Re: Buy/Sell advice
And on the flip side.....
Guitar Center is notorious for charging way too much for vintage gear. At least around here they are. Tell the manager you've got a "friend" who picked up a 72 deluxe with a repaired neck for $800. Got it off ebay no less about a year ago and I don't regret it one bit. It's the "nicest Paul I've ever played", which of course only means it's the one that I prefer over all the others I've played.
Here's the scoop--and as always, it's just an opinion--If you've played it, you love it, YOU'RE PLANNING ON KEEPING IT, and you don't mind the crack, I'd walk in with cash and try to get it for around the same $800 I paid. Bottom line is it's only worth what it's worth to you. I happen to like the early seventies Les Paul guitars better than anything later.
Everyone else is right. It will be hard to sell and a refin will lower the value even more. I feel I got awful lucky with mine as it was sight unseen, but it was an impulse buy and I just had a feeling. I'm a Page fanatic and really wanted a cherry sunburst LP, and the bridge pickup was re-routed for a humbucker (another value killer) so I went for it. I would see if they would let you buy it with a ten day or so trial with a full money back guarantee so you can bring it to a guitar tech and get an opinion as to whether it's gonna split in two or what. Your dad may be a great woodworker or refinisher, but an instrament luthier is a different animal as they (a good one) know about the stress the strings put on the body and how this crack will affect the tone. Good luck, hope I helped out a little. :smoker:
