The Only Way to Exit is Going Piece By Piece

[jemwiz00]

Hello all - I was hoping for some advice or guidance. I have the age old problem that many others face as well,  too many guitars! It is time to thin the herd. A little background about my situation: About ten years ago I got into assembling and building guitars thanks to this wonderful forum. Since then, my personal preference has veered away from guitars with super thin necks and Floyd rose bridges. My first Warmoth build was a Soloist with a flame maple top and matching headstock veneer. I spaired no expense with the hardware or pickups either with the guitar. Flash forward to present day and I have been toying with the idea of selling the guitar and possibly starting a new project. The idea of parting out the guitar is heartbreaking, but a necessary evil of reselling. The way I see it, I have a few options. 1.I could get a new neck and bridge for this guitar and keep playing. 2. I could sell it as is. 3.Or I could part it out. I realize it is my decision but I was wondering what the community’s thoughts would be. The end goal is to have a guitar that more fits my present day preferences. Any input is much appreciated!

 

[rgand]

If you just want to get a guitar that plays more to your liking, you'd be money ahead to modify the existing one. But! It depends on how much fun you have building a complete guitar. Then parting out or selling outright are the options. :glasses9:

 

[Kostas]

... My first Warmoth build was a Soloist with a flame maple top and matching headstock veneer. I spaired no expense with the hardware or pickups either with the guitar. Flash forward to present day and I have been toying with the idea of selling the guitar and possibly starting a new project. The idea of parting out the guitar is heartbreaking, but a necessary evil of reselling. The way I see it, I have a few options. 1.I could get a new neck and bridge for this guitar and keep playing. 2. I could sell it as is. 3.Or I could part it out...

Depends how many guitars you have and how often you are using them. If you have more guitars than you need (which is usually the case) why spend money for another one instead of taking money to do something else? It would be hard to sell a Warmoth that is not a strat or tele clone but since it has a matching headstock I would start by putting an ad for the guitar and options to sell without pickups. If it doesn't sell you can put options of selling the parts independently.

Be prepared for a big loss, I have a Soloist body for sale for years at about half the price. It's still unused-brand new and I can't sell it, if it was a black strat body it would be much easier to sell. Most people just want a guitar that looks like Fender and those into Jackson/Charvel won't pay the price a Warmoth product costs.

 

[musicispeace]

I'm going to be swapping out the neck on a guitar I realize I do not use and was going to sell so that I will have a likelihood of playing it. In my area an asking price to sell it would have been $400 max and I have at least twice that into it. So I'll mod it and keep it since I have necks lying around to try out. It will become a country focused strat to go with my tele. My problem is that I can come up with guitar ideas but then I already have more than I can deal with even with a very, very small collection compared to many people. So I've put the brakes on new guitars. In the end I may still sell one or two to someone who is a serious student showing progress on the guitar. I think its a good option to modify what you have and if you have any parts you swap out that you are not going to use you can sell them.

 

[Cagey]

Complete DIY guitars rarely return more than 50%, and those have to be good ones. What I'm beginning to think needs to be done is to create a name, embed it in the headstock finish, then sell it new as a "boutique" guitar. Then you can triple your money  :laughing7:

Normally, you do a little better parting things out, but that can be a pain in the shorts, too. Need lotsa boxes, packing material, trips to UPS/USPS, etc. Plus, eBay & Paypal will eat you alive in fees. It's death by a thousand cuts.

If it's just the neck bugging you, get a different neck and sell the existing one. Won't cost a huge amount (certainly less than you'll lose on a total sale), and you'll get some of it back.

 

[bagman67]

I have three functioning electric guitars in the house right now - my green Tele with P90's, my Warvin/Carmoth strat, and the Peavey Predator Strat ripoff (lives in my son's room).  The Tele is actually undergoing a revamp at the moment.  One more Tele is a work-in-progress that will either supplant another guitar or get donated to an underprivileged kid.  I think that's my limit on electrics at any given time, after having had a pretty substantial buildup (for me) that I then parted out.  If I end up with enough space to hang more than two on the wall I may be able to rationalize having more axes, because if I can see 'em, I'll pick 'em up; but if they live full-time in their cases, I won't take 'em out so they're effectively just dead weight.

 

[jemwiz00]

Thank you all for the input. I am going to look into a more acceptable neck and price it out. My current neck (with the blue maple veneer) might be a tough sell. It is a Strat neck with 24.75 scale - kind of an oddball. It might be a tough sell on its own but who knows. I could always swap out my Floyd Rose and pickups and create a whole new beast. Sounds more fun than selling the whole guitar. I think I may be going down the rabbit hole...

 

[Cagey]

You might be surprised at the interest in short-scale necks that are traditionally long scale. Lotta guys in their 50s+ start to appreciate a shorter neck. I know I do. More than half my collection has short-scale necks that should be long. Diminished reach, lower strength, arthritis, etc. Downside might be that Floyd locking nut. Wrecks the neck for a lotta things.