Starter vintage guitar ideas?

Milk

i dont believe that the more the expensive the guitar the better i think its mainly materials and craftsmanship. at the moment my favorite guitar is a gretsch streamliner with a bigsby i bought new just because i wanted a guitar with a bigsby. a few subtle mods and its now my favorite guitar ive played so far, and it only cost £500 including mods. i care more about how a guitar feels than brands.

Fuengi

I really like the look of vintage Kay guitars, but a recent thread left me in no doubt they are mostly a shower of shit which is a real shame! 

designerseye88

IMO Melody Makers are great guitars, I have a singlcut form 61 with humbucker in it and its awesome, great fun and wasn't very expensive. Alternatively with fender you have duo sonics and musicmasters. With these guitars you'll never have the issue of fakes as no one bothered to fake them and they can still be found pretty cheaply if you look and wait. Alot of them will be refinished and have some mods but they are a great fun entry into the vintage market. With anything vintage though do you research before pulling the trigger. 

If you're after something Japanese then i'd advise going for a Mint collection Greco early 80's guitar.  

Milk

i love duo sonics.and used to own a greco les paul years ago and was an awsome guitar

bloomer

I'm in the same boat looking to get something vintage at the cheap end of the market. But I also don't want it to be a dog. Melody maker and duo sonics are a good bet as has been mentioned. How about this duo sonic just spotted on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Duo-Sonic-ii-1965-vintage/223767863700

bloomer

this one too: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1961-1963-Fender-Duo-Sonic-Guitar-3-4-Scale/202861029802?hash=item2f3b75a9aa:g:4QQAAOSwFqJWjBmh

Make a very nice refinishing project 

Epsilon

1960s Hofners are very good and very cheap. If USA vintage is important Guild represent great value.

Milk

@bloomer that first one is really nice, id have to research fenders as the only fender ive ever played is a tele and i once had a crappy 80s strat copy that is somewhere in pieces in the cellar

rjb2679

Might be rose tinted glasses but I miss my 1st guitar, I remember a silky smooth fretboard though! Example if you can find them;

  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kimbara-Stratocaster-made-in-Japan-in-the-1970s/293386327216?hash=item444f3014b0:g:2boAAOSwXrld4RC8

JayGee

maltingsaudio said:

Vintage guitars worth worrying about amount to strats,  teles,les Paul’s,les Paul juniors, and 335’s all of which have out grown their values 

Really? So if someone waved something like, say a nice late ‘50s or early ‘60s ES125/225 under your nose you wouldn’t be interested at all? 

Things like that (or for that matter some of the more unfashionable full depth jazz boxes) seem to pop up at very reasonable prices from time to time. They are by all accounts great guitars, and because the values haven’t gone crazy they’re probably a much safer buy because for the same amount of effort an unscrupulous seller could fake something much more valuable...

Milk

@rjb2679 that strat looks nice. never heard of them but looks better quality than some of the crap i have owned in the past and also own now

LastMantra

I never intended to go "Vintage" but I suppose my '81 the paul dlx and  '70s/'80s WEM amps are getting there.
Think I got in at right time as the prices have went up a fair bit since.
I think you need to have a bit of patience (and lots of research) to get the real bargains. My gear tends to find me rather than me actually looking for anything in particular. 

Funny how non working amps (at least) can go for as much as working ones. I suppose, like me, people want a project.

SteveRobinson

bloomer said:

this one too: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1961-1963-Fender-Duo-Sonic-Guitar-3-4-Scale/202861029802?hash=item2f3b75a9aa:g:4QQAAOSwFqJWjBmh

Make a very nice refinishing project 

A THOUSAND POUNDS!

1983

so many options!

+1 on the Duo sonics, if you can deal with the shorter necks.

The often maligned early 70s do have some gems, you can still find good deals on Tele Customs and tele deluxes out there. I found a beaten tele custom a little while back, it came with the wrong bridge pickup and new controls, which gave me the freedom to experiment until I found a match for the wide range in the neck. Great guitar, and super light too. Player grade Gibsons can be relatively cheap too. 

Gibson 125s are amazing things and often don't carry a big price tag. Cool guitars for home or record with.

I see you like grestch too, corvettes are fucking awesome. 

good luck!

impmann

Gibson L6-S

Get the one with the rotary pickup selector and make sure it still has its original pickups/wiring - many were changed to a standard Gibson layout... and aren't very interesting as a result. 

You'll find them languishing around the £850-£1200 mark currently - as the only noticeable user recently has been Razorlight... that may have contributed to the low prices...

Milk

i owned a gibson l6-s a while back and maybe i had a bad one as is sounded and felt dead and boring to me.  maybe i need to investigate again

robgilmo

Is 94 considered ''vintage''? I picked up this 94 MIM Strat a while back tor 250 quid, lovely it was, never seen a Crimson Red Metallic Strat before, but Im not a strat person, even though I would love to be!





I would buy it back in a heartbeat if it ever came up for sale again and I had the spare cash.



I picked up this Matsumoku mid 70's Strat at an auction for a song, I really tried my hardest to get on with it, it was really lovely, but it was a Strat! I will regret selling that for many years to come.



To get what you want doesnt have to be expensive, nor difficult, nor does the guitar have to be crap, and there are plenty of them out there.

thomasw88

Get a Yamaha superflighter. They are cool as fuck, dirt cheap, and play and sound fantastic.

I have 3

Andy79

thomasw88 said:

Get a Yamaha superflighter. They are cool as fuck, dirt cheap, and play and sound fantastic.

I have 3

Or the SG. Way undervalued. Yamaha would be a great place to start. 

Calum13

Milk said:

anything up to mid 80s would be my top limit. i have no idea what brand id want but i know that i would never afford a old gibson or fender anyway. i see loads of obscure japanese stuff on reverb that looks like it could be fun.

I wouldnt be looking for something in immaculate original condition because it usually generated a higher price and i like to mess around with guitars too. so solid, never owned nitro finish on a guitar so that would be nice and not impossibe to replace parts is useful too. the whole purpose is to see if i can live with a old guitar and possible a gateway to future expensive needs for more.

If you’re into old Japanese guitars I would recommend a Westbury Deluxe, or if you like it, a Univox Hi Flier.