The Hollywood Vintage room, LA. Most of the guitars on this wall were priced in the range $8,000-$80,000 (Aug 2008)

Why do people collect guitars? They are usually guitarists, of course, but not always. For some, the guitar is art: displayed on walls, or free-standing  as scultpure. For others, it is an exercise in preservation, or museum curation. But increasingly, people are buying guitars primarily as a financial investments.

Vintage guitars made by the likes of Martin, Gibson and Fender, can make great investments, with the right guitars gaining in value more than many stocks and bonds. The guitar investment market is subject to very different forces than the stock market, and investment companies are reportedly turning to instruments as part of a balanced portfolio.

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