Gibson redefines guitars as investments with new Rally partnership

Gibson has announced a partnership with the investment firm Rally – known for fostering investment in collectible assets – that will allow people to buy shares of ultra-valuable Gibson Custom Shop guitars. 

Three such instruments are available for investing in as part of the program, the signed, artist-approved prototype builds of three recent signature guitars: the Tony Iommi "Monkey" 1964 SG Special, the aged and signed Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom, and the Slash 1966 EDS-1275 Doubleneck.

Now, you might be wondering, how does this actually work? Well, due to their uniqueness, each of the guitars is obviously quite valuable, with market caps ranging from $65,000 (for the Iommi and Slash models) to $95,000 (for the Jones model).

Through the Rally partnership, prospective buyers can purchase shares of the guitars at either $5 (for the Slash model) or $10 (for the Iommi and Jones models). From then on, the shares rise and fall in value with the value of the instrument, like they would with a typical stock.

“Guitars of this caliber have historically always gone to individual collectors, but our goal was to find a way to make the ownership experience accessible to as many fans as possible,” explained Gibson Director of Brand Experience Mark Agnesi. “Thanks to Rally’s unique platform, fans can have a chance to own a piece of guitar history that would have otherwise seemed unobtainable.”

The three guitars in question will be kept by Gibson in a vault inside the company's recently-opened Gibson Garage mega-store in Nashville.

The initial offering of shares for the three guitars will occur later this month. Anyone over 18 with a U.S. Social Security number, bank account, ID and address within the contiguous United States is eligible to invest.

For more info, head on over to Gibson.