KVR Audio

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:54 pm

tapper mike wrote:The other day I walked into a guitar store. They had one going for $200 listed as a "Project Guitar" It was an immaculate Ibanez RS SSS with an unbranded neck. After checking it out I was extremely tempted to buy. But I'm shy on finances as I've just spend just as much money on chef ware for my job. I couldn't help thinking to myself I could flip that thing without modification if I were willing to wait long enough. More over if I could find a vintage Ibanez neck I could swap necks and inform buyers that I did so. I'm not one to play fast and loose with the truth.

Today I started watching some videos on how to flip musical equipment on Ebay. It seems rather doable. Buying guitars for less, sprucing them up a little and then turning a marginal profit on it.
I see guys doing this all the time.

What are your thoughts on flipping guitars?

Dicey. Many tried w/o luck.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:21 pm

Hermetech Mastering wrote:A week with a Strat. The first time for me. It's a Fender US Elite Strat made last December, in aged cherry burst.

One thing I completely failed to consider when I made my earlier comments is that your Fender Elite has the new N4 pickup system. I've never used the N4's but I do have the original Fender Noiseless pickups in my '96 US Strat and it's one of my favorite sounding bridge pickups ever. I believe Jeff Beck is using that same pickup now and I can pretty much nail his current sound with that guitar. With my original Noiseless pickups, the neck and middle positions are too dark sounding for me (the bridge is dark, too, but that's why I love it) and my understanding is the N4 system corrects this by having each pickup calibrated for its position.

Hermetech Mastering · Post by **Hermetech Mastering** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:48 pm

No idea as nothing to compare them to, excpet SD humbuckers in my Tele, but they sound good to me, (into an AB763 DR clone). Very 'Stratty', haha. I have them at Fender recommended heights now (had them super low before, didn't sound too good there) but am probably gonna back them off a little bit. I expected to hate them but actually think they sound great, and the lack of noise is nice.

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:48 pm

Hermetech Mastering wrote:...At first I couldn't comprehend how different it could sound from my hard tail Tele of ten years, just acoustically. Then finally, I realised it basically has a resonant cavity/spring reverb/pitch shifty chorus built in, and it all started to make sense. If you look and listen from behind you can hear and see the pitch shifting, even when not playing that hard on one string (the bridge bar moves every time you pluck). There is some kind of feedback loop between the wood of the guitar itself (neck and body), the gauge of the strings, the floating bridge & spring system, and how hard you play. It's pretty insane. Sorry if I'm stating the obvs., Strats have been around since '54 of course, but like I said, first time for me...

1. that's a beautiful instrument - congrats !
2. my tech recco'd that mine be configured to "dive only" decking. I think that contributes somewhat to it's amazing tuning stability and less of that "chorus-y" thing you describe. Could also be that I've learned to love .011 gauge strings . . .
3. disagree that that a tele could replace a strat. My examples sound so dis-similar to one another. It's not just the "brightness" or treble balance between them as the strat's bridge is plenty bright. The midrange and the bass response are also so different - imho

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:51 pm

Tapper - flipping modified GTRs on EBay is an excellent way to give yourself ulcers

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:48 pm

Hermetech Mastering wrote:No idea as nothing to compare them to, excpet SD humbuckers in my Tele, but they sound good to me, (into an AB763 DR clone). Very 'Stratty', haha. I have them at Fender recommended heights now (had them super low before, didn't sound too good there) but am probably gonna back them off a little bit. I expected to hate them but actually think they sound great, and the lack of noise is nice.

Pickup height is a major contributing factor. I like to set my neck and middle with the treble side high and bass side low, then set the bridge the opposite. I also set the bridge as close as possible overall and set the others low for a thinner, almost acoustic kind of tone.

Hermetech Mastering · Post by **Hermetech Mastering** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:55 pm

Yeah, I've always preferred my pickups way low, on my Tele and Jazz Bass, as low as poss before sounding bad. I have no need for "high gain" anything at all.

As stated before, will leave floating bridge as is for now, and get used to it, then experiment with decked and then blocked in the mid term, before coming to a final decision. Gonna try 10's next too, 9's at the mo, NYXL balanced tension set, love how they feel!

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:05 pm

Mister Natural wrote:Tapper - flipping modified GTRs on EBay is an excellent way to give yourself ulcers

And the main reason why is because you can sell something, have someone file a complaint, you have to refund it, you get it back .... and it's all f**ked up.

Now if you can do it through your own channels, maybe not so bad.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 4:00 am

Mister Natural wrote:Tapper - flipping modified GTRs on EBay is an excellent way to give yourself ulcers

I've got a two part answer to this. Mostly it's buy on ebay but sell on craigslist.

1. A loan is a gift until it's returned.
I've tried to caution 20 year olds again and again through life with this adage. If you are going to loan someone money expect it not to be returned. Don't loan money that you have set aside for something else. Always have a backup system if things go haywire. That's easy talk when you are living beneath your means. I know I lived very well beneath my means when I was making more money. Extending that same premise to gambling and guitars. I know people who go out and blow money at casino's all the time expecting that big win to come around. If you don't have the money to spend then don't throw it away. I never loan to gamblers. Even when I have the extra money laying around. Simply because they have failed to figure out where the problem lays.

Now the guitar part. I used to have a huge collection of guitars (Over 100 at one time). The raggedy cheap but well playing ones I'd play the most. The nicer ones would come out once a month or so. I did this with "free money" Money that I had allocated for buying guitars which didn't interfere with basic living expenses. No fancy cars, or flashy clothes or expensive nights out on the town. When it came time to sell the lions share off for a failed venture I didn't have the emotional commitment to those guitars as I'd rarely play them but I did keep them in good condition. If I sold in a store I'd only sell by commission (pre internet) or via the local newspapers. I bought used and I sold used. Usually a little higher than the purchase price. Sometimes the same and sometimes I'd take a hit. Mostly it was a profitable venture. I wasn't interested in starting a used instrument business. It was simple. Save X amount of money every month. Planned purchases (no impulse buying there will always be another around the corner)

On to the next stage. Buy on Ebay or Craigslist (preferably ebay) Sell on Reverb. Here's the things about Craigslist. Know the general area where you are buying. Schedule a meeting time. Expect it to be dirty or possibly needing basic work. Negotiate Down. Know when to walk away. Carry only as much cash that you'll think you'll need to spend. Know the recent selling price on Reverb. Calculate how much it will cost to actually sell the product. Expect to put time into the instrument and know packaging costs. I'm actually considering going to tech school just to finish off my education. There is a lot of basic tech I already know.

Craigslist is for lazy sellers. They don't want to ship they may not want to feel embarrassed by what a pawn shop or guitar store is going to offer them. They may simply have lost interest in playing guitar and want the bad memory gone as opposed to sitting in a case under their bed. Nicer guitars come from nicer homes.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 4:15 am

Here are the benefits I see in parting guitars out instead of fixing them up:

1. Higher profits
2. Lower return rates (people buying parts are usually educated buyers)
3. Easier, cheaper shipping with lower rates of damage

Here are the benefits I see in fixing guitars up instead of parting them out:

1. Good for your soul
2. Fun
3. Sometimes you can provide someone with a really cool instrument at a super lower price

We threw together a guitar a few months ago with a truly "roadworn" Squire body, a beat up Warmoth neck, and a Dimarzio FS-1 bridge pickup. The result is a surprisingly cool sounding and great playing budget version of the David Gilmour Signature Strat that someone can buy for a few hundred dollars.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 2:11 pm

Valid points, I've seen many an ad for worthy rebuilds on ebay. Then again I've seen quite a number of hatchet jobs as well.

My first guitar was a Gibson 335, My next guitar which I bought off a friend was a Crestwood 335 copy. The crestwood was slightly smaller, much thinner. It also had a thinner smaller (nut width) neck. Originally it had only two generic single coils but the previous owner had installed a Dimarzio pup in the center. I loved playing that crestwood I'd always reach for it practicing and take it everywhere with me as it was lighter and easier to play. I'd rarely play the Gibson aside from shows for fear of something happening to it.

I'm actually thinking of going to a tech school to complete my repair tech skills. There are some things I can do and somethings I can't. While they do offer courses in building both acoustic and electric instruments I'd rather focus on neckwork. Though all things being equal I'd have to balance the value of swapping a neck for repairing it.

As I stated originally. The $200 Ibanez that I saw was a great playing guitar with an unbranded neck. To many brand identity means everything. I did some looking and I've seen same models necks going for under 100 on ebay (parting out) Simply being honest about the work done and swapping the neck with any additional work could bring up the value of the instrument.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:37 pm

There are different degrees of instrument tech / luthiers.

Take Mike Koontz (who I've met once or twice)

His repairs and modifications depending on the work can cost more than a luthier build new guitar.

Then you have the ghost builders such as the departed... Ed Roman. I didn't like the guy.

Next you have the true luthiers who build everything from scratch themselves.
Like Todd Keehan http://www.tkinstruments.com/about.htm

Forshage is in a class by himself. He designs prototypes for smaller builders like Matt Raines and he builds guitars to your specs as well as his own designs. Actually fairly reasonable for a two man show with high skill levels compared to say..Gibson or Fender USA factory built. They build it all from scratch.
https://www.facebook.com/forshageguitars/

Then you have your average tech working out of a guitar store. Who is generally a reasonably priced guy and his workmanship is well worth the amount of money he charges.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:18 pm

Considering my luck with MM, I shouldn't even be looking at this, but it's purdy:

Now, this isn't the sub that I got, this is roughly 800 bones, so unless one shows up in a store and it blows me away (like the sub did) I don't think I'll buy. Plus I'd still need to shell about 300 for the nordstrands like I did with the 5. Too rich for my blood.

I think it's going to be be this instead:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/ste ... ss&index=2

But I want a maple fretboard and that is only black (which my 5 is) and mint green (which is cool, but so far the ones at my local GC don't have that vibe my 5 has)

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:03 am

You know what, I think I am going to unload everything but this and then keep searching for the sub for a 4.

This things sounds WAY better than anything else I have. The neck is FLAWLESS. How does that happen for $300 bass????????????????????????????????????

fedexnman · Post by **fedexnman** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:46 am

I had an Ibanez strat SSH RG series ... Neck was flawless back in 95' it was cheap as hell . It amazes me sometimes the cheap ones beat the expensive ones alot . I have a Lakland 4 string that I swapped pickups out.. it's really nice bass . $300 for a nice bass is a steal ... If it plays well you could always go to bestbassgear dot com and change out the electronics and pickup , they have alot of stuff that fits the mm basses , get u an Aguilar preamp and maybe a Nordstrand MM style pickup , then you'd have u a really nice bass .

Your next guitar?