[SolitaryPine]

Lifeson 355 #058 just sold on eBay for $4,577.

[SolitaryPine]

Lifeson 355 #064 currently for sale on eBay. 1 bid so far, current price $4,000.

[LerxstLee]

 SolitaryPine, on 17 April 2011 - 01:50 PM, said:

Lifeson 355 #064 currently for sale on eBay. 1 bid so far, current price $4,000.

Take a close look at that neck pickup and the pickguard. The pickup is not centered and the pickguard has been modified to
fit the out of center pickup. There are a few Al's out there that are like that. There is one being repaired I ran across
the other day with the same problem, among plenty of other issues. Not sure why anyone would not notice that, less bid on it?
I am happy for all the ones who love their Al-355s , I am not one as some may know.
With all the poor manufacturing of my Al-355 that still sits in my closet, I am sure glad that is one
less problem I have with it. After seeing posts about the new lifeson axcess with the peizo bleed, I am sure glad in '08 I have stuck to my rule,
never buy another gibson. I have had some great guitars purchased since then, and have not once been stuck with a guitar
that I like better out of sight, thus out of mind. Still as white as the day I bought it. Well I do need to look at it once in a while
just to shake my head.

/cheers

[Superdick2112]

 LerxstLee, on 17 April 2011 - 03:21 PM, said:

Take a close look at that neck pickup and the pickguard. The pickup is not centered and the pickguard has been modified to
fit the out of center pickup. There are a few Al's out there that are like that. There is one being repaired I ran across
the other day with the same problem, among plenty of other issues. Not sure why anyone would not notice that, less bid on it?
I am happy for all the ones who love their Al-355s , I am not one as some may know.
With all the poor manufacturing of my Al-355 that still sits in my closet, I am sure glad that is one
less problem I have with it. After seeing posts about the new lifeson axcess with the peizo bleed, I am sure glad in '08 I have stuck to my rule,
never buy another gibson. I have had some great guitars purchased since then, and have not once been stuck with a guitar
that I like better out of sight, thus out of mind. Still as white as the day I bought it. Well I do need to look at it once in a while
just to shake my head.

/cheers

You must have a good monitor & a great pair of eyes - I went to 200% zoom & still couldn't see the issue you described.
Very sorry to hear you are not playing your AL. I don't play mine as much as I used to, mainly because I'm reaching for
my Axcess Standard more & more. BTW, LOVE your Ric 4080 - please pm me if you ever decide to sell her, as I've been looking
for one for quite some time now.

[canon_mutant]

Drawing these kinds of prices, I am considering parting with mine. Sadly, after locking tuners and a roller bridge and completely reworking the wiring to get rid of noise [no shielding or even twisted pair on the pup wires] and replacing a bridge pup that died, it actually plays quite good now and I can even lightly use the tremolo without going out of tune.

Going back to the stock bridge is just a drop/swap. I actually mounted the locking tuners with the 1-3 in the 4-6 positions and vice versa to keep from drilling holes so I can put the stock tuners back in though I don't know why anyone wouldn't want lockers on a trem guitar. The tuners were the first thing I changed because of all the tuning problems.

Hmmh. With all the changes I am liking and playing the guitar regularly but there are SO many guitars I want if these are bringing over $4K regularly. Only paid $3400 for mine [only] at an employee friend's discount price.

Decisions decisions.

Lerxt, you're back!!! How ya been?

Still boggles my mind that some of you have NEVER had tuning issues with yours . . . With an extremely large tail to bridge angle from a frankly poorly designed tremolo to begin with, Maestro doesn't trem all the strings equally and frankly places a weird torque vector in relation to the bridge, and without lockers I don't see how you cannot have tuning problems with it? And, yes I use nut lube, religiously.

[SolitaryPine]

I also swapped out my bridge. Not with a roller, but with one with graphite saddles, which along with nut sauce seems to help a lot on the tuning. But for me the tuning issue wasn't the reason for the bridge change. I was getting some undesirable rattles out of the harmonica. It still doesn't stay in tune that great, but as long as I stay away from the trem I'm fine. I love the tone of the guitar. But I play it sparingly just because it's so beautiful that I don't want to scratch it up. But I agree the Maestro design is just weird.

I can't wait for my Lifeson Axcess. Almost 3 months I've had a deposit down now, ugh.

[canon_mutant]

 SolitaryPine, on 18 April 2011 - 12:59 PM, said:

I also swapped out my bridge. Not with a roller, but with one with graphite saddles, which along with nut sauce seems to help a lot on the tuning. But for me the tuning issue wasn't the reason for the bridge change. I was getting some undesirable rattles out of the harmonica. It still doesn't stay in tune that great, but as long as I stay away from the trem I'm fine. I love the tone of the guitar. But I play it sparingly just because it's so beautiful that I don't want to scratch it up. But I agree the Maestro design is just weird.

I can't wait for my Lifeson Axcess. Almost 3 months I've had a deposit down now, ugh.

Now I am considering selling my 355 perhaps to get an Axcess. Like I said though, after all the changes, AL230 plays pretty nice now and I can even use the tremolo for just a subtle vibrato and it is the tone monster of my collection being a hollow body. Can't do both, at the moment.

I suspect since I really bought the Lifeson 355 just because I wanted a 355 and it was actually cheaper than the standard 355 I should probably hold on to AL230. Especially since I've largely corrected all that was wrong with it now.

[SolitaryPine]

 canon_mutant, on 18 April 2011 - 09:17 PM, said:

Now I am considering selling my 355 perhaps to get an Axcess. Like I said though, after all the changes, AL230 plays pretty nice now and I can even use the tremolo for just a subtle vibrato and it is the tone monster of my collection being a hollow body. Can't do both, at the moment.

I suspect since I really bought the Lifeson 355 just because I wanted a 355 and it was actually cheaper than the standard 355 I should probably hold on to AL230. Especially since I've largely corrected all that was wrong with it now.

I dunno, the guitars are so different. I can't envision giving up the 355 for the Axcess. If I was thinking about another hollow body, then maybe, but it's hard for me to imagine another hollow body that I'll like more than my AL 355.

Bidding is picking up on the eBay Lifeson 355.. now 6 bids, a little over a day to go, $4,150. It's nice to see the value of our guitars going up. But it will take a silly high price to get mine out of my hands.

[canon_mutant]

I can actually buy a Lifeson Axcess for $3K. If I could get $4500 or more for AL230 I could also get an ES-339 which I like quite well. I can get a new ES-339 for $1480 + tax.

That's the kind of things that I've been considering. Wasn't considering it until I saw prices well over $4K.

All in all, I'll probably just keep it. It does have some sentimental value now and like I said I now have everything that was wrong with it fixed. Seems kinda silly to part with it now. Just the idea of a 2 for 1 thing is quite tempting and I will admit I am still a bit miffed at everything I've had to do to AL230 to make it play right. Got mine at a friend's employee discount of $3400 but that's still a BUNCH of cash for a guitar that had a 1/2 dozen problems.

[SolitaryPine]

 canon_mutant, on 19 April 2011 - 05:56 PM, said:

I can actually buy a Lifeson Axcess for $3K. If I could get $4500 or more for AL230 I could also get an ES-339 which I like quite well. I can get a new ES-339 for $1480 + tax.

Oh yeah, I get it. That makes sense. 2 for 1 is appealing, unless it ends up that you've got to put all that work in 2 more times!

But, at the end of the day, I have to admit I fall in love with the AL 355 every time I turn around and see it hanging on my wall. It's big. It's as white as that light that will lead me into heaven. And it sounds like whipped cream on a molten chocolate lava cake.

I ain't sellin!

[SolitaryPine]

Wow, the eBay auction for #064 ended at $4,950!

I predict that price will drive more AL 355s to eBay soon!

[canon_mutant]

 SolitaryPine, on 20 April 2011 - 06:18 PM, said:

Wow, the eBay auction for #064 ended at $4,950!

I predict that price will drive more AL 355s to eBay soon!

Geez, now that is tempting . . .

Just played it tonight though. It was still in tune thanks to all my tweaks even though I haven't touched it for at least a week.

Sadly, those "tweaks" might actually hurt it's resale. Even just the fact it's been touched at all. Never mind it's a hands down better "playing" guitar now.

Could offer it . . . Do you wanna play it? or Do you wanna look at it? And then ship it accordingly with the other bridge and tuners in the case.

[SolitaryPine]

 canon_mutant, on 21 April 2011 - 01:16 AM, said:

Geez, now that is tempting . . .

Just played it tonight though. It was still in tune thanks to all my tweaks even though I haven't touched it for at least a week.

Sadly, those "tweaks" might actually hurt it's resale. Even just the fact it's been touched at all. Never mind it's a hands down better "playing" guitar now.

Could offer it . . . Do you wanna play it? or Do you wanna look at it? And then ship it accordingly with the other bridge and tuners in the case.

Yeah, it's weird how people seem to prefer buying used things that are completely stock. The same also seems to be true with cars.. do any mods to it, like an improved suspension, and people get nervous. I guess most people don't like to do research and trust the manufacturer to make all the right decisions.

[RUSHian]

I'm a workin dad, so I'm buying a Epiphone Dot Royal for about $500.00. Alex played a 335, so that's close enough for me, plus it's Alpine White.

[canon_mutant]

 SolitaryPine, on 25 April 2011 - 09:32 AM, said:

Yeah, it's weird how people seem to prefer buying used things that are completely stock. The same also seems to be true with cars.. do any mods to it, like an improved suspension, and people get nervous. I guess most people don't like to do research and trust the manufacturer to make all the right decisions.

Yeah, I have the same problem with my ole' 442. Turned a 15 sec 1/4 mile car into 13.4 and only 13.4 because I now have a serious traction problem and I actually "hurt" the car's resale value. I can't go more than 1/2 way to the floor out of the hole now or I'll just sit there broiling the tires and when it grabs 2nd gear it leaves 8-10 feet of black mark with both rear tires of course meaning that I am slipping instead of hooking up. Yet, can still hit 13.4.

Which car would you rather drive?

Likewise, with the ever so slight loss of sustain with the roller bridge that frankly only the most anal are even going to notice, this thing plays SO MUCH better now it's just no competition. Yet, I have no doubt hurt its resale value with the roller bridge and the lockers. Fortunately, like I said previously, by putting the 4-6 Sperzel lockers in the 1-3 positions and the 1-3 Sperzels in the 4-6 positions [just means they twist the opposite direction they normally would] and the bridge is just a drop in replacement I can put this thing completely back to stock but again it depends on do you want to play it or do you want to look at it?

I'm seriously oscillating on whether to sell it or not? Maybe I should just put it out there with a like $4500 starting bid and just see what happens? If it doesn't sell, fine. If it does, I paid $3400 for mine so $1100+ profit after playing it for over 2 years . . . not so bad. Had that one guy not gotten $4900 for his I wouldn't even consider it. Though this thing is a tone monster, there are 2 other guitars I would rather have/play than this Lifeson and $4500 will easily cover their cost.

[SolitaryPine]

Haha, I'd much rather drive the 13 second car!

Well if you do sell it on eBay, I'll give you one little tip. I learned this from a guy I know who owns 5 pawn shops in Vegas and sells literally thousands of items on eBay every year. He tells me that no matter what the product is, that if you put it up there with no reserve price and a $1 starting bid, you'll be 30% more likely to sell it (I guess this is obvious) and, what is surprising, that you'll get, on average, a 20% higher price than if you put a significant reserve price or starting bid amount on there. That totally blew me away. He claims more people get involved in the bidding and get excited, and if just two of those people start to behave irrationally then the bidding will shoot above what it's really worth. But of course if you are just selling one thing, and not thousands, you may not want to play the percentages and just make sure that if you do sell it that it gets at least what you want. And if you don't, you still have a cool guitar, which of course is not how a pawn shop thinks. Anyway, good luck with whatever you do.

[canon_mutant]

 SolitaryPine, on 05 May 2011 - 10:47 AM, said:

Haha, I'd much rather drive the 13 second car!

Well if you do sell it on eBay, I'll give you one little tip. I learned this from a guy I know who owns 5 pawn shops in Vegas and sells literally thousands of items on eBay every year. He tells me that no matter what the product is, that if you put it up there with no reserve price and a $1 starting bid, you'll be 30% more likely to sell it (I guess this is obvious) and, what is surprising, that you'll get, on average, a 20% higher price than if you put a significant reserve price or starting bid amount on there. That totally blew me away. He claims more people get involved in the bidding and get excited, and if just two of those people start to behave irrationally then the bidding will shoot above what it's really worth. But of course if you are just selling one thing, and not thousands, you may not want to play the percentages and just make sure that if you do sell it that it gets at least what you want. And if you don't, you still have a cool guitar, which of course is not how a pawn shop thinks. Anyway, good luck with whatever you do.

You know this could well be true but I'd never risk it with a guitar like this. You see, though I am a fortunate man in many ways none of it has been due to luck.

My luck story is about playing a game of poker we used to call High Chicago, though I don't know if that's the real name or not, it's what we called it. Anyway, you draw one card each and pass or play based on high card, and then pass or play all the way to everyone having 5 cards and then it's just straight poker after that. First card, I draw the Ace of hearts. Nice pot already there from several rounds of no one winning and only one card in the deck can beat me and only 4 cards have been dealt. You play under such conditions. The guy across from me had the Ace of spades. I lost, got to double the pot.

So, if I tried to sell a guitar like this with no starting price and no reserve, someone would get a Lifeson 1 of 300 ES-355 for $49.95. Not $4995.

[Superdick2112]

There is a used Lifeson ES-355 for sale at Wildwood Guitars right now...

[SolitaryPine]

 Superdick2112, on 29 July 2011 - 06:58 PM, said:

There is a used Lifeson ES-355 for sale at Wildwood Guitars right now...

Nice spot. AL 073, asking price $4945.

[SolitaryPine]

AL 163 now on eBay. One bid so far, current price $3,895.