Fender King serial #0020

[JulianH]

Hi,
I hate to just come on to a forum like this and make one post without offering anything to the community, but I dont know what else to do. I am trying to sell a fender King acoustic guitar. The serial number on the neck plate is 0020, which I assume means that it was the 20th King even made by fender. It definitely needs some restoration and I am not sure how much is original. It has fallen out of a helicopter in Big Sur and the cracks where repaired on the surface with epoxy putty, and a piece of tubing was installed inside the body of the guitar to give it stability (I assume). The guitar is pretty beaten up, but nothing is missing and it has a beautiful patina. I guess my questions are, is there anything I should know about this guitar and how much would it be worth restored? If it is not to expensive of a guitar I may restore it myself, but I don't want to experiment on a great guitar. I will definitely post pics ias soon as I can find my camera and if I restore it myself I will post plenty of pics along the way.
Thanks,
-Julian

[Spud1950]

Nice guitar and nice collectible piece of Fender history,top of the line model of their first acoustic guitars. The metal rod in the body was not added on. It is actually part of the original factory construction. Here's some info.



You don't see those for sale too often. When you do, in really nice original condition they go for a few thousand dollars. Gruhn has a really nice one for sale.



Unfortunately from your description of what seems to be the rather poor condition and very unprofessional repair done to yours, a properly done professional restoration would be quite time consuming and expensive. Also keep in mind that even a nice professionally restored guitar,i.e. repaired/refinished,is never worth as much as the same guitar in nice original condition. You may not even be able to recoup the restoration cost in a sale. Repairing and refinishing it yourself is not advisable unless you really know what you're doing. It would be interesting to see some pictures.

[cheepaxes]

I have to wonder how much of Gruhn's asking price reflects the fact that that particular instrument was owned by Jimmie C. Newman.

-Scott

[VintAxe]

I think quite a bit Scott. According to the Blue Book, a Fender King in excellent condition is valued around $1,100 and one in average condition about $700.

I'm not saying the Blue Book is always right, but there is a substantial gap between $1,100 and the $3,500 Gruhn is asking for his King. I think Spud's couple of thousand estimate is probably closer to an accurate retail price.

Julian, I think you are probably best off selling the guitar "AS IS" and just getting what you can. It will probably sell to a luthier that will be able to do the restoration work himself.

[Spud1950]

I think you guys are right. Gruhn is inflating the price due to the "celebrity" owned factor. The only other ones I had ever seen for sale were years ago when the vintage market prices were higher then then in todays depressed market. Asking prices were around $2000-$2500. I found another one for sale at $1000. Non original tuners and some finish scratches but still in pretty nice condition. The Gruhn guitar is in better condition,but not enough to justify that much of a price difference.

[JulianH]

So the serial number is just a coincidence?

[Spud1950]

According to the Wikipedia link:

"Fender King guitars were sequentially numbered and the number placed on the back of the guitar on a small metal plate."

That would mean that 0020 is the 20th one made.