zrAC/DC, on 13 January 2012 - 02:07 PM, said:
The guitar is at a store and I am looking to purchase it what would be a good price to offer, they told me to make an offer.
Try and figure out if everything is original, like the wiring and pickups. If the pots are correct, they should have a date stamp on them, for instance, 13771xxx, where the 137 is the CTS manufacturer code and the next two digits the year they were made. They may predate the guitar manufacture by a few months or so, but should not be a later year. Not original wiring and pickups, IMO, should cut the value of the guitar by about half. You may want to ask why they think it is a 1971 model. Hard to tell with SG's of that era. Get the serial number and try to piece the year together. If the guitar is 1970 or later, it will be stamped "MADE IN USA" on the back of the peg board right below the serial number, which should be ink-stamped on. There is much more to accurately dating an SG from these years, like the shape of the heel, if it has a step or not, and more. Check the neck for crack repairs - another good percentage chunk off the price. Best case, all original no repairs, maybe $2k +/-. All the way down to $800 or so for not original parts, crack repairs, etc. The bridge repair is trivial, but I see it has nylon saddles. I don't quite recall, but I don't think they used these post '68-'69.
Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat.
I've got a 1970 SG Standard and have gone through all these dating methods. I bought it in 1973, and it was still hard to pin it down to 1970. And because I am an idiot, back in the 70's I swapped out the tuners, took off the lyre vibrola, put on a stop bar, and rewired the controls. I don't remember if I swapped out the pickups. It has T-tops, so they may or may not be originals. The neck has been repaired twice. I suspect mine is worth about $800 or maybe less, but I would not sell it for any price. She will be the first thing mentioned in my will. She is quite beautiful, even with all her flaws, or maybe especially because of them. She is a player. Sounds enormous.