VINTAGE DE-VALUES

[Doug]

In the recent (December) issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, eight vintage guitar experts were asked what condition issues damage a vintage guitar's value the most. Here's a summary of their educated opinions:

1. Good refinishing decreases vintage value by 50% (poor refinishing...of course by more);

2. Cracks, breaks, router work, or an obscured serial number can cut value up to 90%;

3. Changed pickups can decrease value by up to 50%, sometimes more;

4. Changed parts like a bridge, tuners, pots, caps devalue by at least the replacement cost, if correct parts are known to be available;

5. A non-working truss rod can kill a deal or devalue by 50% or more (or devalue by at least the repair cost if a buyer's willing to take a chance.

6. A headstock or heel repair done well takes away 50% of the value.

7. On super rare, high-value guitars, a small detail like a new screw in the pickguard could knock 25% or more off the selling price, depending...many buyers looking at this kind of investment are purists.

New strap locks, re-fretting, swapping a plastic bridge on an acoustic guitar for a wood bridge, neck re-sets, bridge re-glue, these may not devalue a vintage guitar or may devalue it only slightly.

But they caution that all guitars are individually different, and so are the negotiations.

Hope this is helpful.

Cheers,

[taylornutt]

I don't know how changing the pickups makes a guitar loose half of it's value, unless you have to reroute the pickguard/body to fit it.

[stewart]

a small detail like a new screw in the pickguard could knock 25% or more off the selling price, depending...many buyers looking at this kind of investment are arseholes.

[George]

This is useful but I think I'll just keep trying to unload my shitty half finished projects and Venuses in trades. Thanks all the same.

[paul_]

I don't know how changing the pickups makes a guitar loose half of it's value, unless you have to reroute the pickguard/body to fit it.

Obviously this depends on what kind/year of guitar it is. A '59 LP missing it's original PAFs would be a bigger devalue than a new US Strat with hotrails in it or something. More to the point, any Gibson guitar from the PAF era might be worth more with those original PAFs given how much you could get for them on their own for someone else's holy grail of collectible guitars that is otherwise stock. The same is true of '50s Fender single coils and even Stackpole pots (Fender OEM in the pre-CTS era, like on early Broadcasters).
This is clearly aimed at collectors going for the super-expensive stuff as an investment and not players/Fender oddball devotees. It's in Vintage Guitar magazine, ffs.

[James]

1. Good refinishing decreases vintage value by 50% (poor refinishing...of course by more)

This, as with all of the others, depends entirely on the guitar in question. If you take a mid 60s Jaguar that was originally sunburst and has a good quality LPB refin, it wouldn't lose even close to 50% of it's value.

The opinions all seem to be based on big money ($10,000+) guitars.

[Brandon W]

So if i refinish and change pickups then it's worth 0? That is stupid.

[George]

So if i refinish and change pickups then it's worth 0? That is stupid.

If you took 50% off a total number, then 50% off what you are left with, you would have 25% of the original value, cos you're taking half off a half. Even that sounds out of whack though.

Lucky I don't fuck about with vintage gear. I would get robbed blind.

[Brandon W]

So if i refinish and change pickups then it's worth 0? That is stupid.

If you took 50% off a total number, then 50% off what you are left with, you would have 25% of the original value, cos you're taking half off a half. Even that sounds out of whack though.

Lucky I don't fuck about with vintage gear. I would get robbed blind.

Yeah man. So i am now looking for a great vintage guitar that has been refinished with different p-ups! ha!

[paul_]

You can joke about it with images of Dimarzio'd '70s Broncos in your head or whatever, but many people here have scored deals on fairly desirable vintages for those very reasons alone.
This article is fairly esoteric in terms of the range of guitars it actually pertains to, but none of it is actually inaccurate. Its most guitarists' current definition of "vintage" that muddies the lines if anything.

[SKC Willie]

I've seen most refinishes and pickup changes in vintage guitars cut the value in half.

And switching pickups ALWAYS devalues the guitars. People looking for the guitar you're selling are usually looking for them because they like the guitar as it is. By changing the pickups, you cut your market down and lose value. That's why if you change pickups, you should always keep the original and put those back in to sell it and sell the other pickups.