In my opinion it was only a matter of time before second hand prices rose at levels they have.
Most of the gear examples the OP cites are pro grade instruments, and more importnatly instruments made in first world countries. And as we know living in one, cost of living increases at a rate that outstrip stated inflation rates by a lot.
Quick primer for those who don't know how inflation works: the government constructs a "basket of consumer goods" and tracks their costs. This is the same concept as a stock index if you will. This is called the Consumer Price Index (referred to as the CPI for short). It is comprised of a bunch of goods measures the increases and decreases in prices and the periodic percentage change in a given period of time is the stated inflation rate.
But there are real problems with the CPI and its accuracy.
First, it is an index constructed by public servants. And no matter who holds what office, those folks want to look like they are doing a good job, i.e. the economy is strong. Part of that is showing low inflation. So what is in the index is things like milk, ince cream, bread, etc. What more important is what is not in there which is what people spend most of their dollars on such as health insurance, childcare, education, energy and housing. With that in mind, think of how much more you are spending on bread vs. how much more on your car, your health insurance, college for your kids, etc. Low inflation is a myth and cost of living has been hyper inflationary for the past 20 years.
Second is that the index is subject to "discretion" which is to say manipulation if the powers that be do not like the results. Again, this is not partisan as this has happened throughout history. There are two techniques in particular that are used to "massage" a "bad" result, i.e. rising prices.
The first is called substitution and it is just what it sounds like, where one item in the CPI can be substituted by another. So for example, if premium ice cream is in the CPI and its prices are rapidly rising, they might replace it with regular ice cream, the logic being consumers are smart so they will find a way to save money on ice cream by switching brands. The problem is that the two are not apples and apples and this concept can get stretched further. There is a great contrarian investor named Bill Flekenstein who said that the proble with this technique is that "they can substitute tuna fish with cat food" or something aong those lines.
The other one that really bakes my noodle is that the CPI makes "Hedonic Adjustments." Just as the word "hedonism" suggests, this adjustment has to do with consumer pleasure factoring in to the adjustment. This adjustment is so perverse that they can argue that something much more expensive is cheaper if it is much better. The example that comes to mind is thinking back to about 2006/2007. At that time one could buy a 36" old school TV (considered big screen at the time) for $400 and one of those huge 40+" HDTVs for $1300. Then along came flat screens and suddenly a tiny TV cost $1K and to get 40+ inches cost thousands. But the CPI showed the price as flat or declinging because the argument is that the TVs are so much better.
The crazy thing is, this gets applied to LOTS of things. Read here:
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So what does all of this mean? Costs have been rising rapidly for a long time and now with supply and demand issues the veil has been lifted. Companies have to raise their costs to keep up with the increases to their costs. And when the price of a new Fender J bass goes up, it stands to reason that the same bass used also goes up. Add to that wait lists, shortages etc. and this is all a recipe for prices rising across the board essentially everwhere.
Just my $.02. If only it were a 5er. YMMV. GLWTS.
RBM
