-
Hi everyone,
I am reluctantly letting go my 1979 GB20, but I really need the money. It is an absolutely fantastic guitar and probably the easiest playing archtop I’ve ever touched. The neck is straight as an arrow and has super low, buttery action. The frets are still huge, no need to worry about a refret in the next 40 years. Wonderful electric sound. Very elegantly ambered blonde finish.
The guitar is structurally perfect and I’m going to do my best to detail the cosmetic imperfections.
As with pretty much all the GBs of this era, some sort of reaction with some of the plastic parts has occurred. The discoloration on the top and back around the binding looks a little more dramatic in photos than it does in real life. The worst discoloration is on the inside of the cutaway, which I’ve photographed. The binding itself has many cracks but the finish seems solid on top of it. Nothing is remotely loose and nothing has chipped off. The little plastic cap to the neck heel is gone. In pictures I’ve seen they’re usually completely shattered. I’m guessing a previous owner got tired of looking at it or maybe part of it chipped off so they decided to remove the whole thing. I thought about having it replaced, but since it’s a fairly rare vintage guitar, I figured I would let the next owner decide if they would like to do anything about it.
The pickguard is in much better shape than many GB’s. The tortoise isn’t showing any disintegration. There is a little stretch, about 1-2” where the cutout for the pickup is located where the binding has separated. The binding is secure around the rest of the guard so it just stays in place. There are no breaks in it and can be easily reglued, I just don’t know anything about celluloid pickguards so I didn’t know what glue to use. Since many examples of GBs on the web are missing their binding, have a rotted out guard, or a replaced guard, I didn’t want to risk using the wrong glue and having some sort of reaction.
There is also some corrosion on the gold pickup cover.
Other than the normal plastic stuff, the guitar was been well taken care of and is in fantastic condition.
I have a Schatten under the pickguard mount thumbwheel tone pot I intended to install that I will include with the guitar if you would like.
Comes in what I thought was the original case, but upon closer inspection it actually says Yamaha on the latches. Looks the same as the GB cases from the outside (brown leather). Nice thick plush interior, very sturdy and fits the guitar like a glove.
$2650 PayPal’d and shipped!
Feel free to message me with any questions you may have!
Last edited by jhall1984; 03-23-2023 at 08:20 PM.
-
-
-
Reply With Quote
Buy a no-brand guitar?
Yesterday, 08:05 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos