Folks-
You have been very helpful on some of my projects in the past and would appreciate advice regarding the biggest project I would ever be involved in, but wouldn't want to do myself- I would appreciate any thoughts or direction as I'm in no hurry and want to do this right when I do it-
My main guitar in the 70s and 80s is what I believe is a refinished 61LP special- I say beleive because the serieal number is only partially readable as a result of the refinish-
Photo links that follow aren't very good, but here's what was done to it (before I bought it)
1. P90s rerouted for dimarzio pafs
2. Vibrato tail piece replaced with a badass
3. tuners replaced with grovers
4. Painted black (finish has not held up well)- As far as I can tell almost all specials were heritage cherry except a very polaris whites-
5. "Les Paul" is a decal on top of the finsih
These mods made this a great playing guitar, but completely devalued it as a collectors item- I also play wide 25.5 necks these days so I doubt I will do more than play slide on it any time soon-
With that background, what would you do with it, assuming i will probalby keep if for sentimental reasons? Heres some thoughts-
1. Complete rebuild to original specs- This would be really expensive and assuming it had an original cherry red finish, really hard to cover up cavity repairs. I'm guessing this just doesn't make any sense, or might it have more value and cost less than I am guessing.
2. Rebuild the 61 special as a 68 special- The batwing pickgaurd would hide the rout issues with the refinish, and as long as I can get original hardware at a decent price, I would think this would be affordable- But would it devalue it even more, or increase it's value?
3. Keep it like it is? As I said, it's one heck of a playing guitar but no longer has historical value-
Any ideas or direction on who I might want to talk to would be really appreciated!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/zionstrat/P1010005.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/zionstrat/P1010003.jpg
You have been very helpful on some of my projects in the past and would appreciate advice regarding the biggest project I would ever be involved in, but wouldn't want to do myself- I would appreciate any thoughts or direction as I'm in no hurry and want to do this right when I do it-
My main guitar in the 70s and 80s is what I believe is a refinished 61LP special- I say beleive because the serieal number is only partially readable as a result of the refinish-
Photo links that follow aren't very good, but here's what was done to it (before I bought it)
1. P90s rerouted for dimarzio pafs
2. Vibrato tail piece replaced with a badass
3. tuners replaced with grovers
4. Painted black (finish has not held up well)- As far as I can tell almost all specials were heritage cherry except a very polaris whites-
5. "Les Paul" is a decal on top of the finsih
These mods made this a great playing guitar, but completely devalued it as a collectors item- I also play wide 25.5 necks these days so I doubt I will do more than play slide on it any time soon-
With that background, what would you do with it, assuming i will probalby keep if for sentimental reasons? Heres some thoughts-
1. Complete rebuild to original specs- This would be really expensive and assuming it had an original cherry red finish, really hard to cover up cavity repairs. I'm guessing this just doesn't make any sense, or might it have more value and cost less than I am guessing.
2. Rebuild the 61 special as a 68 special- The batwing pickgaurd would hide the rout issues with the refinish, and as long as I can get original hardware at a decent price, I would think this would be affordable- But would it devalue it even more, or increase it's value?
3. Keep it like it is? As I said, it's one heck of a playing guitar but no longer has historical value-
Any ideas or direction on who I might want to talk to would be really appreciated!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/zionstrat/P1010005.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/zionstrat/P1010003.jpg
