breaking guitars, and selling them for parts :(

[gwEm]

doesn't seem right, doesn't seem right at all..

(especially when its a vintage instrument)

[Twinfan]

I know - I hate seeing it.

Same with cars and motorbikes too.  It's just wrong  :(

[jpfamps]

A lamentable practice indeed.

Sadly many guitars are worth more as parts then they are whole.

I can only condone this when you have a guitar that has major issues and you are using the good parts to get another guitar right.

My real bête noire is people who rob parts from perfectly good cheaper guitars.

For example I've got a guitar where the knobs are probably worth more than what I paid for the guitar, however I wouldn't dream of breaking the guitar.

[indysmith]

I don't care :)

[Philly Q]

Breaking, or dismantling?

If I'm getting rid of something I put together from parts, I sell it as parts - my Frankenstein has very little intrinsic value to anyone else, and you get more money by selling the bits.

I wouldn't do it with a vintage guitar, though.  Or even a new one that I'd bought "whole", although that might actually be a sensible thing to do from a £££ point of view.

[gwEm]

its like when you have a complete working instrument it has some sort of soul, even if its a parts guitar. especially with a vintage guitar - those parts have been together for 20, 30, 40 years. if the guitar is broken, maybe it makes sense.

maybe i'm getting funny romantic notions here, though am pleased some of you agree, at least partly.

i've put together two guitars which used a few vintage parts, and putting together another one now. have been watching these people who factor guitars into parts, what they do is clear in the ebay record. maybe its a smart way to make money, and i'm being foolish about it

[Philly Q]

its like when you have a complete working instrument it has some sort of soul, even if its a parts guitar. especially with a vintage guitar - those parts have been together for 20, 30, 40 years. if the guitar is broken, maybe it makes sense.

I do totally agree regarding vintage guitars, but with a parts guitar whatever soul/mojo it has really only applies to the original owner who made it to match his criteria.  To anyone else, it's just a bunch of parts.

I always remember an interview I read with Allan Holdsworth.  Years ago, back in the '70s, he had a Fender Strat with two humbuckers (pre Van Halen, I think!).  Then he sold it to a guy who promptly put a set of normal Strat pickups in it.  Holdsworth was saying how annoyed he was, that the guy should have seen what the guitar was capable of - but I think he should've realised that "what it was capable of" meant absolutely nothing to someone else.  The other bloke just wanted a Strat.

As for the economics of it, I sold a '99 Fender Strat for about £400 a few months ago, and I was pretty annoyed I got such a cr@ppy price for it.  Then I sold a Tele neck (which I'd bought on its own) for £350.  At that rate, "soul" be damned!   

[Ian Price]

Hmmm, many of you know I'm trying to sell my 1970s tele at the moment. The thought had crossed my mind to sell it as parts. The heart says no and the (financial) brain says why not. For me the issue is in resolving the internal conflict and being happy (financially or mentally) with that decision.

I have so far decided to sell my tele as a whole guitar rather than bits'n'pieces.

[tomjackson]

its like when you have a complete working instrument it has some sort of soul, even if its a parts guitar. especially with a vintage guitar - those parts have been together for 20, 30, 40 years. if the guitar is broken, maybe it makes sense.

I do totally agree regarding vintage guitars, but with a parts guitar whatever soul/mojo it has really only applies to the original owner who made it to match his criteria.  To anyone else, it's just a bunch of parts.

I always remember an interview I read with Allan Holdsworth.  Years ago, back in the '70s, he had a Fender Strat with two humbuckers (pre Van Halen, I think!).  Then he sold it to a guy who promptly put a set of normal Strat pickups in it.  Holdsworth was saying how annoyed he was, that the guy should have seen what the guitar was capable of - but I think he should've realised that "what it was capable of" meant absolutely nothing to someone else.  The other bloke just wanted a Strat.

As for the economics of it, I sold a '99 Fender Strat for about £400 a few months ago, and I was pretty annoyed I got such a cr@ppy price for it.  Then I sold a Tele neck (which I'd bought on its own) for £350.  At that rate, "soul" be damned!   

The other bloke probably sounded better than Alan Holdworth anyway, his tone is like a buzz-saw synth.
I might even listen to the guy if he played a regular strat through an amp with a nice sound :D

I'm thinking of selling my 1994 strat but I can't bring myself to sell it as parts, it used to be my no.1 and we were like carrots and peas, how could I do that to it?  I'm not sentimental about much but guitars I am.....

[sgmypod]

Prefer to keep them together same goes with amps

[FELINEGUITARS]

As for the economics of it, I sold a '99 Fender Strat for about £400 a few months ago, and I was pretty annoyed I got such a cr@ppy price for it.  Then I sold a Tele neck (which I'd bought on its own) for £350.  At that rate, "soul" be damned!   

It's so weird when that happens
But it does make you say Huh? and wonder if you should do the same

There are some guys making good money on ebay doing just that with Fenders
Much more profitable
I know because one of our customers came in with a tele neck he had bought that way and had us make a thin-line  tele body for him (without the f holes)

[Philly Q]

I know because one of our customers came in with a tele neck he had bought that way and had us make a thin-line  tele body for him (without the f holes)

It wasn't a tinted, 22-fret maple neck with abalone inlays, was it?

The guy who bought mine was going to get some kind of Thinline built.

[FELINEGUITARS]

No - he bought it from the states ..........