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Topic: Refinishing a stringmaster? |
Darryl Hattenhauer
From:
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
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Posted 18 Oct 2012 6:48 pm |
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If you took a brown stringmaster that's in fair to good condition (but not excellent) and refinished it in 1950's Fender off-white or light yellow, would the resale value drop about a third?
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Steel crazy after all these years.
$100 reward for info leading to the purchase of a fender D8 white, yellow, or butterscotch. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Oct 2012 7:39 pm
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If you lose the decal, then maybe... if it's done poorly, then probably. The cream finish seems to be the most desirable color... but original is original.
Your best bet (if you want a cream guitar) is to sell what you've got and buy another... doing the job right won't be cheap.
Hey, here's an idea... part out the guitar, then use the money to buy the guitar you want (ducks, then runs out the back door).
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Darryl Hattenhauer
From:
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
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Posted 18 Oct 2012 7:42 pm
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Do the decals ever come up for sale?
_________________
Steel crazy after all these years.
$100 reward for info leading to the purchase of a fender D8 white, yellow, or butterscotch. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 19 Oct 2012 7:33 am
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You can get the spaghetti Fender decals from Bobby Seymour.
That's where I got this one:
Incidently, I refinished this guitar. When I bought it back from the fellow's widow who I sold it to years before, it looked like this.
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 19 Oct 2012 8:19 am Re: Refinishing a stringmaster?
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| Darryl Hattenhauer wrote: |
| If you took a brown stringmaster that's in fair to good condition (but not excellent) and refinished it in 1950's Fender off-white or light yellow, would the resale value drop about a third? |
Depends on its current condition, who you're selling it to, and the quality of the work performed, IMHO. A working player might even prefer a well-done, authentic looking refin.
Nice job, Erv! That's an example of a guitar whose value would be improved by a refin. It's simply not in collectable condition if left alone by Erv's skillful hands.
_________________
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 19 Oct 2012 8:37 am
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Thanks, Herb!
I won't play an ugly guitar.  |
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Jim Rossen
From:
Iowa, USA
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Posted 19 Oct 2012 12:18 pm
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Who is in the business of doing excellent quality refinishing of Fender and similar steels?
Thanks
Jim |
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Chris Scruggs
From:
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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Posted 20 Oct 2012 6:24 pm
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I would recommend leaving it as Leo made it and time shaped it. Unless it's been refinished already or severely damaged, it will ABSOLUTELY only hurt the value by up to fifty percent, period.
Especially if, as you say, it's currently in fair to good condition!
Stephen has the best idea. If you MUST have blond, sell the walnut one and buy the a blond one.
A proper nitro refin (poly looks terrible and negatively effects the resonance of the guitar) will cost you about $400, and you'd be left with a $600-$800 guitar instead of a $1200-$1600 one.
Vintage guitars, especially Fenders, age so gracefully. It is a shame to see one that has undergone "plastic surgery" just for the sake of "looking younger".
In one hundred years somebody else is going to own this guitar. They are only ours to take care of for a little while. I say do the next guy a favor and preserve the paint job as it left the factory in Fullerton, California.
Altering the "originality" of a guitar for the sake of maintained playability is one thing. If a pickup is dead, rewind it. If a tuner is stripped, replace it. BUT, if it ain't broke, well, you know the rest!
It's an original 1950's Fender guitar. Respect it!
-Chris Scruggs |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 20 Oct 2012 8:02 pm
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I agree 1000% Chris. New paint may look shiny and pretty, but it devalues a vintage guitar by up to 50%. IMO it ruins the guitar. Good, honest wear, scratches and all, is worth far more than new paint and is part of the guitar's history and character.
A lot of people don't realize that the Fender nitro finishes of the 1950s scratch off very easily, unlike today's thick poly finishes on guitars. We expect to see scratches on those old nitro finish guitars. It means someone has played it, and that's good! It's normal wear and it's part of the guitar's story and history.
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 21 Oct 2012 6:04 am
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I basically agree with Chris and Doug - to me, a workable original finish on an old Fender should be left alone on general principles. If it was already stripped or refinished, that's different. I suppose that if the original finish was completely trashed, that is yet another thing. But moving from a good or even fair original finish to a refin seems like a big step backwards.
On value - there are different markets for steel guitars. For example, some people on this forum seem to be fairly tolerant of refins, especially for pedal steel guitars. From what I see, that seems less so for nonpedal steels. Further, if you move into the general 'vintage guitar' world, the general rule truly is that a refin is worth no more than 50% of a comparable original finish guitar, and that has been true for decades. If anything, the current vintage guitar market is even more original-centric than ever because of the general state of the market due to a generally weak economy less obsessed with collectibles. From a true economic point of view, you obviously need to also consider the cost of the refin, and I agree that one should only consider a high-quality nitrocellulose refin, which ain't cheap unless you're a competent refinisher yourself.
The fact that your guitar is originally brown raises yet another question - what is the body wood? The Fender blonde finish was generally reserved for ash bodies. I'm not sure if some brown Stringmasters were made in ash, but I would never, ever consider refinishing, e.g., a brown mahogany or walnut Dual Pro D8 in blonde (I have a mahogany one, and prefer it to any of the other Dual Pros I've played). Even if the finish was totally trashed and I resolved that it needed a total restoration, I'd restore it as close to original as possible to maintain its integrity and value as much as possible.
My take. |
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Jim Rossen
From:
Iowa, USA
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Posted 21 Oct 2012 1:51 pm
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So, who can be hired to do a quality refinish (on a badly refinished) Fender console?
Thanks
Jim |
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Benjamin Kelley
From:
Iowa, USA
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Posted 21 Oct 2012 1:59 pm
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John Ely told me that Michael Stevens refinished one of his and did a killer job. Probably cost an arm and a leg though.
Cheers,
Benjamin
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If I die trying I will steel the world one honky tonk at a time. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 21 Oct 2012 3:35 pm
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For an old Fender guitar with a stripped, seriously-messed-up, or redone finish, I like Jack's Guitar Finishes in Baldwinsville, NY, not far from Syracuse. You'd have to talk with him about a console, but I would think that a standard Fender finish like blonde would be no problem at all. I see lots of his guitar/bass work, he really is very good, to my tastes.
I don't think a guitar repair/refin shop is going to do a quality nitrocellulose lacquer refinish cheap. There's a lot of prep work, it takes a lot of skill to do it right, and there are also a lot of EPA regulations imposed on a shop like this. |
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