What are Warmoth Guitars worth?

[Last Triumph]

I'm toying with the idea of selling my Warmoth guitar, but only if it's worth selling, and I have no idea whether a Warmoth guitar carries much residual value?

This isn't a thinly disguised for sale thread, more of a 'are they worth selling' question.

What makes my case harder is that I'm lefty...

My Guitar is a VIP with the following specs:

Mahogany body
Select quilt maple top
Copperhead finish
Indian Rosewood neck, raw, '59 Round back
Select Macasar ebony board
Gotoh 510 wraparound
Schaller locking tuners
Gold hardware and frets
DiMarzio Notron / Air Norton Humbuckers
It has now been pro built and set up by a local luthier

Now has new gold neck plate, screws and rosewood truss rod cover to fully complete.

Any idea what it might be worth?

 

[spe111]

In my experience, they're unfortunately worth more as individual parts than complete guitars.

 

[Rick]

I found with Fenders the day they walk out the door, they lose half their value.  So add up what you paid for the parts, cut it in half, and then half again because it's a no name; that's your price if try to sell on craig's list or ebay.  Parts you can get up to half the value, but it's a pita selling it.  YMMV.  This comment is just based on my experience and not on some scientific study.

 

[aarontunes]

Warmoth builds don't have a high resale value, because most of the time they aren't "generic" enough. They were built with specs and options that suited a single player. For example, yours has gold uncovered pickups, gold metal pickup rings, gold frets, no tone knob, etc. It will be tough to find somebody who wants those same exact things....which is why they are sometimes easier to sell "parted out".


You also have two other things working against you:

• It isn't an S or T design
• It is left-handed

My prediction: that will be a very tough sell, and you'll take a bath. Doesn't mean it's not a great, high-quality guitar. Just not a huge market for what you have.

 

[Cagey]

Sounds about right to me. Resale of parts guitars is pretty heartbreaking, even if they're exemplary pieces.

 

[Last Triumph]

Thanks everyone for your honest opinion.

There's about $2k in parts in it, the body alone was nearly half of that including the top and finish.

Sounds like I might as well keep it if it's only worth a few hundred.

Not a problem, it's a beautiful piece with a top spec that I'd have to spend boutique money to better.

Definitely one for the gold lovers!

 

[Rick]

It's a beautiful guitar.

 

[Orpheo]

absolutely a beautiful guitar. Unfortunately, you'll be lucky to get 1000$ if you were to sell it. I sold off 1/2 of my Warmoth collection a few years back because my partner was sick 'n tired of having 25 guitars sitting in a box under the bed or on a closet. Sold amazing pieces for 250 to 300 bucks each (granted, they were used and dinged ). It is what it is and we have to deal with that, helas.

 

[Strat Avenger]

If I can't get at least 75% of what I have into my guitars, I'm not selling them.

 

[BroccoliRob]

Yo that guitar looks MAD DELICIOUS, but I'm 'fraid the prophets of profit are not in your favor in terms of resale value

 

[Rick]

Are you sure the body is mahogany? Looks more like korina.

 

[Last Triumph]

Are you sure the body is mahogany? Looks more like korina.

Yes, it has a brown trans finish to work with the Copperhead top.

Thanks for the positive comments - it's a bit OTT for some with all the gold, including the strings and frets, but I love the luxurious and warm appearance.

I'd like to submit it for GOTM but I'd need to take some better pics.

 

[musicispeace]

There are a couple of shops near me in the Pacific Northwest that have sold Warmoth parts guitars in whole on maybe a consignment basis and I've seen an average price of about $450 for most general strat or tele type completed guitars. Something like what you have may go around $800 maybe but the shops were Emerald City Guitars and Trading Musician. Jay at Emerald City would be worth reaching out to to see what he thinks. Of course you never know what position they would take on the matter. Such a fine guitar as what you have it would be a shame to have to part it out. Of course selling it direct from you to another player means no one else takes a cut before you see the money. May be worth putting it out there to see if you get a direct response.

 

[Seamas]

It is kind of sad that they really (usually) have nowhere near the value of what people put into them.

The ironic thing is even with the vast majority of the guitars in the showcase (which on average are stellar), I don't think I'd pay the at-cost price even for ones I have voted for (though there are a couple!)--reason being, if I had the $$, I'd want to build one.

 

[Cagey]

That's probably why parting them out returns more than the assembled versions.

 

[bass917]

I think a lot of the appeal of a Warmoth guitar is in actually building one and so no value can be put into the process. A bit like selling a model plane once the kits been built.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Also depends on who did the assembly and finish work. Not all Warmoth guitars are created equal.

 

[Cagey]

That's not a statement about Warmoth as much as it's the perception that you're trying to flip a "partscaster" that's really a Frankenstein monster created with limited tools/talent by dumpster diving for parts and materials due to a limited budget that precluded buying a "real" guitar.

 

[Archie Macfarlane]

More if you post it on this forum!

 

[arealken]

Pretty much everything you buy new  loses half it's value once it leaves the shop floor, not just Warmoth. And the market is down for about everything across the board. Its futile to try and get anywhere near recouping the  investment for almost  any modern guitar, parts or otherwise/
I was thinking of trying to sell my Warmoth VIP, a dang good guitar, and I could make some money off it since i picked it up second hand for a bargain, but then I thought, what sense does it make to sell a guitar that I like to play for less than half of the sum total of the cost of its parts(?); not much, that's what.
If I want to try and sell it though, since I really do not play it much, I would take great pictures, drop the price down to a little less than half what it cost new, and be prepared to leave it on the market for a long long time..nothing ventured , nothing gained, and I would still make considerable amount of money from my initial cost . I certainly wouldn't ever consider taking  a beating on it, if it sells fine, if not I haven't  lost anything but some time and effort for listing it.
OTOH, if you bought yours new, you have a problem since as has been stated, you are going to lose considerable  money on it  IF it even sells, parted out or no.
I do applaud lot of guys who must be aware that parting out is the best way to sell the guitar, that still keep it intact for sale, that's a good thing, and I think its because they still have a guitar at the end of the day, instead of just some parts, and also cause they value their assembly and want to see it go to a good home.