I Can’t Afford a No Issue 335: Part 2
Not a 335 but a good bad repair. Here, the turnbuckles tend to get in the way when I try to do the Duane Allman part of Layla. Without those things in the way, I can nail it.
Yesterday we looked at issues relating to changed parts and refinishing. Today, the larger and more intrusive issue of breaks, repairs and structural damage. So, what about an otherwise correct example that has been repaired? The guys who do the repairs will tell you that the glue is stronger than the wood and a properly repaired break will be stable and hold indefinitely. Again, let some common sense take the lead on this. If the headstock was put back on with sheetrock screws through the fingerboard, you might want to pass that one by. I’ve seen necks nailed on, necks with added steel plates a la Fender and some just unbelievably bad home made repairs that will curl your hair. So, clearly, you don’t want to be spending money on a guitar that has been poorly repaired. If the price is low enough and the parts are original, it may be worth looking into as a parts source or, if you have some expertise, maybe it can be redone correctly. Me, I stay away from most repaired headstocks. I’ve had some bad experiences with a few. If an expert like Dan Erlewine did one of his invisible grafts, I would be more likely to take a shot. Look at the finish. A good headstock repair should be virtually invisible. If the luthier has finished over it in black or other opaque color, you should see no lumps or raised areas. Rule of thumb? Cut the price in half, at least. Perhaps even less. I got a 64 with both a replaced neck and a headstock break for $2200 and it played very well. The neck was a bit thin but everything else was original. the pickups alone were worth almost what I paid for the entire guitar. The issue that I find to be the most difficult to assess is a repaired neck joint. These necks are glued in place and glue does not last forever. While 335s and their siblings tend to remain pretty solid-unlike, say, an SG, they still sometimes require some work. If no wood is broken and the neck is simply reset and the finish touched up, I see no reason to pass it by. In fact, these can be the real sleepers in the bargain 335 department. A 335 with a reset will go for about the same as one with a headstock repair. However, if the wood is intact and the neck was simply reglued, the guitar has probably been less compromised than it might be from a refret. Old glue out, new glue in. The guitar will be pretty much as it was when it left the factory except for some finish touch up. It’s interesting that a large percentage of pre-war Martins have had a neck reset and it has little or no effect on the value of the instrument. It’s kind of expected according to a well known repairman/luthier with whom I recently consulted on my 64 SG. If the neck has broken away from the body by breaking the body around the neck, then I’m more likely to stay away. These are complex fixes because the intonation can be severely compromised as can the neck angle. It takes a very skilled luthier to fix this issue. Likewise a neck that is broken somewhere other than the heel. And if the guitar hasn’t been repaired? Unless the price is really compelling, I don’t buy guitars that need repairs simply because you will never get your investment back if you have the work done. Never, ever. Once it’s broken, it can’t be unbroken and quality work of this nature is expensive. So expensive in fact that it could possibly eat up every dime you saved buying a broken guitar. I bought a broken SG Custom years ago as a project for $1800. It’s value, at the time was around $3500 or so. I had the headstock repaired but they had to refinish the entire neck and then it didn’t quite match the body, so I had that done too. Add in the cost of putting the guitar back together and setting it back up, I was into it for an additional $1100. Once repaired it was still about an $1800 guitar. OK maybe $2400 but nowhere near what I paid to have it done. On the other hand if you end up with a guitar you love that you will never sell, then OK, go nuts as long as you go into it knowing what you might be in for. There are other issues that I haven’t covered in my posts like binding repairs (little effect on price), refrets (if well done, they don’t really affect the value appreciably). The same with retipped tuners, especially on 58 and 59s because they almost always deteriorate. Finally, what about play wear? We’ve all seen beat to hell guitars going for huge money. What’s the deal here and why do people pay for fake play wear on new guitars. As usual, we’ll cover this in another post.
Nicely Done. Break is lower than the usual Gibson headstock break.
Here's where they usually break.
Turnbuckles! That’s a great picture. Being that I have more experience with Martin acoustics than anything else, I’m well accustomed to neck resets and wouldn’t let a professionally done one stop me. Good post!