Investing With Strings
As Director of Operations for Salon Strings and Owner/CEO of our parent company, Ford Fayette Media Group, it’s rare that I am the one talking to people about why they should buy or sell a string instrument. Those conversations usually happen with the actual string player in our family and company, Amos. Which is why he’s Director of Sales, because he’s bought and sold his own personal instruments and bows many times over. He’s the actual violin player, I’m such a rookie I can’t even play “Twinkle”.
However, in the past week, I found myself not once, twice, but three times in my role as the head paper pusher explaining how in addition to helping students and players find their perfect instrument and/or bow, we also have an entire different client base that is less interested in how the instrument sounds and more how much it’s worth.
Investing in string instruments, commonly violins and bows, is one of those things that few people know about, but those who do know are glad they do. And that’s because, unlike the stock market, bonds, crypto, real estate, mutual funds, and all the usual places people invest in, string instruments rarely lose value. It’s the opposite…they tend to gain, and gain at a pretty predictable pace.
Now, nothing is a guarantee, especially when it comes to investing, but if you are looking for something to invest in that is most likely to make you a profit, you can’t go wrong with a good quality instrument. Just don’t expect it to make you money overnight.
Recently, it was all over the news about a rare Stradivarius violin coming up for auction. The major news outlets were astonished that “this small hunk of wood” (as one obviously uneducated reporter called it) could be worth as much as $20 MILLION dollars. And guess what? It wasn’t. It was only worth 12 million, because that’s what it sold for. But in ten years? It will be worth twice as much, maybe even more.
But if you don’t have 12 million dollars lying around (and even if you do), you don’t need to spend that much to get into a quality instrument that will double in value. It’s a policy we tend to strive for here at Salon Strings. We want to get anyone at any price point into an instrument or bow that, if and when they decide to upgrade, they can turn around and get more than what they paid for.
The college student who can only spend $4000 on a violin now, while they work their way through school, can hopefully graduate and, in five years, get more than they paid for it, so they can get into a nicer violin for their first big orchestra job.
The office worker who wants to find a way to build that elusive generational wealth we’ve all been hearing about is tired of getting their 401k statements every year only to see they lost money because the stock market is more fickle than a toddler trying to decide what they want for dinner, so they cash it out and invest instead in a more than decent violin and bow setup that they also use to play at church on Sundays. And in ten years, when their child gets married, they sell it and give the cash to the happy couple to purchase their first home.
Or the orchestra player who just wants to treat themselves after decades of daily practice sessions, arthritis, and too many late-night drive-thru dinners after concerts decides to buy their dream instrument. When the day comes they decide to retire, they sell it and have money to buy that condo on the beach and not worry about what the humidity and sand are doing to their livelihood.
So if you’re looking to plan for the future and hate the anxiety of wondering what the typical investments will do next, consider looking into a string instrument. From the smallest to the largest amounts, we can help you find the right instrument to give you years of joy and a nice paycheck.
~Jennifer Fayette, Director of Operations and Certified Head Paper Pusher
