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Pawn shop score!

RicOkc

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Mar 21, 2016
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I was visiting my friends guitar shop last Friday. He's a luthier and owns a small shop and also sells/buys used instruments & amps.

Anyway.......A customer comes in and has a Les Paul Deluxe that he had just purchased from a local pawn shop and he wanted it checked out and set-up.

The pawn shop had the guitar listed as a 2004 and the customer bought it for $850 USD. That's still a crazy low price for a Les Paul Deluxe, but here's the great part of the story.

The guitar actually turned out to be a '79 Les Paul Deluxe!

The pawn shop looked at the serial number and mis-read it as a 2004 using modern Gibson serial number dating.
 

Big Al

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Apr 24, 2002
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These tales of Pawn Shop scores pop up from time to time and always prove false. It ain't 1970 no more, most all now use the internet to check price and tend to overprice any Gibson Les Paul. Not sure of any commonality in 79 and 04 numbers and all identifiers like wood, headstock, logo, neck are clearly present. Any check of internet resources would show it as well as the unbelievably unlikely thought that the Pawn Shop bought the Les Paul from someone, someone who didn't know what it was or its value. Safe to assume if the guitar was priced at $850. it was bought, [pawned?], for $400.


Sorry, I ain't buying it.:hmm:##
 

Trans-Am

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These tales of Pawn Shop scores pop up from time to time and always prove false. It ain't 1970 no more, most all now use the internet to check price and tend to overprice any Gibson Les Paul. Not sure of any commonality in 79 and 04 numbers and all identifiers like wood, headstock, logo, neck are clearly present. Any check of internet resources would show it as well as the unbelievably unlikely thought that the Pawn Shop bought the Les Paul from someone, someone who didn't know what it was or its value. Safe to assume if the guitar was priced at $850. it was bought, [pawned?], for $400.


Sorry, I ain't buying it.:hmm:##

Hmmmm:hmm Hard to say Big Al, there are still some gems out there that we haven't come across, specially places that are remotely far that you will have to risk and chance by of what they may have and you gotten an ear for one. Only to discover that you have been beaten by a mile of the special find. Not sure if it'd happen to you in your search earlier on. Happened to me on a '59 Strat and a '61 SG Custom Polaris White.

Anyways you lose some and win some.:salude
 

Big Al

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Hmmmm:hmm Hard to say Big Al, there are still some gems out there that we haven't come across, specially places that are remotely far that you will have to risk and chance by of what they may have and you gotten an ear for one. Only to discover that you have been beaten by a mile of the special find. Not sure if it'd happen to you in your search earlier on. Happened to me on a '59 Strat and a '61 SG Custom Polaris White.

Anyways you lose some and win some.:salude

You found those, cheap, at Pawn Shops?? I've been hunting in Pawns for 40yrs and from what I've seen for the last 20 years any Les Paul in Pawns for sale are mostly over priced, [they seem to think they're all 59's], and later any Gibson got the premium pricetag.

I've not been in any that don't utilise the Interwebs to check prices and always the highest possible value is applied, no discounts. I mostly hunt amps, [not Fender or Gibson], and mostly FX boxes as they are often under priced and vintage examples are priced as used new models.

I've found great deals from other sources still. The Internet has hampered some but as you say deals can be found, but this tale is hard to swallow and I find it hard to believe.
 

deytookerjaabs

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I've not been lucky enough to run into a legit mutt score at a pawn shop but I've gotten some good deals nonetheless. However, my biggest scores were actual music stores where they incorrectly dated the guitars they had. Both a '61 Sheraton and a '62 6120 I bought were thought to be late 60's guitars and the 6120 was labeled a "country gent" at that. Got both for the cost of their respective import reissue. But, yeah, 99% of the time you see the opposite. Like GC Vintage, uhg, that whole department is a joke.

Not too long ago at a Cash America in some town south of Chattanooga I ran into an uber cheap Chibson listed as a "Gibson Les Paul Custom" for 2 grand. I told'em very politely, said they should send pics/serial to Gibson, but they seemed pretty disinterested so they're pretty capable of screwing up.

In the late 90's & early 00's I used to run across rare vintage synth/electronic gear in pawn shops and buy the stuff for next to nothing. Not to mention Goodwill/Salvation Army, back then it felt like every one I went into was empty, now every Time I go to those places they're packed full of people!
 

Trans-Am

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Yes they are all hard to believe but deep inside it really hurts that you missed that one time take on something that will just come along once if at all in your lifetime, and that is the reality of it like it or not that we all went through or will at some point in time of our lives yeah!:yah

Btw! Big A...that '59 is/was a frequent guest at being played at a local L&M Customer Appreciation Day during the Monster Day Sale every June, not sure this month if it will make an appearance tsk! tsk! tsk!
 

RicOkc

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Mar 21, 2016
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It came through my friends shop (he's a pro luthier with over 35 years exp.) On one forum people were arguing over serial numbers and such.

It was a Norlin Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, pancake body & volute, with a serial number that started with "00004". Norlin serial numbers run all over the place and are nothing like the modern dating system.

Price was according to the "Vintage Guitar Buyers Guide", prices vary depending what part of the country your in.

Prime example.....Back in the late 70's used older Gibson Explorers in my area were going for around $800, during a trip to Memphis I visited "Strings & Things, now gone) and the same guitars were $400.
 

Big Al

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Not a 79 and I've never seen a quad 0 serial prefix on 70-74. Not sure of the oval decal numbers but ????? I was buying new Standards for less than 800 in the late 70's and used Explorers less than 500, in all the places we played, East & West. Don't matter so much where you live now, a used 2004 Deluxe isn't 850. Unless it had major issues or was stolen or fenced, no one sells one for less than 500, which is what a Pawn would pay to sell for 850.

Still the same story told here time after time. Too unlikely.
 

Trans-Am

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I get a sense its from WWW online new/used sellers and sources from the Blue Book market value depending on the rarity, demand etc.:hmm

I find that Australia is one of the highest reseller of Gibson etc. for a used price is like paying through your nose as if it's MSRP or going street price.
You could easily get a couple of used instruments here in N. America for the used listing price there. Just a harder market to get a great looking/playing instrument.

Similar to eastern European parts of the country state too from Bulgaria to say Turkey where no Gibson dealers are and other makers as well.
You need a contact and or relative/close friend to buy and carry w/o playing sometimes unless they play.
 

Big Al

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I get a sense its from WWW online new/used sellers and sources from the Blue Book market value depending on the rarity, demand etc.:hmm

I find that Australia is one of the highest reseller of Gibson etc. for a used price is like paying through your nose as if it's MSRP or going street price.
You could easily get a couple of used instruments here in N. America for the used listing price there. Just a harder market to get a great looking/playing instrument.

Similar to eastern European parts of the country state too from Bulgaria to say Turkey where no Gibson dealers are and other makers as well.
You need a contact and or relative/close friend to buy and carry w/o playing sometimes unless they play.

It is just maddening how our Brothers and Shelia's get squeezed down under. The prices they endure for new gear is waaaaaaay over just the shipping charge. I try to always help out in any way I can whenever someone reaches out to me from Oz for help finding parts or gear that is so hard to source down there.

I am only responding about US prices in this thread, and a repeated unsubstantiated tale. This tale is always a friend who is a small repair shop owner and a customer who comes in with a misidentified vintage guitar bought for peanuts from a GC or other big retailer or most often some spectral Pawn Shop.

It has become a reoccuring theme and maybe like the boy who cried wolf too often, I'm inclined to disbelieve this. But more than that, it just don't add up, the tale or following justifications. I just can't buy into it. My opinion only.
 

RicOkc

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Not a 79 and I've never seen a quad 0 serial prefix on 70-74. Not sure of the oval decal numbers but ????? I was buying new Standards for less than 800 in the late 70's and used Explorers less than 500, in all the places we played, East & West. Don't matter so much where you live now, a used 2004 Deluxe isn't 850. Unless it had major issues or was stolen or fenced, no one sells one for less than 500, which is what a Pawn would pay to sell for 850.

Still the same story told here time after time. Too unlikely.

I saw the guitar, serial number, ect., myself. The fellow who owns the shop (a real luthier) has over 35 years of experience, and many of his personal collection had been pictured in Guitar Player Magazine over the years.

Thanks for calling me (a total Stranger) a liar. Bet you make lots of friends. Of course this is the internet and people have a tendency to act differently than if in person.

Just because a lack of knowledge doesn't mean something is false.

Like the lyrics from a Metallaca song....."An empty can rattles the loudest".

Have a nice day!
 

RicOkc

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Here you go Al........

Hello Richard,


My name is Joe Spann and I coordinate the appraisal team for George Gruhn, here at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. We received your recent e-mail, regarding the interpretation of a 1970's Les Paul serial number.


The guitar in question was manufactured in the year 1976.


Thanks for you question and for choosing Gruhn Guitars.

Joe Spann - Gruhn Guitars

2120 8th Avenue S

Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 256-2033

joe@gruhn.com
 

Big Al

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I saw the guitar, serial number, ect., myself. The fellow who owns the shop (a real luthier) has over 35 years of experience, and many of his personal collection had been pictured in Guitar Player Magazine over the years.

Thanks for calling me (a total Stranger) a liar. Bet you make lots of friends. Of course this is the internet and people have a tendency to act differently than if in person.

Just because a lack of knowledge doesn't mean something is false.

Like the lyrics from a Metallaca song....."An empty can rattles the loudest".

Have a nice day!

I didn't call you a liar. I don't know you or your credibility. No one does, you are an unknown. It is quite possible the dude bringing it in the shop was exaggerating his score. As I said the facts of your post didn't add up, for reasons given, and I found it hard to believe, and still do. Your original post claimed the guitar was a 79 misidentified as a 04. Again as I posted, I'm not aware of any similarity of numbers in those two years. So it casts doubt.

Your serial clarification was perhaps unknowingly confusing as it was a 00 prefix on an oval decal as 00 004 not 00004. After you've been here awhile these kind of details will be known to you and be important enough that you may find yourself puzzled in the future by a newbie not giving important details. Still I found it odd that even after I mentioned the oval decal serial you didn't mention that.

The guitar was sold to a Pawn Shop. Apparently there were no Music Stores to go to. Any guitarist and most musicians would know what the guitar was and roughly its value, unless incredibly ignorant, unaware of magazines, books and the many resources most guitarist are aware of. Other musicians might know and advise the guitarist, but maybe the owner was a hermit, or not a player and came into possession by other means. Okay....

So someone wants to sell this Gibson Les Paul and has no idea what it is, cannot find a music Store and lacks a Smart Phone, or a phone, or Internet to do a basic search for some indication of value. No, it was sold to a Pawn Shop. Okay.....

A shop that was just as clueless. A Pawn Shop unaware of Gibsons or Les Paul guitars value. Unable or unwilling to research value, an easy task as they researched the serial number as that was so much more important. Okay......

Anyone with any experience with Pawns knows how little they pay to purchase items and how much they mark them up, a $400 purchase price is likely given the $850 sell price in this story. Okay.....

This story, as posted is hard to believe. It requires a clueless owner selling to a clueless Pawn selling to a clueless buyer taken to a Luthier with 35 yrs of experience, (what guitars does he craft, btw?), who cannot date it and again with all the available resources on this subject, (one would assume a repairman of 35 yrs would have at least one), not to mention Internet resources, you had to email Gruhn?

An email about a serial number doesn't prove the story.
I find it hard to believe this chain of clueless events. Could it be? Maybe. Should I believe it, unlikely as it is, from someone new and unknown who unfortunately follows in a pattern of new posters with unproven tales, some almost word for word like this one enough to give me Deja Vu?

I find it hard to believe. I don't. Am I sure? Nope, but enough to doubt for sure. Would I say it to your face? Buddy, I'd have no problem. Would I throw personal insults? No, unlike you. Would you do so to my face? I doubt it. I just find this unlikely and hard to believe. My opinion of the story. I don't know you and haven't decided how I feel about you, but it ain't freindly right now.

If true it is a wonderful score for the buyer and quite a series of inept events.
 

El Gringo

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Big Al , great post and succinct and on point . To the uninformed Big Al is on the Mt. Rushmore of Guitars and knowledge and experience esp. of al things Gibson Les Paul's . Try listening and you might actually learn as I have numerous times and I am far better informed about my lifetime passion of Guitar ! because of the Kindness to inform and teach me from Big Al !!!!!!!
 

Wilko

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I call bullshit too. No one is going to price a 2004 at 850.

not even a good story.
 

Big Al

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Big Al , great post and succinct and on point . To the uninformed Big Al is on the Mt. Rushmore of Guitars and knowledge and experience esp. of al things Gibson Les Paul's . Try listening and you might actually learn as I have numerous times and I am far better informed about my lifetime passion of Guitar ! because of the Kindness to inform and teach me from Big Al !!!!!!!

Cut it out, I'm nothing more than an old man who in his very long, [50yrs], ago past fell in love with Gibson Les Pauls and have tried to learn as much as I could in those years. I cherish facts and each nugget of truth has opened vistas of understanding.

I HAVE LEARNED SO VERY MUCH HERE AT THE LES PAUL FORUM!!!!

There is so much REAL KNOWLEDGE available here. There're researchers here that spend years and even decades finding true facts about the most arcane subjects which add so much to our knowledge base, enriching us all with fact.

I believe fact trumps opinion. I always try to be clear about my opinion vs my facts.

All I've done is state my opinion of this strangers, [his word], unverified story based on my experience. I could be wrong, but like every newbie lately, if I disagree with their opinion or challenge unproven assertions presented as fact, with proven fact, the defence is to launch snide personal attacks and more drivel.

Also the op has presented a story almost exactly as one posted in the last couple of years. Same Pawn Shop story, same number confusion, same mystery super luthier, [was not in fact, crafting no guitars], who was offered up as proof with zero provenance. No name, no verification, just supposed to accept it.
So similar that I've wondered if this is the same poster. I can't believe I'm the only one who remembers it.

It's important to state my disbelief is an opinion. In no way are my speculations proof of anything other than raising reasonable doubt and pointing out a curious similarity to a previous attempt.

But good grief El Gringo muy compadre, I ain't no sacred cow.:ha
 
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