Old Flying V in poor state

[knirirr]

I currently play bass (and so would normally be found at Basschat) but recently saw mention of all fourths tuning and thought this might be the ideal opportunity to do a bit of guitar playing without much distraction from bass. In fact, it may even be helpful, given that it would allow the opportunity for playing chords, which I can't normally do (I only have fretless basses).

As I have an old 70s Gibson Flying V hanging around which I haven't touched since the early 1990s I thought that it might be worth trying to get that set up for this purpose. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be so simple, with the following required to make it really usable, in addition to a setup, new strings, cleaning etc.:

• The neck's not at the right angle and needs to be reset. I'm told that the body's been sanded thinner, which might not help.
• All the frets need to be replaced.
• Is that crack under the headstock in the finish, or the wood? Needs checking.
• The side dots have been painted over and need to be re-done.
• A new nut is needed.
• Possibly a new bridge as well.

So, probably about £500, which is a bit much for the amount of use I'd get from it. Even more if anything particularly dodgy were to be found under the finish, and a refinish would be yet more still. This couldn't be done until August at the earliest.

It's tempting to simply buy a Squier Telecaster, which would be much cheaper than even the minimum repair cost, but then the V will still be taking up space. What do people think about these guitars - worth the cost to refurbish?
 

Edited January 24, 2020 by knirirr

[ezbass]

Iconic Gibson. Ergonomically useless, but cool as a polar bear with refrigerated underwear. As it apparently needs so much work and your proposed usage level, it might be worth moving it on, investing in a Tele and using the leftover £s for whatever (I’m sure there’d be a surplus).

[knirirr]

11 hours ago, ezbass said:

Iconic Gibson. Ergonomically useless, but cool as a polar bear with refrigerated underwear. As it apparently needs so much work and your proposed usage level, it might be worth moving it on, investing in a Tele and using the leftover £s for whatever (I’m sure there’d be a surplus).

I have indeed now ordered a Squier Tele - even including some decent strings and a proper setup it’s still just under £200, which is the amount I could have spared for the V’s repairs. 

[Si600]

Hang it on the wall and call it art?

[knirirr]

12 hours ago, Si600 said:

Hang it on the wall and call it art?

It might end up going that way, eventually. 

[EdwardMarlowe]

Unless you'tre particularly sentimentally attached ot it, I'd be looking into what it might be worth as is. Soundsl ike it has its problems, but it'll still have an appeal to the folks who want to buy a "vintage Gibson" - like Fenders, the once sneered-at 70s models are slowly going up in value as the earlier stuff has become unbuyable for most mortals. Potentially worth seeing whether spending a couple of hundred getting it 'right;' would be realised in selling it too. I wouldn't mess around with it myself; the sort of customisation is, imo, best done to an instrument that isn't likely to have any realvalue that could be 'ruined' by it.

[knirirr]

On 25/02/2020 at 17:19, EdwardMarlowe said:

Unless you'tre particularly sentimentally attached to it, I'd be looking into what it might be worth as is.

Apologies for not spotting this comment earlier. Funnily enough I was thinking today that if I were to move it on I might be able to squeeze a double bass into the spot it currently occupies...

I'm not really sure about value, but I would guess that £250 for the guitar plus £500 for the work would give someone a vintage Gibson at a reasonable price.

There's certainly a sentimental value attached to it but whether that's worth using up limited storage space is another question.

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by knirirr