Japanese Columbus Les Paul

ICBM

I agree with HarrySeven about pricing when they’re in typical original condition.

But I also think they are worth the higher prices they sell for when they’re made properly usable - it simply reflects the amount of work they need.

The problem is that a lot of people then see the ‘restored’ prices and think they’re all worth that when they haven’t had the work done.

This is also not unlike the vintage car market...

hotpickups

TTony said:

My first guitar, way back when ...

Mine too

impmann

HarrySeven said:

impmann said:

I'm sorry but "why?".

I endured one of these pieces of shit as my second electric guitar. It had no pleasing qualities whatsoever - thats why we all got rid of them as quickly as we could back then. Yes, you could fit new pickups to it but thats akin to rolling it in glitter - as you can't polish a turd.

I'm stunned that *anyone* would pay more than £50 for such a guitar - as for the prices quoted above you could buy something that sounds and plays far superior for less.

Its not kitch cool, its not cool at all... its just a cheap, nasty Les Paul.

I think my major issue with such guitars is when they're talked up into something they very definitely aren't.

From £0.00 - £50.00, they can be a mildly entertaining nostalgic diversion, but once "mojo", "vintage", "lawsuit", blahblahblah are mentioned (along with a commensurate price hike*), then I'm totally with you.

*Just the fact of knowing that they are still out there for £Peanuts in plentiful quantities would prevent me from spending crazy money on them.

This.

Even if you've spent £150 on the best set up in the world, its still a £50 guitar and there's no dressing it up. Any "value added set up costs" are just bullshit IMHO.

baldy

This was the OP"s opening post 
"I've recently acquired this very solid old Les Paul.  I imagine it's from the 70s, has an oddly upside down neck plate, and plays pretty well despite some heavy fret wear in places.  Are they worth bothering with to upgrade or generally considered junk?"
So as he has already said that it plays pretty well the question is what does he feel needs upgrading ?
As it is a very cheap guitar to start with then it is not worth spending much money on IMO, expensive pick ups etc are not worth the cost.
However as I have already posted, it need not cost much to greatly improve the sound, tuning stability etc if the correct budget parts are sourced & fitted.
I have found that I like "fettling" cheap guitars.
If they have a reasonable neck & body then hardware need not cost that much & if the guitar has been bought cheaply then the original parts can always be re-fitted to sell the guitar on & recoup the original cost should you so wish.
My cheap LP copy originally cost me £25 & now owes me £95.
I could probably (possibly) sell it on as it is & recoup my £95 or re-fit the original hardware & get £50-£60 for it.
Is it as good as a Gibson, obviously not, but it is a playable nice sounding guitar for under £100.
FWIW I bought a Columbus LP last night for £30.
It had obviously not seen much use. 
The action is very high, 2 of the pots are crackly & the tone is very thin, especially considering it supposedly has 2 humbuckers.
However the neck is solid & true & doesn"t feel to bad & the body only has a few light scratches.
I will swap out the pups & replace the pots & at the same time make up a new wiring harness.
That will only cost about £45 for the parts I am going to use.
I am then going to give it to my stepson to mess about with as he wants to try an LP shaped twin HB guitar before spending any cash on a proper one.

ICBM

impmann said:

Even if you've spent £150 on the best set up in the world, its still a £50 guitar and there's no dressing it up. Any "value added set up costs" are just bullshit IMHO.

That's where we will have to disagree .

I'm not just talking about a set-up either. What I've done to the ones I've worked on is fix all the faults that made them crap in the first place, and turned them into perfectly good, playable guitars which also happen to have a more interesting sound than a generic modern guitar, and a bit of nostalgia factor.

If you were to take one and just set it up, you would be right - but taking it completely apart and rebuilding it as a good guitar, fixing or replacing all the bad bits, is a different thing entirely. The people who have bought the ones I've done clearly thought so...

They're certainly no worse than any other old cheap guitar like a Danelectro or a Hofner, and plenty of people will pay good money for those too.

To take the car analogy, it is very much like buying an old Morris Minor, but one that has been stripped to the bodyshell, fully repaired, rustproofed, repainted with modern paints, had the mechanical parts completely overhauled and tuned, good modern electrics fitted where necessary, modern tyres... the result will be better, more reliable, easier to maintain and probably even nicer to drive than it ever was when it left the factory, but it will still be a Morris Minor and not a modern Eurobox. You still probably wouldn't want to use it for your daily commute, but you wouldn't buy one for that.

And it will be worth a lot more than a typical unrestored example.

HarrySeven

Talking of Morris Minors...I'd love another!

boogieman

p90fool said:

I wouldn't upgrade the pickups if they work unless it's your only guitar tbh, they have a lot of character and the best you ever get by improving these old trashy guitars is the dizzy heights of 'bland'. 

Here's a similar pressed ply Univox version, owned by Earl Hooker but borrowed here by Magic Sam. You won't get a modern cheap Les Paul copy to sound like this...

@p90fool ;Strewth, that is bloody epic! Ta for posting. What a great gnarly sound he gets out of it..... I can imagine someone like Jack White paying a small fortune in vintage gear to get anywhere near that tone. 

JezWynd

impmann said:

JezWynd said:

impmann said:

I'm sorry but "why?".

Recapturing lost youth maybe? That time when it was all in front of you rather than behind.

There are many things I’d like to recapture from my youth - and most of them have tits.

rossi

didnt know there were laptops around then

impmann

rossi said:

didnt know there were laptops around then

Yes, wooden laptops with wooden screens, wooden keyboards, and wooden hard drives.

They wooden work...

57Deluxe

mort said:

John_A said:

TTony said:

My first guitar, way back when ...

Mine too - I set fire to it at a gig and regretted it later

Same here, exactly as the picture. Bought from a shop in Shaftsbury Avenue in 1976. I polished it more than I played it and sold it to buy a metal detector about 6 months later.

are you one of those Metal Detectors then??

DeeTee

HarrySeven said:

I think my major issue with such guitars is when they're talked up into something they very definitely aren't.

From £0.00 - £50.00, they can be a mildly entertaining nostalgic diversion, but once "mojo", "vintage", "lawsuit", blahblahblah are mentioned (along with a commensurate price hike*), then I'm totally with you.

*Just the fact of knowing that they are still out there for £Peanuts in plentiful quantities would prevent me from spending crazy money on them.

This. It's cool if you want to get that Lo-fi QOTSA vibe, and you know what you're getting. It's not cool to sell them as a proper LP copy to kids getting their first guitars. [Edit] - Not that I'm suggesting any of that is happening here!

I do really want to get the junkiest guitar I can now though. Play some of that sort of music, and then convert it to slide or something...

rossi

I got mine out and it just wont stay in tune .It has all winter fairly well  which surprised me but its all over the place now .Maybe a lesson in there .

rossi

Thgought i would update .I changed all the original  tuners for a set of cheap Chinese replacements ..They fitted well and so far its staying in tune despite a  fairly heavy temp drop overnight in an unheated room.

PhilKing

I had one as my second guitar (my first was a Vox Clubman, I saw one that sold for £250 a couple of weeks ago).  I used it to learn to work on guitars.  I actually toured Germany using it as my main guitar for a couple of months, until I had enough money to buy a Fender Musicmaster.  I have no idea what happened to it, but I do remember that I had changed it to have a bass A string and 4 guitar strings (D,G,B,E) and used it at a show for playing something I had composed that was a pretty ambient song.

mark123

SteveRobinson said:

I had the Avon equivalent as my first guitar

A few years back I upgraded one for a customer. New tuners, refret, pots, switch, jack and pickups etc., the works. About £350 worth.

When he sold it a few months later he got less than the cost of the Bare Knuckle pickups.

triggers broom