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On my quest for the perfect 175 I found this beast. That old factory installed Bigsby and everything else spoke to the Baby Boomer in me... Made the seller an offer, he accepted it as he was boarding a plane for Arlington, yeah the 4 Amigos Guitar Show. He lives in Chi-town so is delivering it Monday when he's back. There's two nickel and one chrome tailpiece that are part of the deal... Not too shabby... The seller bought it in '89 - he was given money to buy a plane ticket and suits for a new job, bought the 175 and drove out to the new assignment !! LOL
Big
there's one last brand in the fire, bet you can't guess what it is... It's crazy
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 10-20-2017 at 10:13 PM.
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10-20-2017 09:40 PM
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That's a real pretty blonde. Very nice.
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Sweet !!!! Last year P90's. I bet it is going to sound fantastic. My favorite whammy user was Chet Atkins. He never over did it. Used just enough to really enhance a song.
Mike it is obvious you have a thing for blondes.
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beautiful Mike, appears to be in great shape. Another blonde beauty right there.
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Hey I got a 57 too (from fellow forumite Roger rpguitar) but mine is the very first with the PAFs
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As I understand it, Gibson offered Bigsby as an option in the 50s.
In one guitar I saw, there was an unfinished hole where the endpin would be, which you could see through an opening in the Bigsby unit.
Somebody suggested that the presence of that hole meant it wasn't a factory Bigsby, but I'm not convinced.
Could you take a look and tell me if your factory bigsby guitar has an unfinished hole under the Bigsby unit near the endpin? Thanks!
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Mikey needs a D’Angelico. What do you say guys?
Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
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Very sweet.
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You know when the seller accepted my best offer he wrote me two lengthy notes prior to my paying him. He laid out a lot that he knew about the guitar, including that the head of one of the tuners had been replaced with a 60's (two ring).
Here are two of the photos of the endpin area that were included in the ad, the ad had I think 15 photos. The seller was told that at one time someone had taken off the Bigsby and installed a zig-zag tailpiece, but when he bought it it had the Bigsby on it. He subsequently bought the 3 zig-zags over the years but kept the Bigsby on it. I really like that dang Bigsby. Whether it originally had a Bigsby when it left the factory is really of no matter to me. I repeated what the seller told me and he seems to be a genuine stand up guy. I like stand up guys. So what was first, the chicken or the egg ??? (you gotta understand that comment comes from a former chicken owner/lover). I had indeed seriously considered a '57 with hum buckers and they are still available. But to be really honest, the "1965" that turned out to be a early 70s, that thing really is very very nice. BUT I hadn't gotten the P90 175 that was originally my goal. THIS one fills that gap. The seller is quite anxious to play my L5P (and quite a few of my other guitars) when he comes out.
As for what else is going on, I'll have a better idea in say 10 days or so. JD, yeah I'd like a real D'Angelico - actually the one FWS6 posted recently, doggone that one really hit my LIKE button pretty soundly. Thank you fellas for all your advice and help. When you get to a certain guitar era a fella can use all the advice and knowledge people are willing to share... Thank You...
Big
Alice the hen (a supposed "oops" hen given to us by a breeder in Toms River, a fabulous Mom and friend).
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 10-21-2017 at 09:21 AM.
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Mikey, you are the best. Enough good things can’t happen to you. Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
Joe D
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Mike, you like blondes and want a real DA?
Here you go:
1942 D'Angelico Guitar Style B - Guitar - Gryphon Stringed Instruments-
It is a refinish (There were no actual Blonde Style B's made to my knowledge) and it has had a headstock repair, but an all original Style B would set you back 15K. I bet it sounds amazing...
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Thanks good buddy Originally Posted by Stringswinger
i really like them
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Thanks for posting those pics.
That's what the ES5 I was thinking of looks like. You can see the edge of another hole.
I just wondered if they left the factory like that.
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Herea a closeup from that Model B,when it was for sale previously (my own pic, not an image from Gryphon)
the guitar had refin, changed tuners, changed tailpiece, and -in contrast to what Gryphon is saying- IMO the entire headstock has snapped right off all the way
their price is reasonable as it sold for a lot more before. The current owner must have taken a 5 to 6k loss on it. Guitars with broken headstocks are easy to buy but impossible to sell. So my advice, only buy that, if you are 100% definately going to keep it.
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"So my advice, only buy that, if you are 100% definately going to keep it."
Sound advice Fws6.
Yours
Drew
[/QUOTE]
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sound advice indeed
thanks
pass....
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Fws6, That was great buddy. Thanks for looking out for Mikey. He would do the same for us too.
I was thinking about that guitar all night. Something wasn’t right about it. The photographs on the website made it look like a slam dunk. But the extent of the crack is much greater than advertised. You would feel it every time you played in the home position. Not good.
Joe D
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They say that a refinish or a headstock break reduces the value of a vintage guitar by 50%. It seems to me that a guitar with both a refin AND a headstock repair ( like the Gryphon DA) should be reduced twice to 25% of full value (about $4,000 in the case of this Style B). But from what I see, the 50% reduction only happens once.
Back in the day, John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto refinished old DA's as a matter of routine maintenance. They say a refin changes the tone, but at the end of the day, having enough paint on the guitar to protect the wood seems like a good idea. They also say that a guitar with a repaired headstock is stronger than it was originally and should sound fine (no change to tone). Even knowing all this, I am fine with a refin (The DA Excel that I bought from JD has had a total refin and has amazing tone), but for some strange reason a headstock repair is a deal killer for me. It would be like sleeping with a girl who tells me she has herpes, but it is in remission. I just would not be able to enjoy the ride.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
They say that a refinish or a headstock break reduces the value of a vintage guitar by 50%. It seems to me that a guitar with both a refin AND a headstock repair ( like the Gryphon DA) should be reduced twice to 25% of full value (about $4,000 in the case of this Style B). But from what I see, the 50% reduction only happens once.
Back in the day, John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto refinished old DA's as a matter of routine maintenance. They say a refin changes the tone, but at the end of the day, having enough paint on the guitar to protect the wood seems like a good idea. They also say that a guitar with a repaired headstock is stronger than it was originally and should sound fine (no change to tone). Even knowing all this, I am fine with a refin (The DA Excel that I bought from JD has had a total refin and has amazing tone), but for some strange reason a headstock repair is a deal killer for me. It would be like sleeping with a girl who tells me she has herpes, but it is in remission. I just would not be able to enjoy the ride.
You guys are great, better than hanging out in a hotel bar with some old chefs. Appreciate the info very much...
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I have a guitar with a headstock break. A famous guitar too. Goes by the name of boo-boo.. it hangs by the wings of the headstock 365 Days a year from a String Swinger. You still can’t tell there was a break. They could be GREAT value guitars.
A blond with cracks and a cracked headstock would be better off being refinished as a sunburst. This one actually started life as a burst.
If you can get it for $6,000 and send it to Pete Moreno or Chris Mirabella (great guy by the way..) and have him replace the bindings and restore it back to a beautiful burst for $2500, then you have a $8500 Guitar that would be a lifer..
JD
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Hey Big, you obviously are lusting after this old girl. None of us want to see you get burned...especially for the high asking price. I wish I could swing by there soon and give it an in-hand examination for you, but its quite a ways from my stomping grounds. If I’m in that area I’ll try to do that.
In the meantime call Gryphon and have a heart to heart talk about this DA. Bring up all of the valuable information from your forum brothers. The folks at Gryphon are straight shooters and don’t want unhappy customers. It’s not like an $8k archtop with ‘issues’ is going to sell fast anyway.
Finally, keep searching for the right DA for you. At that price point its well worth the extra time and effort.
Peace,
Tim
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The main attraction to this guitar is the thought of buying a DA for under 10k. I agree with Stringswinger, a refin and neck break reduce value signifcantly. The later being the worst of the two for sure. This is something that I would only consider buying if you must have a DA and you get it for 6k tops. Joe has a good point about restoring it through a reputable luthier - but these photos and history will always be part of its story.
There are just too many other great deals in this market. In my opinion the smart money goes elsewhere, and if you are a collector, you must ALWAYS think of resale.
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Thank you one and all for the cautionary advice on the D'Angelico... I'm staying away from it.
Tim, it was great chatting with you man, too bad we can't catch Chinese food like we used to.
I also called my old guitar tech, Dave Tupper, like many he's left the Valley and moved over to Oakland. He said pretty much what everyone else said here, you'd be buying it for life and you'd always know it's got the cracked neck, probably feel the cracks when playing it.
SO, I am here with hat in hand yet again folks. The seller of the 175 after having my money for five days and going to Arlington to the 4 Amigos show promised to drop it off today. Well at midnight he writes me to say he looked the guitar over and now finds a finish crack or possibly a crack near the output jack. Wants to refund my money, take the guitar to
CME for review and then list it again later on Reverb...
I know Joe, control my Irish... I texted him and told him drop off or ship the guitar today via FedEx Ground today or he'd be hearing from my attorney Tuesday. I also contacted a guy on Reverb that helped me get the photos about how the seller is now trying to pull out of the deal.
SO aside from composing what would be the perfect fuck you feedback for the kid what other advice do you have ?? I want the guitar. Here is a shot of the output jack area. It's a laminated guitar, if I do need to work on it I'll have Pete Moreno do it...
Help me out here, I may have been too nice to the kid... But now he's got the Irish in me woke up.
Big
here's some photos of the general area. Really it isn't about the guy looking out for me, it's him having been at Arlington and thinking "hey I can make a lot more money on this" or whatever the hell he's thinking.
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 10-23-2017 at 08:19 AM.
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Mike,
Get your money back.
Anything that starts off like this, cant possibly end any better.
This the gamble you take with Vintage instruments. You don't need this guitar and the headaches associated with it. Get your money back. And thank him for not claiming he didn't notice this. Cracked rims around the Jack are very common with these guitars. They didn't reinforce the rim in that area and there is a lot force used plugging and unplugging. Its bound to happen at some point.
Joe D
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