"One last project" - should I break up this guitar to use the neck?

Megii

impmann said:

Megii said:

impmann said:

Why not take the neck off and have the new body made. Keep the original body.

If in the future you fall out of love with it again, you could put it back together as it was originally retaining any 'value' in it being an AH signature.

Ultimately, if the neck is the best bit, then it makes sense to use the neck on a guitar that you'll play.

@impmann - that is good thinking there, although if I was using the neck with a new guitar, I'd want to get rid of the metallic green finish on the headstock, which would then prevent me returning it to original condition.

Why not finish the new guitar in metallic green. :-)

I'm a jazzer - the younger me who bought the guitar must have liked the metallic green, but it is a bit "out there" for my conservative tastes these days... I was thinking more of a nice natural wood kind of thing really.

Megii

DrBob said:

@Megii, mate don't sweat it, you don't owe me a damn thing :-)
If I'm being honest I think @Impmann's plan sounds like a much better & less destructive plan

Yep - have to admit there is a part of me that just does not like the idea of destroying one guitar to make another... I think I may well try and sell it in the end.

sweepy

Megii said:

HarrySeven said:

Sell it to me!

What sort of price are we looking at, do you reckon @HarrySeven?

steamabacus said:

Sounds like a perfectly good plan to me. Go for it, I say.

Cheers @steamabacus - it may not be the most financially sensible option (although I'm not so sure re that) but I do think I'd end up with a guitar I'd like a lot. I really do like the neck very much for one thing. And another build would be a lot of fun. I know Guitarbuild would do me proud with making a body to suit. It's tempting I must say.

ADP said:

You might just find there's someone out there looking for that very guitar and is happy to spend the money to get a new scratchplate. I wouldn't worry about the bumps and dents; if it were a Strat, it'd be a relic. A 1980s guitar that doesn't show any kind of wear is a pretty rare commodity.

You might even consider parting it out and selling it. You'd be surprised what you might get for it.

It's maybe worth advertising at the sort of price I'd like, just to see if there is some response - good point. Hadn't considered breaking it up to sell -  but that is ruthlessly sensible in a way. Of course, if I did that, I'd end up keeping the neck, and then it's really just doing what I've suggested. I wouldn't have thought the body on it's own is worth very much though - there are a couple of huge dents on the sides, plus loads of smaller dings, and it's not the "proper" strat shape most people want for a project. But still, hmm...

sweepy said:

Desirable guitars for us Holdsworth fanbois

Really? Even though AH himself didn't like the guitar? I remember the younger me buying into the whole thing when the Ibby AH10 was first publiscised, and then feeling a bit pissed-off when Allan Holdsworth hardly used it, said bad things about it, and then was seen with the Steinberger. If I was currently interested in playing in a Holdsworth influenced kind of way, I doubt I'd be searching for one of these guitars tbh. But I guess there is some historical kind of interest to the guitar all the same. My own view is that it is a flawed design, unfortunately.

You have to remember the amount of processing in the AH setup of that era , though tbf he uses even more now ! . stereo compressors expanders and all the gubbins can make any guitar sound very different to when its plugged in a relatively " vanilla" setup . The knife trem is actually very good indeed with as much range as a Lo pro and excellent tuning stability.

sweepy

Megii said:

HarrySeven said:

Sell it to me!

What sort of price are we looking at, do you reckon @HarrySeven?

steamabacus said:

Sounds like a perfectly good plan to me. Go for it, I say.

Cheers @steamabacus - it may not be the most financially sensible option (although I'm not so sure re that) but I do think I'd end up with a guitar I'd like a lot. I really do like the neck very much for one thing. And another build would be a lot of fun. I know Guitarbuild would do me proud with making a body to suit. It's tempting I must say.

ADP said:

You might just find there's someone out there looking for that very guitar and is happy to spend the money to get a new scratchplate. I wouldn't worry about the bumps and dents; if it were a Strat, it'd be a relic. A 1980s guitar that doesn't show any kind of wear is a pretty rare commodity.

You might even consider parting it out and selling it. You'd be surprised what you might get for it.

It's maybe worth advertising at the sort of price I'd like, just to see if there is some response - good point. Hadn't considered breaking it up to sell -  but that is ruthlessly sensible in a way. Of course, if I did that, I'd end up keeping the neck, and then it's really just doing what I've suggested. I wouldn't have thought the body on it's own is worth very much though - there are a couple of huge dents on the sides, plus loads of smaller dings, and it's not the "proper" strat shape most people want for a project. But still, hmm...

sweepy said:

Desirable guitars for us Holdsworth fanbois

Really? Even though AH himself didn't like the guitar? I remember the younger me buying into the whole thing when the Ibby AH10 was first publiscised, and then feeling a bit pissed-off when Allan Holdsworth hardly used it, said bad things about it, and then was seen with the Steinberger. If I was currently interested in playing in a Holdsworth influenced kind of way, I doubt I'd be searching for one of these guitars tbh. But I guess there is some historical kind of interest to the guitar all the same. My own view is that it is a flawed design, unfortunately.

You have to remember the amount of processing in the AH setup of that era , though tbf he uses even more now ! . stereo compressors expanders and all the gubbins can make any guitar sound very different to when its plugged in a relatively " vanilla" setup . The knife trem is actually very good indeed with as much range as a Lo pro and excellent tuning stability.