Cool guitar tale

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:11 pm

When I took my guitar into the shop the other day I got talking with the tech. He told me that he's working on a sweet 50s strat right now and that it's possibly in the best condition he's ever seen one in. I commented that it must be worth a fortune and he said that the funny thing is that the owner had only bought it in the seventies because he couldn't afford a new one!!!

Ah the days when old guitars were simply second hand and not vintage collectors items /investments. I bet he's happy he was poor at the time.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:13 pm

Nice story.
I wish I, or rather my Dad, had done the same!

Will · Post by **Will** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:19 pm

Imagine the days when a '59 Les Paul was just an ugly, heavy old guitar nobody wanted.

Or 20 years ago when you could get a pre-CBS Jaguar for $150.

Or when I used to see '58 LP Specials for $600.

Now a shitty, barely playable old Teisco will run you $200 on eBay.

astro · Post by **astro** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:19 am

Even the 70's fenders, once considered undesirable, have gone up quite a bit in price. 7 years ago I bought a '76 P-bass for $700 Canadian dollars (at the time that was about $450 US), now I see them on Ebay for $1500 and up.

You never know, all the cheap guitars that we buy today to mod might be worth big bucks once our children are all grown up. I can see it now: "Dad! Why on earth did you refin your Squier? Now I have to work to pay my college tuition!"

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:10 am

At least these days they're producing far more guitars than we'll ever need, and the quality is pretty good too. With everyone buying the 'collectables of the future' the market for more recent instruments gets a little stale. Shops will put bigger prices on more recent stuff but generally they just don't sell.

The 70s guitars can be really hit and miss, I think that's mainly to do with the wood. My late 70s Musicmaster was choice, but I tried out a 70s Mustang in a local guitar shop and it felt like it was made out of concrete and was badly fitted together.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:07 pm

my friend's dad has about 60 guitars and mandolins, and he's apparently never paid more than Â£1000 for anything. he's got 50s les pauls, epiphone casinos, 335s, gretsches (he's a jazzer). he also has a selmer macaferri acoustic (the django reinhard model) that's worth an absolute FORTUNE that he bought for a tenner or something ridiculous like that.

euan · Post by **euan** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:32 pm

Where about in Glasgow are you taking your guitars to get set up?

Also do you own a balaclava?

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:29 pm

stewart wrote:my friend's dad has about 60 guitars and mandolins, and he's apparently never paid more than Â£1000 for anything. he's got 50s les pauls, epiphone casinos, 335s, gretsches (he's a jazzer). he also has a selmer macaferri acoustic (the django reinhard model) that's worth an absolute FORTUNE that he bought for a tenner or something ridiculous like that.

Cool!

euan wrote:Where about in Glasgow are you taking your guitars to get set up?

Also do you own a balaclava?

Jimmy E in Otago st. No I don't own any headgear that's remotely balaclave like.

markleton · Post by **markleton** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:00 pm

Dinosauria wrote:
stewart wrote:my friend's dad has about 60 guitars and mandolins, and he's apparently never paid more than Â£1000 for anything. he's got 50s les pauls, epiphone casinos, 335s, gretsches (he's a jazzer). he also has a selmer macaferri acoustic (the django reinhard model) that's worth an absolute FORTUNE that he bought for a tenner or something ridiculous like that.
Cool!

euan wrote:Where about in Glasgow are you taking your guitars to get set up?

Also do you own a balaclava?
Jimmy E in Otago st. Ni I don't own any headgear that's remotely balaclave like.

Jimmy E always set my guitars up with a super low buzzy action, strung out for life!

I know a guy on another forum with loads (50+) guitars, all bought in times when they were less desirable than they are now. Lucky bastards, our chances of finding a bargain these days is rare, fucking mass produced guitars.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:07 pm

markleton wrote:
Dinosauria wrote:
stewart wrote:my friend's dad has about 60 guitars and mandolins, and he's apparently never paid more than Â£1000 for anything. he's got 50s les pauls, epiphone casinos, 335s, gretsches (he's a jazzer). he also has a selmer macaferri acoustic (the django reinhard model) that's worth an absolute FORTUNE that he bought for a tenner or something ridiculous like that.
Cool!

euan wrote:Where about in Glasgow are you taking your guitars to get set up?

Also do you own a balaclava?
Jimmy E in Otago st. Ni I don't own any headgear that's remotely balaclave like.
Jimmy E always set my guitars up with a super low buzzy action, strung out for life!

I know a guy on another forum with loads (50+) guitars, all bought in times when they were less desirable than they are now. Lucky bastards, our chances of finding a bargain these days is rare, fucking mass produced guitars.

I don't think it's that rare. I dont think you'll find a situation whee you can't give away jagsand jazzes like it used to be, but you can still get a great bargain on some nice guitars if you're patient and not to specific.

The obvious problem these days is that everyone is too informed, and evil though it is, ebay means you can hit your target audience easier so it's easier to find the customers willing to pay a bit more for something they want.

Still, I'd rather live in a more informed age and be able to find out about something I'm new to very quickly than the age of relying on guitar shop salesmen and guitar magazines, even if it does mean I'll be paying more for a 60s jazzmaster because of it.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:15 pm

markleton wrote:
Jimmy E always set my guitars up with a super low buzzy action, strung out for life!

I've never had anyone set up a guitar for me. When it comes to actual woodwork I stick with Jimmy cos I trust him and I always get a great price and top notch craftmanship. I've had a few quotes from strung out in the past and I always got the impression I was wearing an invisible "rape me" sign or something.

One of my buddies was going to sell a guitar through there at one point but they wanted a crazy % for doing it AND wanted to charge him an extra Â£100 out of HIS end of it to give the guitar a good clean and setup. Nice people. Sure they're running a business but that's taking the piss. He decided to decline, not that it would've probably sold in there at their prices.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:23 pm

Ive brought up this comparison before but, the antique car market grew similarly. in the 40s, 50s and 60s, old cars weren't worth anything. nobody wanted them, they were just old used up cars. in the 80s and 90s they got extremely popular and were selling for huge amounts of money and now it's died down again. antique markets are like bubbles, they inflate for a while and then they pop. you probably wont ever be able to pickup pre-CBS jags for $150 ever again but it will eventually cool down to more reasonable prices.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:13 pm

Dinosauria wrote:
markleton wrote:
Jimmy E always set my guitars up with a super low buzzy action, strung out for life!
I've never had anyone set up a guitar for me. When it comes to actual woodwork I stick with Jimmy cos I trust him and I always get a great price and top notch craftmanship. I've had a few quotes from strung out in the past and I always got the impression I was wearing an invisible "rape me" sign or something.

One of my buddies was going to sell a guitar through there at one point but they wanted a crazy % for doing it AND wanted to charge him an extra Â£100 out of HIS end of it to give the guitar a good clean and setup. Nice people. Sure they're running a business but that's taking the piss. He decided to decline, not that it would've probably sold in there at their prices.

i had jimmy egypt's set up my first mustang on the recommendation of a friend and i must admit i wish i'd just done it myself and saved Â£50. i ended up tweaking it straight away, which kind of defeats the purpose. never again! i've heard bad stuff about strung out too. actual repairs are a different kettle of fish, obviously.

Post by **Hurb** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:19 am

I'm of the opinion you should learn to do everything yourself when it comes to guitars. like setting them up, changing pickups etc. There really is no greater skill when it comes to guitars than knowing how to fix em to your own liking. fuck some idiot charging you.
To think you are going to get some mystical amazing set-up from someone else that you couldnt do yourself is silly, you're only moving shit up and down or back and forth with a screw driver or allen key. there is nothing magical or even skilled in that.
If I can do it(just think of what a mess I am...I CANT EVEN TYPE!) then anyone can do it.

I WANT TO PUT AN END TO PAYING OTHER PEOPLE TO FUCK WITH YOUR SHIT!

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:26 am

Yeah set-ups are a minefield. I've set all all of my instruments to my exact specs and I bet that I'd be lucky to find one other person on here that thought it was 'perfect'. It's a very individual thing.

Plus once you know what you're doing it takes about 10 minutes. When I got my last Jaguar I took out the bridge and adjusted it by hand using the power of guesstimation and the action was spot on.