FS - 1961 Gibson SG Special - Original Vintage - Collectors Grade

Adipsia

OK guys... sorry for the delay in responding. 

Rather than respond to every posting individually, if it’s OK I’ll try my best to cover everything in one. If I miss something out just let me know.

1. History - The guitar is ex-Gruhn’s, I can’t say whether it came from his private collection or from stock. What I do know is that my French-friend, Matthieu purchased the guitar from George and it came to me via Richard Henry. I haven’t seen any video of George with this or any other SG, so I can’t comment on video-footage.

2. Refrets - I’ll be absolutely frank over this one. Given the overall condition of this guitar and lack of fretboard-wear, it never even occurred to me that it could have been re-fretted. If there has been a re-fret it was done some time ago and very professionally for the reason of personal-preference. That said, I also take on-board that there may not be a 100% definitive spec for a 61 SG. I shall contact George for his comments and post when I receive them.

3. Other visible signs of wear - With the exception of a slight indentation behind the top horn (which is not recent) there is minimal wear. Very very light surface scratches on the back, but nothing approaching anything that could be called ‘buckle-rash’. As I inferred earlier, the guitar could easily pass as a NOS, Custom Shop guitar. In terms of fading... I’d say there is none. Differences in exposure between pictures - taken by my good-friend above - may exist, but this is a perfect cherry-red with no checking. The tuners are all original and show no sign of shrinkage or cracking.

4. Price - The price is exactly as stated, £6750; and that would be for a cash-deal. I’m not averse to considering a p/ex for a Custom-Shop Gibson or Fender, but that would have to be reflected in a revised price. Essentially I would only consider a p/ex to include a guitar that had a solid residual... 

I can understand why people will look at this guitar and try to find reasons to knock-down the price, and that’s fine; however I would ask them to bear in mind that this isn’t a Custom-Shop Strat. There are very few SG Specials like this in the world... possibly a handful but probably no more, and there are unlikely to be any others of this standard that will come up for sale in the UK. This is a one-off guitar not a commodity-item, hence the price-tag.

Thanks for all of the interest and feedback, I’ll let you know more once I hear from George; however my guess is that George’s input will have less impact than may be imagined, because this guitar will either speak to you or not, and ultimately will depend upon whether you have the ability and interest incommitting funds to purchase it.

Sorry if any of this sounds ‘arsey’.

Brize

^^ Good post and props for honesty, but interesting that your earlier comments that the guitar hadn't been re-fretted were based on an assumption given the broader condition of the guitar, rather than something that you had investigated.

This guitar would have come with roughly the same size frets from the factory that it currently has, so it does beg the question as to why the guitar was re-fretted and, by extension, raises a question as to the originality of the finish. A guitar that required a re-fret due to playing would likely have more wear than this one is showing.

I'm not trying to be arsey myself and the guitar may well black-light perfectly, but if you're selling a guitar for the best part of seven grand, you need to have your ducks in a row.

bgmartinsbridge

Probably worth having a chat with Richard H. 
I'm sure, as a vintage dealer, he would have checked it out thoroughly - before selling it on. 

Adipsia

Brize said:

^^ Good post and props for honesty, but interesting that your earlier comments that the guitar hadn't been re-fretted were based on an assumption given the broader condition of the guitar, rather than something that you had investigated.

This guitar would have come with roughly the same size frets from the factory that it currently has, so it does beg the question as to why the guitar was re-fretted and, by extension, raises a question as to the originality of the finish. A guitar that required a re-fret due to playing would likely have more wear than this one is showing.

I'm not trying to be arsey myself and the guitar may well black-light perfectly, but if you're selling a guitar for the best part of seven grand, you need to have your ducks in a row.

All valid points my friend... but if we all bought guitars with our heads rather than our hearts, we’d probably all be wandering around with nothing but PRSi.

DrSpock

Adipsia said:

OK guys... sorry for the delay in responding. 

I can understand why people will look at this guitar and try to find reasons to knock-down the price, and that’s fine; however I would ask them to bear in mind that this isn’t a Custom-Shop Strat. There are very few SG Specials like this in the world... possibly a handful but probably no more, and there are unlikely to be any others of this standard that will come up for sale in the UK. This is a one-off guitar not a commodity-item, hence the price-tag.

Not trying to knock down the price - if it were 100% original I'd be in a similar ballpark, however given a re-fret is looking likely and as mentioned elsewhere that potentially casts doubt over the whole guitars originality then the price would need to change if that were so.  IF it were refinished it could have been done 30 years ago for example but how you move forward and prove one way or another is up to you. For now I'll pass but it was a pleasure seeing such a nice guitar.

Adipsia

Sale agreed guys.

DrCornelius

Nicely done , classy from start to finish :-)

FatPete

Congrats on the sale. Jealous.

Strangefan

Now thats how you conduct yourself of a forum. Bravo sir. 

fretfinder

Congratulations on the sale. I am totally in awe of the condition of this guitar, even with the suspected refret, and I’m equally in awe of the apparent market value. I just hope it will get played by its new owner and do what it was meant to do - rock!