Question about electrical guitars

[SpacemanSpiff]

OK, I'm going do display major ignorance here, so I thought I'd throw it out to the gang.

Mrs. Spiff and her sister have started cleaning out their father's basement, and she brought back some musical instruments - two guitars and a banjo (plus an amp for one of the guitars, but it's so old I don't trust it).

The banjo is not a good quality instrument, but is serviceable, and likely will go to Goodwill.

The acoustic guitar was one her late mom played on, and is a splendid instrument, a Guild D44 maple guitar. I'm not a guitarist, but I took it to a reputable shop in town, had it restrung, and it's in primo condition. Mrs. Spiff has talked to several regional stores and a couple have expressed serious interest in it.

The electric guitar was a puzzler -- it took a long time to figure out what it actually was. It's a Sears-sold Silvertone (meaning it was built by Kay), finally found some similar instruments online. Best description is that it's a black archtop Espanada double-pickup from the early-mid 1960s. I need to get it restrung, but don't have a feel on the tone without the amp. The weird thing I've seen online is that it seems to get some decent money for it, if only for the pickups.

So, therein lies my question. Why would 50-year-old guitar pickups command such money? (I've seen them go online for $600 each for just the pickups!)

Any thoughts, folks?

[Bob Juch]

Someone online is selling a D44 for $835.

The Espanada should go for $800 or more.

http://books.google.com/books?id=o_SLwp ... up&f=false

The reason they're worth so much is they're antiques. Some people will pay a lot for classics.

[ToLiveIsToFly]

Someone online is selling a D44 for $835.

The Espanada should go for $800 or more.

http://books.google.com/books?id=o_SLwp ... up&f=false

The reason they're worth so much is they're antiques. Some people will pay a lot for classics.

The reason I've always heard is that old equipment somehow sounds warmer. You hear that a lot with tube amps, but I think people think that about pickups, too.

But, man, that guild. I'd love to play that.

About 15 years ago, I had a roommate whose dad had a really old Martin. He said it was the first year they put truss rods in them, so (he claimed) it was the oldest class of Martins that were still playable. Every time I'd go over there, he'd ask me to play it, and it was clear that it hadn't been played since the last time I'd been there. I kept at him to sell it to me, but we both knew I could never afford what it was really worth. Whatever that was. I always thought in the end he'd soften and just give it to me, but he never did.

My favorite I've ever owned is a handmade Alvarez I've had since 2000. I have a friend who's a working bassist. One day he went into the mail room in his condo building and the guitar was just sitting there with the word "free" on it. Only thing I had to replace was the saddle and it was good to go. We had one of those weird negotiations where I was trying to talk him into accepting more money for it and he was trying to talk me into paying less. It's still the one that hangs on the wall and that I play most of the time.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Bringing this up with the final resolution of the instruments.

I took the Espanada to the same guy I took the Guild to. Basically, although it's a decent instrument, it's nothing special. He said, as was typical of mass-marketed electrical guitars, they often used a variety of parts, especially with the pickups. Some of those are what make the instrument worth big bucks, and this wasn't one of them. I did have him restring it and test out the electronics and it worked just fine.

In the interim, Mrs. Spiff had sent out some feelers to a couple of guitar stores that were buying, and we sent some pix to a dealer located, ironically, about an hour from her father's house. They were very interested in the Guild, and had some interest in the Silvertone, so we could make it a package deal to make it worthwhile all around.

She took them there today, and the dealer was very happy with them. She got $1000 for the Guild and $300 for the Silvertone. And she gave the money to her father, since they was his instruments anyway.

And the banjo is going to a local group that is collecting instruments for young people that want to learn how to play them. That's the best place for it.