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I bought two guitars today and I’m nervous about both.
I shouldn't have bought them but I cashed out an amplifier and frankly I’d rather have the money tied up in guitars, than sitting in my account.
The first is GaryBaldy’s (fellow member) fault. He linked to a super cheap 1975 Antoria ‘2355' ES-175 copy on ebay. So cheap in fact I couldn't resist. I put in an offer and it was accepted. I’m nervous about it because the last Antoria I had seen had literally no braces in and the top had totally sunk. I will confirm with the seller that this is not the case.
The next is a 1965 Epiphone Howard Roberts. It looks like a standard and has taken some neck heel damage. Looks to me like the lacquer has kind of shattered around the heel. I’ll post some picks and tell me what you think.
The neck looks straight to the body however (check the string alignment down the neck). The case has clearly had a smash, which I think contributed to the damage around the neck heel?
The bridge is all the way down (or looks to be mostly all the way down) on the bass side, so not sure about neck angle. Have asked seller but might be a ‘ship it and see’ situation.
The slightly odd thing has been the interaction with the seller. Have not spoken to ‘hubby’ yet but his wife. Have made a list of things I’d like to check over but not yet heard back.
They offered to drive it down from Soctland, a 7/8 hour drive, I told them to ship it 24hr, which they agreed. I made an offer which was accepted.
I then received a message from wifey with a link to a linkedin womens magazine page.
I can’t decide if it's a scam or not to be honest. I know there’s been a huge data leak of passwords recently. The advert wanted bank transfer only but I asked to use ebay’s payment service which we have done. On the other hand, they wanted collection in person so…
Might call ebay speak to them regarding shipping etc.. As we will probably handle the shipping outside of ebay. Ebay might say that if this is the case, the won’t cover me once the guitar leaves their premises as the listing was for collection only.
I’ll cross the t’s and dot the i's as this one feels a little odd. Not to mention the possible condition.
I want the Epiphone Howard Robert’s because it's essentially a mid 60’s Gibson L4C. The templated and no doubt top carve forma, are the same. This gives me access to a sort after plate. If worse comes to worse, I’ll renegotiate price and then replace the neck. the top plate is the most important part. The neck will no doubt be a skinny short scale, much like a Byrdland. I think it's 24”, so in between the Byrd and 175.
Here’s the adverts to both:
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04-18-2024 01:42 PM
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Yikes! I hope you like the Antoria! And the Epi for that matter.
Originally Posted by Archie
I bought two guitars today and I’m nervous about both.
I shouldn't have bought them but I cashed out an amplifier and frankly I’d rather have the money tied up in guitars, than sitting in my account.
The first is GaryBaldy’s (fellow member) fault. He linked to a super cheap 1975 Antoria ‘2355' ES-175 copy on ebay. So cheap in fact I couldn't resist. I put in an offer and it was accepted. I’m nervous about it because the last Antoria I had seen had literally no braces in and the top had totally sunk. I will confirm with the seller that this is not the case.
The next is a 1965 Epiphone Howard Roberts. It looks like a standard and has taken some neck heel damage. Looks to me like the lacquer has kind of shattered around the heel. I’ll post some picks and tell me what you think.
The neck looks straight to the body however (check the string alignment down the neck). The case has clearly had a smash, which I think contributed to the damage around the neck heel?
The bridge is all the way down (or looks to be mostly all the way down) on the bass side, so not sure about neck angle. Have asked seller but might be a ‘ship it and see’ situation.
The slightly odd thing has been the interaction with the seller. Have not spoken to ‘hubby’ yet but his wife. Have made a list of things I’d like to check over but not yet heard back.
They offered to drive it down from Soctland, a 7/8 hour drive, I told them to ship it 24hr, which they agreed. I made an offer which was accepted.
I then received a message from wifey with a link to a linkedin womens magazine page.
I can’t decide if it's a scam or not to be honest. I know there’s been a huge data leak of passwords recently. The advert wanted bank transfer only but I asked to use ebay’s payment service which we have done. On the other hand, they wanted collection in person so…
Might call ebay speak to them regarding shipping etc.. As we will probably handle the shipping outside of ebay. Ebay might say that if this is the case, the won’t cover me once the guitar leaves their premises as the listing was for collection only.
I’ll cross the t’s and dot the i's as this one feels a little odd. Not to mention the possible condition.
I want the Epiphone Howard Robert’s because it's essentially a mid 60’s Gibson L4C. The templated and no doubt top carve forma, are the same. This gives me access to a sort after plate. If worse comes to worse, I’ll renegotiate price and then replace the neck. the top plate is the most important part. The neck will no doubt be a skinny short scale, much like a Byrdland. I think it's 24”, so in between the Byrd and 175.
Here’s the adverts to both:
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I used to have one of those 2355’s (Ibanez badged) back at college/Uni. They are solid guitars with bags of mojo. My passion for archtops really kicked off after buying one. Originally Posted by garybaldy
Cheap, fun and look the part.
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I’m assuming it was a typo and you mean they’re in Scotland? I live near Stirling, I’d be happy to help if I can.
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Reminds me of my beloved 66 Epi Howard Roberts Standard !
The neck was not a short scale, definitely longer that the one of the Byrdland I had at the same time, very similar to my teacher's ES175 ('66 or 67') but slightly wider .
The '66 Epi catalog says 25.5 neck, I always belived it was for the Custom.
You can see on Archtop.com listings 2 Howard Roberts described as '67 and '68 with a 24 3/4 neck
1967 Epiphone Howard Roberts
1968 Epiphone Howard Roberts
I hope you enjoy it !
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Hi SetPhasersToSwing. Originally Posted by SetPhasersToSwing
That's a very kind offer. So far things seem ok. Ebay has the money and if the guitar doesn't show, I should be covered.
The seller did say though that there wasn't any real damage to the neck heel or missing finish, so not sure what's happening in the pictures.
He also said the case had what he thought was 'fair ware and tare', which I don't quite agree with but ok.
He said it was his late fathers guitar and that he had bought it around 20 years ago.
So far both hubby and wife seem like nice people. The appraisal given does seem a little generous which can be a bit of a warning sign.
I've asked for a couple of short videos but none have emerged yet. Will ask again and see what happens.
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I've pulled out of the Antoria.
The top has no braces and instead has a sound post. This was the design prior to the revamp in the later 70's.
The last Antoria I went to buy from that year had the same issue, sunken top and no bracing.
The seller was good about it. I offered him a drink for his time but he refused. I've not pulled out of a deal before but I would have just moved it straight on and I don't want to move on something that might have a sinking top.
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I mentioned that it had a sound post in the op (to my thread) Originally Posted by Archie
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The sound post wouldn't have been a deal breaker, the lack of bracing is. Originally Posted by garybaldy
Seller was a really nice guy however so shame to have to have let him down.
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My Sakura 175 copy has the post and no bracing. Actually it looks pretty shoddy and with the fake humbuckers! I don't believe the post is a repair for a sunken top, I think it's instead of bracing during construction. Originally Posted by Archie
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I was expecting the Epiphone to be shipped today but it wasn’t.
I've asked twice now for a couple of vids via whastapp but nothing yet, although we are connected via whatsapp.
I just don’t like the feeling on this one.
The fact the seller said he couldn't see any real damage to the heel and the case was "fair ware and tare" is not sitting well.
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I hope you are well-protected by your credit card agency, Archie.
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Ok so that brings this NGD x 2 to a close
Seller sent some vids and discovered a crack on the back (laminate back) that went all the way through.
The case was also way worse than in the pics. The bottom panel was actually flapping about.
It's clear the guitar had take a serious drop and not been well looked after but frustratingly enough, the top, which was the only bit I’m interested in, was good. Well that is until it arrived with a crack in.
The seller wanted to negotiate a price for the crack and offered £150 off but I said the crack and repair also devalues the guitar, which he didn’t seem to overly agree on.
I just thought best to back out and he graciously agreed.
I offered him a drink for his time which he declined and I told him to put it back up for £1,999 all damage disclosed.
I would have offered him £1,500 but I’m hunting down a Guild Artist Award so I’ll get that instead.
This guitar represented a good opportunity for me to get my hands on a mid 60’s Gibson 16” carved top, for very little money and I would have scanned it and put it in my database of scans. That is the sole reason I wanted it.
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