BarefootKevin

Wow! Thanks! will check this out later today.

Thank you. Took the guitar to my luthier a little while ago and he suggested the same thing if it's needed. Said he's done a lot of them for folks who want to keep things original.

One of my original questions: Does the serial # indicate when it was made? Also, the bridge pickup appears to be dead, will be having my luthier check it out.

A friend of mine recently passed away and I inherited 3 of his guitars, a 1999 Taylor 914c, a 1997 Fender American Deluxe Bass, and a Gibson ES 345 Stereo Cherry that is stamped "SECOND" on the back of the headstock underneath the serial #. I want to get them all insured and know what the others are worth (that was easy), how do I find out the provenance and value of the Gibson. Serial # is 81351022 with "SECOND" stamped just beneath it. The finish on the guitar is beautiful, don't know that I would call it flawless, and there is some oxidation or most likely plating wear on the pick-ups. No bigsby, but there is a trapeze style tailpiece. Tried to post pics, but having a hard time resizing them to fit the requirements here.