The allure of collecting vintage guitars can be intoxicating. The vintage tone, history and potential value make them hard to resist. But looks can be deceiving. While a guitar may initially look great, it must be structurally correct (playable and not falling apart) to be worth anything but hanging on the wall, spend its life in a case, or be resold.
I wrote this to attempt to enlighten people to the pitfalls of vintage guitar collecting. The thrill of the chase is only the first part. A careful inspection is required to determine if the guitar is worth the asking price. In some cases the guitar is very rare and you may never find another one. But in most cases, some (or a lot!) of patience will result in finding a better version.
Buying a vintage guitar is like buying a used car. It may sound good, but you don’t know what’s under the hood until you take a closer look. And you need to know what to look for. Many problems can be fixed but do you have the money or the ability to do it?
The FULL 5 page current version (v2.2.1), dated 2/9/20, is available here –> HERE