Shocked and amazed:  The Weddington Watch, May 20, 2007

  This very clean, minty-fresh, Yamaha Weddington Classic sold on eBay tonight.  I watched the auction as it hovered at $510. for most of the week, right up until the closing moments of the auction.  I knew it was too good to last, but I bid $837 anyway.  With only four minutes to the close of the auction, I thought I would be in the hunt.  Was I ever wrong.  With less than a minute the the end of the auction, someone outbid me.  Then, even more amazingly, more bids were placed in the last couple of seconds.  First, the guy whom I outbid went up to $920, then $950, but it wasn’t enough.  The final selling price was an astounding $960.  Let me say that again: nine hundred and sixty dollars.  For a roughly fifteen-year-old Yamaha.  (The only consolation in all of this is I actually know the winning bidder and know how much he appreciates Weddingtons—he alread has a Custom and another Classic—so this guitar is going to a good home.)

To put this into some perspective, jump back in time to February, when a “solid 8.5 to 9” Yamaha Weddington Classic sold with “Buy It Now” for $800 and a well-used Custom sold for $750.  The 2006 Blue Book of Guitar Values pegs a mint Weddington Classic at about $800.  While this Weddington was cosmetically mint, it had major changes to the electronics, including Harmonic Designs pickups, a 3-way switch instead of the typicall 5-way, and push-pull pots for coil taping.  It had the original hang tags and owner’s manual, but an aftermarket case. 

It would appear that Yamaha Weddington’s have now reached a level of collectability that I hadn’t anticipated.  Wow.  Apparently others are catching on that these are great guitars and snatching them up while they can.  This was previoiusly apparent in forum posts, where players would mention how great Weddingtons are and that they would try to get another one if they could, but now guys (and gals?) are voting with their wallets and actually spending their hard earned cash on these great guitars rather than buying another brand, either new or used.

On a related note, I received an email from a man who was having difficulty tracking down a Weddington to purchase so he made one himself.  No, that’s not exactly correct—he made at least three himself.  Two are painted, flat-tops akin to the Weddington Special and the third is a maple capped version.  I’ve asked for permission to post a picture here so you can see how great they look.  Amazing what guys with talent can do.

And on an unrelated note, I sold off some of my knives and some guitar speakers on eBay tonight.  Not a fortune, but enough that I can start looking around for a guitar that catches my fancy. 

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