But we welcome your suggestions [1]. And if you have any experience of these or any other "asset classes" please get in touch or add your comments at the end of the article(s).

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On 17 December 2004, a Gibson SG Standard Guitar was sold at Christies in New York for $567,000. Admittedly, this one had been owned and played by George Harrison, which might have augmented the value. But vintage guitars don't need celebrity mystique to exchange hands for big cash. Indeed, in the 70 years since some bright spark stuck a microphone in the soundhole of a guitar (was it Charlie Christian?), nice Strats have become the new Strads. Collecting electric guitars can be a passport to big profits and big noise - or, at the very least, the latter'

Market overview
Few vintage guitar collectors are in it purely for the money. There are exceptions - some of the nicest guitars in the world lie unloved and unstrummed in Japanese bank vaults, alongside similarly abandoned Sunflowers. But as a rule collectors are also players.

Some collectors are rock stars, present or fading, or somehow involved in the music business. Others are fairly ordinary people, aside from the 18 Telecasters in the spare bedroom.

Serious collectors avoid playing their guitars, mindful that the price takes a knock every time the instrument does. They also buy in the knowledge that price and quality are often not related. As a market, it's as international as rock & roll. Collectors buy and sell off each other in America, the UK, Europe and Asia.

What to buy
The sure-fire bets are the three guitars that have achieved iconic status during the history of rock: the Gibson Les Paul, and Fender's Stratocaster and Telecaster models, which are virtually unchanged since they were invented in the 1950s. From a quality perspective, these weren't always the best, but they achieved cult status by association with any major guitarist you might want to name. There are many other excellent guitars, both made by the same manufacturers and by other makers such as L&G, Gretsch, Ibanez and Rickenbacker, but none has the quite the same recognition factor as the "Tele", "Les Paul", or the "Strat."

A nice 1960s Strat bought in the mid-1980s for $2,000 could easily fetch ten times as much today. A number of guitars - a pre-1960 Gibson for example, break the $100,00 price barrier regardless of whether they've been caressed by celebrity hands.

In a market driven by obsessives, the Holy Grail is originality. A 40-year-old guitar without a detail changed (electrics, tuning keys and pick-ups intact) will fetch many times more, despite signs of use, than the same guitar altered, tweaked and "upgraded." There's a caveat to this rule. Guitars improve with being played, so signs of wear - the odd 'ding', scratch or patch of worn paintwork, will not necessarily damage value of a true vintage original.

But some aspects of value are so obscure as to be almost imperceptible. One denisen of London's Denmark Street pointed out that pre-1968 Gibson Les Paul "Patent Applied For" pick-ups (the little magnet things that sit below the strings and convert the string vibrations to electric signals) have a street value of around $1,200. The patent was granted in 1969 - but the value of the properly patented pick-ups now is around one-tenth that of their "applied for" predecessors.

A keen collector known to AccountingWEB told us his average or usual spend was around £1,000 per guitar, and is careful to buy a piece that he is sure will appreciate, which, unfortunately excludes quite an exciting spectrum of lovely guitars. He pointed out that big brands are frequently over-priced: "Fender made some rubbish guitars in the 1970s but they're still extremely expensive." Fenders from the 40s and 50s on the other hand, are rare birds indeed.

But as the true classics become increasingly scarce, new ones slowly emerge. This is in part conferred by age - a 30-year old guitar is "vintage,"; a 20-year old model is secondhand. In recent years some Asian instruments (like their automotive counterparts, long, and often unfairly, dismissed as "Jap Crap") are being picked up by shrewd investors. Tokai for example, made "tribute" Fender-style instruments that were made so well (sometimes better than the originals) that they became known as "lawsuit" models after Fender resorted to litigation to stop production.

Key to buying well is understanding the history of the brands - Fender, Gibson, Martin and so on - and the effect on quality of various corporate disposals, acquisitions, management changes and product launches. For example, Fender founder Leo Fender left the company he started and set up G&L guitars. Leo's second generation instruments are excellent, and expensive, but have none of the brand name recognition as the firm that bore his name - and are consequently harder to sell. Both Gibson and Fender both now have factories outside of the US, in, for example, China, Japan, Korea, and Mexico. Construction and parts vary in quality from factory to factory - so buyers of new guitars have to be careful they know what lies beneath the brand on the headstock.

Dealers insist it's impossible to predict the classics of the future. There are many guitar companies making beautiful and expensive, £1,000+ instruments; but current retail price gives no indication of their future collectibility.

Where to buy
If any thoroughfare in the world has an association with guitars, its Denmark Street, London's Tin Pan Alley off the Charing Cross Road. If you're window shppping in Denmark Street, you can often find yourself doing so in the company of suited alternative investors like yourself.

If you're trying to find a nice playable axe for yourself (or a younger relative), Denmark Street isn't necessarily the place to come - your local music shop might have what you need for less. But if you want to look at rare and expensive guitars, there's nowhere better in Europe. It might even be a good place to buy if you know what you're looking for, and you're forewarned with a little knowledge. Two Denmark Street vendors stand out and have a worldwide reputation: Vintage and Rare Guitars, and Andy's, both of which sell museum-piece examples of the luthier's art.

Really keen collectors travel across to the US to buy guitars from New York's 42nd street, or legendary stores such as Gruhn's in Nashville, or McCabe's in Santa Monica, California. Even with duty attached, a weak dollar and greater choice of instruments can make the trip worthwhile. Unofficial trading networks of like-minded guitar aficionados also exist.

Unsurprisingly, collectors now scour eBay for bargains - but also find it a good place to sell. Well known brand names should find an "accurate" value. Less well-known guitars can sometimes be had for a song. It's worth bearing in mind that the Inland Revenue is getting wise to traders using eBay as a source of second income, so be ready to accept the consequences if you're "serial collecting" becomes profitable.

Occasionally, your local music shop will have a gem hanging unsold and unloved at the back of the store, and will be amenable to an offer. Pawnshops are another good bet. Musicians aren't well-known for fiscal planning and often their instruments are their only assets (talent aside). On the other hand, many would sell their own grandmothers before giving up the Les Paul.

Risks
One of the biggest risks collectors face is buying a fake. In the low to mid price range bracket, this is much less of a risk. But guitar forgery has reached sophisticated heights, and even discriminating and knowledgeable collectors have been duped.

But overall, and with the proviso that you have to know what you're buying, vintage guitars are a good alternative purchase. There's a broad and healthy market, which is big enough not to depend on the whims of a handful of players. Guitars are an evolving asset class, and while there have been occasional flat periods, the value of fine guitars, unlike the stock market, has never been known to go into reverse.

Tom Blass