“What’s This Worth?” Thread

[vjmanzo]

Is that really a strategy you’ve observed? I mean, I had the thought when I clicked the link, “This seller certainly got my attention!”, but I wondered how, if at all, that might convert into a sale.

I would think that pricing that guitar too high might discourage people from even inquiring about a deal. Ya know? We’ve seen NiteFly M’s go for one tenth of that price; if I was really interested in that guitar, and saw that guitar for somewhere in the $1,800 realm I might feel like I could get the guitar for lower, but at a $9k price I, personally, wouldn’t want to even start a conversation. I think we all view “our guitars” sentimentally, to some degree, so a low offer could potentially be insulting—I do see a fair amount of Flys/NFs listed at what I consider to be the “I don’t want to sell it” price.

I wonder if that “advertising” strategy pays off.

[mmmguitar]

It seems the $6,500 ’99 Artist posted on the previous page sold after two offers. I wonder if it dipped below $5k, how soon we’ll be seeing it again, and if the next Artist listed in worse condition will have a higher starting price.

I do see a fair amount of Flys/NFs listed at what I consider to be the “I don’t want to sell it” price.

I wonder if that “advertising” strategy pays off.

I see these same weird listing practices here and there with other brands - but the pool of Parker sellers seems to simply have a higher concentration of weirdos. It almost reads like they’re selling off their bragging rights to something.

[mmmguitar]

Red ‘95 Deluxe rewired PTP and missing hex bar being sold for $1950 (w/ shipping), plus tax.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154993566590?h ... Sw4jJifxUM

Update: Sold for best offer

[mmmguitar]

https://reverb.com/item/54992091-parker ... ature-2009

Lime gold ‘09 Belew 1.0 Fly Deluxe lasted about 28 hours before selling after two offers. It was the first one listed since this tangerine Belew (P0901087) sold in 2018 for an undisclosed amount following five offers (with an original asking price of $7,620.

[Patzag]

Here is one that seems to validate Mark's theory.
https://reverb.com/item/55105783-parker-fly-deluxe-1995
There's a pretty blatant picture with a phone number on it to call Direct and save!

[mmmguitar]

I saw that when I was comparing it with the white hardtail listing. What gets me is that the asking price for a particular cracked and chipped Fly is presumably high due to the rarity of the color - But being as the guitar needs refinishing anyway, you could just refinish a cheaper Fly in that color. So unless calling the seller is going to save more than a thousand dollars off the listing price, what’s the appeal?

[vjmanzo]

…being as the guitar needs refinishing anyway, you could just refinish a cheaper Fly in that color.

That’s vintage “pre-refined” paint!

[mmmguitar]

…being as the guitar needs refinishing anyway, you could just refinish a cheaper Fly in that color.

That’s vintage “pre-refined” paint!

Can’t wait to see the vintage paint chips listed separately in a bundle with the knobs.

[Patzag]

Can’t wait to see the vintage paint chips listed separately in a bundle with the knobs.

[Musikron]

I like how the seller described it as good cosmetic condition.

[mumbles76]

I have a TransAmber Supreme coming up. Really great condition, all case candy, case, frets are perfect, top of neck has a tiny chip near nut. But that's it for negatives.

I'll be posting in the morning some pics. Serial: P0709005

[mmmguitar]

I have a TransAmber Supreme coming up. Really great condition, all case candy, case, frets are perfect, top of neck has a tiny chip near nut. But that's it for negatives.

I'll be posting in the morning some pics. Serial: P0709005

The Supreme listings have certainly been reaching for the stars over the past few years:

$1,800
https://reverb.com/item/42675653-parker ... _sold=true

$2,100
https://reverb.com/item/3166724-1998-parker-fly-supreme

$2,500 (after partial refund)
https://reverb.com/item/34090506-parker-fly-deluxe-2011

$2,630
https://reverb.com/item/49894-parker-fl ... acco-burst

$4,200
https://reverb.com/item/25248899-extrem ... ocean-blue

$4,550
https://reverb.com/item/553070-parker-f ... uitar-used

$4,681.29 (a nice, round number)
https://reverb.com/item/137218-parker-f ... rent-honey

$4,790.04
https://reverb.com/item/18089834-parker ... preme-1997

$5,000
https://reverb.com/item/2184300-parker- ... -trans-new

$5,075
https://reverb.com/item/27172764-parker ... pectacular

$6,200
https://reverb.com/item/46731876-1999-p ... _sold=true

$7,000
https://reverb.com/item/53715860-mint-p ... _sold=true

And now (originally listed for $7,500, dropped to $7k on 5/30/22, then to $6,999 on 6/3, which it appears to have sold for on 6/16)
https://reverb.com/item/55559856-parker ... rans-honey

Given people have been pouncing on (and mostly just flipping) these no matter the cost, your listing will likely sell. I won’t be surprised if a listing breaks $8,000 before the end of the year (assuming another pops up by then). And here I thought the $2,500 Supreme I bought in 2020 was on the pricier side, at the time .

[mumbles76]

Yeah no bites yet, but i'm not desperate to sell. So i'll be patient with it.

[mumbles76]

Given people have been pouncing on (and mostly just flipping) these no matter the cost, your $7,500 listing will likely sell. I won’t be surprised if a listing breaks $8,000 before the end of the year (assuming another pops up by then).

Got an offer of $6999. today. Not too bad. I told him I'd sit on it for a few days, the posting has only been live for 24 hours. It's got 44 watchers. I think someone will bite.

[mmmguitar]

Got an offer of $6999. today. Not too bad. I told him I'd sit on it for a few days, the posting has only been live for 24 hours. It's got 44 watchers. I think someone will bite.

All they need to do is tell themselves they can make their money back by selling three of the springs.

[mumbles76]

So, speaking of that... what's the deal behind the joke? Do most people lose them?

[mmmguitar]

So, speaking of that... what's the deal behind the joke? Do most people lose them?

The short answer is that many Flys currently or recently for sale are being sold with a single installed spring in the “wrong” gauge rating.

Read on...IF YOU DARE!

From 2015 to 2020, you could buy NOS Fly springs from Mike Gallenberger for $30. A combination of panic-buying and overt greed which came with the 2020 guitar boom inflated the average listing price of Fly springs from $30 to $130 in about two years.

Specifically, Fly owners preferring a 9-42 gauge string set convinced themselves that the only way they’d make it through the pandemic was if they stocked up on whatever amount constitutes a “lifetime supply” of backup Parker Fly 9 springs (I can only assume they were eating them).

This trend tempted a few especially greedy individuals to buy up the cheapest Fly listings solely for the sake of removing their 9 and 10 gauge springs and selling them separately. This cultivated the impression that, because the remaining Fly listings the spring harvesters wouldn’t resort to buying started at $3k+, Fly values were suddenly skyrocketing five years after the brand went under.

The harvesters’ practice was to then flip the guitar on Reverb with a relatively undesired (read: cheap) 11 or 12-rated spring installed, for twice what they had paid, before selling the harvested springs separately. This created an ongoing problem in which many of the Fly owners registered here and in the Facebook groups are people who had never before owned one of the guitars prior to this practice creating a scenario in which they were buying a $4,000 guitar that had been sold for $2,000 the month before, then buying the spring that had been removed from the guitar they bought for an additional $130. Then that person buys an extra spring for $130 and sells the guitar again at yet another markup, even though all they’ve actually done is restore the guitar and its originally included springs to a state identical to what had been sold a month prior, in one transaction, for half the amount. And Reverb is collecting larger taxes and commissions each subsequent time the same guitar (with or without previously included accessories) is flipped; necessitating a resale increase of an even larger percentage to offset the larger double-dipping from Reverb.

A guy recently listed springs for $500 each. The highest I’ve seen one actually sell for is $300 plus shipping, just a few days before Terry started selling the $85 NOS stock.

And because this whole bubble is presently being sustained by one’s willingness to spend $300 if it means they’ll have a spare part for their $6,000 guitar, I don’t see it deflating in the near future unless others can pull a Terry and inject some competition into a scarcity market resulting from a niche group of consumers pricing themselves out of their own market by playing it like a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

...Of course, that’s all merely my myopic take.

[vjmanzo]

Read on...IF YOU DARE!

FWIW I observed some of this as well and I think that Marc’s assessment here is accurate.

Also, this made me literally laugh out loud:

…the only way they’d make it through the pandemic was if they stocked up on whatever amount constitutes a “lifetime supply” of backup Parker Fly 9 springs (I can only assume they were eating them).

[mumbles76]

Wow, thank you for that background. While i've been a Parker owner for over 12 years (I had a Majik Blue before this supreme), i never knew this market was so hot and people were flipping these things.

We will see if my Supreme sells. I honestly thought it was going to be picked up on the first day, given the hype around what was being said here. But as i stated before, i've got nothing but time. I guess the pool of people that can afford a $7500 guitar is limited. So time will tell.

I'm a hardcore ESP'er these days... here are two of my babies:

[vjmanzo]

I honestly thought it was going to be picked up on the first day, given the hype around what was being said here.

I think that a Ken-era Fly is still considered more desirable by the discerning Parker fan—it seemed like that was the case for a long time, anyhow, but I don’t really know. I say that with love and respect, of course; your Fly looks terrific and based on your description, it seems like a great instrument, but that might be a factor at this price point…difficult to know for certain!

Part of Marc’s hope in starting this thread was to periodically gauge an understanding of the prevailing thoughts on all sorts of things and how they factor into the “going rate” and how quickly something gets snatched up. Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot and I still learn a lot by witnessing the very thing you’re noting here.

Thanks for posting the link to the ESP thread—I feel completely uninformed about these guitars, but your enthusiasm has prompted me to look into them further. I’ve looked at other 24+ fret guitars in the past and have thought about potential mods for the Fly Seems like you really appreciate the extra real estate in the high-register! Congrats!