Have a Gibson to Sell?
If you have an old guitar that you’d like to sell, I might be interested in buying from you. For me to be interested, it should say “Gibson” on the headstock (where the tuners are) and it should look something like the guitars below. I buy every guitar of this type that comes to me provided it was built between 1958 and 1965 and we can come to an agreement on the price. I will help you date it if you are unsure. Usually, I will make you an offer based on the book value minus my usual markup and overhead. If you have a price in mind, it should not be based on a bunch of prices of unsold guitars you found on Ebay or Reverb. If I’m paying cash for your guitar today, please understand that you might be able to sell it for more than I offer you but it will likely take you a long time to do so. These guitars rarely sell overnight. You are, essentially, making a choice. You can sell it today for a fair wholesale price or you can try to sell it yourself at a retail price. I pay you immediately. If you sell it on Ebay and you don’t know what you have, you could be selling it for thousands less than it is worth. There are also a lot of scammers out there who will take your guitar and not pay you. On the other hand, you could get more than I offer and it could happen very quickly. I urge you to try if you’re willing to do the homework and brave the open market because you will get more for it at retail. I am, however, the sure thing. If you can see a model name, I buy ES-335, ES-345, ES-355 guitars from 1958-1965. I may buy later guitars. It doesn’t hurt (or cost anything) to ask. I don’t buy any guitars made after 1985. I also may buy Gibson Les Paul models, SG models, Firebirds and archtops from before 1965. I occasionally buy Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters and Jazzmasters. I buy Fender tweed covered amps built between 1955 and 1961. Finally, I can help you sell it for yourself. I will sell your guitar for you on this site and my Gbase site and on Reverb and take a percentage of the final price. Just email me a description and a couple of photos if you can to okguitars@gmail.com
If your guitar looks sort of like this and says Gibson, I want it. This is an ES-335.
This is an ES-345 with a Bigsby tremolo tailpiece. It is typically worth a bit less than a 335 unless it is finished in natural like this one. The Bigsby tailpiece takes 25% off the value as well. I want these, too.
If you have an old one that looks like this or like this with a gold finish, I’m interested in that as well. This is a Les Paul model.
If you have one that looks like this and is old, I might be interested as well. This was also called a Les Paul model between 1961 and 1963 but was later called an SG. If you have one made between 1961 and 1965, I’ll be buying that too.
This is a “reverse” Firebird. If you have one that looks kind of like this (it can be one two or three pickups), I’ll be interested in buying it. These were only made from 1963-1964 with a few shipped in 1965. It has been reissued. I am not interested in the reissues.
As a vintage dealer, I have no idea. I think they are in the ballpark but doing research is pretty easy. Not as easy as asking me but do a search on Ebay and Reverb and see what they sell for.