Just wanted to throw my two cents in....
I've been collecting guitars for about 40 years, and ukes about 4 weeks,
, but I think the principles are the same with regards to repairs.
If I buy a vintage (or even a newer) guitar and it needs repairs I do the same "Cost/Benefit Analysis" each time:
1. How much did the instrument cost vs it's actual worth with NO reconditioning?
For example, last year I bought a guitar on eBay that, like many other things, had "slipped through the cracks" because the description was about 2 sentences when it should have been at least two paragraphs and it had 2 pics when it should have had at least a dozen. So, bidders skipped past it and/or didn't want to take the risk of buying a pig in a poke, as they say. In a sense, they were RIGHT, because the guitar turned out to have a LOT of undisclosed issues, but the issues were all relatively minor, just a lot of them. SO......I decided to re-sell it immediately. I fixed a couple REALLY minor issues myself, (I have ZERO skill to do anything at all beyond the most simple repairs), cleaned it up really well, then took LOTS of pics to show the remaining issues but also show the potential, and wrote a lengthy description of not only the negatives, (I talked about ALL of them openly), but also the many positives. (The tone these were legendary for, the beauty of this well crafted guitar, the great tone-woods used, the ease of the repairs by someone more qualified than me, and the value of the instrument once restored, which was much higher than what I paid and higher still then my "Buy It Now" price I offered.)
The guitar sold within ONE HOUR of my auction launch, and I knew I had actually listed it too low! But I got my money back, made a small profit even factoring in my fees and my time invested, and got a wonderful positive from the person who bought it from me.
The point is, I didn't want to spend a lot of time or money on that guitar, but the fact it was worth more even in it's current state then I paid made it possible to bail out easily. So....that's the first decision to consider. If it's NOT worth more, and maybe even LESS, than what you paid, then you either bite the bullet by selling it at a loss and sucking it up or taking a loss by hanging it on the wall, which I would NEVER do, because I don't like constant reminders of my mistakes. I like them GONE, but that's just me.
2. The second thing to consider is the instruments value AFTER restoration not only monetarily but EMOTIONALLY.
Another example.....I bought, (knowingly this time), a Vox Super Beatle amp a couple years ago that needed extensive repairs that I could ill afford at the time. Why did I buy it? Well, I'm a middle aged guy who grew up idolizing The Beatles (still do!), and the Fab Four , like many of us Baby Boomers, was the motivation behind my desire to play guitar as a kid, and of course we all wanted the same guitar and amps THEY played! Years later I was fortunate enough to be able to fulfill the dream by buying "reissues" of many of those famous guitars, (not the vintage actual years, they are just CRAZY over-priced because of The Beatles connection), but the amp I always wanted, the Vox "Super Beatle", (yes, Vox actually named their big half-stack that!), wasn't available in a reissue, (well, actually, North Coast Music makes something close in looks, but I digress), so I "had to have" the REAL DEAL.
Unfortunately, those amps were prone to overheating and complete failure, so few have survived and the surviving examples are usually in BAD shape, like the one I bought.
I paid about 10X what it was worth without the Beatles "connection", (if it was another vintage Vox, without "Super Beatle" on the name plate), and it was in a horrible state of disrepair. It cost almost a THOUSAND DOLLARS in PARTS alone and another $1,000 in labor to get it working and looking "good", NOT perfect! (It can be seen in some of the pics In have posted here...I actually own TWO now, another long story!).
Was it worth it??
To most of you guys, this amp that I now have about 5K invested in wouldn't be worth $500. But to ME, it is worth EVERY DIME, because it represented the fulfillment of a dream I had head onto for over 40 years...to have the same amp from the same year the guys who influenced my life and so many others played through. I know it sounds silly, but the point is, I made the CONSCIOUS decision to "throw good money after bad", so to speak, because the item was important to ME. If you found a similar item, maybe it would be worth spending "too much money" to restore, but is THIS one it?? That's the question to ask. (By the way, I realize that this isn't it for you, but I am writing all this because the same advice might be helpful in another situation to you or one of the other guys.)
3. Replacement value. Can you get another, just like this, for less then what you'll have in this one, and would you want another, if you could? Similar to my first two points, consider whether you like this enough to put the time and money into it, and if you do, will it be worth the time and money? Bottom line...do you even LIKE it enough to be bothered with all the hassle?
Last real life example, I promise!
I bought a guitar on eBay that needed some work, and while it looked nice in the auction, once I got it I realized that even repaired, it wasn't going to be that cool after all. In other words, I knew that even if I made it right, it wasn't for me. I put it back up for sale, took a little loss, and considered it a lesson learned about impulse buying, because I bid on it without really considering if it was even right for me, and when I got it, the work needed notwithstanding, it WASN'T! So the repairs weren't even a factor at that point, and this is something you really ought to consider...do you LIKE it a lot? If not, don't waste any more time or money on it!
Hope all this drivel helped a little somehow!!!!
