Hi - just registered here and am happy to find a place like this. I love to tweak and I'm glad to have a place where answers and opinions are available!
I've been playing a PRS and a Warmoth, but recently picked up a used '59 reissue and am loving it. Right now, it feels like this is my dream guitar.
A few questions:
1. I was led to believe by a salesperson, where I was looking at a '58 reissue, that modifying a reissue by doing stuff like replacing pickups, etc. could lower the value of the guitar, even if you later replace them with the originals. This is because a collector could tell that they'd been re-soldiered. Is this true? Should I avoid trying different pickups in my '59 reissue? My neck pickup seems a little "muddy" to me...
2. The '58 reissue I tried out had really good tone and was extremely "playable", but it was labeled as new old stock (I think it was a '98 model) and they wanted $4500 for it. This dealership was not a gibson dealer when they got the guitar - they got it from a collector who had never registered it, so they were selling it as new. It did have great flame, but the tailpiece and pickups were corroded (the pickups covers were etched to the point where they wouldn't polish out). Was this as out of line as I came to think it was, or is that a reasonable price for a '58 reissue considering its condition, etc.?
3. The serial number on my '59 reissue is 9 0532. What does that tell me about it?
Thanks much for any help you guys can give me...
-Martin
I've been playing a PRS and a Warmoth, but recently picked up a used '59 reissue and am loving it. Right now, it feels like this is my dream guitar.
A few questions:
1. I was led to believe by a salesperson, where I was looking at a '58 reissue, that modifying a reissue by doing stuff like replacing pickups, etc. could lower the value of the guitar, even if you later replace them with the originals. This is because a collector could tell that they'd been re-soldiered. Is this true? Should I avoid trying different pickups in my '59 reissue? My neck pickup seems a little "muddy" to me...
2. The '58 reissue I tried out had really good tone and was extremely "playable", but it was labeled as new old stock (I think it was a '98 model) and they wanted $4500 for it. This dealership was not a gibson dealer when they got the guitar - they got it from a collector who had never registered it, so they were selling it as new. It did have great flame, but the tailpiece and pickups were corroded (the pickups covers were etched to the point where they wouldn't polish out). Was this as out of line as I came to think it was, or is that a reasonable price for a '58 reissue considering its condition, etc.?
3. The serial number on my '59 reissue is 9 0532. What does that tell me about it?
Thanks much for any help you guys can give me...
-Martin