Re: (TV) Verlaine guitar

["Mark G. Ryan" <mgryan@cruzio.com>]

"Tom Verlaine of Television 63 Fender Jaguar!"   Item #2506960782
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2506960782&category

Bidding was started at $1850, 0 bids so far.

Everybody should take a look at it because it's about the best
pictures we'll every get of (probably) one of Mr. Verlaine's guitars.

It's highly modified: bridge, tailpeice, pickups and tuning machines 
have all been replaced.  Interesting that he would go to this much trouble 
to correct all the Jaguar's problems, resulting in a very different guitar.  
Maybe he replaced one thing at a time, like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz?

It's got a lot of cosmetic wear on the body. It would be nice to have 
a closer look at the fretboard to see how worn that is.

Now the obligatory warning (read only if you need to):

Just remember folks, stuff like this is easier to buy than it is to 
sell.  But everybody knows that, I'm sure.  If you pay a premium 
that on account of its having belonged to a celebrity, then you need 
to think about how you are going to recover that premium.  It doesn't 
matter if it's the most genuine thing in the world if you can't 
convince somebody else when it comes time to sell.

Each time it changes hands, this gets harder.  "I bought it from a 
guy who bought it from Tom Verlaine" is much better than "I bought 
it from a guy who bought it from a guy who bought it from Tom Verlaine".

Also, when it comes time for YOU to sell, Mr. O'Donovan may not be
quite as willing to post blithe assurances to this list about its 
genuineness. Perhaps you can get a friend to do that. ;-)

Sure, you get a letter authenticating the guitar signed (probably)
by Tom Verlaine.  But who's going to authenticate letter for the next
buyer? The FBI crime lab?   A picture of Verlaine with the guitar might 
help, but pictures are easy to fake these days.  Best proof of 
provenance would be a chain of bills-of-sale going back to Verlaine (or 
back to whomever Verlaine he bought it from).  But that does not appear 
to be on offer.  If you're lucky, maybe you can contact Mr. Verlaine 
and he'll vouch for it.  But how many times is he going to be willing 
to do that?   

This isn't a $1 million painting by a living artist, it's a used guitar.  
You didn't buy it from Sothebys, you bought it from Ebay.  You gotta 
go back to Ebay and find a bigger fool...I mean another trusting soul.

Of course, if you DON'T pay a huge premium, then you gotta guitar you
can play (maybe--depending on condition).  If for some unfathomable 
reason someone wanted a Jaguar with all these modifications, it would 
actually cost quite a bit to make one (just the labor charges would be 
considerable).  So there could be value for the right person.  But this 
raises a whole different set of issues.   Buying a used guitar sight-
unseen to play may be even riskier than collecting celebrity memorabilia. 

Take a look at this URL, which Mr. Murray Ramone was kind enough to post
earlier on this list:
	http://www.edromanguitars.com/rant/ebay.htm

By the way, if someone wants a guitar with pickups mounted directly to the 
wood--one of the two distinguishing marks of the Jaguar and Jazzmaster--
Ed Roman's Quicksilver line looks pretty nice:
	http://www.edromanguitars.com/guitar/home_qsg.htm

Mark

Joe Hartley <jh@fripp.brainiac.com> wrote:
> 
> Keith Allison wrote:
> > "Just to let you all know, there will be an 1963 Fender Jaguar that 
> > belonged to Tom Verlaine (with an authenticated letter from Verlaine) up 
> > for auction on Ebay starting Feb 10th, 6PM EST. Check it out!"
> 
> I wonder whether we scared this person off... there's no 63 Jag from
> TV on eBay this morning.
> 
> There are a couple of other 63 Jags that are hideously expensive...
> proving anyone will spend too much for anything on eBay!
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"