Is this guitar worth the trouble?

[guitarvegas]

1959 Multivox Premier archtop. Lots of surface cracks and dings everywhere. Body binding is gone. Beautiful looking guitar, I see beyond it's aging flaws. Can it be saved? Seller says it plays and minimal fret wear. He replaced the neck binding himself. What do you all think? He is willing to trade me for my 2003 epiphone flamekat which I hate.




Would love to hear your thoughts. Because I know nothing about this brand guitar, or if it is too far gone.

[tbeltrans]

Multivox was one of many cheap guitar brands in its day. I am amazed the few times I have gone to guitar shows and seen the prices on "vintage" Sears and Montgomery Wards and similar guitars preying on the nostalgia for the guitars kids had when learning to play. Multivox is among that crowd. If you can find one of these in reasonable condition and it is priced as an inexpensive alternative to, say, a Gibson or similar, then it may serve a purpose.

Though I have a Gibson Citation because I wanted and could afford one at the time when it showed up (but certainly not today), I could be perfectly happy with a much less expensive instrument and a Multivox or similar in good condition could well serve that purpose. So I don't want to completely write off these brands, but I would caution against putting much money into them since a low price would be their primary attraction.

Tony

[Jonah]

I had bought an early 80s Aria Herb Ellis Prototype in approximately the same condition long time ago
For me the key points were that
- I really loved the guitar
- I knew the guy who could do the restoration at a relatively cheap price as for him it was more like a hobby to restore old guitars (but he knew how to do it)
- the price together with restoration costs was reasonable to sell it over on the market later with almost no losses

For me it was a great investment, I loved to play it and I managed to sell it a few years later at a good price... so it is more about finding the right person for the right money to fix it. And of course if you realy like this guitar

Otherwise I would rather go for some low end modern archtops that can be quite good for the same money

[BBGuitar]

I am not a luthier, but I do work with wood and have done furniture restoration.

I would pay no more than $50 for that.

Then take it completely apart, strip, repair cracks and refinish. Plane repair fingerboard cut off the last fret and re-fret.
Cut binding for oversize binding. Bush tuner holes. Electronics are an easy repair.

It would then be pretty and playable but still a $500 guitar.

[Hammertone]

Built by United in New Jersey.
United Guitar Corporation | Vintage Guitar(R) magazine

The pickup is an original Dearmond Model 2000 ("Dynasonic') - if it works the pickup is worth $$.

The guitar needs new body binding - several other makers (like D'Angelico) who bought binding material from the same supplier at the time have the same issue. Needs a set of tuner bushings for the not-cheap replacement tuners - dead easy to do. No idea what else it needs. Looks like the original bridge has been replaced with an aluminum Bigsby bridge or something similar - easy to reinstall a rosewood bridge.

All simple to do if you want to bother spending the money. But you'll never get the money back - even in excellent condition these guitars are not highly valued. The end of the fretboard was cut off - that modification erases any vintage value it may have and is expensive to undo. Still, a cool and fun guitar.

I've had a few over the decades and they perform as well as comparable laminated electric archtop guitars of the day from Gertch and Guild. Any competent luthier can give you a quote for fixing the visible problems.

The other thread you started seems to cover off these and other issues.

[Freeman Keller]

I have routed old rotten binding off of an otherwise good hollow body and replaced it with new. One of the biggest problems is that the binding does not turn color with age but lacquer on top does. Part of the process of replacing the binding should be a light overspray of aged lacquer. That is why the neck binding looks so white




Point is, the binding can be replaced. Cracks can be fixed, necks refretted yadda yadd. Its just how much you want to do and are comfortable doing

[Freeman Keller]

I'll add to my last post that I can't tell a lot about the binding on the neck but it doesn't look like it was well done. Bound necks either have the frets over the top of the binding or butted against it ("nibs"), I can't tell what was done there. It doesn't have the little piece across the end of the neck and I don't see any side marker dots.

[guitarvegas]

Just counter offered $100. I am being generous

[tbeltrans]

I had bought an early 80s Aria Herb Ellis Prototype in approximately the same condition long time ago
For me the key points were that
- I really loved the guitar
- I knew the guy who could do the restoration at a relatively cheap price as for him it was more like a hobby to restore old guitars (but he knew how to do it)
- the price together with restoration costs was reasonable to sell it over on the market later with almost no losses

For me it was a great investment, I loved to play it and I managed to sell it a few years later at a good price... so it is more about finding the right person for the right money to fix it. And of course if you realy like this guitar

Otherwise I would rather go for some low end modern archtops that can be quite good for the same money

Aria was (is ?) a much better guitar than Multivox. Some of those Arias were pretty decent guitars that would be worth fixing up at moderate cost, certainly much more so than a Multivox.

Tony

[northernbreed]

I’d feel crummy just taking that Multivox to a Goodwill and trying to give it to them. Dumpster material.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Aria was (is ?) a much better guitar than Multivox. Some of those Arias were pretty decent guitars that would be worth fixing up at moderate cost

Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Aria had some stellar luthiers working for them. Matsuoka built their 559 and 560 classics when he was in his early 20s. I bought a 559 new in 1970 and it was truly fabulous.

I don’t know who made their archtops, but I strongly suspect that he or she was equally talented.

[Jonah]

Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Aria had some stellar luthiers working for them. Matsuoka built their 559 and 560 classics when he was in his early 20s. I bought a 559 new in 1970 and it was truly fabulous.

I don’t know who made their archtops, but I strongly suspect that he or she was equally talented.

That Herb Ellis prototype model (with Gibson-like headstock) was really good, I sold it only under hard pressure of circumstances.... really nice guitar especially after I have invested a lot of efforts in it.