badbowtie03 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Excuse my ignorance. I have never owner or played a guitar before... but someone gave me one and I know nothing about it. I wanted to see what it was worth. And what would be the best way to sell it. It is black with a wood stock. The plate on the back says epiphone and the serial number is MC21100510. It doesnt have strings on it at all. There is also a tag on the top of it that says 100% inspected and set up in the USA by "29" and then a big E. It has another tag on the front of the guitar on the top that says epiphone in block white letters. and the guitar has clear looking dials on it and a rhythm/treble switch on it. Again, sorry that im a newb. So what do yall think? any ideas? should I just take it to a guitar shop and let them tell me or what? Thanks a lot for the help and/or advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 So what do yall think? any ideas? should I just take it to a guitar shop and let them tell me or what? Thanks a lot for the help and/or advice. NOT! That would spoil ALL the fun by removing any reasonable doubt as to what the guitar is worth. Might as well have a little fun with it here, first! My first guess would be $47,241.54 US (case extra). Any other estimates? J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_edward Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 NOT! That would spoil ALL the fun by removing any reasonable doubt as to what the guitar is worth. Might as well have a little fun with it here, first! My first guess would be $47,241.54 US (case extra). Any other estimates? J/W ...or we could explain he needs to post some pictures and probably at that point a few will chime in, then he'll get an idea and we'll all get to see some pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Excellent suggestion, James! Do you also think that if the OP were to run the serial number through the guitar dater at the top of the Epiphone Forum, he might also gain some additional knowledge about the type of Epiphone he has come into, or at the very least where it was manufactured? BUT... YOU FORGOT TO WAGER A GUESS in your last post: Let's see. How about ¥543,778,259 J/W B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Excuse my ignorance. I have never owner or played a guitar before... but someone gave me one and I know nothing about it. I wanted to see what it was worth. And what would be the best way to sell it. It is black with a wood stock. The plate on the back says epiphone and the serial number is MC21100510. It doesnt have strings on it at all. There is also a tag on the top of it that says 100% inspected and set up in the USA by "29" and then a big E. It has another tag on the front of the guitar on the top that says epiphone in block white letters. and the guitar has clear looking dials on it and a rhythm/treble switch on it. Again, sorry that im a newb. So what do yall think? any ideas? should I just take it to a guitar shop and let them tell me or what? Thanks a lot for the help and/or advice. Welcome to the forums here.........Use Photobucket to post a couple of pics of your guitar, then we will tell you with 99% certainty what you have........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbowtie03 Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 I know yall are having a great time with this. I apologize for not being knowledgeable on musical instruments... :blink: I'm a gear head not a guitar player. I know how it is though being on the other side of this conversation. We get dumb a$$'s all the time on car forums. Anyways, so I should post a pic to help out? or just quit posting and move on to a music shop? And yes I tried figuring out what it was by decoding the serial number... but all some website told me was that it was made in China in 1921, and I highly doubt that. and im now out of town for Thanksgiving... ill post a pic once I get back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I know yall are having a great time with this. I apologize for not being knowledgeable on musical instruments... :blink: No apology necessary. No one is suggesting that you are anything but a new member. I know these guys well enough to know they are being sincere when when they say...Welcome to the forum! This is a fun place and the intention is for you to have fun, also. No one around here has fun at the expense of someone else. They mean it when they say post pics. It will likely get you the info you are looking for. If you don't know how, it is explained here: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/51292-the-d0-it-yourself-thread-look-here-for-tech-related-questions/ Willy P.S. Have a great Thanksgiving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Going by the fact that it has a rhythm/treble switch you most likely have an Epiphone Les Paul and maybe it was made on 21/10/05,that's just a guess.We really do need pix though to give you a proper and realistic estimate.Welcome to the forum.BTW Have you considered keeping it and learning to play?If it is indeed a Les Paul,it's a great guitar to learn on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Yes, welcome to the Gibson Forums... INDEED! Please excuse the terseness of this morning's post... I have to run in a few minutes. Here are some comments/explanations. 1. Even if the serial number of the guitar told us what model it is, it is a far stretch from that to "How much is it worth". That depends on the condition of the guitar, and whether it can be made playable; 2. Even if you post a picture, we may not be able to tell you whether or not anything is wrong with the instrument. If the strings are absent, the bridge and stopbar may be missing, also. This is fixable, but costs money...; 3. You are a self-professed noob, and there is nothing wrong with that, but despite the fantastic pool of knowledge and good will present in these Forums, sometimes you are better off to head down to the music store, guitar in hand, to see what they have to say. [Just don't take it to Guitar Center! LOL] If you just want the cash, stop by the pawn shop, instead. Given the impossible nature of your initial post, I decided to have a little fun with it, since I knew that the good members here would rally to your defense, and you would get some response. No offense was intended. BTW. I LOVE Epis, and I have played them on hundreds of professional gigs, with as much pride and success as when I play my US-made Gibsons. I hope you decide to try to play your instrument before you simply sell it off for the bucks. Gotta go! Regards, J/W B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 welcome to the forum Badbowtie Yup, we need some photo's so we can identify it first, then we can look the particular model up on ebay or Craigslist and see what ones the same as yours are selling for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_edward Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Excellent suggestion, James! Do you also think that if the OP were to run the serial number through the guitar dater at the top of the Epiphone Forum, he might also gain some additional knowledge about the type of Epiphone he has come into, or at the very least where it was manufactured? BUT... YOU FORGOT TO WAGER A GUESS in your last post: Let's see. How about ¥543,778,259 J/W B) Funny, I never thought of using the guitar dater (probably becuase it's useless for this task) ... now wheres my ignore button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Personally, I wouldnt take it to a guitar store to get info. From my experience, guitar stores rarely know guitar model info aside from the basics. They can tell you its a Les Paul model (if that is the case) and they may even be able to tell you that it is a Special of some sort. They most likely wont be able to tell you what model of LP Special it is - or the year & origin. I've heard to many stories from people taking LP-100s or an oddball model LP Special in to a store only to be told it was a fake - even though it wasnt. Not all stores are like this, but the fact is that most places dont really care what your guitar is and wont be of much help in that regard. Its best to get the info here and then take it to a store for parts or repairs, etc. Also, they arent going to give you an honest eveluation of its worth. They will most likely only tell you how much they are willing to pay for it. For a regular LP Special, you would be lucky to get $50 from a guitar store, if they even want it at all. Post some pics so we can see the guitar and give you an evauation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 ^^ ^^ you have no idea what 'guitardater' can do, Try serial EE15091234 and you might get the idea yourself This ^^ is hard to believe....at least for me Sorry, You really should try harder...... ..... [confused] Where were all you guys in the first hour when the OP didn't even get a nibble? Y'all need to lighten up! RTH: I see where you're coming from, and I guess a lot has to do with the store. Our local store would identify the model for you, tell you what it cost to buy (new or used), and advise on the cost of getting it into playing order. You're correct that they probably wouldn't give you much in cash or in trade, but they would examine the guitar for free and give a pretty accurate assessment of the situation. J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 [confused] Where were all you guys in the first hour when the OP didn't even get a nibble? Y'all need to lighten up! RTH: I see where you're coming from, and I guess a lot has to do with the store. Our local store would identify the model for you, tell you what it cost to buy, and advise on the cost of getting it into playing order. You're correct that they probably wouldn't give you much in cash or in trade, but they would examine the guitar for free and give a pretty accurate assessment of the situation. J/W Yeah, some stores dont want to invest any time in to indentifying a guitar. I suppose that if you are a regular customer, it might be different. But some guy that doesnt play, just walking in off the street might not find a whole lot of help. That, and I am also going under the assumption that, while we know Epiphones quite well in here, a guitar store often has many other models it has to be familiar with as well. And as we all know, finding an authorized Gibson/Epiphone dealer is getting harder and harder...which limits the knowledge even further. But it is nice to find the stores that will go a little out of their way to help. As to your question in the first line, the Epiphone side of the forum usually dies down in the mid afternoon. Most of us here are morning posters and tend to catch up with later threads the next morning. I sometimes read a few threads at night, but usually dont get much of a chance to reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Thank you for the civil discourse. I acknowledge the validity of all your points... I guess this is where we come back to "post a picture", please. The "Where were you all?" comment (above) was not intended as an indictment. Last night I noticed the OP was not getting any "hits" l, and I didn't feel like posting "How do you expect anyone to ID a guitar based on that"? Your point about not knowing anything at all, least of all how to describe a guitar is well taken. I should have taken that into account and not gone into the freshman hazing routine with the unsuspecting fellow. I apologize for having needlessly stirred the pot. J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Thank you for the civil discourse. I acknowledge the validity of all your points... I guess this is where we come back to "post a picture", please. The "Where were you all?" comment (above) was not intended as an indictment. Last night I noticeed the OP was not getting any "hits" l, and I didn't feel like posting "How do you expect anyone to ID a guitar based on that"? Your point about not knowing anything at all, least of all how to describe a guitar is well taken. I should have taken that into account and not gone into the freshman hazing routine with the unsuspecting fellow. I apologize for having needlessly stirred the pot. J/W Yeah, thats most likely why any replies too as long as they did. A body shape and a few more details would have gone a long way. But for someone that doesnt play or know anything about guitars its hard to expect much more. Hopefully the OP will post some pics so we can give him a positive ID. Dont sweat it, JW. Weve all done it. Sometimes humor and intent are difficult to detect on a forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JellyWheat Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt! J/W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbowtie03 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 Alright guys im back from out of town. Here are the pictures of the guitar. And one of an amp also. thanks guys. Let me know what yall think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoresteen Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 IT's a low end Epi Les Paul Special. Right off the bat I notice it's missing the stop bar and the bridge. Do you have them? If not to make the guitar useable they will have to be replaced. Kind of like having a car with no rear end or transmission. The headstock logo is the vintage type. http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Les-Paul/Les-Paul-Special-II.aspx I'd fix it and have it set up and it should be a good player for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 What you have is an Epiphone Basher from 2001-2002. It was basically a suped-up Les Paul Special in its day and was sold in a Starter Pack with the Studio-10 amplifier. These guitars are somewhat uncommon, but I wouldnt necessarily call them rare (unless I was trying to sell one). With the amp I would wager a guess that it may be worth $250 in good condition with strings and a setup and everything in working order. As it is with no strings and questionable playability, I would ask about $100-$150 with the amp...assuming it works as well. The Basher can fetch a slightly better price than a Special-II of the same condition due to "curiosity" value and a few different specifications like the Indian Rosewood fingerboard, E-Series pickups and Super-slide satin finish on the neck. From what I understand, the pickups were hotter than the standard Epiphone pickups at the time. Not sure how they would compare these days though. And although the Super-slide satin finish sounds super-cool and all, Its probably not any different than the satin finished necks these days...it was just the first for Epiphone. IIRC, they also had "smooth-tone" potentiometers and an exclusive 4-blade 3-way selector switch. Again, I dont know how that stuff stands up to today's hardware, but back then it was better than the norm. Honestly, the amp is worth maybe $50 retail on a good day, but will add only about $20 to the asking price of the guitar & amp as a combo. Nobody really likes or wants those amplifiers. It may be worth something to a beginner that needs an amp with the guitar and see the amp as a "throw in" on the purchase. This guitar is the exact reason why I say not to take it to a shop to be identified. Most places wont know what it is other than a Les Paul of some sort, and may even be called a fake. I've heard/read of it happenning with several of these Epiphone E-Series guitars. Here is a link to some more info on the E-Series and the Basher. The Basher is about a third of they way down the page. http://www.epiphonew...?title=E-Series Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 IT's a low end Epi Les Paul Special. Right off the bat I notice it's missing the stop bar and the bridge. Do you have them? If not to make the guitar useable they will have to be replaced. Kind of like having a car with no rear end or transmission. The headstock logo is the vintage type. http://www.epiphone....Special-II.aspx I'd fix it and have it set up and it should be a good player for you. Not quite. Its a Basher and was actually a high-end version of the LP Special in its day. The headstock logo is vintage for Epiphone Amplifiers, but only ever used on the E-Series for actual guitars (2001-2002). The headstock itself is a throwback to the old Epiphone Masterbilts of the 1930's, but does not in any way reflect the quality of the E-Series as a whole. The current Masterbilt series still uses this headstock shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 but I wouldnt necessarily call them rare (unless I was trying to sell one). ROFLMAO !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I think RTH's estimates are optimistically high. Starter packs like that sell for about $170 brand new. I honestly don't think the OP could sell that stuff, in it's current condition, for more than $75, and I'm afraid that might be even too optimistic. You may be right, and I may be estimating high. I forgot about the bridge and tailpiece missing which does change the price considerably. But I would pay $100 for the guitar and amp the way it is...if I could inspect it in person and everything checked out okay. Of course, I also realize that these guitars dont come around for sale in my area all that often and there is some curiosity value for me. To someone that was just looking for a guitar to learn on and didnt know anything about them at all, they may not be willing to pay that much for it. But keep in mind that these were only made for one or two model years and have hardware and design features that you cant get in a LP Special today. Not that thay are the holy grail of LP Specials, but they are different. My reasoning for the price would probably follow along the lines of taking the going rate of a used LP Special-II in the same condition and add $50 + 20 for the amp. Bashers and Bullys usually sell for more than a Special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbowtie03 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 Well, thanks for the replys guys. I now just dont know what to do with it. I guess I could try craigslist or ebay... anybody want it on here? I could take better pictures. shipping would probably be a lot though. that would suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 ROFLMAO !!! Well, I would!! This is kind of a gray area. They are not rare in a sense that they command a high price, but they only show up on Ebay probably a couple times a year and my local craigslist maybe once a year. I would absolutely put "rare" in the description, but I wouldnt try to make them out to be something they are not. Besides, "uncommon" just doesnt have that "ring" to it. The "Bruise Purple" Bashers, on the other hand, actually are rare. I've only ever seen one and it was here on the forum this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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