Don't get me started on the Alembic marketplace. Dealing in vintage instruments, I follow this stuff relentlessly, and the past year or so has been a true head scratcher. Prices on the used market are unrealistic in most cases. What does sell is usually the result of making the seller languish online for years before they have their hopes dashed by the cold hard fact that they ain't gonna get what they hoped for, and they finally take what the market will bear.
My suspicion is the unreasonable expectations of sellers these days are the result of multiple factors. The unrelenting price increases at Alembic certainly set the bar to begin with. I can absolutely see how this has affected the rest of the boutique instrument market as well. Fodera, Smith, and even Sadowsky (Not even made in house) have all used Alembic's pricing as the high water mark, and for some senseless reason they believe their product can hold a candle to what Alembic produces. Not even close! Still, does anyone think they would see a starting price of $40K for a Series II in their lifetime? Susan assures me that the prices are warranted in order to compensate the outstanding workers as well as compensate for the cost of materials, shipping, etc. I'll give her that, especially if it takes care of the amazing crew of craftsmen in the shop.
I also see people struggling to survive these days, and they know all too well that going for the Hail Mary on their listings would be a big help, either because they need to keep up with the rapidly inflating cost of new instruments, or because they know that they will likely never be able afford another Alembic. There also may be a degree of ignorance involved with people who are new to selling Alembic instruments. They gauge their pricing by what they see on Reverb, and that just leads to a steady increase in prices that do not reflect what people are willing to pay.
I recognize that the retail pricing from Alembic is to blame for the strength of the used Alembic market. For most musicians, the used market is their only hope to get into an Alembic instrument. Long production time and availability used to be the main draw for buying used Alembic product, but now the retail pricing has had a significant effect. I still wonder if boosting the used market is the best sales model for Alembic. Used sales do not benefit Alembic in any way financially. For every used sale, Alembic loses a potential sale. This has always been counter to my sincere attempts to support Alembic in every way I can, and while I feel a bit of guilt when buying used product, I also realize that as an ambassador for Alembic, it is better to get a bass or a preamp into a working player's hands as opposed to scaring them off with the price of new product. Alembic will always have the select buyers who want their reproduction of a "Dead" guitar, and can afford to adorn them with $20K inlays, but my wish is to bring the joy of an Alembic to the rest of us too. The "rest of us" are in most cases the used instrument community, and my hope is that the trend I am starting to see will continue. Lately, prices are trending downwards, and hopefully will settle back to a place that promotes better flow of used instruments on the market as opposed to stagnation which has been the norm for the past couple of years.
