We've recently dusted off my grandfather's old archtop guitar, an Epiphone Zenith Masterbilt. He bought it used for about $20 back in 1935, and could tell it had been used professionally before that due to the extent of the fret wear. When my father began playing guitar in a band, he had installed an aftermarket magnetic pickup in the neck position, and attached the volume/tone knobs on the lower front portion of the body. The output is a 1/8" jack.
At present, there is a crack on the top and the metal tailpiece is nearly torn off, thus the bridge is laying down because of the loose strings. I don't dare to tighten the strings, because of the risk of it breaking, so I've left it alone. The G string tuner cracked at some point in time, and it appears as if my grandfather fixed it with glue and twine. As far as I know, all parts are original (except for the pickup, of course). The finish isn't perfect; not by a long shot, but it's still there. The original label inside is still intact, and the numbers 5279 are pressed into the wood next to it.
My question is:
To a collector, what's it worth, if anything?
Is it worth fixing for resale? If not, is it worth fixing to make it playable again, and how much would such repairs cost? I'm guessing new frets, new tailpiece holder, maybe filling in the crack on the top.
Any input would be great. Thanks!Statistics: Posted by Patman — Sun Dec 26, 2010 3:41 pm
]]>