If you could have any vintage guitar what would it be? I’ll present you my list of 5 most valuable (not only money wise) vintage guitars. The guitars on the list were not only chosen because of the price mark they have on the market but also on what they left in music history.
Fender Stratocaster 1954-1959
Stratocaster featured an instantly recognizable look and it’s probably mostly copied guitar, but in 1954 when it was first released this guitar offered a new look on the market. Contours and lines on guitar were designed with players in mind, and this was one very comfortable guitar.
When you compare this Stratocaster guitar with the Telecaster of that time (telecaster was already on the market by 1951) you can see that Leo Fender learned a lot from constructing Tele. Stratocaster was years ahead its competitors with 3 pickups (wich was unusual at the time) and a new vibrato bridge. As with anything new people were a little bit reluctant to and buy it and play it and in the beginning sales were rather slim . However, it gained wide acceptance as rock and blues artist started using it (Budd Guy and Hank Marvin are fine guitarists how used and still use the Strat). Price also represented a problem since it sold from 249.5 US$ (approximately 1,850US$ in today’s currency). Later Fender started offering custom models with alternative colors (sunburst was the original color) and gold plated metalwork.
Price of the original guitar: 40,000-80,000 US Dollars.
Gibson Les Paul Original Goldtop 1950s
Gibson started its original Les Paul series in 1952, and the guitar was a response to the Fender Telecaster and Esquire. This hand-crafted guitar with a carved top was a masterpiece in it self. 
It was recorded that some of the Les Paul more interesting key inputs were to paint a body in a gold color (“it looks more expensive”) and a mahogany constructed fingerboard (“it makes your fingers move faster”). In the end Les Paul was very satisfied with this guitar, describing it with: “it looks classy – like a tuxedo”. Since these were the early ‘50s, this guitar target market were jazz players, so the guitar had two weak single-coil pickups which probably wouldn’t suite first rockers. Also it’s been sad that neck angle was bad and produced low tuning stability. This guitar is a legend and icon in itself, but you must add the color of the guitar to its rarity.
Price of the guitar: around 100,000$ US Dollars
Gibson ES-335
This guitar crated a major shift in how the people saw electric guitar. Solid body electric guitars in 1950 were seen as an amateurish instrument by many players and guitar constructors. 
As time passed there were a lot of modifications on this guitar. The ES-335T (which was first available in 1958 and was priced a little bit more than a Strat at 267.5 US$) had manage to pioneer a thinline body (1.75 inch at the rim) and a double cutaway shape. This guitar quickly became an inspiration to the other manufacturers. This guitar was, and probably still is, one of the most versatile guitars due to this design and can probably fit many different guitar styles. It successfully bridged the gap between archtop and solidbody which made Gibson Guitars a real innovator. The access to the upper frets was superior to any guitar at that time. In 1959 the guitar was renamed to ES-335TD meaning ES-335 with thinline body and a double pickup. Also they changed the color from natural blonde to cherry in 1960. Most famous and valuable models are ones with unbound dot inlaid fingerboard. As I already mentioned, guitar was very versatile but mostly it was a trademark of blue musicians at the time such as Otis Rush, T-Bone Walker and Jimmy Rogers.
Price of this guitar ranges from 30,000 US$ for a later cherry colored models to 150,000 US$ for the mint conditioned blonde model with dot inlaid fingerboard.
Gretsch 6120 1954
I had a little trouble choosing the model from Gretsch. Gretsch was influenced by Gibson, but also provided us with innovations of its own. There are 2 really sought after vintage guitars from Gretsch: PX6134 and 6120. I decided to choose 6120 because it left a bigger mark on the music history. Gretsch 6120 is simply referred to as the Nashville, and that speaks volumes about this fine guitar. Originally introduced in 1954 as the 6120 Chet Atkins Hollowbody, and priced at the steep 385US$ (which works out to around 2850 US$ in today currency). 
Gretsch presented us with a new look with a 15.5 inch deep body. There are various customizations and re-releases (such as the Brian Seltzer signature models) . The most sought after finish is a classic Amber Red (1954-1956) also referred to as Western Orange.
Price of the guitar: around 10,000-15,000 dollars depending on condition and customization.
Gibson Explorer 1958
This was a toughest choice for me. I really wanted to put another Fender in (Telecaster) to balance things out. But this Gibson model presented us with more radical guitar body, a designed that was ahead of it’s time greatly. The guitar is a part of the Famous “Korina trio” consisted out of Flying V, Moderne and Explorer. Unfortunately this guitar didn’t do so well, and very low numbers were produced. Few players famous guitarists played it: Albert King (who preferred the Flying V I believe) and Eric Clapton during 1970s. At that time musicians more caught up with the Explorer and Gibson did a reissue in 1976, almost 20 years later. U2’s The Edge used this guitar at times (the 1976 model). There are a few guitars that were so ahead of it’s time.
Price is a staggering 250,000 US$ for a 1950s original.
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