at all.

[effectosis]

I'm not convinced to custom brand new models... I always prefer to see how the guitar really looks... because If I'm gonna pay a lot for a guitar - I want to see how the wood grain looks on front . I also prefer to see all the defects.... if they are bearable or not .

[zoomzoom]

when you buy a guitar that you customized with your specific requirements, you shouldn't be surprised at any resale difficulties. Chances of finding a buyer that wants some, many or most of your choices are low; and they can do their own custom build - which is the value add of Kiesel guitars.

I'd rather buy a new Kiesel with my own customization choices.