quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Take the advise, it's good, and you don't have to do much to find out what it's worth and what to do with it to keep it from deteriorating if you decide to keep it.

This is honestly my big concern. Whatever you decide to do with it is your business, but a little bit of TLC and maintenance is beyond overdue at this point. I'm not even talking about cosmetic issues here, I'm talking about "is the neck warped from sitting tuned to pitch in a dry closet at a weird angle for 25 years" type concerns. Could be absolutely fine; plenty of guitars do fine sitting in less-than-ideal conditions for years, but plenty don't.

You've got a really nice guitar there. It deserves a little spa time with a pro.

It’s been in its case laying flat under the bed for years. The neck looks straight. If I have it restored by a place like Thunder Road, do they provide any paperwork as to what they did that could help its value?

Any resto shop will provide a list of work done. I have seen where broken necks and headstocks repaired to where you cannot hardly tell any repairs have been made at all and still huge money. There is a lot of good advise here.

Keep every single item that gets replaced too. Even corroded switches and knobs that no longer work. But don’t keep them in the case with the guitar. They turn into torpedos.

Wingspar, that would be a question for Will. I don’t have the answer to that.

As to any documentation they provide, maybe it adds value and maybe it doesn’t. But in the guitar world, nothing trumps a George Gruhn appraisal.

A minor niggle, but “restored” isn’t what you want to go for. To keep the most value on it, you want to simply have it cleaned, inspected, and appraised. I wouldn’t even air the case out, let the potential next owner worry about that. As long as it doesn’t reek of cigarettes, a lot of collectors actually love the way those old guitars smell. It’s weird, yeah, but it’s another one of the senses getting stimulated while you play, so it’s part of the experience and a thing that tells you the guitar is legitimately vintage.

Last night, your post made me think of something that happened when I first started working at the music store in Florida. We weren’t far from S. Tropical Trail, which is a fairly good stretch of nothing but mansions for several miles. Some wealthy person passed away, and I don’t know what the situation was, but a work crew and a dumpster container showed up and they started filling it. Somehow, some fairly poor folks from Cocoa showed up and started dumpster diving. They scored a 1954 Les Paul Junior and brought it to my store. The store owner handled it personally and requested first refusal if they opted to sell it to which they agreed, and he got them an appraisal from Gruhn after cleaning spoiled ground beef off the guitar.

The lady said she was going to let her son learn to play guitar on it maybe, but they were definitely giddy when they picked it up. They took it across the county and sold it to another store that same day, making a handsome profit and totally screwing us out of a chance at the guitar after working on it. I have little doubt that it wound up in the dumpster in the first place because whoever handled the estate had zero idea what the guitar was worth, obviously, and must have thought it was just “some junky old guitar nobody would want” kinda thing.

So there’s some cautionary elements in that tale. Even if you decide to keep it for the rest of your life, at this juncture your investment has only continued to appreciate and it would be wise to protect it for your beneficiaries. I highly recommend the Gruhn appraisal for this reason.

We had a number of widows come in to sell off their deceased husband’s guitars, some of them after hitting pawn shops first. Even I bought a Japanese Strat from a guy who brought it in with no idea what it was worth. It had been his wife’s and he was going to throw it in the trash because it said Squier on the headstock. In 1985, Squiers made in Japan under license from Fender were better than the guitars Fender USA was making at the time, and they tend to fetch a price that would raise a lot of eyebrows, but they’re that good. I offered him a fair price based on condition and was very upfront about what he had, which surprised him. So instead of junking it, he went home with several hundred bucks in his pocket and a grin on his face. He was happy, I was happy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P220 Smudge,

I let the case sit out in the sun today and looked in the compartment within the case and found this container of Fender Guitar Polish. It feels empty, but if I can get enough out of it to remove the white powder, would that be ok?

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
As to any documentation they provide, maybe it adds value and maybe it doesn’t. But in the guitar world, nothing trumps a George Gruhn appraisal.

A minor niggle, but “restored” isn’t what you want to go for. To keep the most value on it, you want to simply have it cleaned, inspected, and appraised. I wouldn’t even air the case out, let the potential next owner worry about that. As long as it doesn’t reek of cigarettes, a lot of collectors actually love the way those old guitars smell. It’s weird, yeah, but it’s another one of the senses getting stimulated while you play, so it’s part of the experience and a thing that tells you the guitar is legitimately vintage.

I’m wondering if I got an appraisal from George Gruhn by photos I send him, how would he be able to tell if the neck is warped? It looks pretty straight to me tho.

Now that I know the 1963 born date of the guitar, I’m pretty sure it was new when I bought it. What I paid for it would just be a WAG now. I thought I bought it in 1964, but thinking more about that, I’m pretty sure I had it before that, so I must be the original owner. Wish I had the receipt. I’ll bet I paid about $250 for it, but I’m just guessing. Could have been more.

I really appreciate your input on this. I’m glad I posted this here on SF. Tho I don’t post much anymore, SF still remains my favorite forum.

For what it’s worth, here is a photo of the case. The outside is pretty beat up, latches corroded but the inside still looks good except for the smell which seems to be diminished a little from sitting in the sun today, but I’ll bet the smell will come right back after it’s been closed for a while.

Actually, that case is in pretty fantastic condition for its age, from what I can see. You have all the latches, they aren't busted, the handle is intact and the internal compartment walls and neck prop aren't busted loose. I've seen plenty of all of that.

The only thing I can really see is that part of the leather tab for the compartment looks like it ripped away, and the plush lining where the bottom of the guitar sits is coming loose from the shell. Those are not a huge deal, imo.

Oh, and this is kind of a known thing on the retail side of the guitar industry, but for whatever reason, cats absolutely love pissing in guitar cases. It's a thing. If you've got any strays or feral cats around, and you leave it open outside, you may find yourself worse off than you were before.

I just looked at that leather tab and it must be the angle of the photo that makes it look like part of it is missing. Yes, the plush lining is coming loose from the shell. I hadn’t noticed that until I was looking at the photo after I posted it here. It’s happening in other places also, but what you see where the bottom of the guitar rests is the worst of it.

We have some people nearby that just let their cats have kittens and let them run amok. As for feral cats, there probably is one or two around. I kept an eye on the case and not even a bird pooped on it.

Been trying to trap a couple of coons, but I just keep catching cats. Got two different cats last night. Fresh chicken bones are too tempting for cats, and they eat the entire bone. Watched one cat eat the entire bone on my trail cam. Don’t know if that’s good for cats or not. Not interested in hurting the cats, but don’t care about the coons. I just want them gone.

Please stop home remedying that guitar and do the right thing.

Bob

The guitar is worth thousands. Please, just drive to wherever you need to have it inspected even if it's a few hundred miles away. You're not going to add to the value by doing anything to the guitar. All of its value is already there, as is. There's no need to mess with the case or anything. You won't regret getting an appraisal from Gruhns either.

That CASE is worth a lot of money. Probably that can of Fender cleaner too lol. Do not try and use that cleaner. Don't touch it yet, wait until you hear from the experts!! Please keep us informed on what the results are.

Not an electric guitar guy (classical - have some), but the find intrigued me enough to search - might give a ballpark for value and condition (and congrats!):

https://reverb.com/p/fender-ja...msSsfwRoCwpgQAvD_BwE

quote:

Originally posted by rbert0005:
Please stop home remedying that guitar and do the right thing.

Bob

For the love, this.
You’ve gotten great advice here to you original query, it’s almost borderline trolling to appear to ignore that and suggest spraying a decades old can of crap on it.

I repeat... Don't do ANYTHING to that guitar! Take it to an expert. It's like you're asking if you should take your $7000 to the bank or maybe light it on fire.

It was the end of the night last night and I didn't scroll all the way up to see you asking about using that guitar polish on your Jazzmaster. In a way, I'm glad I didn't see it then, because I would have had trouble sleeping.

Let me put this in the clearest terms possible one last time: Anything you do to that guitar with the best of intentions may very well bite you in the ass. You do not know what you're doing, and I've given you all the information you need to get in touch with the world authority on vintage American-made electric guitars who can tell you the value of it and the absolute best information on how to have it cleaned in such a way as to maintain the value of it.

This is not a situation where you're going to polish it up and suddenly, it's going to be worth more. You're deep into the territory where the opposite is true, and with ten minutes of best intentions, you can destroy the value of your guitar. My absolute best advice is to do nothing further with it yourself. Don't try to clean the white spots off the finish, don't try to clean the corrosion off the saddles on the bridge, don't try to glue parts of the case back together as I'm sure you're tempted to.

Do. Nothing. Call George Gruhn.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Please, man. For the love of God. I'm pleading with you, here. Yes, it's your guitar and you can do what you want with it, but as a lover of vintage guitars, I'm doing a lot of wincing and cringing when I read this thread and I know I'm not the only one.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
it’s almost borderline trolling to appear to ignore that and suggest spraying a decades old can of crap on it.

I don’t know anything about guitars or much about antiques in general, but that was my first reaction to the question about trying to use old polish. I cannot imagine how “Don’t do anything to it!!!” could be any clearer in this thread.

I care nothing for electric guitars, but am also wondering why someone would ask for advice, receive 100% legit feedback, and continue to ignore it.

The internet, its a jungle out there.

Don't change anything! I bought this 1970 ES-335 lefty for $400 in 1983. Has a righty neck from the factory (Dots on wrong side per the picture). A luthier friend appraised it. Even with period hardware changes he estimated the value as $3500 to $5000 (leaning towards $5k because of the neck). All I've done is kept it clean with guitar polish & kept it away from sunlight.

I don’t understand all the comments about me destroying the guitar. All I’m doing is asking questions. I have done absolutely Nothing to it at all. The white powder is still in tact. I want to get that white powder off, but it’s still on the guitar. I am NOT DOING ANYTHING with it at all and I WILL NOT!! I’ll get it appraised as is. Good Grief!