Gibson Zoot Suit – Future Collectable?

What contemporary guitar (made in the last 10 years) will be a future collectable? Here’s Ken’s answer.

A few days ago, I received an email from Ken, who has a fantastic guitar collection consisting of some beautiful Matons and other choice pieces. He was telling me of a new guitar he’d bought, and posed an interesting question: What recent guitar will be a future collectable? In our rush to buy every vintage Maton, Gibson & Fender under the sun, what branding spanking new guitars that are sitting in music shops TODAY will be lusted over by us guitarists in 20 to 30 years time?

Over Christmas I saw a movie “midnight in Paris” where the set up was a guy got to travel back in time and meet his heroes(Picasso/Hemmingway etc). To make a long story short the film’s message was that we are all nostalgic for the past- so much so that we miss the great stuff in our own era (which one day future people will be nostalgic for) – thanks for staying with all that.

So… the question is what contemporary guitar (made in the last 10 yrs) will be worth collecting? I’ve recently purchased a 2008 “stratabond” Gibson SG rainbow “zoot suit” as my contemporary collectible- and after a little truss rod adjustment it’s divine.

You probably know about them already. Colour stained into layers of board and then the guitar shaped to give contours. They made them in a few different colour ranges.(black white/natural/ blue and red???)

I’ve chosen the rainbow as it really polarizes opinion. People either love it or really hate it. (sure to be a collectable). They have stopped making them and I love the overall design (clear fittings- you can even see the pick up wind)

So after so careful consideration, these are my choice picks for a future collectable:

These are guitars by EGC (Electric Guitar Company). The perspex flying V is the signature guitar of Brent Hinds from Mastodon, while the second is EGC’s version on a Les Paul Junior. These guitars are works of art… every piece is metal (apart from the perspex). The fretboard, neck, nut, body, pickup covers… EVERYTHING. With the prices of Travis Bean’s going through the roof, I think these will be a good investment. Plus the playing roster of these guitars gets bigger everyday… Mastodon, The Melvins, Cheap Trick. You can get one for around $2,500 to $3,000 which for a hand made guitar as unique as this is pretty good.

So what are your picks for future collectables?