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Restoration and collectibility

S. Cane

Active member
Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Messages
656
I'm a player, not a collector by any chance.

However, reading some of the threads in here got me curious.

Say you find a guitar that's like 40 or 50 years old. It's in fine shape, but some previous owner has messed around with the wiring and pickups, and the guitar ended up with a brand new stock harness (new pots and caps) and pickups, being fully restored to factory specs. The old pots and caps are still in the case. In other words, a fully restored guitar but with newer pots caps and pickups.

Is this a non collectible piece or does this guitar still interest a collector?

I apologize if this is a somewhat moronic question to this forum's standards but like I said, I have very little interest at all in collectibles. I am asking to educate myself in these matters...
 

jrgtr42

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
2,308
It depends on the collector. some want it completely, 100% how it came from the factory, others will deal with repairs if necessary.
Likely it would take a price hit compared to a 100% stock one, but as long as the original parts are there, not as much as if they weren't.
|PIckups being present or not would also be a price hit. I wasn't clear if the original ones are reinstalled in your example.
Edit: it also depends on the guitar - a Burst will always be collectible and command a premium, versus, say, a Gibson Corvus.
 

renderit

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,951
Price.

Period.

It will still be worth something more than "new" to somebody.

Still "collectable".

And I will go as far as to say some non-stock has no affect on price.

Like Grovers on a Jr.
 

brandtkronholm

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Messages
2,737
It depends on the collector. (I'm not a collector!)
jrgtr42 is right: Much depends on the guitar. I don't think a collector would even look at a one-pickup ES175 from 1959 if it wasn't 100% original. However, collectors might be just fine with modern wiring (mono and bypass the Varitone) but original pickups in a 1960 ES355.
Like Ren says, Grovers on a Jr. sounds fine to me and probably to most collectors.
 

bern1

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 23, 2004
Messages
1,275
Ren is right, there is a price for everything and everybody is different, collector or not.

I got rid of a 1958 TV Model because it had had Grovers installed. I got rid of the Grovers and put the original tuners back on. Eventually it wasn’t good enough, the modification bugged me and the guitar had to go.

I am not going to pay full price for anything modified. That’s just me.
 
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