Vintage 67' Gibson SG

[TinPan]

My customer has a question before any work is done; It is a 1967 Gibson SG in super clean condition except no sound from the Bridge pup (could be any number of causes, I have not seen it yet) But I suspect a bad connection/solder joint or a bad vol pot. The question is if I do any replacement pot's/caps/wiring/pups and so on does it effect the value of the guitar?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Vintage 67' Gibson SG

I think you have to let the customer know whats wrong, what you can do to fix it, and let him/her know the pros/cons of using modern or vintage replacement parts. The customer makes the decision in the end.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Vintage 67' Gibson SG

Yes, it does affect the value of the guitar. But if it has to be done, it has to be done. Just keep all original parts. The guitar is not that valuable anyhow, so it also has that going for it.

Hopefully it's just a faulty solder on the switch.

 

[Artie]

Re: Vintage 67' Gibson SG

Depending on what the actual problem is, sometimes you can carefully disassemble a pot and bring it back to life. I just successfully did this on an old Gibson F-hole where we didn't want to break all the shield solder connections on the back of the pot. If a track is actually bad, you can sometimes remove the cover and just replace the guts of the pot. That way you keep the original solder connections and look.

 

[DonP]

Re: Vintage 67' Gibson SG

Could simply be the selector switch. If the switch was left in the neck position for a long time, oxidation could have built up on the bridge contacts. This happens a lot with non-Switchcraft switches.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Vintage 67' Gibson SG

A '67 SG is going to go for a few thousand these days and likely to appreciate more over time so keeping it as original as possible is a good thing value wise, espcially if it is otherwise original. That's not a crazy amount in the vintage market but that is still a fair dollar for a guitar.

Repairing or replacing a bad pot is possible but it could be a number of things as you say, finding a proper vintage replacement is worth the investment if that's what it is. A bad solder joint is simple but do it well, it'll matter. If it's something like a bad coil on the pickup that's a whole other ball of wax though so be thorough.