Thinking of selling my Elvis Presley SJ-200

sihackett29

I’ve got a ‘94 black Elvis Presley SJ-200. In fact, I have two. One is mint and the other has a repaired crack in the top that runs from the bridge to the outer edge of the top. I have to say, despite the crack (which is, I said, repaired and also stable), I can’t notice any differences in tone between the two. 

Anyhow, I am thinking of selling the one with the repaired crack. What do you think would be a reasonable ask for it? It had original case and coa too. 

Mellish

Normally. 50-60% of new but with a repaired crack...

Can you post a pic of the damage?  

sev112

Few hundred quod I guess, I can bring it round now  

glws

sihackett29

https://imgur.com/a/5tDU4Fn

It's black (obviously!) so picks up all the smudges.

The double crack was cleated long ago and is completely stable.

sihackett29

https://imgur.com/a/ywlXpNw that's a slightly better one close up (it looks a lot worse in the photo than it is!)

Mellish

It's going to affect value, obviously.

I don't know...what I mean is, I can't tell you what others would be willing to pay. But if it was me, and I was looking for an SJ-200, that crack would bother me. But that's just me. 

How did it get that crack?  

Mellish

But don't be put off mate
It's just one man's opinion.

Put it in Classifieds here
GLWTS

Fishboy7

It wouldn't bother me as long as reflected in the price.

If unsure you could start the listing at your optimal price and gradually reduce until you get a bite. 

Does anyone know what you'd expect to pay for a mint example?

Mellish

@Fishboy7 ; - upper £2k range  

sihackett29

The mint examples have gone for 4-5k but they are very rare and come up not very often. I think around £3k might be a start. 

Mellish

@sihackett29 ; - yes. As Fishboy7 said, you can price drop until you get a bite. 

But it's still a nice guitar, despite the crack, so don't go crazy low  

camf

If it was me, and knowing the crack was properly repaired and stable, and that I really liked the guitar, I’d be tempted to sell the mint one for top dollar and keep the repaired one as a high quality gigging guitar you didn’t have to be too paranoid about. That tends to be the  way I work with guitars anyway. I like them not to be too pristine, so I can try and pick up good guitar for a decent price, but I’d have to know all the circumstances around the damage, and most importantly, the repairer and how the job had gone, and how pleased the luthier was with the repaired guitar. That can be hard to ascertain sometimes. 

sihackett29

@camf this is very much my thinking as I’d kick myself if the other one suddenly developed a crack! I think I just wanted to gauge what the price would be. I have loads of acoustic and annoyingly the other one that has a crack (and perfectly repaired) is a beautiful Martin Bellezza Nera. The rest of my acoustics and guitars are fine. Clearly it’s just the black guitars that crack! 

Tannin

sihackett29 said:

 Clearly it’s just the black guitars that crack! 

That might be more than a wry remark. I dunno, but I've never been able to bring myself to trust guitars with an opaque finish - black, painted any other colour, heavy sunbursts, very dark stains - anything which obscures the wood is a red flag to me. Intellectually I know that a quality guitar manufacturer (probably) isn't going to trash its own reputation by using crappy timber just because no-one will see it under the paint, but look at it this way. Suppose you were picking a few guitars off the line to be painted while the other ones go ahead with a standard clear finish .... wouldn't you naturally pick the ones with the visual flaws?

Whether that cosmetic factor translates into actual structural differences .... well, probably not. 

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^ None of which is any help to you. But I reckon @camf is on the right track. Sell the "good" one and keep the one that sounds and plays just as well but saves you a thousand pounds or so. Why not? It's not as if you couldn't think of something nice to do with a spare £1000.

Mellish

@Tannin '; - picking up on wood imperfections, I saw an electro-acoustic some years ago in Fuzz (no longer trading) that had a largish, circular dark imperfection on its honeyburst  top on the left shoulder. It could clearly be seen through the burst. 

Who bought it?  

That was a Gibson Hummingbird Modern Classic