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1973 Gibson SG Special help


Fateswarning

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Hey guys, I'm going to be selling my guitar soon on eBay and I'd like to find out how much the mods will affect the price. I bought it off some guy 30 years ago. Let's start with a similar guitar that sold recently and compare.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIBSON-1973-SG-SPECIAL-VINTAGE-USA-GUITAR-LES-PAUL-SET-NECK-/300859349405?pt=Guitar&hash=item460c9d599d&nma=true&si=UiuAa%252FFzL%252Ffb0e0QBK3DScwnaI4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

0. What does he mean by "Les Paul Set Neck?". Is that normal? I'd like to know if mine has that too.

 

1. His pick ups are black. My front pick up is chrome and the rear pickup is cream, or off white. It seems chrome pick ups are the most common. I am not sure of the brand model of my cream colored rear pickup. How much would this non original rear pick up drop the price of my guitar? Is it important for me to identify this pick up? How?

 

2. Mine has Grover tuners installed. How much would these non original tuners drop the price?

 

3. Mine has a gold bigsby in the case but not mounted on guitar. Not sure if its original but i will include it in the auction. The holes on the guitar are filled in.

 

4. The neck on my guitar has very little to no wear. Much better condition than the one in the link I posted. My guitar has never been cracked and never had repairs.

 

5. How can I measure the fret wear?

 

 

Based on this info, could you give me a ball park figure of what mine would sell for. Plus answers to my questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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0. What does he mean by "Les Paul Set Neck?". Is that normal? I'd like to know if mine has that too.

No idea beyond trying to differentiate between a bolt on neck, perhaps he's not knowledgeable enough to know that all SGs and Les Pauls are set-neck and just about anyone looking for one would know this already.

 

 

1. His pick ups are black. My front pick up is chrome and the rear pickup is cream, or off white. It seems chrome pick ups are the most common. I am not sure of the brand model of my cream colored rear pickup. How much would this non original rear pick up drop the price of my guitar? Is it important for me to identify this pick up? How?

 

any mods are going to drop the price, sometimes by as much as 50% - on a guitar with your vintage year, tuff call how much but yes.. definitely reduced compared to if there was NO MODS at all

I would like to know if it was mine so I could advertise properly

you could remove the pickups - there may be stuff to id them

 

 

2. Mine has Grover tuners installed. How much would these non original tuners drop the price?

see above - if you had the originals, that would help undo this aspect.

 

3. Mine has a gold bigsby in the case but not mounted on guitar. Not sure if its original but i will include it in the auction. The holes on the guitar are filled in.

since it WAS installed and there WAS holes drilled in, we're back to the same issue as #2, the mod decreases value.

 

4. The neck on my guitar has very little to no wear. Much better condition than the one in the link I posted. My guitar has never been cracked and never had repairs.

that's good, cuz it would definitely devalue by 50%

 

5. How can I measure the fret wear

Move the strings away from the frets and see what the frets look like - most common place is the first two or three frets. fret wear is normal, and as long as there has been no previous re-leveling, it wont be a big issue

 

My 2 cents only,, others may have different answers for you

 

Good luck

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Welcome here.

 

First off, links to OTHER guitars are meaningless...we can discuss the one in the link all day, but we can't even discuss the differences between that one and yours, really, sinse we haven't seen yours.

 

In other words, if we are going to do pics, YOUR pics are the only ones that matter.

 

If you are planning on selling and using the internet, you are gonna want pics anyway. So maybe start there?

 

Regarding the value and being "origonal", I'm not sure the 50% rule applies here. Not that Kidblast is wrong here, but a lot of what he is saying is referring to guitars that have COLLECTER value, or are "vintage" guitars. 1973 isn't what collecters consider vintage. And collecter value for vintage guitars can be quite high, so origonality matters a lot more.

 

A 1973 has SOME collecter value, but not all that much to drive the price up by that much. So, origonality might matter, but not so much like 50%. Overall condition and popularity will rule here.

 

As for the pup change, it may matter a little, but likely not. I think an "origonal" circa 70's or 80's Dimarzio might even be worth a little more to a lot of folks than a T-top Gibby pup (what I think is what woulkd be in a '73).

 

As for the Bigsby, it depends on what mods were done to the guitar, which again, we don't know and can't see (no pics). If it can be put back on, it might be really cool and worth a lot more, but then if it was drilled for a stop-bar tailpiece....

 

As for GC...,well, I wouldn't call then experts by any measure. There ARE some employees that are, but usually, in most stores, they aren't. About the only info they can give you that means anything is how much they will give you for it, and even here, unless you know you can TRUST the person you are dealing with there, it's better to know yourself what you are dealing with beforehand.

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I have great pics now, but there is no option to attach them here. I have never used any sites to host pics. I was thinking it might be smart to sell the gold bigsby separately. The GC guy said the bigsby is not original because gold bigsbys only came on sg customs, the ones with 3 pick ups. There is a good chance whoever buys the guitar won't install the bigsby. Therefore, I think i might get more for the bigsby in a separate auction. What do you think about that?

 

This GC tech seemed knowledgable he said he's been playing for 35 years. He pulled out his book and identified the front pick up. As a gibson 57 classic (PAF) patten #2737842. Is 57 classic the same as PAF? He also had a book for the Demarzio and tested it with a voltage meter. He said the Demarzio was a dp101 dual sound super distortion. It's wired as a super d, but it has a coil tap so someone could rewire it as dual sound with a new switch or pot, some electronics change. The Demarzio is 1982 or older because I bought the guitar in 83 and it was on there. Thanks.

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I have great pics now, but there is no option to attach them here. I have never used any sites to host pics. I was thinking it might be smart to sell the gold bigsby separately. The GC guy said the bigsby is not original. There is a good chance whoever buys the guitar won't install the bigsby. Therefore, I think i might get more for the bigsby in a separate auction. What do you think about that?

 

This GC tech seemed knowledgable in his 40's. He pulled out his book and identified the front pick up. As a gibson 57 classic (PAF) patten #2737842. Is 57 classic the same as PAF? He also had a book for the Demarzio and tested it with a voltage meter. He said the Demarzio was a dp101 dual sound super distortion. Have you heard of that one? I'd like to know if I should just say super distortion or specifically say dual sound. The Demarzio is 1982 or older because I bought the guitar in 83 and it was on there. Thanks.

It sounds like the guy at GC was helpful, and actually put some effort into helping you with this stuff.

 

But here again, you are asking opinion based on heresay. There is no way to say he is right or wrong, or offer any opinions, other than seems like a nice guy. Nothing against him, or that he is wrong, but rather, WE don't have any info to be able to judge.

 

Personally, I think "vintage" or older Dimarzio's are better than new ones, but regardless, I don't think there is a market for them that would cause the price or value to be any higher.

 

As for the neck pup, there may be some mis-communication or mis-information as a result. '57 Classics were not made in '73. It might be LIKE a '57 Classic.

 

As for the Bigsby, if it's gold and the rest of the guitar is not, it might be safe to say it isn't origonal. But here again, I don't know what guitar you have.

 

Not that I DO know or WOULD know, but I have honestly no way to judge your guitar, guess on the value, guess what might sell better or worse, because I don't know what it is.

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you can post photos by following these directions:

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/11005-sticky-how-to-post-photos/

 

(you just need a photobucket account, up load to that, and post the link here.. simple as that really)

 

regarding the Bigsby question - not really sure what you have there, and if in fact all the original parts are included.

and I just don't know if there's a market out there for a "vintage bigsby" but I'm sure you could look for completed auctions on Ebay to get a line on that. what are your expectations?

 

if it was me, I'm just going to go buy a new one and install it so I'm sure I've got the proper fit for the guitar in question.

 

at any rate, pics would help in all these cases.

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