Vintage Gibson Guitars

What to look for when buying Vintage Gibson Guitars

by on January 7, 2012

Vintage Gibson Guitars are one of the biggest gifts you can give or one of the best presents you can buy for yourself. It’s for good reason too, Gibson Guitars are simply amazing.

So what should I look for when buying a vintage Gibson Guitar?

This post is going to give you information about what you should look for when buying a vintage gibson guitar. You can use this information to buy any types of vintage guitars, but this site is mainly about gibson guitars so we’ll focus on that.

A Vintage Gibson Guitar can be an excellent investment; however, it’s important that you can distinguish the differente between a valuable, vintage instrument and just an old guitar. There are several prerequisites that will help you to determine the difference. The key elements that you will need to look for are;

Condition
Playability
Tone
Manufacturer
Model
Age
State of Originality

Let’s examine these in a little more detail.

Condition:

The condition of a vintage gibson guitar has a substantial effect on its value. A few things you will need to look for when buying these are structural cracks, warping, separating glue joints, worn frets, corroded hardware, dysfunctional electronics.

All of these lower the value of the instrument and you will need to thoroughly inspect the instrument before you choose to buy it. If you are buying vintage gibson guitars online, you will need to make sure it comes from a reputable dealer and if possible, try to have it evaluated by a reputable Luthier.

Playability

When a guitar plays well, it is more than likely in good or excellent condition. The most common problem with vintage guitars is the neck angle. What do I mean by this? Specifically, low (or under-set) neck angles. These neck angles result in high action and a low saddle which makes the guitar very difficult to play. Frets that are worn, string nuts and bridge saddles that are worn are all reasons that a guitar plays poorly as well so look out for these.

Tone

As you know, tone is critical to the value of a guitar. If it doesn’t sound good, it isn’t going to be worth much. If you find a guitar thats in good condition, but sounds poor you might want to move on. These guitars will not be as desirable as the same model guitar with a broad dynamic and projection. Its true, guitars made of fine woods produce the best tones. Most of these woods are scarce, thus making them more expensive to use.

Manufacturer

We’re a little biased towards Gibson guitars here, but its true that guitars are judged by the company or person who made them. Excellent craftsmanship, inlays & purfling as well as the types of wood ued help determine the value of a guitar. If any of these are skimped on, the guitar suffers. Desirable woods to look for are adirondack spruce, Brazilian rosewood, Honduran mahogany and Koa are all rare and desirable woods.

Forgeries

There are quite a few warning signs to look for when identifying a forgery. These include parts of the guitar that don’t match up to the factory specifications. Things to look for range from decals, finish oversprays, replacement hardware, the wrong size fretwire, bridges, nuts & saddles. Even well made forgeries drive the value of your vintage guitar down.

Model

Just like any other collectable, some models are more desirable than others. This depends on the materials used, the craftsmanship, and number built for that particular year. If you can find a pre-war Martin D-18, it will be much more valuable than a 0-17 that was made the same year. The fewer the number of guitars that were made that year, the more demand there will be for the guitar, thus driving up the cost of the guitar. Before buying a guitar, a little research goes a long way.

Age

The age of a guitar will give you a few clues to how it was made. One of these advantages is that many of these guitars, if not most, were made from air dried wood. This means that the wood was aged naturally and will be more stable as well as tonally pleasing than a guitar made more recently that used kiln-dried wood. Age will help you determine the current and future value of a guitar.

State of Originality

When a guitar is totally original, exactly as it came from the factory, it will always be worth more than the same guitar that has been altered or repaired.

A “re-finished” or “customized” guitar will look better and possibly even play better, but it will not hold its value quite like an original. It’s true that even a re-finished guitar that has been done well will still be worth half of what it was worth with its checked and worn look. It’s honestly better to leave the finish alone as it adds to the age of the guitar. It’s better to have an ugly original than it is to have a pretty and worthless vintage gibson guitar.

Unfortunately, many of the vintage guitars out have had some time of modification or repairs done to them. Factory quality repairs that are un-detectable will have little effect on the value. However, work performed by an un-trained repair tech will greatly diminish the value. General repairs, such as neck re-sets and fretwork, many times are necessary to make the guitar playable and improve its tone. When done correctly, these repairs can increase the value. When restoring a vintage guitar, be sure that it is done by a reputable Luthier so that you don’t lose on your investment.

To summarize, before purchasing your vintage investment, be sure you know what you are buying. Compare the instrument to the key elements in this article. I recommend that you have the guitar authenticated and appraised by a reputable expert, so that you can properly insure your investment.

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Should I Buy a New Gibson or a Vintage Gibson Guitar?

by on December 17, 2011

When you open the case on a brand new shiny quality guitar, you get the same rush you get when opening the door to a brand new sports car or sedan.

However, when you pick up a fine vintage collector guitar, you have a different feeling. You get to experience the craftsmanship and skill that went into shaping that instrument and turning it into what it is today.

So how do you choose between a new guitar and a vintage guitar? If you are a collector, you are mainly going to be interested in the beauty, craftsmanship, historical value or ownership history of the guitar and not necessarily how well it is going to play. As a collector, you should simply pick the guitar that you like, buy it, and appreciate it as much as you possibly can.

If you are a speculator on the other hand, you’re mostly going to be concerned with an increase in the monetary value of your vintage guitar. You’re more in it for the ROI than the value it has emotionally to you. If you are a speculator, your best bet is to pick up the guitar that you feel will appreciate the most in value. You will buy the vintage gibson guitar, hold onto it for as long as you’d like and then sell it.

If you make money you made the right choice. If you lose money, you lose money and it was a bad investment. It happens and you just need to accept it as a bad investment. As always the best advice we can give you is to buy low and sell high!

The discussion here is mainly for those of you who are going to simply be playing, although we’ll provide some tips and pointers for collectors and speculators as well.

If you’re just buying the guitar to play it, then which should you buy?

In general, new gibson guitars are going to have the edge in playability. Machine tolerance and woodworking equipment tolerances are now better than ever.

There are computer-controlled everything when it comes to the creation of new guitars. These machines allow the new guitars to be more consistent and standard than ever before, although it may cost you more money up front than buying a used guitar. Before you give up on buying used, let me raise another issue.

Acoustic or Electric?

Many people feel that as acoustic instruments age, they start to sound better and better. As the wood ages it can dry out or undergo other subtle, but noticeable changes. All of these changes can help to enhance the sound quality that your guitar will put out.

The entire characteristics of an acoustic guitar can change as it grows older. The moisture content, hardness of the varnish, adhesiveness of the glue, strength in the joints and other vitals can change as the guitar gets older. For example, Stradivarius and other violin makers of the late 17th and 18th century created instruments that are considered prizes of today and not just as collectors’ items, but sought out for their unbelievable sounds.

Electric guitars on the other hand get most of their sound quality from their electrical components: most notably their pickups. This is especially true when it comes to solid body guitars.

The process of aging with these solid body electrical guitars really has little impact on the guitar. It’s more of the wear and tear of frequent use that has damaged the contacts or other small parts. These parts can be easily cleaned or replaced, but sometimes it actually will end up costing you more than new equipment.

What Kind Of Warranty Are You Getting?

Frequently there are no warranties or guarantees when it comes to buying used equipment. Sometimes getting service is even difficult if there was a guarantee included. Before you invest in one of these vintage guitars it is recommended that you find out if it was stolen or not. With how frequently musicians and guitarists travel, they are often targets for thieves. Before you buy a used guitar I would get the serial number and search the web for “stolen guitar registry” and look up the serial number.

Is it a genuine guitar or is it a counterfeit?

What about the residual value of this guitar? If you like to trade guitars frequently, you should be aware that a quality guitar, whether new or used, maintains a reasonable residual value. The truth however is that not every used guitar becomes a collector’s item. Many people are leary of buying used equipment for the reasons mentioned above so do your due diligence before investing in one of these.

What about buying vintage gibson guitars on the internet?

One of the first things to look for is that you are dealing with a reputable dealer. This is going to protect you from some of the issues that were mentioned above such as stolen or counterfeit items. If a music store has been in business for a long time, it’s probably safe to assume that they are a safe website to order from.

Be sure to look out for the web safety logos before buying though. Look for logos from Verisign, the Better Business Bureau and other authorities before investing. Check the web sites return policy and make sure they have insured shipping. You don’t want your guitar ruined during shipping and losing out on your investment.

The bottom line?

Well for me it’s playability. And in general, for the best playability, warranty, or guarantee, it’s hard to go wrong with a new guitar from a reputable music store or website like Amazon.

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