Devaluation of a modded guitar

[Kapten Kork]

I'm curius to know how much less a say Starfire II or IV that have been routed for ordinary big humbuckers would cost?

I think that's an alternative to a Gibson for me and I search a little for such a piece. Not that I have seen any lately but........

 

[jazzman]

Really depends on how cleanly it was done. If it was an earlier version with small humbuckers then to anguild collector it might devalue a bit but overall the perception might be that it is a more desirable guitar for players. So if it was cleanly done then maybe a few hundred dollars off? A hack job would take a little more off.
Keeping in mind that from approx early 70s onward The starfires came with larger sized humbuckers so it isn't like they don't exist with larger routes already.

 

[dapmdave]

If you want to mod a Starfire 4 to install full-sized humbuckers, just buy a more recent one, say from the Fender era. Standard-sized routs.

I put Gibson 57 Classic pickups in my 2001 and it is much improved. And no cuts or bruises.

 

[Kapten Kork]

I really don't want to mod an old SF. More thinking like, if I found one that allready was modded how much cheaper than an unmodded one would be realistic?

 

[fronobulax]

I really don't want to mod an old SF. More thinking like, if I found one that allready was modded how much cheaper than an unmodded one would be realistic?

It depends. There are sellers who think their mods enhanced the value of the instrument and there are buyers who would only buy if a lowball offer on a modified instrument was accepted. That said I don't recall enough examples of modded Starfires for sale to really expect there is an answer based on historical sales. Maybe someone else has a better memory?

 

[mavuser]

Tony Scherr has a 1965 SF II with full size Duncan/Gibson (or something) pickups. The holes had to be expanded because the original pickups were either small Mickey Mouse, Dearmond, frequency tested, or possibly mini-humbuckers...whatever the case he had to route out the pickup holes. This guitar needed other TLC so at the point where he was working on the pickups he was not worried about value other than playabitly/reliability and tone. I've posted his videos on this forum several times...there is one on the recent "what would you do" thread about Starfires. Further proof it is mostly about the player and less the instrument. Tony likes to tinker with guitars though he knows what he's doing. Modified routes for standard humbuckers shouldn't shave too much value off a guitar if all else is very good/excellent and in good order. With that said just about any Guild after 1970 has full size HB1s or other humbuckers the same size as them. So looking for something that has been to the chop shop simply to save cash is one thing, but if it's full size humbuckers you are after you may get a lucky deal on something unmodified too.

 

[Kapten Kork]

Thanks for the answers. I have looked for a little older Gibson 335/345 and there it seems like a small mod, changed pickups, rout or whatever makes the value take a dive.
Seems like Guilds value aren't hurt as much from changes as Gibson's.

 

[GAD]

I have bought and sold many guitars. Any mod from the original detracts from its value IMO. Not only that, but if you do the mods, even if they vastly improve the instrument, you'll likely never recoup the money spent. I've seen this on everything from cheap $300 guitars to $7000 Les Pauls.

For me, it depends. I have a Strat that I gutted because the US standard parts sucked. I replaced everything with top-notch components, swapped out the plastic, and now it just flat-out rocks. I've easily got $2000 into it, and I'd be lucky if I could sell it for $800. I think that's dumb, because I haven't changed the wood, and Strats were designed to be modular like that!

Carve the wood, though, and I'm out. The only time I've done anything like that was with a second BlueBird where I needed to route the corners of the pickup routes in order to fit vintage HB1s.

In short, electronics don't bother me at all, but any alterations to the wood and I'm out.

 

[Zelja]

Tony Scherr has a 1965 SF II with full size Duncan/Gibson (or something) pickups. The holes had to be expanded because the original pickups were either small Mickey Mouse, Dearmond, frequency tested, or possibly mini-humbuckers...whatever the case he had to route out the pickup holes. This guitar needed other TLC so at the point where he was working on the pickups he was not worried about value other than playabitly/reliability and tone. I've posted his videos on this forum several times...there is one on the recent "what would you do" thread about Starfires. Further proof it is mostly about the player and less the instrument. Tony likes to tinker with guitars though he knows what he's doing. ...

Dig the Tony Scherr videos you have posted. Found another one, where he is using an M75 shaped guitar with f holes, harp tail piece, just two volume knobs & 2 x humbuckers. I'm guessing it's a full scale M65 with the 2 humbuckers added (replacing 1 x single coil probably):


I swap out pickups & modify electonics but try to stop short of drilling into the guitar (especially in visible locations). I like any mods that are done to be reversible.

Saying that if there was a guitar which (say a mid 60s Starfire) which originally had the Guild mini-hums but the bridge only was replaced with a latter day HB-1, then I would be interested as I reckon that pickup combo could really work well.

 

[mavuser]

I'm not sure what guitar Tony has in that video above, but I can ask him about it sometime. Hans could probably tell from the video. He definitely uses many different guitars and changes the pickups all time. He even changes pickups in other band members' guitars as well. He also has a few different amps but have not seen a him play a Guild amp yet. If you heard Tonys guitars live you would not think they have been devalued much, if at all, from his modifications. He doesn't go too crazy but he does swap pickups. His 65 SF II from my videos was a full on restoration. The pickup routes were insignificant in this case, the guitar had much bigger issues than that. He has got it set up nice now though!

 

[jcwu]

Saying that if there was a guitar which (say a mid 60s Starfire) which originally had the Guild mini-hums but the bridge only was replaced with a latter day HB-1, then I would be interested as I reckon that pickup combo could really work well.

That's almost the combo I was going after, except I have an original Franz in the neck, and added an HB-1 for the bridge: