Opinions on a cracked neck SG

[RIORIO]

Hey Gibson heads!

I'm very new to anything Gibson, so excuse the ignorance...

I have a lead on a SG thats really cool. Its cheap because of a pretty gnarly headstock repair. The current owner is in a legit national touring band and has been using it on the road for 3 years (post repair) with no problems...

So my question...

The guitar is about half the price of the equivalent non-broken-headstocked SG Deluxe (3 firebird pickups and Maestro Vibrato)...

Is that a fair price?
What do you think of the break? It looks pretty bad to me....
Is this something I'll have to revisit at a later date?

For the record, its setup and plays really well. Checked it out today...

Any guidance is appreciated!

[jvin248]

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A used guitar should be 50-60% of street retail price. A broken/repaired headstock should be 25% of street retail price. Is that the price being offered?

A Gibson is just riddled with headstock breakage drama. Sure, other guitars can break but why get locked into that cycle of misfortune and despair? Do a google search on 'headstock repair' and 95% of the results are related to Gibson models. They break inside cases even.

I own both a vintage Gibson SG and an Epiphone SG G-400. The Epiphone gets all the play time and hangs out on the wall of guitars to be played, the Gibson sits in the case of shame in the closet waiting for some day I decide to sell it. Epiphones are built with a scarf joint and a lower headstock angle so while they can break, they are much more like sturdy Strats and Telecasters for headstock durability.

My advice: Get an Epiphone SG G-400. Even if you 'hate' the headstock shape or have a hangup about the brand logo. You will experience much less drama. Why buy this beat up guitar filled with drama? You will only question if the repair will hold like every day. You will only question if you drop it inside a case if you open the case and find one or two parts of a guitar.

And remember you can always get a set of Gibson pickups and Gibson controls and swap those into the Epiphone to 'get the magical toanzez'.

Used Epiphone G-400s run from $200-$350 practically anywhere, buy one and then use the rest of the cash you would have spent on the Gibson to buy a used PRS SE....

.

[Grey]

A used guitar should be 50-60% of street retail price. A broken/repaired headstock should be 25% of street retail price. Is that the price being offered?

This is an extremely generalized statement that only applies in some cases, if the guitar is a vintage model the cost will often go up, not down, and finish/pickup combination/rarity etc. will affect the value as well, how many were made, how available is it, and so on.

I believe these were made in the 90's and $400 would be the absolute maximum i'd personally consider in this case. A properly fixed headstock break will often be stronger than the surrounding wood itself so as long as it's repaired correctly there's no reason to "question every day if the repair will hold."

[zhivago]

If it has held up for all this time, chances are it is glued back ok...if the price is right, personally I'd go for it.

My LP had a headstock break before my time, it was repaired to be made invisible and the guitar is rock-solid.

[mynameisjonas]

Agreed, if it's withstood 3 years of touring without issues, it's probably fine.
They obviously didn't attempt to restore the finish during the repair, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not a solid repair.

[shadowplay]

Why buy this beat up guitar filled with drama?

and also filled with three genuine old Firebird pickups that possibly sound great. (ah I thought it was some old SG I wasn't familiar with not a recent one so scratch that)

You are welcome to think what you think but you certainly go a little off piste at the end where you are advocating we all pull a guitar solo come face and buy a PRS.

D

[wooderson]

I'm guessing this is the model?
https://reverb.com/item/20497722-1998-g ... errari-red

So you're talking $800 or so for the broken one.

At that price you're right in line with recent SG Specials with mini-humbuckers. There are only two but they're better pickups (IMO) than modern Gibson Firebird pickups (which are super hot ceramic mini-humbuckers). Retrofitting a Bigsby is another $150?

In your shoes, I'd go with the Special and if I really wanted Firebird pickups I'd swap in a couple of vintage-style ones down the road.

[Grey]

I remember these going for ~$900 just a few years ago so I guess they've gone up if that's the kind of money people are expecting now, but it is a unique configuration with the factory bigsby (maestro) and firebird pickups. Though like wooderson says, there are other models with mini-humbuckers so it'd be good to weigh that against how much you want this particular model.

[StevenO]

I'd pass. The fix might have held up but it clearly wasn't a professional repair. I'd want to get it fixed up if I bought it and that's ONLY if the price was really too good to be true.

Plenty of guitar fish in the gear sea.

[MT]

I'd pass. The fix might have held up but it clearly wasn't a professional repair. I'd want to get it fixed up if I bought it and that's ONLY if the price was really too good to be true.

Plenty of guitar fish in the gear sea.

This is my thought also. I don’t mind Gibsons with pro repaired headstock breaks if they’re great guitars being sold at a bargain price. But that repair has gaps everywhere and it’d annoy me enough to want it fixed. And that would mean having to spend money to do it. So the selling price would want to be great enough to cover for that cost.

[marqueemoon]

I'd pass. The fix might have held up but it clearly wasn't a professional repair. I'd want to get it fixed up if I bought it and that's ONLY if the price was really too good to be true.

Plenty of guitar fish in the gear sea.

This is my thought also. I don’t mind Gibsons with pro repaired headstock breaks if they’re great guitars being sold at a bargain price. But that repair has gaps everywhere and it’d annoy me enough to want it fixed. And that would mean having to spend money to do it. So the selling price would want to be great enough to cover for that cost.

I agree with all of this.

There’s a threshold of course, but I try to consider resale value when making gear purchases. This wouldn’t pass the test for me.

Also, broken guitars just bum me out. I had a 60’s Harmony Rocket that fell off the strap and met a concrete floor and got a big crack in the side. I was able to get some glue in there and it was stable and didn’t affect the sound or playability in any way but I just couldn’t deal with it. A lot of that had to do with me being the one who broke it of course.

[JSutter]

It's hard to get over the fact that it was broken but the rest of the guitar is glued together.

[Jaguar018]

This, to me, clearly comes down to you and your personality. Some people can live and play with guitars that have headstock repairs just fine-- while others will be perpetually haunted by the fact-- even if the repair was flawless and the guitar made you sound like a golden god.

Do you think you'll be okay with this? Is getting a good price worth it? Are you up for an interesting project like restoring and improving the repair?

I think I'm one of the people that would be sorta bothered by that particular repair. It looks terrible-- even if it is fundamentally sound. If I had been wanting that particular model of SG my whole life and/or that particular band was an all-time favorite (so this would be my #1 guitar) then I might take it on-- but if this is just one of those deals where 'I've always wanted to try one' or 'it's a really good price' and you throw it in with four or five other guitars... it would just be a waste.

[RIORIO]

I'm guessing this is the model?
https://reverb.com/item/20497722-1998-g ... errari-red

So you're talking $800 or so for the broken one.

At that price you're right in line with recent SG Specials with mini-humbuckers. There are only two but they're better pickups (IMO) than modern Gibson Firebird pickups (which are super hot ceramic mini-humbuckers). Retrofitting a Bigsby is another $150?

In your shoes, I'd go with the Special and if I really wanted Firebird pickups I'd swap in a couple of vintage-style ones down the road.

That’s the model! He wants $650 for it. The pickups sound great to my ear! I’ve owned a modern firebird with stupid hot pickups (2010ish) and these sound much nicer / more tame to my ear. Almost like the Lollars in my old Bilt.

[RIORIO]

Thanks for the input everyone- one of the reasons I love this forum