That’s a Dealbreaker!
You want Issues? This Great old 59 ES-345 Had 'em in Spades.
People buy vintage ES-335s and their brethren for one or both of two reasons. They are either collectors who want to own them and look at them and “have” them and maybe watch the value go up or they are players who want to play them and experience the tone of a true vintage instrument. Oh, and all combinations and permutations of the above. After 50 years or more of existence-and this goes for people as well as guitars-a certain amount of wear and tear is expected. And, mostly with guitars, a certain amount of modification occurs. Come to think of it, I know some people who have had some pretty serious modification as well. Hmm. When you’re in the market for a 335/345/355, how much modification and/or wear should you expect? What about repairs? Changed parts? This could be a very long post but we’ll start with some basics and see how long it goes. As a collector, it is pretty well universally agreed that the better the condition nand the more original a guitar is, the more it’s worth and the better the investment True, mostly. How about when you are looking at, say a dead mint ’69 for $5000 or an original but worn 66 for the same price? In my opinion, dead mint is dead mint and can’t really be played because it won’t be dead mint for long but dead mint commands a premium no matter what the year. So, I would have to say that a dead mint 69 is a better investment than a nice old 66. If you plan on playing however, the opposite is probably true in this case. The 69 will probably have a 3 piece neck and a short tenon and T-top pickups while the 66 will have a one piece neck, long tenon and pre T-top patent number pickups. Which would you rather play? Again, no brainer. It won’t always be that easy because dead mint doesn’t come along very often and so we have to deal with shades of gray rather than black and white. How about a 59 dot neck with a replaced neck for $10,000 or an all original 64 with some extra tuner holes and a removed Bigsby for the same price? Well, the 64 is probably the better investment since neither tuner holes or removed Bigsbys are dealbreakers (to me). Neither is a changed neck as long as everything else is straight and the work was done by Gibson. After all, the 59 will have PAFs and the 64 won’t. However, for a collector, the 59 isn’t going to ever appreciate in value very much because, fundamentally, it is no longer a 1959 guitar. Even with its extra holes, the 64 is still intact and original and that means the world to the collector. What about neck repairs? I bought a 64 335 for $2200 with both a reneck and a neck repair. The price was right for its deficiencies and these things were, as a result, not dealbreakers because the price reflected the deficiencies. It turned out to be a great player and I sold it to a dealer for a decent profit. Changed pickups? They can always be changed back if the price is right. Repairs and extra holes are there forever, so consider such guitars very carefully. If you’re a collector, any repair is going to be a dealbreaker. If you’re a player, a well repaired break can last forever and be an excellent deal. Refinishes? I’ve covered that in an older post but again, for a collector? Dealbreaker. For a player? Not a dealbreaker if the price is right and the price should be around 50% of an original finished one. What about extra holes? Well, it kind of depends where they are. I generally avoid guitars with holes in the top but extra tuner holes don’t bother me much. Even little holes in the top-like from removed Bigsbys or Vibrolas don’t really bother me as long as the price reflects it. Big holes from removed coil splitter switches that are in odd places? Dealbreaker (usually) even if repaired. Here’s the usually part…I had a 59 ES 345 that had 4 separate repairs in the top but was otherwise a great guitar. The finish was stripped from the top as well but it had 2 of the sweetest sounding double white PAFs I’ve ever heard. I paid a little under $10,000 for it at the very top of the market. I don’t think I’d pay that today, but it was a pretty good deal at the time. Again, the price made sense for the wear and tear. The pickups alone were probably worth $8000 at the time. So, look carefully at what’s available and understand that a player can tolerate a lot more crap than a collector and if you don’t care if you make a dime when you sell it, an “impacted” guitar can be a great deal and an even better player. There are plenty of other issues to look at specifically and we”ll eventually look at them all. And remember, friends don’t let friends buy 70’s ES 335s without playing them first.
