Upgrading vs new

[Willy25]

Hello guys, i know theres probably allot question about this online, but i need advice hehe.

I have an ibanez gio grg121dx and a epiphone les paul 100, both cost me 200 each, but now they have problems.
The gio needs some fret work, intonation issues on the E string ( i cant fix it), and noisy tone knob, pickups( dont know). And epiphone not that bad only the nut is to hight and needs new pickups to muddy.

Is it cheap to fix all that? Or its gonna cost me the same as i pay for them or even more?

Or should i sell them and go for a mid range guitar with upgraded pickups?

 

[Coma]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Rule of thumb is don't put more money into a guitar than you can expect to sell it for unless:

1: It's a very good instrument
2: It's a very rare instrument that can be made good
3: It has sentimental value and you plan on playing it for the foreseeable future

At some point, guitars are like used cars - you can spend money to keep them running, but you wont get that money back once you sell it. Personally, I've spent dumb amouts of money on getting busted guitars up and running, but those all met the above critera, so to me, it was worth it.
Unless you're very attached to either of those guitars of yours, save your money and buy a better guitar. Neither of those are likely to increase if value. Once you do have something better, those guitars can be good platforms for developing your repair and modding skills.
Oh, and good thing to know: changing caps and pots is a lot cheaper than swapping pickups and can have drastic effects on your guitar's tone. You might wanna give that a try before you shell out for aftermarket pups or swap guitar.

 

[StoRMiE]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Keep both?

Spoiler

• If the nut itself is too high, tap it out with a piece of wood and a hammer, sand the bottom of it until it's the right height and superglue it back on with a dot of glue.
  
  
• If there's an individual string that happens to be too high, you can buy a set of torch tip files for roughly $3 and lower the height of it.
  
  
• If it's multiple high strings and multiple that are too low, a new pre-slotted nut (any material) is still pretty cheap and can be modified with said torch tip files with very little effort or experience.
  
  
• In terms of the LP sounding too dark, have you modified it in any way? caps do wonders and it would probably hold you over until you bought something else, just saying.
  

Sand paper $3
Torch Tip Files $3
0.022 or cap of your choice $3 with shipping.
New pre-slotted nut $4-9 with shipping.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Yea just as they said
Most can be fixed
Nut can be replaced, tone pots and caps

The Gio with the frets, not that one

Yea fret level and such
Replacing frets is more than it's worth

Both guitars can be had for less than $100 used
So thats the value

Keep that in mind
I would save a bit get something nicer
The ibby seems to be your favorite (it has the most wear)
Get a nice one

With that said
I have a RG2EX1 I got for $ 200 new
Added Carvin locking tuners, cause they were drop in replacements
Added Duncan JB/Jazz set
Triple shot rings
Paper in oil caps
Super switch

Plays awesome
Sounds great
Spent almost $400 in upgrades

Love.it
Was it worth it
No
Was it what I wanted.
Yes
Can I get any of that back if I sell it
No

 

[Mincer]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Well, upgrades and making a guitar play better never turns into adding value to the instrument unless those particular instruments have value to you more than their monetary worth. Or you can do the work yourself, and learn how to do things properly (it gives you a great platform to practice). Personally, I'd rather have one better guitar than 2 ok ones, but everyone is different.

 

[Willy25]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Yeah ill just sell them or learn to fix them on my own. Its going to be expensive taking them to a shop!

At what price point do you guys think a guitar has a good resale value and the only thing upgrading might be the pickups? Is 500 ok?

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Upgrading vs new

If you're interested in resale value then your best bet is to get a used guitar to begin with, the person that bought it new took the hit already and it is reasonable to expect to sell it for about as much as you bought it (more or less).

Just remember, money you'll spend fixing it up or upgrading it is money you'll probably never see back in the resale.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Upgrading vs new

I generally don't buy for resale unless I am buying sight unseen and don't know if it is a keeper. I buy the best guitar for me that I can afford- sometimes they are kind of expensive, and sometimes not. I generally don't go into a guitar purely for resale value, though- and for those, you have to stick with upper models from top brands. A new LP will compete with old LPs for resale, and you might not get what you put into it for quite a few years. Cheaper-to-mid level guitars may never regain value (unless a famous artist uses them) but make excellent platforms for customizing. Just don't go into that expecting any kind of return on investment.

 

[Willy25]

Re: Upgrading vs new

I know i wont get my money back with upgrades and stuff. Just looking for something that i wont regret. Like all 100 200 dollar guitars i have. I have to pay more of what they worth to fix them. I should of bought one good guitar.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Figure out everything you need to upgrade and calculate how much you are willing to spend, then go play a new instrument for that same price. If the new instrument solves all those problems, get rid of what you have and buy the new one. If the new one doesn't improve all those same areas, then start modding, starting with the cheapest part or the worst part.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Figure out everything you need to upgrade and calculate how much you are willing to spend, then go play a new instrument for that same price. If the new instrument solves all those problems, get rid of what you have and buy the new one. If the new one doesn't improve all those same areas, then start modding, starting with the cheapest part or the worst part.

This is good advice. I know it is difficult to price out mod upgrades: once you strat, it is hard to stop and just make it a little bit better.

But add your most desired mods up, include your time, too. You might be better at getting a new guitar, but maybe not. Hard to know at the beginning of the process.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Upgrading vs new

And keep in mind that you can get some very excellent guitars that will last a lifetime in the $400-600 range. I've even bought some "Stupid Deal of the Day" guitars from Musician's Friend for $300 that have turned out to be amazing guitars. Be picky and patient and you can buy a great playing guitar for $300-400.

I personally wouldn't put any money into either of those guitars.

 

[Willy25]

Re: Upgrading vs new

thanks everyone for the tips!! ill just keep what i have and also i rather have multiple guitars for different things like songs and tunings.

i have another question, changing the caps and pots on the ibanez, are all caps and pots the same quality? or this different types? if yes, which ones you
guys recommend? im interested in putting some single coil split function on the ibanez

 

[Mincer]

Re: Upgrading vs new

I am not someone who can hear the difference between types of caps, although different brands/types might have tighter or looser tolerances. So, I might hear something that is 20% out of tolerance vs 5%, but not what it is actually made out of.

 

[Willy25]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Ok go it. Ill just swap all of them because because it gets really noisy when your turn up the tone knob. When using lots of high gain. The LP doesnt have that problem.

 

[Willy25]

Re: Upgrading vs new

Figure out everything you need to upgrade and calculate how much you are willing to spend, then go play a new instrument for that same price. If the new instrument solves all those problems, get rid of what you have and buy the new one. If the new one doesn't improve all those same areas, then start modding, starting with the cheapest part or the worst part.

Ill like your advice!!! Im actually looking at some guitars on reverb.com and some match the money i will spend on my gio!