My Grandpa's '53 Les Paul Model Goldtop- How to appraise it?

[djlaz2008]

Hi there. I have my Grandpa's 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. He bought it second hand in 1956...the year I was born and I got it when he passed. Is there anyone who might be able to tell me how to get it appraised and where....or what it might be worth? It has a "trapeze tail" and it the number on the back near the tuning keys is 3-0697. It is in pretty great condition, but the paint on the top has a little bit of cracking on the gold part. It does have some marks on the back of the neck where his ring would hit all the time while he played. I do believe it is all original since it went from him to me....

Thanks for any feedback that you might be able to give me.

[cheepaxes]

Well the obvious first answer is that it's worth a lot. :)

I would call vintage guitar shops in your area and ask them if they know anyone who appraises guitars. I'd make it plain you don't intend to sell the guitar due to the family history. Maybe it's paranoia on my part but I'd be worried that an unscupulous appraiser might give a low value and then offer to buy it from you.

Perhaps if there's anyone here with a vintage guitar price guide they might provide a ballpark estimate. :)

Gruhn's in Nashville has a reputaion as an appraiser but it'll cost you and I don't know whether you can get an appraisal long distance. I know who I'd take it to in the DC area, but that doesn't help you.

-Scott

[VintAxe]

Hi djlaz2008,

When evaluating an instrument like this specifics can have a considerable influence on value. It sounds like you have the earlier 52-53 model since yours has the trapeze tailpiece rather than the stud tailpiece introduced in late 1953.

As a general ballpark figure, we're probably talking around $25,000. Too bad yours doesn't have the stud tailpiece which is valued from $35,000 to $70,000.

I'd say the extent to which you want to refine this value estimate depends on the reason you want an appraisal. If you want to know value for insurance purposes, you can probably just send pictures of your instrument to Gruhn's Guitars in Nashville and they can give an "expert" appraisal estimate.



If you want to sell this guitar, you should certainly consider working with a high end guitar dealer who will want to do an in-hand inspection before setting a value. Since it appears you are in Arizona, I'd start by contacting West Coast Dealers so you can potentially drive the guitar to their shop.

I'd start with Norman's Rare Guitars, I think they have a good reputation in the trade.



You may also want to work your way through the list of Dealers I have on the links page:



If you are looking to sell, let me know and I'll put more effort into finding you some West Coast Dealers to contact. sb

[Spud1950]

[VintAxe]

Thanks for the updated pricing guidelines Spud1950. I'm afraid using last years Price Guide is like using last years stock prices as a guide to current values. It is definately a buyers market.

I don't know what is up on the URL issue. It seems to be something that occurs when the post is first created. I've had it happen to me. When it does I delete the post and start over again and more often than not it works the secong time through. I do know that once it occurs in a post there appears to be no way to fix it.

I've suspected that in some cases the problem is browser related. I know many of the Forum features won't work for Scott (cheepaxes). Assuming you haven't changed browsers recently, your problem points back to a glitch in the forum software.

I plan a major update of the site this summer; I'll include shopping for new Forum software on that list. sb

[Spud1950]

Here's some great info on the the original '52-'53 Les Paul with the trapeze bridge and why it does not command the higher price that one would think it should considering the guitars historic significance. Quite an interesting story. Les Paul himself was not happy about what Gibson did to the guitar bearing his name!





(Wow, the link is working!)