Advice on getting an original 1957/8 P90 for a mint 1957 LP junior

MikeC

So I've recently acquired a pretty mint 1957 LP junior and I've just had it set up beautifully and valued by Stairway to Kevin in Denmark Street (lovely chap). He's noted that the guitar is the cleanest one he's ever seen (and a little bit cleaner - including the useless cardboard case - than the one on David Pym's website for a rather over priced £8,950).

However, very annoyingly, it turns out that the pickup (reading 7.6k ohm), whilst original, has been rewound, and in Kevin's view the guitar would be worth even more with an original P90 (from 1957, or maybe 1958 as they were identical?) that hasn't been rewound.

What do people think? Is it worth going down this rabbit hole? And what sort of price are they - say £400 for the pickup and I'd get back £200 for the rewound one?

If it's a good idea, anyone know of one for sale?   

idiotwindow

IMO only worth doing if you are planning on selling the guitar and want to maximise its value. It sounds like a fantastic guitar.

RaymondLin

Does the guitar sound good or are you just doing this for the sake of getting everything original? 

Danielsguitars

I'd try and compare it to another original one first 

You might be looking at £500 for another clean original p90 and I'd want to know where it came from too

Winny_Pooh

@jumping@shadows ;

usedtobe

Doesn’t a replacement pickup make it less original..? I get that a future buyer wouldn’t know, but..

Iamnobody

This thread needs pics! 

If it sounds good to you as is, I wouldn’t touch it - you could go to a lot of trouble for no real benefit. What’s to say a vintage pickup will sound better it could also be close to needing a repair? 

I’ve got a ‘58 P90 in my junior replica and I bet if did some sound bytes only half the forum could pick it out over a modern P90. 

MikeC

I got it as part of a trade for a LP replica I had - and the owner was selling it as the executor for his late friend who bought it from vintage and rare in denmark st in 2008 for £12.5k!!

.  I'm torn between keeping it as an investment (hard to find another one like it), but ideally something I can play (but probably not gig)....thanks for the ideas.... will have a ponder and see what Yuuki may have ...

picture below....

https://imgur.com/l7W98R7.jpg

Iamnobody

You could always wait until the right replacement pickup comes along. Buy it, store it and then decide if putting it in affects the resale value if and when that time comes? 

I doubt you’d lose anything long term doing that. 

Edit: Lovely guitar by the way 

Kittyfrisk

I'd reckon that if the installed pickup was original but rewound, then why not get it it professionally rewound to original specs (whatever they might be...).
That way the guitar is as original as it can be, but with an honest back story.

WezV

Kittyfrisk said:

I'd reckon that if the installed pickup was original but rewound, then why not get it it professionally rewound to original specs (whatever they might be...).
That way the guitar is as original as it can be, but with an honest back story.

I would agree. depending what made it an obvious rewind at the moment.

If its  a full rewind i would get it done to proper vintage specs .   it shouldn't cost too much in the grand scheme of things, and  a rewind to vintage specs will be an easier sell than one with the wrong spec.   Takes the pressure off finding an original, but nothing to stop you keeping your eyes open for it.

jhumber

usedtobe said:

Doesn’t a replacement pickup make it less original..? I get that a future buyer wouldn’t know, but..

A future buyer certainly should know that, if they pause to take a look inside the control cavity and see new solder joints.

ICBM

Do you like the sound of it?

I would leave it if it sounds good. Most old pickups will probably die anyway at some point in the next fifty or a hundred years and then they'll all be rewinds and it won't affect the value any more.

Philly_Q

I can't offer any useful opinions, but that's an amazingly clean looking guitar!

Makes me feel a bit silly having an aged Custom Shop one which looks like it's been buried in a peat bog.

fretfinder

RaymondLin said:

Does the guitar sound good or are you just doing this for the sake of getting everything original? 

It wouldn’t be the ‘original’ P90 though if it was a replacement, it would be ‘period correct’ with obvious modern solder joints. ‘Period correct’ is that worrying term some vintage dealers use, meaning one or more replaced parts. Mind you, it can be tricky if not impossible to tell original parts from period replacements - which makes any vintage Fender a minefield! 

If the current pickup is the original one to the guitar I’d keep that and maybe get it rewound to vintage specs - but only rewind it if there’s something wrong with it or it doesn’t sound good. If there’s nothing wrong with the current pickup and through an amp the guitar sounds like a good 50s Junior should, why change anything?

idiotwindow

jhumber said:

usedtobe said:

Doesn’t a replacement pickup make it less original..? I get that a future buyer wouldn’t know, but..

A future buyer certainly should know that, if they pause to take a look inside the control cavity and see new solder joints.

Presumably there are new solder joints anyway – the original pickup having already been rewound.

ICBM

idiotwindow said:

Presumably there are new solder joints anyway – the original pickup having already been rewound.

If it was done really carefully by someone who cares about these things, it could have been undone at the coil end without touching the joints in the control cavity. That's not common though.

skunkwerx

Its cleaner than my late 2019 model lol!

TeleMaster

I wouldn't bother. I have a rewound middle pickup in my 64 Strat. 

MikeC

Thanks everyone. There is slight evidence of re/ desoldering in the control cavity and at the pickup end. 

I’ve just bought the 3rd power wooly coats amp that was on here a few weeks ago and will give it a good play over the weekend. Looks like it should stay as is or get a rewind if it’s too wimpy.  Better stop buying and start playing!  

sawyer

Think if I was buying, I'd prefer an honest rewind of the original pickup,rather than an era correct replacement from another guitar with no providence.

Looks awesome by the way! Keep it as original as it is I say