How to ruin NGD

[Lamar Fandango]

Bought a nice 1990 Les Paul Studio. It arrived today, but.....


Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

[Beltone]

Looks painful.

[jthomas]

Sucks.

[Larry Mal]

Well, that sucks.

But you know what, I had a similar break on one of those guitars. That's a super clean break, and a good repair person will be able to fix it and adjust the finish to the point where you would never know it had happened.

If you felt like getting reimbursed for the cost of the repair or something.

You probably don't, you'll probably return it, but it's nothing catastrophic or anything.

[Pacafeliz]

Oh shit.
I once got a 70s Les Paul Custom from the 70s home that, too...

[Zork]

Sucks but it looks easy to repair and will be much more stable afterwards. I'd keep it.

[Jaguar018]

Sucks but it looks easy to repair and will be much more stable afterwards. I'd keep it.

If this was the rare dream guitar I wanted for 20 years and I knew I'd keep it forever maybe I'd fix it and keep it, but if this was just some cool guitar that I got on a whim because it was a good deal and I sorta wanted to try one I'd probably send it back. The resale value has just been destroyed, and with a Les Paul Studio it's not like this is a super duper top shelf guitar.

Also: since he can't even play the damn thing now... how will he even know if it's worth saving? I'd hate to pay for the fix only to realize that I didn't even like it all that much.

[Lamar Fandango]

I'm not against fixing it, but I still have to deal with the seller (good guy so far) on a price. But I still have memories of selling an 80s SG with a headstock break, and it took forever AND I took next to nothing. If I need to sell this guitar, it's a problem. It isn't even about price. Buyers see a broken headstock and move on. And really, a smart buyer should assume the fix was done poorly unless he saw how clean the break is and trusts your luthier. Even after it is fixed, I'm not sure I'd want to pay more than $400-$500 (and I've seen the break & trust my luthier). The seller could probably get more than that, so my expectations aren't high on this. It may depend on how badly UPS insurance shafts him.

[mgeek]

On the offchance that he'd be up for giving you almost all the money back, I wouldn't even take that to a luthier. It's *such* an easy repair when there's that much long ways surface area to play with. Just stuff some woodglue in there and clamp it up

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, but a good luthier could make the repair completely invisible once and for all. Unless you are experienced with doing that, I wouldn't do it yourself, or the repair will always been visible. You only get one chance.

With my 1993 Studio, it was repaired so cleanly that you would never know anything had happened unless I told you. But, I would, of course, which means that the value of the guitar has depreciated to the point where it would never really be worth it for me to sell it. You are correct, I would take such a blow on the value that it's probably just going to be my guitar forever.

That's fine! It's a great guitar. But if you were on the fence about this and were counting on resale value in case you thought maybe it wasn't for you ultimately, I'd just send it back.

But even if the guy refunds you like $100-150, a good luthier will make the repair perfect and invisible.

[BoringPostcards]

Gibson should have ignored all the whining traditionalists and kept the volute.

[Larry Mal]

Yes, they should have. They should also just do a scarf joint, which I have no idea why they don't do that since you would never even see it on a Gibson.

[cmatthes]

I thought you were waiting on a black Studio with gold hardware - is that a different one?

[Lamar Fandango]

I thought you were waiting on a black Studio with gold hardware - is that a different one?

This was it. Tuners had been swapped. I planned on giving it a nickel makeover with parts I already have, but I elected to get a refund. I probably would have been happy fixing the guitar, but then again maybe not. My search goes on.

[adamrobertt]

Yes, they should have. They should also just do a scarf joint, which I have no idea why they don't do that since you would never even see it on a Gibson.

Unfortunately it would piss off the bl00z lawyers. I bet their sales would tank like crazy.