Joey Jojo Jr. Shabadoo Posted April 26, 2010 Share Posted April 26, 2010 OK, so I bought a Genesis Standard on my local craigslist for CDN$300 (roughly US$300, £195 or €225). It has the naked stock pickups, with bridge p'up replaced by a SD '59 à la Zebra (the original bridger came "on the side"). It's missing the selector donut, the top bout has a badly "repaired" strap-button hole, the bottom strap button has been moved over 1/4", and the neck p'up has its springs and a screw missing, as well as an exposed coil wire poking out between the bobbin-top and the pup ring (!). This Duncan is also a 1-wire deal, which precludes the possibility of coil-splitting without butchering it; the seller made it seem like he just wired it wrong. The neck itself has a few scrapes in the finish, but worse than that is a sliver of finish that flaked right off the neck above (beside?) the first fret (as I played it at the bus stop on the way home from the buy). Last but not least, there is a finish crack that goes around the entire neck joint. Yay for buying guitars in a dimly-lit basement! The Genesis of my Revelation? Or just the Highway to Hell? I only have the CL pic for now, but I'll post some detailed ones soon. As you can see, it's "Wine Red". I know there's not much to say without further pics, but man, I'm not a happy camper. The guitar lives up to most of what was said on here, HC and elsewhere as far as playability (boat anchor with "Titanic" sustain), though I'm not getting the full tonal variety without the bridge split. I'm not much of a guitarist, and certainly no guitar expert, but I get the feeling that I drew the short straw on this one. And it's my birthday tomorr...err, today. Gotta love those sleepless nights... Am I being too picky about a 30 year old from Taiwan (seller said Japan...)? Or should I be pissed that I got a bottom-of-the-barrel oddball, which I likely can't sell tomorrow for what I paid yesterday? I didn't want to buy a project, because my '71 Strat is in pieces and taking all my timoney (that is, time and money). I'm interested in the thoughts/advice/rantings/ravings/experiences of Genesis owners and admirers on the instruments themselves, as well as the historical price range. I'm not looking to flip it for profit, but I'm so disgusted with it right now that I might dump it in haste, so as to forget about this whole mess. Thanks in advance for the input. P.S. I read every Genesis thread on here back to last June before posting this, including all those "song association" ones mentioning Peter, Phil et al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted April 27, 2010 Share Posted April 27, 2010 Joey - "BrianH" is our resident Genesis Guru, when he sees this post perhaps he'll "weigh in" with some thoughts. Link to Genesis thread, with Pix of some of his gits... http://forums.epiphone.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=13430 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted April 27, 2010 Share Posted April 27, 2010 Not my thing, but I'd say solid buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexygibson Posted April 27, 2010 Share Posted April 27, 2010 Welcome to the forum ! Stick around and hang out with us a bit ! I voted it was an " o.k. " buy for two reasons. First, the condition, which sounds below average of what you could have found on Ebay. Secondly, because YOU'RE not happy with it. If you were happy with the buy I would say good score. With a few minor repairs it can still be a good, solid gigging guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 27, 2010 Share Posted April 27, 2010 Hi Joey, I didn't vote pending better pictures. $300 is about right for a Standard, and these guitars do tend to have a few issues as they were typically bought as backup or entry-level instruments and not cared for as well as one might treat a more expensive guitar. That you got the original bridge pickup is a plus, I'd restore it back to the original wiring w/ coil split (it's not a "tap" in the technical sense). Those original DiMarzios sound very good, not really sure why folks swapped them out except perhaps because they felt that an inexpensive backup guitar couldn't possibly have good PUPs. I just bought a pair of originals w/ surrounds off eBay last week for the rebuild I'm working on. Plus, you can sell the Duncan and make a few bucks back or use it elsewhere. Let me know if you need pics of the original cavity wiring, I have plenty. You don't mention any damage to the control cavity, which was a common problem, so if that's intact, you're ahead of the game. Also, did it come with a Genesis case? Those are hard to come by, especially the deluxe case. (One of the unofficial Geni owners club members here bought one just to get the case and then sold the guitar!) Lastly, a lot of these guitars had neck and/or headstock repairs, so if it's clean you've probably got a winner. Congrats, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Jojo Jr. Shabadoo Posted April 27, 2010 Author Share Posted April 27, 2010 Mooch O'Grassy-*** for the welcome and the input, gents. This is where I would post pics, but I'm having trouble getting pics from my phone to my 'puter (Motorola phones are good, but their software "does the Lewinsky"). To answer Brian's question, this Genesis didn't come with a case. The seller said he thought the bridge pup sounded "thin", thus the swap. I had the same idea as you though, as far as reattaching the stocker and selling the Dunkie for a few bucks. Alternately, I might slap it into my yet-to-arrive E(bay)-series Squier Strat (after hacking a 4+ lead onto it). The Squier has a single 'bucker, one volume, no tone and vintage-style trem (I call it "System Zero"). Is it true the factory Genesis pups are DiMarzios? As for the control cavity pics, perhaps the one I downloaded is one of yours... The upshot is that the control cavity on mine is unmolested, aside from the SD swap. I was looking at some diagrams online, and thought I might wire the split switch to also do phase. Either that, or swap out the whole harness and put new stuff in there. Maybe a push-push for the tone/splitting, and lose the mini-toggle altogether. I won't lie, the idea of a Bigsby is tempting. Of course, this is all cloud talk for the moment. It's easy for me to get worked up over this stuff, but there's still the Stratoheap to deal with first. To correct my original post, it's likely a '72 ('71 neck date). Would you believe my grandfather found it in the garbage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Is it true the factory Genesis pups are DiMarzios? I believe so' date=' that's the rumor anyway. But the lit just says "High-Output Pickups", and there are no markings that I've seen so can't be 100% sure. It could be that they are no-name humbuckers, OEM'd by DiMarzio for Epi. This needs more research... As for the control cavity pics, perhaps the one I downloaded is one of yours... Appears to be from a black Custom, not one of mine. Here's a shot of the CC from an all-original Standard, looks pretty much the same: The lit is also contradictory about the function of the switch, calling it a "tap" in the specs and then a coil cutter in the ads. I believe it is a coil cutter, not a tap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Jojo Jr. Shabadoo Posted April 28, 2010 Author Share Posted April 28, 2010 I believe you're right that the switch is a coil-cut. I keep saying "split", which probably comes across as meaning "tap", though I've heard both to be used colloquially to mean "cut". I would expect five or six wires per pup if there were a true coil tap in there, no? Anyhoo, I snapped some hi-res pics to replace the ones on my stupid phone. So yes, it happened. I actually snapped 30 usable pics, but I'll just post those that illustrate the stuff that's bugging me (aside from the first two). Da front. Da back. This is the "extra" strap button hole on the bottom... ...and this is the one on the top bout, with the "repair". The treble side of the first fret, or "trouble" side if you prefer. This coil wire's going rogue! Does this make a better pick than a cover? Grrrrrindage! The control cavity, for reference's sake (and brianh's). If this is too many pics, lemme know and I'll 86 some of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 No, the pics are great. The issues are minor in my book, and the top is exceptionally clean, better then my red Standard. You can probably fix that errant strap hole with some super glue and nail polish. I would NOT refinish it, it's in too good a condition for that. I think it was a good buy when you consider that $300 wouldn't even buy an MIC Epi Special SC made from mystery wood and disposable electronics (I can say that with love because I have one and that's what it is.) Welcome to the Geni Owner's club, now go and play schite out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Jojo Jr. Shabadoo Posted April 28, 2010 Author Share Posted April 28, 2010 Thanks Brian, on all counts. If it wasn't for the miracle of digital photography, I'd be in the poorhouse! For every half-decent snap I get, I probably delete three or four. I've got more pics yet to upload to a host, but I'll post a link once I've got that done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 FYI there are two Genis on eBay right now, a red Standard with a neck repair and dumb-*** pickguard installed and the typical control cavity cracks. That one will go for more than $300, perhaps as much as $450 if recent eBay bidding history is any guide. The other is a black Deluxe with non-original pickups and the typical issues, starting bid $375. That one is owned by someone here if memory serves.... http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=epiphone+genesis+&_cqr=true&_nkwusc=epphone+genesis&_rdc=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Jojo Jr. Shabadoo Posted April 29, 2010 Author Share Posted April 29, 2010 Not surprisingly, they both throw the word "Japan" around, eh? They also both claim to be '79s...do you know of a way to date these? I'm still sifting through the internets for info, but haven't come across a way to extract a date from the s/n or otherwise. It would be cool if my Genesis is a 1979 model, because I myself am a '79! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 30, 2010 Share Posted April 30, 2010 I wouldn't hold your breath for much info about dating. Some folks claim that the initial runs were MIJ, and then production was moved to Taiwan. But I haven't seen any proof of this anywhere, and in fact the designer's only public comment (posted to Harmony Central) only mentions them being made in the Pearl factory in Taiwan. I think that rumor was started by someone who just assumed that all Asian guitars of that era had to be MIJ, and the myth has hung on. Since they were only made for a few years it's safe to say '79, although they did make them until the beginning of '81, I think. But it sounds sexier to say '79. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted April 30, 2010 Share Posted April 30, 2010 That red wine Genesis on Ebay has my interest[blink] ...... I also like the pickguard addition........... Thanks for the link Brian[cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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