The vintage guitar market is repulsive

idk, maybe it sounds great. the price doesn't seem right to me at all tho. this is obviously not the kind of guitar you'd buy without playing. the refinish of unknown provenance is pretty scary.

although here's an unfuckedwith '67 for $9K so who knows; crazy this is where the cbs-era prices are

https://reverb.com/item/1682490-1967-fender-esquire-telecaster-vintage-blonde-finish-electric-guitar-with-fender-hardshell-case

Pretty nice red on that finish though.
worth a grand right there

Well - “old wood” is exactly where it’s at in the vintage market, and since the neck has a far greater influence on both playing and sound than the body does the fact that it’s only a body refinish doesn’t hurt its value so much. These aesthetics and value system are long established in the vintage market, railing against it is like getting shitty about diamonds being considered more valuable than sapphires. Not sure how that makes it “repulsive”, if you don’t share that value system then buy what you consider to be equally good and enjoy the money saved. I don’t give a shit about vintage which is why 90% of my guitars are 70s-80s Japanese made - killer instruments, cheap to buy.

“old wood” is exactly where it’s at in the vintage market

This is what's so incredibly dumb - if anything is going to make the guitar special it would be the pickup, which in this case has been replaced by something you can buy for $100 brand new.

I agree the pickup would be a big contributor, but "old wood" has a few factors to consider as well. Fifty years of ageing will change the structure and the moisture content significantly - some suggest that sap resins also crystallise - and the timber used in the sixties was sourced and dried very differently than the stuff used today. Also the lacquers differ enormously between then and now, even for things called "nitrocellulose" - the plasticisers and solvents have changed a lot for hazard reasons. Being a 1966 guitar it was probably finished in polyurethane, but a thin aged polyurethane finish can be desirable too. Lastly anything made since the 70s will have less hand finishing - Fender were using automated jigs and routers even in the 50s of course, but the attention to individual instruments has decreased steadily with the advent of better CNC and measurement control.
I have guitars which are 5 years old and some which are 50 years old, and for whatever reason, the older stuff feels better overall. I don't know why exactly, and it may not stand up to analysis, but that's why people pay more for them. For me the sweet spot is paying a few hundred for a Greco or a Squier made in the 70s or early 80s, rather than thousands for a prestige collectable like this.

the whole reissue literally everything market also irritates me

I mean stuff like this, which just popped up in my facebook feed, bothers me even more than the vintage guitar market:

https://reverb.com/item/11400075-evh-frankenstein-limited-collectors-replica-guitar-frankenstrat

Yeah that stuff is stupid - purely souvenir hunting, like buying a prop replica from Star Wars or something.

Attended an amazing panel on pick-ups with Lindy Fralin, Jason Lollar, and Harry Häussel recently -- according to them, vintage pick-ups are a complete crap shoot and the wood absolutely matters. When some guitar god calls them and says "I want a PAF", each one of those three asks to get the specific guitar on a bench. Fenders are usually more consistent than other manufacturers' pick-ups, but also less special (sez they).

For $25k, Eddie should have mixed his own blood into the red paint or something equally creepy.

this guitar comes with a great set of extras: an Anvil Flight Case that was painstakingly re-created to look like Eddie's, a letter from Eddie, a signed 8x10" photo, Eddie's "Baby" DVD, five EVH guitar picks, the original shipping box, and much more

Nah, too expen---

Wait a second! It comes with FIVE PICKS?

Buy that guitar, play “a tear for Eddie,” die happy

just saw this exciting new malcolm young signature gretsch, which comes with not one but two (TWO!) pickups already removed for your convenience:

https://images.guitarguitar.co.uk/small/150/news_753_malcolm_young_1.jpg

the marketing blurb includes this line:

This G6131-MY is from the Japanese factory so not only is the quality extremely high, it will be available at a price that will be much more accessible that the previous (excellent) USA Custom Shop model!

that much more accessible price? a mere £2,639!

https://imgur.com/CBbuGE3l.png

I'd pay plenty for a Simonon signature custom-smashed replica P-Bass

Get a load of this

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/1966-FENDER-MUSTANG-USA-CHARCOAL-EDITION-a-la-JIMI-HENDRIX/174675616996

That’s quite a way to spin “fire damaged”

I blowtorched a spare unfinished body at the height of pandemic crafting season, it turned out much better than that.

* broken E string ( can be replaced easily )

I have only one burning desire (to rip off gullible people on eBay)
Let me stand next to your fire (so I can ruin this '1966 Mustang')

Lol!

* an interesting conversation piece for long winter nights......

"Harold, why the FUCK did you buy this for me??!!"

lol @ "returns accepted".

"sorry mate, u told me the tuner buttons were melted, but one of them is intact."

'in melted condition' is pretty amazing work

Starting to think this is just a Craigslist shitpost but on eBay for some reason

https://reverb.com/item/31832316-fender-broadcaster-pots-switch-cap-1950

Imagine the fine rusty tones you could get from installing these.

gotta get that mojo.

an acquaintance of mine builds amps and pedals in his spare time. he would go through a big bucket of transistors until he found the right one, which he would always pick out with a flourish and say yeah, this one's got the mojo.

lol.

this is my favorite ridiculous listing:
https://reverb.com/item/39707321-1956-gibson-les-paul-special-switch-tip-vintage-original-les-paul-switch-tip-from-1956-fit-a-burst

You can get current ones for $2 or even stupid reliced ones for $9 which is still $490.99 less than the vintage one

Everyone knows that the switch tip is where the toanz reside

It looks like a mis-shapen Werther's Original.

Damn it, I knew I should have saved my old broken shit

xps - building amps is so impressive to me. I’m shit at soldering, changing the battery snap on a fuzz pedal was stressful.

snap dat solder boy

Esp since tubes can kill you, xp

you mean the high dc voltage to bias? Or you worry about the stuff in the tubes?

Yeah I mean the electrocution risk. But I have no experience whatsoever trying to work on amps nor intent to try.