Like I said previously I did fit tuners that would have been used on your originally and fitted the Gibson pafs humbuckers, I'd just like to get the neck and back fixed .
1973 Custom restore
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larryguitar
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As noted above, a subtle satin clear sealer on the exposed wood of the neck might not be a bad idea; human 'grunge' isn't particularly good for wood.
You need to keep in mind there's no way to make it be a 'new' 70's guitar; you can only make it a refinished 70's guitar.
Larry
You need to keep in mind there's no way to make it be a 'new' 70's guitar; you can only make it a refinished 70's guitar.
Larry
Yeh basically I just wanna give it some love not make it look new .
smk506
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If you’re planning on selling it, sell it. You if you want to gamble in spending money on it to increase its value you could hunt down period correct parts, not just Gibson parts but ones from the actual time period of this guitar.
Refretting it at this point is a crap shoot. Whatever fret choice you go with is going to semi limit your market and to be honest, buyers are going to use it as an excuse to negotiate either way, so why spend the money out of pocket?
You could in theory have the headstock stripped and reshot with a tinted clear so it would be uniform in appearance, but I’m very skeptical you’d get your money back out of it.
The rest of your ideas, and I mean this respectfully and hopefully helpfully, are money pits. Even buying the period correct parts might be.
At this point the guitar is what it is, a cool players piece with tons of character and mojo. It will never be a top dollar collector piece again. My opinion of course.
Refretting it at this point is a crap shoot. Whatever fret choice you go with is going to semi limit your market and to be honest, buyers are going to use it as an excuse to negotiate either way, so why spend the money out of pocket?
You could in theory have the headstock stripped and reshot with a tinted clear so it would be uniform in appearance, but I’m very skeptical you’d get your money back out of it.
The rest of your ideas, and I mean this respectfully and hopefully helpfully, are money pits. Even buying the period correct parts might be.
At this point the guitar is what it is, a cool players piece with tons of character and mojo. It will never be a top dollar collector piece again. My opinion of course.
Airplane
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not sure if the OP understood that a vintage (or norlin, for that matter) drops A LOT in value after a finish touch up! especially the headstock… many will suspect a headstock repair and it’s just pointless. that beeing said heavy wear and some laquer flaking of is part of the vintage deal. (re)finish work on a vintage guitar ist nor a repair, it is a damage. people will pay less money without a doubt. if you want to sell it, please leave it alone. also if you keep it..
emoney
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Odds are pretty high you're looking at this wrong. If the main plan is to sell the guitar, then absolutely do NOT touch it. Someone will buy it for your asking just as it sits. IF, however, your plan was to "dress it up so it brings more money", that's not the case. The truth is, refinishing the guitar back to a point that it looks new, would cost far more than what you'll sell it for. You can find someone to put new frets in it, but because of the age, a good luthier is going to charge you quite a bit because of the risk involved; it doesn't outweigh the benefit. Everything else on that guitar is expected to be scratched, and scuffed and have the "gold color" wearing off the MOP. That's because it's a 50 year old guitar. The person that wants to spend 3500 on it, is actually looking for it to be in that condition. Otherwise, they can pay a lot less and just order a new one.
I think anybody that wants to buy a vintage guitar will most likely want it as unmodified as possible. So they have the option of modifying how they like, if at all.
What everybody here is trying to say is that 'restoring the finish will not restore the value'.
If you can, take it to a vintage guitar specialist in your area for proper evaluation. Or just put it on reverb at a high price and see what offers you get.
Which country are you in?
What everybody here is trying to say is that 'restoring the finish will not restore the value'.
If you can, take it to a vintage guitar specialist in your area for proper evaluation. Or just put it on reverb at a high price and see what offers you get.
Which country are you in?
Guys I get the message leave alone yeh, so what brought me here was to find out if it was actually worth getting some elements of it restored not to a new look but just make it look alot less battered especially on the back where the laquer has chipped away.
I have tried searching Google eBay reverb to see any that resemble mine with the worn neck and back etc but I've come across some that look in remarkable good condition like the two on ebay.
1971 custom eBay
eBay Les Paul custom
Some of the necks look quite glossy for the age of them.
I've also noticed different style tuners not like the vintage tuners I have, now I did fit these as the previous owner had put something very not original as you can see the extra hole..
So what inspired me to get it looking better than what it is now is the adverts that want £4k to 6k etc and I'm obviously going to think mine is not as in a good condition so I won't get as much.
The pots have the s/N 1377211.
ARandall
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A refret will not do any damage to value. Quite frankly for that age guitar it's a red flag if it has original frets.
Pick a size that suits how you play and have at it. There are no limitations when it comes to a ready market for any fret size tbh. These guitars get used equally for aggressive hard rock and metal as they do more classic styles so you'll find a ready buyer whatever you do.
As to value, your guitar is not in poor condition. It is perfectly good condition for something over 50 years old. If you don't thrash it then you'll find it's in the upper range of pricing. The wear you have is normal.
Pick a size that suits how you play and have at it. There are no limitations when it comes to a ready market for any fret size tbh. These guitars get used equally for aggressive hard rock and metal as they do more classic styles so you'll find a ready buyer whatever you do.
As to value, your guitar is not in poor condition. It is perfectly good condition for something over 50 years old. If you don't thrash it then you'll find it's in the upper range of pricing. The wear you have is normal.
Yeh thanks , I'll probably just have a refret by a Luther who I trust and just clean it up.
It's not got the original stop tail does this matter and do the tuners look original.
I did fit I believe from memory 490R & 498T humbuckers in the 90's having taken out the old dimarzio ones.
ARandall
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Original tuners are kluson wafflebacks.
Original pickups unfortunately for 1972 are embossed cover t tops which are probably about as rare and expensive as early 60s pat# pickups.
Stop tail is not overly important, but they were still 'vintage accurate' aluminium at that point if you want to side grade.
Original pickups unfortunately for 1972 are embossed cover t tops which are probably about as rare and expensive as early 60s pat# pickups.
Stop tail is not overly important, but they were still 'vintage accurate' aluminium at that point if you want to side grade.
Is it worth me spending £100 on some wafflebacks wouod it really make a difference seeing you can buy these new, the groovers I got in now use the same screw holes.
Happy birthday by the way, yeh I don't know yet mate still pondering on what I'm going to do and if I did sell how much for
I'm 52 by the way so I need a guitar from 1970
jase128
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and a win on the lottery!!!
I do wonder who played my guitar before I got it in 1986 as it was well played out so must have been played to death.
Pity guitars don't come with log books of previous owners .
