Anyone own any good vintage instruments?

I have a Guild D-35, circa 1980 - sounds like a million dollar vintage piano. Shame I can't play better.

I have a '74 Alvarez 12 string and while probably not "vintage" I have a 1997 Made in Waverly, RI Guild acoustic, maybe one of the last made in Waverly before fender bought fricked them up.

Then I have a couple of guitars that keep going up invalue because they don't make them anymore. A J Mascis Fender Jazz Master and a Burns Steer (Billy Bragg replica).

1976 Gibson Les Paul "Standard Deluxe." It's stamped "Deluxe" on the back of the headstock but it was cut at the factory for full-sized humbuckers instead of mini humbuckers. The originals HBs are long gone, in favor of Carondelet Dreambuckers.



1972 Fender Thinline, nicknamed "Not Tab Benoit's" because everyone thinks it's Tab's. This originated in my shop around 2017 as a job from NJ. I was given just the body and the neck in the condition you see them, and I was instructed by my client to create a Tab Benoit tribute TL out of it. So I re-populated it with reissue hardware I aged myself. I rewound the pickups - they are the only set of Carondelet Wide Range Humbucker clones in existence. I also flattened the fingerboard radius during a jumbo refret from 7.25 to 10, and I subsequently aged the fingerboard to match the rest of the guitar. In 2020, the guy in NJ had a big "thinning the herd" gear sell-off and he sold me the TL at a price I couldn't pass up.



Here's Tab's on my bench for comparison's sake.



1955 Gibson Les Paul Junior. I got this as a horridly rattlecanned refin husk and very little else. Total overhaul and re-population with the good stuff. Pickup is a custom-spec Carondelet 90 I wound myself. A PERFECT mid-50s Junior burst in period correct nitro by my good pal Shannon Huss at HEL in Pennsylvania. Repro logo by a different pal in the UK.

Before ...



After ...



Late 1940s Harmony 1215 Archtone. For an 80-year old economy flatwound jazz box that has never had a neck reset, this guitar plays like a million bucks.

That 76 Paul looks like it roars.

I have a lot of old acoustic guitars that I've bought over the years for cheap.
Most aren't good for much except maybe wall art. Some have cases that are worth more than the guitars.
There are a few good ones, but not very valuable.
My favorite is a Marlboro miles country dreadnaught that I bought last year.
After doing fretwork, replacing the plastic parts with brass and bone, it is a really great playing and sounding guitar.
I went ahead and added an L.R. Baggs Hi-Fi pickup system to it. I'm really happy with that one.
Those guitars have a reputation for being junk, that one is really solid though. It's the only one I can remember ever playing, so maybe they aren't that bad, just need some work and better parts invested.

Would a 1993 les paul be now considered vintage?

That LPJr is sexy.

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1955 Gibson Les Paul Junior.

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Damn dude. Beautiful work.

I looked but don't have a picture on my phone. My luthier/bandmate has a 1966 Gibson SG. That thing is my holy grail guitar. Doesn't play exceptionally well, but the low action makes it play quick. To me, it is an investment/piece of art as much as it is an instrument.

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TheFretShack

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