While shopping around for a Valentine signature model, I started noticing that there are a ton of Ball Family Reserve versions out there, the majority of which are being sold for hundreds of dollars less than their original retail price. In many cases, they are even being sold for less than what you could grab a brand new standard version for! Is the Valentine declining in popularity overall? Or is it just a matter of buyers simply not liking the finish options/features they've chosen to go with? From what I've seen, most other BFR variants seem to get snapped up pretty quick, so I'm really baffled as to why so many of these are sitting.
- Thread starter jeffkings
- Start date
msquared
Well-known member
It does seem like there are a bit more out there lately but people selling their most expensive guitars that were half "this is a neat toy" and half "this was an investment" around Christmas time is a pretty predictable pattern.
This is markdown time of year and accordingly the best time to buy a guitar. People are done buying for Christmas and retailers want to unload inventory that's been around for a while. The baby blue and pine green Valentine BFRs are the ones I see the most of and they are definitely several years old. Very pretty guitars so I doubt that's the problem. I think they were priced a little high to start with. Nearly 1k more doesn't seem to get you much but block inlays, neck binding, and a different color.
I ran into this same situation when I was shopping for a Valentine a year ago. I ended up getting the Vintage Sunburst BFR from April 2018 at about the same or just under the price of the standard model. It's one of the best guitars I have. Flawless build quality and sounds fantastic.
If you are leaning towards BFR, be aware of a couple of differences that matter to some people.
1. The fingerboard edges aren't going to be rolled because of the binding.
2. The neck finish will be a light satin finish instead of the standard hand rubbed oil and wax.
Good luck and be sure to post your NGD!
I ran into this same situation when I was shopping for a Valentine a year ago. I ended up getting the Vintage Sunburst BFR from April 2018 at about the same or just under the price of the standard model. It's one of the best guitars I have. Flawless build quality and sounds fantastic.
If you are leaning towards BFR, be aware of a couple of differences that matter to some people.
1. The fingerboard edges aren't going to be rolled because of the binding.
2. The neck finish will be a light satin finish instead of the standard hand rubbed oil and wax.
Good luck and be sure to post your NGD!
