The guitar was bought in the mid-sixties, in a swap deal for my Hofner Colorama solid. It has not seen more that 40 minutes playing time in the last 40 years, set aside for various Ibanez models.
When taken out of its case for a quick play a couple of years ago, one pickup was found to be not working. This was rewound by Aaron at Armstrong Pickups http://www.armstrongpickups.co.uk/ and refitted.
It was given a ‘wash and brush up’ by luthier Mark Wilmott, who also re-fretted it, and replaced the original ‘rocker’ bridge (with flaky fixed intonation) with a roller bridge .http://www.markwillmottguitars.com/
Given its age, the guitar is in reasonable condition, as evidenced by the pictures below. (Right click an open in a new tab for those in the gallery) However, the immediately following pictures are by way of a ‘warts and all’ disclose of artifacts which might have bearing on a sale. They might be considered as being largely age flaws and wear, together with the odd 50+ year old ding.
These pictures are available in in higher (12Mb) resolution if you want to drill down on any. For the pictures at the bottom of the page in ‘boxes’, each can be opened in a new tab by right clicking.
1 The strap pin is stained and rusty.
2 There is a small indentation to the right of the strap pin.
3 There is some loss of varnish on the top of the headstock where is must have been knocked at some point, and minor blemishes on the right edge.
4 There are slight marks indentations at the edge of the bridge (on both sides) where the original aluminium bridge sat; this was replaced some time ago, when the current ‘roller’ bridge replaced the original knife edge ‘rocker’. As you will be aware the original Hofner bridge had fixed intonation which was unsatisfactory for accurate tuning.
5 There is slight darkening on the body to the left side of the Bigsby. It’s not very noticeable.
6 There are some slight ‘scuff’ marks below the controls, presumably done by repeated contact from adjusting volume and tone.
7 There is some minor cracks in the veneer at one point, typical of type at this age. Elsewhere, there is some visibility of the veneer lines, but this is very minor, and in comparison with other models of this age, not a material detraction to the guitar.
8 There is a slight ding on the back of the fingerboard
9 This is fairly evident, but in the playing underside. This is the screw hole where the pick guard was screwed in to originally, long since removed.
More general pictures follow (right click and open in new tab for larger image)
