UKEonomics
Well-known member
Hey everyone! Need a little help from the UU here on a potential purchase. No pictures of this one....sorry about that. Hope you can help me navigate it without pics.
I found a Gibson ub-1 for sale (something that I've been wanting to buy for awhile now). The guy found it at an estate sale. Went to his place to check it out and it has a few issues...broken head, some scratches in the pot that go all the way around, huge split all the way down the resonator that has been "repaired"...but not very well, and a small chip near the nut (doesn't affect playability). Another thing that makes me hesitant is that whoever owned it strung it up with steel strings. Other than that, neither the bridge or tuners are originals.
The tuners are just black button friction tuners and from the smaller size look more modern. I thought that the original tuners were those large white ones...correct me if I'm wrong though.
That's the bad. The good is that all the hardware is there and in really good condition (no rust). Could probably just use a little polishing. The fretboard has wear, but there are no shrinkage cracks. The neck is in great condition. I'm not too worried about the head since that can be easily replaced and I would probably replace an old head even if it wasn't busted.
Also, it comes with a hard case. Doesn't seem to an original case and seems like it was actually made for an 8" pot, not a 6" pot like this one. The case is really not in good condition so I don't think that that's really adding to or taking away from the value. There's no markings on the case...I guess I assume that a Gibson case would probably be marked?
That's the story. The guy wants $350 for it and won't budge on the price. I think that the price is probably fair, but hoping that some of you can chime in and tell me what you think.
At this point I'm really thinking that I should just let it go and wait for one in better condition that's $100 more. What do you think?
I found a Gibson ub-1 for sale (something that I've been wanting to buy for awhile now). The guy found it at an estate sale. Went to his place to check it out and it has a few issues...broken head, some scratches in the pot that go all the way around, huge split all the way down the resonator that has been "repaired"...but not very well, and a small chip near the nut (doesn't affect playability). Another thing that makes me hesitant is that whoever owned it strung it up with steel strings. Other than that, neither the bridge or tuners are originals.
The tuners are just black button friction tuners and from the smaller size look more modern. I thought that the original tuners were those large white ones...correct me if I'm wrong though.
That's the bad. The good is that all the hardware is there and in really good condition (no rust). Could probably just use a little polishing. The fretboard has wear, but there are no shrinkage cracks. The neck is in great condition. I'm not too worried about the head since that can be easily replaced and I would probably replace an old head even if it wasn't busted.
Also, it comes with a hard case. Doesn't seem to an original case and seems like it was actually made for an 8" pot, not a 6" pot like this one. The case is really not in good condition so I don't think that that's really adding to or taking away from the value. There's no markings on the case...I guess I assume that a Gibson case would probably be marked?
That's the story. The guy wants $350 for it and won't budge on the price. I think that the price is probably fair, but hoping that some of you can chime in and tell me what you think.
At this point I'm really thinking that I should just let it go and wait for one in better condition that's $100 more. What do you think?
