For the last fourteen years, I've been the owner of a Taylor 12-string guitar, a 355 (sapele sides and back with a Sitka spruce top), that I picked up on eBay two weeks after someone bought it new and then had a car wreck. He found he needed the money due to his accident, and put the guitar up for auction, and I won it. At the time, I was using a Taylor 855 which has since been sold to another party. I subsequently decided not to play the 355 as a performing instrument, but instead tried to use it as a fundraiser by having the top autographed by a number of luminaries in the folk music field. I resolved the fundraiser through other channels. The top sports the autographs of over forty performers, three of whom who are no longer with us, Doc Watson, Bill Morrissey, and Terry Clements, the latter being Gordon Lightfoot's lead guitarist before he died of a stroke a couple of years ago. Others who have signed it include Lightfoot, Steve Gillette, Guy Clark, David Mallett, and Carrie Newcomer, to name a few. The guitar has been well taken care of over the years, having been stored in the hardshell case it came with, and it has never been used other than some very light playing in the house. I recently spent some time in the hospital for a blood clot, and the bills are coming in and need to be paid. I am interested in selling this guitar, but I am not sure what it is worth. I DO know that with the autographs, it will only increase in value over the years. I will include a notarized letter of authenticity with the sale, swearing to the validity of the autographs, if the buyer of the guitar desires it. I'm posting this information here before I try to market it to get an idea of how much such an instrument might be worth at this time. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to respond here or PM me. Thanks in advance.
