Looking at Things From A Collectors Point Of View

[straycat113]

[RuppMusic]

[mke52]

First of all i'm sorry to hear about the problems with your left hand but do not give up, something new might turn up and you may be able to rock aweay with your axes again! as a fellow guitarist that is the best wish i can give you.
I have only aproached vintage in the recent years and am learning the do's and dont's. I would divide vintage in 2 areas: 1) the users 2) the collectors/users.
If i'm a user and want the sound of a 64 strat i can find one refinished with maybe some minor modifications (pot change or toggle switch changed) at $8000 vs the over $20000 of the untouched version.
For the colector guitar i have come to the conclusion that the only acceptable modification is a refret as this is considered vital for the guitar to be playable. A part from that all the rest is strictly prohibited.
Having said that i'm in between. My current small collection includes two refinished guitars: a 72 strat and a 71 Les Paul Recording and two collectibles: a 68 thinline Tele and a 66 Gibson 335. Now i am in the process of buying a 63 strat and in doing so i selected a refretted one with no other modifications.

[johnnyb]

stracat, i also feel for your injury. i was in a car accident in the mid 90's. i broke my wrist in 5 places, had a cast on for many months and took over a year of physical therapy to make it usable again. i had a couple of fingers sticking out of the cast that were useable so i popped a slide on one and decided it was a good time to learn. after the cast came off i had use of only 2 fingers so i tried the Django approach and i ended up seeing the fretboard in a whole new light.
so anyway, i think it depends on what the guitar is worth if it has mods or not. if its a $10,000 guitar i would want it to be all original. for me even a $500 guitar i would like to be all original. For a collector i think that is the point. but some vintage guitars may be hard to find complete and if its something you really want you may have to live with the mods. but as stated before routing, re-fins and extra holes are more like damage. vintage pups and electronics can usually be found somewhere.

[straycat113]

First I would like to thank you guys for the words of encouragement. I have had Cubital tunnel syndrome which is similar to Carpal except it is the ring and pinkie fingers that go numb for a few years,and as long as I laid of using my pinkie a lot would diminish as Johnnyb stated yes I would do the Django or Gary Moore as Gary is one modern player that uses the 1-2 for blazing runs.lol But the deal sealer was I developed a Neuroma on the inside of my thumb joint which makes it feel like the shock you get banging your funny bone in my thumb everytime I press down on the guitar neck. Well 18 months and 4 doctors later I should be getting my surgery. To keep from cracking up I started teaching my 11 year old who has great dexterity and is on his way and buying more axes. I found the more I could not play the more GAS I was getting. And due to the bad economy I found a lot of guys selling off there collections to make car or house payment I started reading Vintage Guitar a lot more than Guitar Techniques and found my train of thought to be more on the collectors side of late. I have never had anything against straight up collectors as though I was always a player I always saw the beauty in guitars as though they were art. I remember stopping with a friend at a guy that was his friends house 15 years ago and this guy had Les Pauls and Strats hanging on two walls in NY and asking the guy if he wanted to jam a bit and he laughed and said he did not play and I was like what the f..., I ask about that guy till today but my friend lost contact as maybe he cashed in lol. I am a regular on the Fender Forum and last month a guy put in a post saying his bridge pickup on his 67 Strat died and he was sick about it as the ax was really clean so I was wondering what do guys who collect do when something like that happens. I mean we have all had guitars have a switch go bad or need a new pot or refret and I figured you guys would know best. If that guy finds a pup from another 67 how is that looked on do you match parts for that ax by the same year or as close as you can get. And lets keep it real and use the 67 as an example if you match it would you say it had a pup replacement. I have always been a Strat and tele player and fan of the EBMM EVH guitar. which when I posted last month what do you guys think will be the vintage axes of tomorrow no one mentioned it. Considering he was IMHO the greatest player of his era, made the guitar and there discontinued to me that would make them rare. Plus they only made 6,000 of them with some colors only made in 400 natural,200-pink,-96-green,26-black and like 9 gold. There I gave you guys a tip.lol So I have a chance to buy a mint pink one from a friend the only thing is the tuners were changed( he has the originals)but they were one screw tuners the ones in now are two I am going to buy it no matter what as the price is to good. In the future would that be a no go or is that mod acceptable. I really want to thank you guys for being cool and schooling me and all you Fender players see you on the Forum. Keep On Rockin.

[mke52]

if you have the original tuners you can put back on it's ok. To my knowledge extra holes do not dramatically influence the guitar's value.