Dave Woody
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Wow. That much? I will look into it.
Guitars
- Thread starter musket
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Artyczar
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It's crazy how much old Fenders are worth these days.
It's not all that special, and I have to see what year it is (it's not old, obviously), but I'm selling my Les Paul Vixen, which is a lot like a Junior. Feels and plays like one. I'll maybe get $500 for it. When we got it, someone marked it up with a bunch of Sharpie "artwork." It was the original peach/pink color. We tried to match the color, but we couldn't quite get it right, so the body and neck have a slight difference which makes it worth even less. It's still a great guitar though. It's in excellent shape. I'll find a picture, but a lot of people would consider it a "girl's" guitar, as the company made it for the female market, I'm pretty sure (with a name like that).
It's not all that special, and I have to see what year it is (it's not old, obviously), but I'm selling my Les Paul Vixen, which is a lot like a Junior. Feels and plays like one. I'll maybe get $500 for it. When we got it, someone marked it up with a bunch of Sharpie "artwork." It was the original peach/pink color. We tried to match the color, but we couldn't quite get it right, so the body and neck have a slight difference which makes it worth even less. It's still a great guitar though. It's in excellent shape. I'll find a picture, but a lot of people would consider it a "girl's" guitar, as the company made it for the female market, I'm pretty sure (with a name like that).
musket
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Never heard of the Vixen, Arty. Worth what you can get for it, probably not all that much I'm afraid.
Original finishes are very important to nutcases who are willing to shell out stupid money for old guitars. A refin, no matter how well done, immediately cuts the value by a third, even maybe half. The old guitar game used to be fun, until people started buying for investment. It's ruined now.
An old friend of mine just bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special (single cutaway, TV Yellow), on my recommendation. He says it's fantastic for the dough (tell Hannah, Arty). Plays great, sounds great, excellent neck, perfect fretwork. Four hundred bucks brand new. The Gibson version is $1600. The only real difference is that the original TV Yellow was slightly translucent. If he ever wants to upgrade it he can spend almost that much on a pair of Fralin Hum-Cancelling P90s and it'll be better than the new Gibson or my 57 Special (double cut, Red Mahogany)... bought it for a hundred bucks from a kid in Englewood, NJ in 69. Don't even remember how I lost it.
Ask anybody who has done a lot of wheeling and dealing in so-called vintage solid bodies what they really think, and if they're honest you'll get the same answer-- no solid body guitar is worth more than five hundred bucks.
Original finishes are very important to nutcases who are willing to shell out stupid money for old guitars. A refin, no matter how well done, immediately cuts the value by a third, even maybe half. The old guitar game used to be fun, until people started buying for investment. It's ruined now.
An old friend of mine just bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special (single cutaway, TV Yellow), on my recommendation. He says it's fantastic for the dough (tell Hannah, Arty). Plays great, sounds great, excellent neck, perfect fretwork. Four hundred bucks brand new. The Gibson version is $1600. The only real difference is that the original TV Yellow was slightly translucent. If he ever wants to upgrade it he can spend almost that much on a pair of Fralin Hum-Cancelling P90s and it'll be better than the new Gibson or my 57 Special (double cut, Red Mahogany)... bought it for a hundred bucks from a kid in Englewood, NJ in 69. Don't even remember how I lost it.
Ask anybody who has done a lot of wheeling and dealing in so-called vintage solid bodies what they really think, and if they're honest you'll get the same answer-- no solid body guitar is worth more than five hundred bucks.
Bongo
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burned out.
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I have a (modern) Gibson Special, so I'm good with that. But I did buy an Epiphone ES339 for, god I don't know, $400? And it was lovely.
They will never again get that TV color right.
I don't know why, maybe the formula is considered poison now or something. Or it's too time-consuming. Who knows. But even Gibson doesn't get it right.
musket
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G&Ls are really nice instruments. Their only drawback is resale value, in the north anyway. They were always more popular down south and out west. Which of course makes them a bargain elsewhere used. I hate those damn ABS cases. If your hasn't warped or otherwise messed up, you're lucky.
I passed up two Gibsons I probably should have bought even though I was a Fender player-- a dead mint 65 ES-330 in red mahogany with chrome dogear covers and ohsc for $495 in 1993, and an ex cond 53 ES-350T sunburst with original brown Lifton hsc for $1400 in 1998.
Oh well.
I passed up two Gibsons I probably should have bought even though I was a Fender player-- a dead mint 65 ES-330 in red mahogany with chrome dogear covers and ohsc for $495 in 1993, and an ex cond 53 ES-350T sunburst with original brown Lifton hsc for $1400 in 1998.
Oh well.
musket
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Of course, the oldies were nitro, and nitro itself yellows, and no artificially aged lacquer has the same look as genuinely aged nitro. But you would think they could get the color right and true enough, they can't. Or in this instance, Gibson being Gibson, they don't care, though from what I hear, at least Henry the Jerk is no longer CEO, having managed to almost completely ruin the company during his tenure.
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That's not a fun game to play, considering what you used to be able to buy Juniors and even Bursts for. Hindsight is always 20/20.
What's worse than "could have bought" is "I sold it for..."
P. Barrie
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In a moment of frustration over the arthritis in my thumb joints, I thought I would give up playing, so I listed my G&L on Reverb. Someone paid $950 for it. I quickly refunded the amount, cancelling the sale
. Glad I did because it’s the one I can fall back on when particularly sore.
I have electric strings on one of my elec. acoustics, 10-50.
I also have a 1954 Gibson ES 125 that has wonderful neck action and is forgiving.
. Glad I did because it’s the one I can fall back on when particularly sore. I have electric strings on one of my elec. acoustics, 10-50.
I also have a 1954 Gibson ES 125 that has wonderful neck action and is forgiving.
musket
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Oh, I know, believe me. I worked in guitar shops for almost thirty years, starting with Matt Umanov Guitars original location on Bedford St in Greenwich Village. At that time, we thought pre-War D-28, a D'Angelico or Lloyd Loar F5 would never be worth more than $2500. The most expensive Gibson solid body you could buy over at Music Inn on W. 4th was a triple pickup Black Beauty for $1500. You could buy a PAF Burst for $500-- now that's what a Harmony Stratotone will cost you!
musket
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Not really. The bottom is falling out of the so-called vintage guitar and amp biz.
Everybody I know is dumping their old stuff, and a lot of it isn't selling. The kids don't care about vintage, or the best ever. Guitars--even acoustic guitars--are just another online purchase. Why would anyone want to haul an old tube amp around who didn't need to? There's a store called Retromusic in Keene, NH, where I used to work in the early 90s, that's so crammed to the gills with old stuff you can barely move in the place, with more old stuff coming in the door every day and very little going out.
The "affordable vintage" craze will burn out once people figure out that a POS guitar is still a POS even if it's old. Sure, a Harmony Stratotone has a good sounding neck singlecoil and is a great slide guitar, and for $25 at a yard sale in 1975 was worth it, but $495 today? That will buy you that Epi LP Special. With a hsc.
The number of middle aged corporate middle management guys who played in a high school band and were going to set the music world on fire but gave it up for a real job, and think buying a vintage guitar and amp will somehow bring back their youth, is finite. The very choicest stuff will continue to escalate in value, but the in-between will just sit. Dealers will wheel and deal and horsetrade mostly to other dealers at guitar shows (this has been true for many years already).
It was all over in the fun department by the late 90s.
Everybody I know is dumping their old stuff, and a lot of it isn't selling. The kids don't care about vintage, or the best ever. Guitars--even acoustic guitars--are just another online purchase. Why would anyone want to haul an old tube amp around who didn't need to? There's a store called Retromusic in Keene, NH, where I used to work in the early 90s, that's so crammed to the gills with old stuff you can barely move in the place, with more old stuff coming in the door every day and very little going out.
The "affordable vintage" craze will burn out once people figure out that a POS guitar is still a POS even if it's old. Sure, a Harmony Stratotone has a good sounding neck singlecoil and is a great slide guitar, and for $25 at a yard sale in 1975 was worth it, but $495 today? That will buy you that Epi LP Special. With a hsc.
The number of middle aged corporate middle management guys who played in a high school band and were going to set the music world on fire but gave it up for a real job, and think buying a vintage guitar and amp will somehow bring back their youth, is finite. The very choicest stuff will continue to escalate in value, but the in-between will just sit. Dealers will wheel and deal and horsetrade mostly to other dealers at guitar shows (this has been true for many years already).
It was all over in the fun department by the late 90s.
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