Buying a vintage guitar

Luke29 · April 2020

Hey everyone,

First post here, hello!

I’m in the market for a new guitar. Specifically something old.

Being a lefty, I naturally got more into amps than guitars due to the lack of choice. My main gigging and last guitar I bought was a MIM Strat from 2007 which I’ve modified over the years (80s MIJ neck, pups, bridge block, etc), so I think I deserve something new to look forward to.

I love older gear (older the better for me) and I want something that I can play but is unlikely to lose me money if I decide to sell later down the line. Ideally, I’d like something that’ll be worth holding on to with the potential for it to increase in value (I do intend to buy a guitar to play it and not just look at it though).

I had a chat about this with a mate and he suggested a 60s Gibson melody maker, an SG Junior, an Epiphone Olympic, or an old Fender of some sort. I could restring and set these up to play lefty quite easily without messing around with them too much.

What do you guys think of this idea and suggestions above? Any others I should look at?

My budget is up to £2k for the ideal guitar, but preferably more towards the £1k mark.

I just want something with history, character and something that I wouldn’t actually want to sell (but could potentially turn into a house deposit for my future children, haha).

Any info or insight into the appreciating vintage market would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Luke

mark123 · April 2020

buy a fender relic custom shop 2k s/h ,will play better and sound as good as most vintage strats without the worry of being ripped off .

designerseye88 · April 2020

I’d advise something like a melody maker and if your a lefty then a double cut so post 1961. From fender something like a music master or a duo sonic or a nice mustang would be within that budget. The guitars were all student models so finding really clean ones can be tricky. That said they are very good instruments in their own right. I have an early melody maker and it’s the most resonant guitar I have and sounds great. I picked it up on eBay for a very fair price so take your time to look and wait.
Main thing is do you research and maybe get out to some guitar shows once the lockdown is over. Also keep an eye on here and the usual places. Most of all buy it to enjoy it, Good luck!

barnstorm · April 2020

Obviously it means less choice, but I'd definitely make lefty the priority… Just swapping the nut and restringing won't work for anything with a slanted wraparound bridge, or anything that has a straight but compensated wraptail.

Fenders will mostly allow you to do that, but the position of the controls (and in many cases the input jack) is more of an inconvenience on a flipped guitar than I could put up with.

Funkfingers · April 2020

Flipping a right-handed mk2 or mk3 Gibson Melody Maker to use left-handed will create several problems.

1) The control knobs and the cable plugged into the output jack socket will be directly in the way of your strumming/picking hand.

2) Unless you play with the low E string closest to the ground, the preset intonation ridge along the wrapover bridge will be the reverse of what you require. It will be necessary to obtain a replacement part whose intonation ridge is preset for a plain G string.

3) The nut will need either reslotting or replacing. This will negatively affect the guitar’s monetary worth.

Revolting1 · April 2020

Hi luke, welcome to tfb

I've got a genuine lefty your probably not interested in, its a MIM strat pre millenium, currently strung upside down as I'm a right hooker (I wanted the Hendrix experience of using one upside down),I got it.

Its made in Corona California; black with a maple fretboard , stock middle and neck pups, hot rail bridge position low action happy quick playing stratect.

I've got a few strats so Its not getting much use atm- I'm happy to sell or swap for a right hooker

Jazz Master/Les Paul/Rabs/Feline/JJ/Daniels/Poopot/or PX cash either way

gringopig · April 2020

.

ICBM · April 2020

For £1K you’re unlikely to find anything that is left-handed, vintage, and good - maybe difficult even at £2K.

As Funkfingers said, you can’t flip most vintage Gibsons - I would go further than just the stoptail ones too, you can’t even really do it with a normal angled tune-o-matic. That probably leaves a 70s SG with a ‘harmonica’ bridge as the best option, and even then you will need to do work on the saddles and the nut. And the controls and pickguard will still be in the wrong place.

I would look for an older CS or standard US Fender, which are rare but not non-existent in left-handed. Even those have some irritations that need fixing, like the wrong taper pots for LH, and RH-numbered knobs.

Old is cool, but good is better...

McToot · April 2020

ICBM said:

For £1K you’re unlikely to find anything that is left-handed, vintage, and good - maybe difficult even at £2K.

Old is cool, but good is better...

This. In spades. Wis to our forum wis-meister

JezWynd · April 2020

ES-125 might be a good call - requires minimal changes to play lefty if you don’t mind pots in the wrong position. Flip the wooden bridge and fit a new nut.

SteveRobinson · April 2020

JezWynd said:

ES-125 might be a good call - requires minimal changes to play lefty if you don’t mind pots in the wrong position. Flip the wooden bridge and fit a new nut.

If you flip the bridge, it still ends up with the wrong stagger.

JezWynd · April 2020

SteveRobinson said:

JezWynd said:

ES-125 might be a good call - requires minimal changes to play lefty if you don’t mind pots in the wrong position. Flip the wooden bridge and fit a new nut.

If you flip the bridge, it still ends up with the wrong stagger.

Epic fail on my part. Is a left hand bridge a thing?

ICBM · April 2020

JezWynd said:

Epic fail on my part. Is a left hand bridge a thing?

Yes. It would be easy enough to make just a left-handed top piece for it though - or fit a tune-o-matic, since the bridge base is movable so you can correct the overall angle.

guitars4you · April 2020

ICBM said:

For £1K you’re unlikely to find anything that is left-handed, vintage, and good - maybe difficult even at £2K.

As Funkfingers said, you can’t flip most vintage Gibsons - I would go further than just the stoptail ones too, you can’t even really do it with a normal angled tune-o-matic. That probably leaves a 70s SG with a ‘harmonica’ bridge as the best option, and even then you will need to do work on the saddles and the nut. And the controls and pickguard will still be in the wrong place.

I would look for an older CS or standard US Fender, which are rare but not non-existent in left-handed. Even those have some irritations that need fixing, like the wrong taper pots for LH, and RH-numbered knobs.

Old is cool, but good is better...

probably the best sentence I've read on FB

barnstorm · April 2020

ICBM said:
Old is cool, but good is better...

The only properly old guitars I've encountered that are nice to play and genuinely affordable are certain lap steels. The problem with them is that I'm rubbish at lap steel.

guitars4you · April 2020

barnstorm said:

ICBM said:
Old is cool, but good is better...

The only properly old guitars I've encountered that are nice to play and genuinely affordable are certain lap steels. The problem with them is that I'm rubbish at lap steel.

I should have added a bit to my posting - There are some good old guitars, but there are many that are mediocre at best and others that are just crap with regards to how they feel/play - This applies to many brands across various era's

Some 'old guitars' with character, are often improved regarding playability, once they have been customised and become 'players grade' instruments - Obviously values need to be adjusted accordingly

JamieWakeham · April 2020

1970s strats and teles ought to be within budget, and LH examples do exist. The decade is often written off completely in terms of quality, but I reckon it's variable rather than uniformly bad! Good ones do exist; you just need to be discerning and patient. Whether they'll appreciate further is anyone's guess...

Funkfingers · April 2020

JezWynd said:

SteveRobinson said:

JezWynd said:

ES-125 might be a good call - requires minimal changes to play lefty if you don’t mind pots in the wrong position. Flip the wooden bridge and fit a new nut.

If you flip the bridge, it still ends up with the wrong stagger.

Epic fail on my part. Is a left hand bridge a thing?

The issue on many elderly Gibson bridges of either handedness is their preset intonation profile. They assume a wound G.

Mojoaxe versus original Gibson parts.

https://i.imgur.com/VxH8M2E.jpg

chris78 · April 2020

guitars4you said:

barnstorm said:

ICBM said:
Old is cool, but good is better...

The only properly old guitars I've encountered that are nice to play and genuinely affordable are certain lap steels. The problem with them is that I'm rubbish at lap steel.

I should have added a bit to my posting - There are some good old guitars, but there are many that are mediocre at best and others that are just crap with regards to how they feel/play - This applies to many brands across various era's

Some 'old guitars' with character, are often improved regarding playability, once they have been customised and become 'players grade' instruments - Obviously values need to be adjusted accordingly

There is definitely a view that older is better and I’ve not seen that borne out in practice. Most of the vintage stuff I’ve had/played ranges from average to awful. Having said that, the two best guitars I’ve ever played were a 63 tele and a 65 strat. For consistency, you can’t beat modern guitars.

guitars4you · April 2020

chris78 said:

guitars4you said:

barnstorm said:

ICBM said:
Old is cool, but good is better...

The only properly old guitars I've encountered that are nice to play and genuinely affordable are certain lap steels. The problem with them is that I'm rubbish at lap steel.

I should have added a bit to my posting - There are some good old guitars, but there are many that are mediocre at best and others that are just crap with regards to how they feel/play - This applies to many brands across various era's

Some 'old guitars' with character, are often improved regarding playability, once they have been customised and become 'players grade' instruments - Obviously values need to be adjusted accordingly

There is definitely a view that older is better and I’ve not seen that borne out in practice. Most of the vintage stuff I’ve had/played ranges from average to awful. Having said that, the two best guitars I’ve ever played were a 63 tele and a 65 strat. For consistency, you can’t beat modern guitars.

In my experience the 'older is better' tag came about in the 70's and early 80's - And during that time it made sense - Fender and Gibson in particular, but add Gretsch + Martin to this list, certainly had changed features, details, spec's etc and they were not as good as what came before, for various factors - It also had something to do with the fact that production levels had increased by a large margin and at the time they did not know how to produce such increased numbers, coupled with retaining quality etc - Coupled with change in ownership and the 'bean counter' accountancy led management teams now in charge

Moving on to today and now many companies take advantage of the likes of CNC, plus able to see the good and past in previous eras, as such they know what to build and how to build it with a far great level of consistency - Agree there are some good old guitars and no 2 ways about that fact - But there are certainly many examples that get better the further you walk away from them

Luke29 · April 2020

Thanks everyone for the insight, it’s appreciated.

I’ll do my research and have a think as to what to do next and take the advice on board.

I quite like the idea of leaving it completely standard and just learning to play upside down. Easy, no doubt, eh...

If anyone does see a decent deal on something in my criteria, please do shoot it my way. I’m serious when I say I’d give learning to play upside down a go! Bonus if it actually is a lefty...

Cheers again.

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