“It’s a public pool filled with bull sharks and if you’re not careful, you’ll be consumed, lock, stock and barrel”: Joe Bonamassa on the vintage guitar market

Joe Bonamassa has discussed his thoughts on the vintage guitar market, urging people to take their time and not rush any buying decisions.

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In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, Bonamassa, who owns a staggering 15 ‘59 Les Pauls as well as 535 other vintage guitars, shares his wisdom on tackling the vintage market.

“The vintage guitar market is a public pool filled with bull sharks and if you’re not careful, you’ll be consumed, lock, stock and barrel by said bull sharks,” he explains. “Here’s the thing, when you decide you want to start a collection, take your time. This whole thing didn’t happen overnight. You [have to] methodically research things – not only do you want to methodically research things, you want to handle as many authentic guitars as you possibly can because the books are not absolutions.

“So the more that you see and the more time that you take, it’s not a flex, it’s not a situation where you want to go, ‘Well, you know, I really need to get all of this in the next year.’”

Bonamassa also explains that you can’t just buy a vintage guitar because you think it will hold its value. Instead, you have to love the guitar regardless of how much it’s going to cost in 50 years. Regardless of this, the guitarist still warns that you need to buy from trusted sources, as there’s a risk instruments could be counterfeits.

“There’s no CARFAX reports on these damn things!” Bonamassa jokes. “You can make huge mistakes really quickly by thinking you’re getting a deal and it’s not a deal, it’s actually a fake, or something [will be] wrong with it.”

You can watch the full interview below: