54 tele with a 63 neck

[drichard170]

Found someone with a 54 telebody and a 63 neck. Factory swapout. there is a big R penciled(hard) in the neck hole. See my photo's fora pic or two.
How does this diminish the value? a 54 in pristine condition is 30 thousand, a63 is like ten grand I guess. What the hell do I offer this guy? No case, leaning against the wall in a closet. Surprised he never got drunk and sold it at the bar for $100. you know the type.

Is it just a player at this point. It was his father's guitar and dad did not trim his fingernails and it needs a refret. If I did not know who the guy is I would have called bullpoop! but since he also insists the repair was done at gibson in the late 70's I am sure he doesn't realize it was the 60's and more than likely 64/65. He also believes it is a '52 but the tape in the control cavity reads Becky 54 and the neck is clearly stamped 3 NOV 63.

thoughts and opinions

I used to have a'66 tele and really miss it and obviously this thing is caling me at night. I think I can scrape up about 5 grand for it but since it is a relatives' in law I don't want to hear repercussions by low balling him. Right now I am using a tokai tele and my gretsches so I would love to have this one.

[Dizi]

I have a 54 I will sell to you. I only modded it to look exactly like a Classic Vibe, but otherwise it's all original.

[Guitarmadcat]

What pix???

Anyway, ask HIM to tell YOU how much he wants for it - should sidestep any interference from the family. He's selling it, after all.

You wouldn't expect to go into a guitar shop, ask how much the Tele is, only to be told, "Dunno - what d'ya reckon?"

[allen st. john]

This is a tough one in that this guitar seems to be a collection of parts. A finish issue or other replaced parts will mean a huge hit on value.
FWIW, I wouldn't think that a guitar shop would give him much more than $5,000.
Obviously, this would make a little more sense to us with pics.
Good luck
allen

[drichard170]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8483632@N06/

2 pages

I put them on flickr because I think the file size is too big for uploads here. I'll figure it out.
Dizi - I hear you, usually that is what I find when someone tells about some great guitar and then you're let down!
Guitarmadcat - part of the problem is he figured out how to search on gbase and thinks he has a pristine 54 and then looks at the PM blues(ironically right in my hometown of pawtucket RI) ad asking $49,000
Allen - that is pretty much how I see it but I wish I did not have to break the news to him. I believe that his dad really had the neck done at the fender factory in the 60's but it still then becomes a partsocaster. Plays really nice though.

[KevinB]

Originally Posted by drichard170

and the neck is clearly stamped 3 NOV 63.

Not that it's a big deal, but keep in mind that the first character (3) just indicates that it's a Telecaster neck (not that it was made on Dec 3rd).

The letter B at the end means that the neck is 1 5/8" wide at the nut, which is the "normal" width.

[drichard170]

The photosw are 2 MB in size so I'll have to resave them at a different resolution. I used a Kodak camera.

That's right KevinB, I was just kind of excited that he wanted to take the neck off right then to see.

[68thinline]

Probably not worth spending $5000 without an original neck (and an expert opinion on the authenticity of the body).

Look for a date stamp under the pickups.

Obviously, the printed circuit-board switch is not original, but that shouldn't be a big deal.

Correction: not a date "stamp" but a handwritten date.

[drichard170]

Thanks thinline, the control cavity has a Beck '54 penciled in on masking tape, but as of recently he is going the "If I don't get 20 grand then I am not selling." so It looks like it sits inthe closet. Good side is that his daughter will have a pretty neat guitar someday!

These things never ususally pan out, but this did have warning track power when I first saw it.

[Zmatko]

Yeah well, his daughter will have a very fine guitar.
No need to wrestle with stubborn sellers that's what i say, i think Allen St.John stated a pretty much appreciated value at 5 grand without the resell value/speculation.

But if you can offer him 5 grand and you're interested then why not? Your only argument may be the collector's value.
The risk is always that the seller has a breakdown and sells for half of your estimated offer (happened to me once).

Good luck.

[getbent]

he might get closer to his price by parting the guitar out....

It is interesting to me that the guy took the guitar in for a new neck in the 70's and they gave him a 1963 replacement part...

[drichard170]

Getbent, I don't think he is remembering correctly. At first he insisted that gibson did the repair, so.......I'm betting it was done '63/'64 but really who knows.

Either way it was cool as hell to see one in the wild so to speak. The fret wear is also telling of an older strum along kind of guy. The fret wear was all below the seventh fret and you could tell his dad never bent a note in his life!

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by drichard170

Thanks thinline, the control cavity has a Beck '54 penciled in on masking tape, but as of recently he is going the "If I don't get 20 grand then I am not selling." so It looks like it sits inthe closet. Good side is that his daughter will have a pretty neat guitar someday!

These things never ususally pan out, but this did have warning track power when I first saw it.

It's the masking tape thing that bothers me. My understanding (I'm no expert) is that 50's tele bodies have a handwritten date under one of the pickups (penciled onto the wood before finish). Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong?

Anyway - if 20 grand is beyond your budget, it doesn't really matter, but it's interesting to speculate about these things. The price of these guitars are getting outrageaous anyway IMO.

You can get a nice guitar for $5000: an early CBS tele, a custom-shop tele, or a Taylor acoustic would suit me just fine!

[drichard170]

Just for fyi giggles, it is still in his closet. played it last week. Nice guitar though. No case either. Still wants a fortune.

[spook69]

Nice guitar, I would like to own that one.

Shame there is no picture of the pic guard off to see the routing pattern.

[drichard170]

Yeah Spook69 I hear ya, I am actually surprised I was able to get him to pop the neck. As I remember he was adamant about it being completely stock. When we saw the neck date he was disheartened. I am sure that his dad bought it and had proper fender maint. done. Neck was probably ordered from fender as a replacement back in63. Most likely done by DiPippo music stores who was the fender dealer in the 60' in that area of RI. Course DiPippo used to put decals on the back of the headstock on a lot of thier guitars and this one doesn't have that.

Playa nice, is light weight but did not have a really special sound electrically. Still damn nice. Lots of vibe. My personal long lost tele was a 66 so the 63 neck felt great to me.