Worst £50 you'll ever spend on pot...

Jack_

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/American-Vintage-Reissue-AVRI-1991-CTS-Fender-Stratocaster-Split-Shaft-250k-Pot/132550177585?hash=item1edc9b3331:g:ekgAAOSw3jBatmjb

For anyone looking to piece together a Strat of heralded 1991 vintage.

springhead

That's completely insane! In years to come will buyers be checking that a 1991 AVRI Strat has all original pots?

clarkefan

That's what 50s Gibson collectors are all about About 10 years ago an original Les Paul poker chip (piece of plastic, right?) was about a thousand dollars... Bullshit, but true. Bet it sounded ridiculous to owners then as well.

thegummy

Hahaha

You'd need to have already taken 50 quid worth of pot to buy that.

The ones that annoy me are when it's a guitar or something I wnt but they're asking for too much (not by a ludicrous amount) so we have to wait till no-one buys it and the price gets lowered. By that time I've usually forgotten about it anyway lol

scrumhalf

"lack of knowledge about the item"

Hmm, emptors - consider yourselves caveated.

Gagaryn

That's a bargain compared to this one - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1974-Fender-Stratocaster-Strat-CTS-250k-Tone-or-Volume-Pot/132550166586?hash=item1edc9b083a:g:sYYAAOSw4P1atmcO

prowla

As a general comment, if you do upgrade parts, keep the originals too, so you can revert if you want to.

ICBM

prowla said:

As a general comment, if you do upgrade parts, keep the originals too, so you can revert if you want to.

I always ask the question... why?

If the parts have been replaced, the originals were presumably either worn out or substandard. Why would you ever put them back?

OK, there are *some* pots I might keep with a vintage guitar - if they have date codes and there's no other way of positively dating it - but by and large it's just collectorist nonsense.

Would you keep a broken jack?

(Assuming this isn't about something like pickups, where you may replace them for reasons other than because they're no good.)

Gagaryn

Even if the removed parts are knackered does no harm to stick them in a safe place. If you ever move the guitar on potential buyers often want these bits. Mad but true.

JEPBLEP

So whilst this may seem funny on the surface - original pots are on of few ways to positively reaffirm a guitars authenticity. So whilst it's laughable and may seem overpriced, I just bought a guitar that was only 5 years older than this '91 pot and would have underbid if one of the pots didn't have the date stamps to support the other date marks on the guitar.

.02

ICBM

Gagaryn said:

Even if the removed parts are knackered does no harm to stick them in a safe place. If you ever move the guitar on potential buyers often want these bits. Mad but true.

Yes, but have you ever come across anyone who will *actually* pay more if they're included, or for it to be a deal-breaker if not?

JEPBLEP said:

So whilst this may seem funny on the surface - original pots are on of few ways to positively reaffirm a guitars authenticity.

Only if you can prove the parts are original. If they've been out, even if later put back, that's impossible.

It's also a way of 'creatively adjusting' the date of a guitar, if you're so inclined...

JEPBLEP

ICBM said:

JEPBLEP said:

So whilst this may seem funny on the surface - original pots are on of few ways to positively reaffirm a guitars authenticity.

Only if you can prove the parts are original. If they've been out, even if later put back, that's impossible.

It's also a way of 'creatively adjusting' the date of a guitar, if you're so inclined...

Oh yeah, completely agree there are limitations to the validity the one pot adds on its own, it's why I was trying to allude to the fact this all needs to sit in combination with the other pots and other markings.

It's also why if you do find a single pot with just the right markings, you'll probably be more prepared to fork out more moolah.

ICBM

JEPBLEP said:

It's also why if you do find a single pot with just the right markings, you'll probably be more prepared to fork out more moolah.

Especially if it's dated 1969, since there is quite a premium for 1969 guitars over 1970 ones, and it's often hard to tell for sure which year it is from other features. And if there happens to be only one "original" pot in it...

Or conversely I know of a Strat which had late 1969-dated pickups and neck, but the one remaining original pot was dated the 2nd week of 1970. I'm sure you can guess what the owner did - without actively falsifying anything.