itchyfingers
Roadie
- Messages
- 636
I've had this '62 LP Junior for about 6 years. As much as I'd like to own one, I don't see myself ever being able to afford a 50s Tele, Strat, or LP and I consider myself lucky to have gotten this Junior for a decent price relative to what I am seeing them go for today. It is all original, no headstock crack, really well loved and well played over its lifetime, serial number says it was made in January, 1962. Cool - a vintage Les Paul in the stable, just a few years off a legendary Burst! The only problem was that it couldn't hold a tune for more than 3 minutes. Seriously, it wouldn't make it til the end of a song. I wanted to love it, but I just didn't love playing it. Mainly sat in the closet to be some investment piece eventually, I don't know. I was reluctant to do anything to it because of its "all original" status, and I was worried that I'd be messing up the mojo or value if I put any work into it. Reading up some vintage forums / threads and talking with some friends recently; I was somewhat assured that I wouldn't be hurting the value if I replaced parts, as long as I kept the original pieces.
So couple weeks ago I decided that I really wanted to love this guitar, and was going to invest in some updates to make it a player. If I didn't jive with it after the fact, then so be it. At least at that point I tried and shouldn't have any reservations about selling it off. Took it to my friends down at Moze Guitars for new frets, new nut, new tuners, new bridge, and a pickguard that wasn't warped. Not sure all of it was needed, but figured might as well upgrade all the hardware at once, it's 63 years old! The tech put the old pickguard on a piece of wood, so it will be interesting to see if it ever returns to a flat profile.
Got the guitar back last week and man, I'm kinda kicking myself for not doing this sooner! It plays so nice, sounds so killer, really a completely different instrument than what I took to the shop - feels like a NGD all over again. Best of all it holds tune great and is playing effortlessly up and down the fretboard. Keeping all the original parts in a ziploc bag, but I don't plan on selling it (anymore, lol). Moral of the story, I guess, is don't give up on an old guitar.
So couple weeks ago I decided that I really wanted to love this guitar, and was going to invest in some updates to make it a player. If I didn't jive with it after the fact, then so be it. At least at that point I tried and shouldn't have any reservations about selling it off. Took it to my friends down at Moze Guitars for new frets, new nut, new tuners, new bridge, and a pickguard that wasn't warped. Not sure all of it was needed, but figured might as well upgrade all the hardware at once, it's 63 years old! The tech put the old pickguard on a piece of wood, so it will be interesting to see if it ever returns to a flat profile.
Got the guitar back last week and man, I'm kinda kicking myself for not doing this sooner! It plays so nice, sounds so killer, really a completely different instrument than what I took to the shop - feels like a NGD all over again. Best of all it holds tune great and is playing effortlessly up and down the fretboard. Keeping all the original parts in a ziploc bag, but I don't plan on selling it (anymore, lol). Moral of the story, I guess, is don't give up on an old guitar.
