nervously around, and (and I'm not making this up) declared:

First, I'll let you know that many consider it bad netiquette to top-post and to fail to trim the non-salient points to which you're replying. Second, I'm NOT convinced that post-Michigan Gibsons will continue to appreciate as their inadequacy becomes more widely known, concomitant with the spread of the knowledge of the quality of the Gilchrists, Rosas (underappreciated mandos from Missouri) and others (shame that Duffey only made a handful, all who played the duck were impressed, but there were only two).

Also, I'm not convinced that resale value should play a part in the calculation, save for student gear. The only things that should matter are playability, tone, and (should it matter, it usually does) finish-appearance. I've noticed several Gibsons that were definitely lacking in the latter category. If they're gonna charge in excess of three grand, I expect FLAWLESS bookmatching, and perfect finish-binding. They do seem to pay more attention to their mandos than their resos, though. Their inconsistent approach to quality has become more and more legendary across their entire product line, and I fully expect the resale value of post-Kalamazoo product to suffer accordingly.

Granted, I play a reso and not a mando. I'd happily pay full price for a Beard or Guernsey (I'd have to think twice about the Scheerhorn), but a real honest-to-Dopera Dobro would have to come at a steep discount, as they're only marginally better than a Beard-setup Korean axe. -- Lane Gray get the .lead out before replying (sorry for munging, I can only take so many copies of automat) It sounds much more messy and therefore much more fun.(Fran, in the shed)