In a perfect world our children would all be musicians and we could bequeth our gear to them. Not sure where my DNA went wrong but that situation doesn't exist for me...not even cowbell soloist among them :(
 
I'm bequething all my vintage gear to the College of Music at the local University.
 
Regards,

Simples (for me)
 
My son gets it all and she knows it.

mike_mccue
You can't sell stuff without a buyer.
 
The buyer usually tells you how much it is worth to them.
 
I think it is a waste of time making extensive preparations to prove something has value, although I think a simple note with a ball park guess would be a kind gesture.
 
If you think it's worth more than what it's worth... sell the darn thing now and avoid belaboring your survivors with the responsibility to get top dollar.
 
best regards,
mike

Sure, the buyer is going to tell my wife that the Strat is worth a lot more than the $50.00 she tags it for, since to her it might just be a nice looking guitar. Sorry, I cannot trust human nature to do the right thing when a deal of the lifetime is staring you in the face. Facts are, we as family members may not always be aware of the value of family member's property.
 
And it does not require extensive preparations. It is a simple accounting of the equipment. Year, brand, model number, Serial #, etc., as a basis to not just give the stuff away.
 
And no, I am not going to sell the guitar now to get what I thinks it worth.
 
Man, where are you coming from? 

OK OK OK.
 
I see what you are saying.
 
I'm going to get an appraisal on the Weber grill, the TaylorMades, and my DVD collection while I am at it.
 
Thanks.

Trollin'... like a BOSS.

I just wanted to point out that these things do happen. This was some years back (in the 1980s). A friend of mine (a drummer) picked up two AKG-414 microphones at a garage sale. (I am going by memory here and am sure of the brand AKG, and pretty sure they were 414s). He got them each for $50.00. He himself did not know what he was actually buying. He just figured they looked like good mics and the price was acceptable to him. So he wasn't trying to take advantage of anyone. The sellers were the parents selling off their deceased son's stuff. Apparently they just wanted to move on with their lives after a tragedy. 

That's how it seems to work.
 
I think moving on is a good priority.
 
best regards,
mike

When I was selling my drums (nice mint vintage shells worth a lot of money to the right buyer) I had some guy call me and come by to look at them. He spent an hour puffing himself up trying to make me feel like some naive kid. He tried to talk down the value of the kit by pointing out irrelevant "flaws" and other inanities, screwed around with the set up and even started trying to tune them (I had tuned them according to a specific standard and had to tell him to stop). After I while I think he realized I wasn't a sucker but still dropped the old "weeeelll... I'd make you an offer but you'd probably be insulted". I was curious anyway and asked him what his offer was... and it was indeed extremely insulting. Like 10% of the asking price. If it had been a relative or a friend dealing with this transaction he would have likely fooled them with his little performance and lost out on a LOT of money.
 
Vultures.
 
I eventually got my asking price and the kid that bought it was ECSTATIC. Last I heard he was making tons of music on it and considered it his prize possession. Could not have worked out better.

I avoid thinking about this too much.
 
The reality is it's the 21st century and if you care about getting return you look at how much similar stuff sold for recently on ebay.
 
But the difficulty for me is, "what about the parts guitars and instruments I modded?". Do I have to explain that a parts guitar is likely worth more if disassembled, and then explain how to disassemble and describe things? Do I have to find the original PU's that were in something and clearly identify them to be included with the guitar they came from, so that someone who knows very little if anything about such things can understand what I'm talking about?
 
Seems like it may be increasing the burden more than the money is worth. YMMV.

I know for a fact that if I kicked it today and my next of kin got ripped off selling my stuff that would upset them more than having to put a little thought into getting the right price. I have all my receipts in an envelope that will give them a good indication of what's what. And as I said I would not want some unscrupulous vulture benefiting from my untimely demise at the expense of my family or friends.
 
What I'll probably do though is let one of my more deserving friends get their hands on it. They'd be specifically told to use it to make as much music as possible... and they would.