1974 SG value

cm01

I've been offered a 1974 SG with bigsby in a trade, seems all original and in decent condition, anyone have a rough idea of its value? I've done a bit of digging but there don't seem to be many around to compare it to

Bucket

It's got a Bigsby so its worth as an instrument can be increased by killing it with fire.

SimpleSimon

£900-£1400 depending on model and condition/originality...... Does it have buckers or mini buckers?

Phil_aka_Pip

Bucket said:

It's got a Bigsby so its worth as an instrument can be increased by killing it with fire.

or doubled by removing the Bigsby

ChrisMusic

Coda have what they call a nice SG special (P90s) from 1972 for £1199.  Obviously shop price including their profit on carrying it and VAT too.  But their s/h prices are usually pretty good.  The nut is narrower on these, and I think they have chunky necks.  Early-ish Norlin guitars.  Hope that helps  

http://www.coda-music.com/gibson-special-1972-secondhand-p-17999.html

koneguitarist

Damn I sold my 74 with bigsby for £260, mind you I bought it for £130, so doubled my money. Loved the tone but could not keep bloody thing in tune for longer than a song. So stuck with tele's ever since. Mine was a walnut one not Scottish oak.

cm01

SimpleSimon said:

£900-£1400 depending on model and condition/originality...... Does it have buckers or mini buckers?

It's got full size humbuckers, he's putting it at £1400 which is prob a bit on the high side by the looks of it

koneguitarist

Is it really worth a grand nowadays for a 70's SG .

ChrisMusic

Hymnal had an early 70s SG on here for not a lot, maybe a couple of months back, great deal, and it hung around for ages.

Bigsby sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.  I am biased as I don't much like them though, but Gibson bridges and the way the strings splay behind the nut to the tuners is a potential tuning nightmare.

£1,400 "prob a bit on the high side" is an amazing understatement IMO.

Skipped

Looks like this? (but with the Bigsby)



By 1974 we were back to Sg Standard (after SG deluxe). Note the square shaped inlays and an inlay at the first fret. I have also seen these on ebay for  £1100 or even £1300. If I wanted one I would expect to get an unbroken one for a grand or just under.
But If I had one for sale right now I would be concerned about finding a buyer at £1000 and that may be the important bit.
:-S

blueskunk

Fook me thats gorgeous man.

richardhomer

blueskunk;274802" said:

Fook me thats gorgeous man.

Eye-tests are still available on the NHS...

cm01

ChrisMusic said

£1,400 "prob a bit on the high side" is an amazing understatement IMO.

yep, think you're right!  I've gone for a trade involving a Blues Deluxe and Musicman Silo instead

koneguitarist

Never liked those bridges.

ICBM

I've never liked the look of the 'harmonica' bridge either, but I think there's something in the idea that they sound good, which I've seen posted in a couple of places.

I like Bigsbys too, but I think they devalue this particular guitar and don't work all that well on them, partly because of the string angles at the nut and partly because the necks are very flexible and actually bow back and forward quite a lot when you use the trem.

Over a grand for one sounds like quite a lot given that I remember when they were about £250 as well, but on the other hand a new '61RI is about a grand and these are arguably at least as good, although different. Not as ridiculous as the prices being asked for 70s Fenders, anyway!

Phil_aka_Pip

koneguitarist said:

Never liked those bridges.

They work though. I've got one.

Moe_Zambeek

I love SGs but don't really rate the 70s versions. They're like a different type of guitar entirely, feel wise. I'd pay no more than 500 but the market may disagree with me.

welshboyo

Chris @cm01 was this local to you?

My old 74 is up there somewhere....and that had a Bigsby

impmann

A grand plus? Really? 

I love my SG but until it found me (rather than the other way around) I hated them based on experiences with an ex-band-mate's early 70s one that I had to record with once (cos he couldn't track to time). It looked identical to the one pictured above,and had such a thin neck, didn't balance well on the strap (neck dive) and always sounded 'meh'. I had an early 80s one briefly that also had its own gravitational force built into the headstock and a tone that sounded like Chewbacca with a head cold... not my thing at all. 

Good luck to the seller - but I'd argue that a 2000-2005 SG Special is a better guitar and you can grab one for around £400-500. 

cm01

welshboyo said:

Chris @cm01 was this local to you?

My old 74 is up there somewhere....and that had a Bigsby

yeah, it was through a facebook gear site - youngish fella with a load of guitars... I've already got a fantastic SG Classic so I would have been looking to sell it on if the value was right