The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I'm pretty sure this was mine that I bought new around 1980 or so, and then sold around 1987. It was all mint original then, what the heck happened since?

    Gibson 1980 Cherry Burst ES Artist Body & Neck | eBay

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Looks like somebody is making a business out of gutted Gibson carcasses - there are more from this seller. Is there more money in selling parts and carcasses separately instead of entire instruments?

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by TOMMO
    Looks like somebody is making a business out of gutted Gibson carcasses - there are more from this seller. Is there more money in selling parts and carcasses separately instead of entire instruments?
    Often, yes. It's been going on for a long time and some really fine guitars have been torn apart because of it.

  5. #4
    But the "Active Artist" series were very unique, only 3 models. Why gut the original? Anyway, I always find it interesting to see a guitar for sale that I sold long ago.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
    Often, yes. It's been going on for a long time and some really fine guitars have been torn apart because of it.
    I've seen it done with vintage guitars (ES 175s gutted for the PAF pickups and wiring harness), but 80s models?

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    I'm pretty sure this was mine that I bought new around 1980 or so, and then sold around 1987. It was all mint original then, what the heck happened since?

    Gibson 1980 Cherry Burst ES Artist Body & Neck | eBay
    I had one that wasn't gutted for parts, but was way more beat up than when I sold it:

    Tony Iommi Signed My '73 Gibson SG Special - Bazillion Points Blog

    When it was mine, it had a couple of dings, but was in pretty nice shape overall, and I definitely wouldn't have gotten it autographed by Tony Iommi.

    John

  8. #7

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    Greedy moronic individuals.
    The litte town (population 12,000) I grew up during the 60's had a virabrant shopping district. 3 mens clothing store, more womens clothing store, 3 hardware stores, 3 drug stores, 3 grocery stores........ Then the first big new mall opened in the nearby suburbs about 1965. The beginning of the end for the business district. Buy 1980s most of the businesses had gone under or on the verge of going under. Now those same malls are going under due to the online shopping experience. You might think this is the way of the world. I disagree. Gutted community based enterprises ravaged by greed.

    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    Why gut the original?

  9. #8

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    That seller has been parting out guitars for quite a while, often for what seems to be a marginal, at best, increase in return. I definitely wouldn’t think it worth the time spent. I’ve seen other sellers do it with guitars that have had headstock breaks, refins, and other damage that would seriously enough affect value to make it monetarily worthwhile, but a few do it with guitars that are simply a little worn.

  10. #9

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    I gutted a '61 ES-175 @five years ago. It was for sale at the market rate for a couple of PAF pickups, some hardware, and a plywood guitar-shaped container. Cost included a second plywood container for protecting the first plywood container. 10 years without a single offer of any kind. Made a huge pile of dough within five minutes of posting the parts for sale.
    Last edited by Hammertone; 09-29-2020 at 08:30 PM.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hammertone
    I gutted a '61 ES-175 @five years ago. It was for sale at the market rate for a couple of PAF pickups, some hardware, and a plywood guitar-shaped container. Cost included a second plywood container. 10 years without a single offer of any kind. Made a huge pile of dough within five minutes of posting the parts for sale.
    Can't argue with that. Curious how much you made from parting it out? Twice what you had listed it for previously? Or more?

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
    Can't argue with that. Curious how much you made from parting it out? Twice what you had listed it for previously? Or more?
    I made exactly the same price as if someone had purchased it complete. The point is that selling a jazz box with PAFs to anyone other than an affluent collector is a waste of time. PAFs make virtually no difference to the sound of a hollow archtop jazz guitar played clean. And most Gibson collectors could give a damn about stupid old jazz guitars - they want PAF-equipped ES-3x5, Les Paul and SG guitars. And most jazz players are too poor to afford these guitars, and are often ignorant about the value of the pickups in them.

    The entire wiring harness went to someone who used it in a Historic Makeover of Historic Reissue Les Paul R9. The pickup rings went to a Historic Makeover of a Historic Reissue Les Paul R7 Custom. The tailpiece was sold separately to someone who needed one to replace the broken one on his vintage ES-175. The guitar, equipped entirely with inexpensive newer parts (but with the original rubber switch ring!), went to a local player who loves it to death. I still have the Grover Futura tuners (swapped in when it was purchased new) and the original truss rod cover around here somewhere.
    Last edited by Hammertone; 10-01-2020 at 01:57 PM.

  13. #12

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    They only part out gits because someone who got a great deal on one that had likely previously been scavenged for parts... possibly even for a clone to attempt to give it some magic classic mojo.

    There are tons of great modern pickups for gits that have had their parts scavenged, and continuing the cycle by buying old parts is a guaranteed sustainable future in classic git husks. Those who hear with specs and their eyes should race cars. At least there performance increases are measurable.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    I'm pretty sure this was mine that I bought new around 1980 or so, and then sold around 1987. It was all mint original then, what the heck happened since?

    Gibson 1980 Cherry Burst ES Artist Body & Neck | eBay
    Well, in my opinion, what's left of the guitar isn't worth half of his asking price on eBay. I guess I won't be bidding.

  15. #14

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    I'm not sure that the original electronics in this model would have had a lot of resale value. The humbuckers were very low output matched to the unique electronics, which by today's standards probably wouldn't be desirable. I've seen a number of them over the years that were converted to more standard Gibson-type electronics--it wouldn't surprise me if this carcass was stripped of whatever replacement electronics some owner along the way had installed. Although the electronics in this series of guitars could produce a wide variety of sounds, it didn't actually do standard Gibson tones very well. I put some RC across the toggle switch in mine to simulate cable loading, but that still didn't get it to sound quite right. The most advanced features were the compressor and expander--turning them both on produced a pop-ey, funky sound that I enjoyed using.

    In addition to an ES-Artist I had an Les Paul Artist, which I liked a lot less than the Artist. Back then my company was located in Lexington, MA, directly across from ARP Instruments. I met their VP of Engineering, Phil Dodds, at some executive event in Boston and would sometimes cross the street to have lunch with him and check out new ARP stuff, as well as picking up an Odyssey cheap. When ARP started circling the drain I bought an Avatar for a small fraction of the street price, and converted my LP Artist to work with it, which necessitated removing the Moog electronics. The straight output from the pickups was less than impressive and the synth was very glitchy. I eventually bought a Roland GR700 and adapted the LP to work with it

    Fun fact: Phil Dodds was a featured extra in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, playing the ARP synth in the finale.

    Kinda funny when this happens.-es-artist-front-jpg

    Kinda funny when this happens.-lp-artist-jpg

    Danny W.

  16. #15
    Yeah, many folks tossed the active electronics for standard stuff. But this guitar has been stripped of ALL hardware, strange. FWIW, I really liked it as is was, but I switched to a PRS in the 80's to get that funky strat sound that was so popular then.