trash n' treasure

[yaksox]

I was out visiting one of the out of the way guitar shops today. Amongst a whole lot of nothing I saw these two. What do you think?


A real fixer upper. Have a feeling the neck was a little warped. Poles on neck pickup show signs of rust. Pickguard faded, dirty. Asking $150
link to bigger



Action a bit too low - string buzz. Neck pickup not working - suspected wire loose. Missing toggle knob. Asking $180
link to bigger

I'm tempted to buy the gretsch - it felt kind of nice. I don't know if anything can be done for the neck of the other one. It looked a bit like this:


That is, the low e was higher off the frets than the High e.

[James]

The first one is probably worth $150 at a stretch anyway, with a dodgy neck it's worth more like $15.

[yaksox]

The first one is probably worth $150 at a stretch anyway, with a dodgy neck it's worth more like $15.

What's the best way to tell? Is it looking at it from above the headstock with one eye closed? because that's what I did.

[stewart]

that doesn't necessarily mean the neck's warped.

i bought one of those gretsches as my first guitar about 5 years ago. i just sold it for £100 together with a boss ds1, which is roughly 200 US dollars. they're fairly solid guitars for the money, but a bit clunky to play in my opinion.

[Hurb]

It looks the same as a stagg guitar with a different decal. there total arse really don't bother.

[Sparky]

First guitar is fugly as hell. The second one would look better in a different color, possibly even a Fender custom color.

[stewart]

i just read what was wrong with that gretsch- don't fucking buy it at that price if one of the pickups doesn't work! if it was $50, maybe. and yes, the first guitar is just horrible.

[Neil]

A dead pickup should be an easy fix providing he knows his way around a soldering iron. Wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I'be bought quite a few badly wired guitars that needed attention and never had a minutes trouble with them after rewiring.

[stewart]

A dead pickup should be an easy fix providing he knows his way around a soldering iron. Wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I'be bought quite a few badly wired guitars that needed attention and never had a minutes trouble with them after rewiring.

that guitar's barely worth $100 in full working order. it would bother me paying that much for something of that quality that didn't even work properly, soldering iron or not.

[yaksox]

Both of those prices are with no haggling attempted, which is more than doable at that place.

Re the Synchromatic, I wouldn't walk out with it unless the guy fixed the wiring or gave a chunky discount. When I saw them at the start of the week I had a little money burning a hole in my pocket but a couple of days holiday changed that.
I think if I was really going to get another guitar in the near future I'd save up a few extra clams and get an Eastwood Stormbird.

[Skip]

offer to buy the pair at a big discount
or just one whatever---
if you want a project---- do it
if not save your dough for a better guitar
sometimes we buy things just to buy them and regret it