Exempting musical instruments

[Recessionist]

I am filing alone since my husband is not a co-signer to any of the debt in question. We have no material assets to speak of - except for one group of items. I live in a community property state - California.

My husband owns guitars and amplifiers, and miscellaneous related accessories. His primary living is as a guitar builder, but he does earn a little money here and there as a paid musician. Would these constitute "tools of the trade"?

If not tools of the trade, what other exemption categories can we use to exempt them?

Has anyone else here had to exempt a collection of some value? I am not sure how many he has or what the values would be. Does anyone have a good resource for determining the values?

[AngelinaCatHub]

THEY ARE TOOLS OF THE TRADE!!! Swear to that in that not only does he get income, but they are display items of his work. Won't be a problem. 'Hub

[Recessionist]

But these aren't the ones he builds.

[justbroke]

He's also a paid musician, so it's still tools of the trade. So long as it's not an overall hobby... which it doesn't seem so.

Even when you build guitars, you need equipment to test on.