Appraisals

Jonathan Berg, a 2006 graduate of Newark and Sherwood College in Classical guitar making, works for Artpèges as a maker and restorer of all types of guitars.

With today’s high demand and interest of collectors and enlightened musicians some pieces are now hitting significant monetary value, namely, guitars designed by the first major guitar brands that pioneered industrial production.

In our work, we mainly appraise instruments that have a story to tell: from a guitar broken by a big rock band to a touring musician’s fetish bass, Artpèges strives to show that the instrument and the artist have an inseparable bond. Far more than just being an object, it is the heritage and legacy of our pop culture.

In addition to this work, we showcase guitars of exceptional condition and age, both electric and acoustic, from major brands such as Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, or more specific ones such as Danelectro, Burns or Jacobacci.

If you are interested in selling your guitar, you can start by emailing us some photos and an accurate description. After that, you can bring us your instrument so we can further our expertise:
– To begin with, we will have to date and define the historical context of the instrument by establishing the period, place and mode of manufacture or the origin of the materials.
– Then, we will have to verify the condition: this concerns the cosmetics, the structure, the statement of possible modifications, the temporal coherence of the different parts, the restored elements of the instrument’s make and finish and finally the search for unique and distinctive signs.
The synthesis of these observations will allow us to establish a precise identification and profile of the instrument.

For the sales and expertise of records, we rely on the experience of Arthur Perault, who is passionate about this medium and has actively participated in vinyl auctions for Radio France and Europe 1. This allows us to master the sale of significant stocks.

We handle the management of large collections, store and label stocks, as well as radio station catalogs.

We are interested in all genres of music, but we prioritize styles that are appreciated by both the public and collectors, such as 60s and 70s rock, pop, indie, soul, punk, psych, folk, blues, and reggae (we also include dub because it is a style highly appreciated by Dave). We also work with professionals specialized in more specific styles such as classical music or jazz.

We appraise all types of records: LPs, 7-inch, 12-inch, CDs, tapes, as well as acetates, unreleased tapes, demos, and promos. Furthermore, the condition of the record is an essential factor for a sale: the better the condition, the higher the final price.

The auction format is ideal for selling records as it allows us to showcase a collection by breaking it down by style and artist. This classification, presented as a lot, is the best way to attract the most bidders and therefore achieve the maximum price.

We offer meticulous expertise, which involves defining the condition, a crucial aspect of the appraisal process to assert the quality of the item. The record will be sold based on an international grading system that determines the condition of both the cover and the disc.

The expertise of the professional audio equipment concerns all the objects intended for the sound system of a musical recording location. Examples include static or dynamic microphones, analog or digital consoles or mixing desks, amplifiers, “boxes” (front and rear speakers).
We have also decided to group together other objects related to this musical universe, such as synthesizers or effects equipment.
For vintage synthesizers, we find all the analog equipment from the 1970s and 1980s that had once fallen into oblivion. But their unique sound has earned renewed interest among musicians and collectors, with a special interest in some now considered «cult » models such as the Moog Minimoog Model D, the Sequential Circuits Prophet V or electric pianos from the big brands like the Yamaha CP70 revived by British pop.
The effect material is used to create all the sound variations during a recording. This is the case of the echo chamber with, on the one hand, the real echo chamber installed in a recording studio and, on the other hand, tape echo machines intended for a more nomadic use. The famous Binson Echorec, immortalized in Pink Floyd’s live performance in Pompeii belongs to this second category.

Thanks to Aurélien Turbant’s experience in the studio and to his many years of professional equipment restoration, we offer you an expertise that affirms the quality and verifies the authenticity of each lot. This process is accompanied by a control of the cosmetic condition, an examination of each internal component and, finally, any restoration and cleaning work.