M20 (Anatomy of a Reverb Negotiation)

jedzep

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Always on the prowl for old small bods, I've been back and forth on the listing.

https://reverb.com/item/26184142-guild-m20-1958-brown

Surely some of you do the same and have seen this little nugget.

When I first contacted the seller, a nice person who doesn't have a lot of guitar knowledge, I suggested more pics and details she should add to the original sparse available info. The orig ad didn't contain a front peg head nor back photo, which now shows the logo having been removed. The guitar is obviously not playable with that nasty remnant of a saddle, but I've been able to get her to measure string height, and explain the logo thing, along with coming down to a 1K price with shipping. There's no case and she's never shipped a guitar, so there's that scary process.

Like all of us M20 lovers, this is certainly one to own and restore, but I'm more in the $800 range as is. Nevertheless, I'm no longer in the hunt for an M20, and feel restoring it would bring it back up to vintage retail near the thousand dollar mark, a break even proposition. This will be my eventual response to her offer.

I thought someone here would love to work this one out, so I'm sharing. Looking for a Guild logo face for the head, so guess I'm not all out yet.

Good luck to y'all.

Dave
 

AcornHouse

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A lot of bizarrities with this one. What happened to the logo? (Which, being silk screened originally, will require a good stencil to put back) And what’s with the strange strips on the back and the back of the headstock; a taped off partial refin?
Needs a neck reset at the minimum. After the structural work, it might be worth 1K, but with the cosmetics, I don’t know. This would be tough to make financial sense, IMHO.
 

adorshki

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Needs a neck reset at the minimum. After the structural work, it might be worth 1K, but with the cosmetics, I don’t know. This would be tough to make financial sense, IMHO.
Yep, from the ad:
"The action on 1st fret is 3/32 & on 10thfret it's two marks B4 1/4 in"
YIKES! That's almost 16/64 and we're not even at the 12th fret yet!
The strings might be original, though.
Joking aside, maybe if the seller was shown some completed sale ads for instruments in better condition she'd adjust her asking price.
 
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jedzep

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I laid out my view of the cost of refurbishing, suggesting that at the very least she take it to a shop, have a bone saddle installed and have it set up to it's best 'as is'. It doesn't help that the optics of the bridge pics are so nasty.

She was a little indignant at my $500 value in it's present shape. These folks are really novice to this world, and I was told again that all it needs is a set of strings, but I see she did knock 500 off to get it to 1K. As I look over the photos again, the frets appear to barely protrude above the fingerboard. More trouble, more $$$.
 

adorshki

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I laid out my view of the cost of refurbishing, suggesting that at the very least she take it to a shop, have a bone saddle installed and have it set up to it's best 'as is'. It doesn't help that the optics of the bridge pics are so nasty.

She was a little indignant at my $500 value in it's present shape. These folks are really novice to this world , and I was told again that all it needs is a set of strings, but I see she did knock 500 off to get it to 1K. As I look over the photos again, the frets appear to barely protrude above the fingerboard. More trouble, more $$$.

Suspect a genuine appraisal'd rock her back a wee bit, no snark intended, since as you point out: "These folks are really novice to this world."
Betcha it'd come in at about $250.00 in that condition.
Coupla bucks more if all the strings were still on it.
 

Cougar

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She was a little indignant at my $500 value in it's present shape....

$1,000 is ridiculous, IMO. $400-500 is more like it, since it likely needs a neck reset, new frets, etc., etc. At $1,000, that will be up there for a year and never sell. And she doesn't even have a "make offer."
 

AcornHouse

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Just have her go to a luthier for a cost estimate of the needed work. Maybe that’ll wake her up.

Although, there are enough examples out there that have the silk screened logo intact. (Most of ‘em, I bet.) This is a “walk away” guitar.
 

HeyMikey

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There is always another good guitar out there to be had. If not today, then perhaps tomorrow or the next day.
 

Guildedagain

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That's a cool little guitar, I would be drawn... I was, at first look, but looked away. Maybe just my sanity saying, why don't you just get through the one that's coming in the mail you didn't flippin need... or is that an ok time to look?
 
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adorshki

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That's a cool little guitar, I would be drawn... I was, at first look, but looked away. Maybe just my sanity saying, why don't you just get through the one that's coming in the mail you didn't flippin need... or is that an ok time to look?

Looking leads to lusting in the heart.
Look where that got any number of people.
 
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