shi

In Japan, as you may know, people do take care of their gear/instruments. I bought many (almost all?) stuffs second hand and never had any problem here. It's hard to find lefty ES-335 second hand (that's the only one I found!!) and investing $3500 (it's around that price in Japan) is way too much money for just the hobbyist that I am. Gibson's necks are well-known for snapping easily, after all, they bent it against the natural flow of the wood. I think other manufacturers with the same angle glue 2 pieces of wood together (but I might be wrong) so a repaired Gibson neck should be as good as any other guitar if it was done properly. They also added a volute it seems and from the pictures it seems very well-done (but I'm no expert haha). I'd be happier to buy a second hand lefty ES-335 at $2,000 if I could find one but $1,500 is more in my budget and rather tempting... But I have to say that I'm still on the fence... I've never bought a guitar with a neck repair but the worst could be to avoid the second hand one, buy a brand new one for $3500 just for it to snap on me haha... that'd be ironic.

Thank you for your reply! If new it would be around $3300-3500, this seems like a not so bad deal. But no I can't inspect the repair before purchasing but they have a one week guarantee policy so I can check with them if I can return it after inspection and that the repair does not seem good enough (but I'm no pro in this domain so my ability to assess a repair is limited...)

Hi, thank you for your reply! I'm still on the fence as I can't find the original retail price. The actual Guitar Memphis figured antique natural cost $3,700 (is it the same? don't know...) but I've found look a like ES-335 guitars in the $2,500 range. Is there a way to assess the price? Are figured guitars more expensive? or being an antique natural make it more expensive? If it was $1,700 second hand with no problem at all (so no neck repair), it would be right next to me already haha but with a neck repair, it would not be a good deal if the original retail price was in the $2,500 range.

Hi, I've found this Gibson Memphis ES-335 Dot Figured LH Antique Natural from 2013. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-Memphis-Es-335-Dot-Figured-Left-Hand-Antique-Natural-/274432195586 The seller is in Japan and I live in Japan. The price in Japan is $1,700. Unfortunately, I'm not able to find the retail price of this model. Somebody knows how much it would cost new? (in Japan the retail price is almost +$800 and LH certainly around +$200 so +$1000) as for the neck being repaired, I don't really care if the price asked is half of the retail price haha.