Greetings...this is my first post. I own an 89 american strat and a 2008 mexican tele. I would like advice if possible. I have an original 1953 maple tele neck that I purchases from a friend in the 70s. I was building a guitar in high school at the time and thought I would use it but I did not. I was resently told the neck has a significant value. It is in great shape...virtually no fret ware and no issues. What would be the best way to get this in the hands of someone who would appreciate it?

Thanks for your help

In the hands of someone who will love it? I got some advice for you then.

Don't use Ebay or Craigslist. For something that old I wouldn't trust those sources for a loving home

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Just a amatuer looking for tips

Current Gear:
1968 Kay Strat
Kramer Focus 111S
Johnson 15w amp
Squier Black and Chrone Special Tele

You can send it to me and I will give it a good home It would be treated as it should be.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

And here I'll bet you thought the best way would be to mention it on this forum.

Call Elderly Instruments or Gruhn Guitars and ask them how to proceed.

[Push, shove...] I'm trying to squeeze in the line ahead of cvilleira. I think a fight is about to break out!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly why Private Messaging is disabled on the Fender Forum...

Cheers - C

Not a lot of help from this forum but lots of useful advice on the Tele forum. Whats up with that?

And then you came back to whine about it! What's up with that??!?

I went and read all that "useful advice" you got at TDPRI.

They all told you to sell it on eBay (after determining value by looking at past eBay sales), which you said here you don't want to do, so that pre-empted any such advice from us. Then they told you to call George Gruhn, which is what I told you to do (except for one guy who told you to call Ed Roman, but fortunately somebody wiser corrected that nonsense).

So what's the problem? You essentially got the same advice here that you got there. Are you unhappy that the room didn't go nuts, that there wasn't a feeding frenzy or something?

This is the Lounge... if you ask a question here, we'll mull it over, forget what we were going to say and then ramble off topic (well, speaking for myself, anyway)... If you have a tele question, the tele forum is the best place for it!

I did have a little look around earlier, but most of the information I could turn up concerned strat parts only. Your neck could probably command a price of $10K to $15K if purchased from a dealer, but I'm not sure how you would get the best price for it plus ensure that it goes to a good home. I don't know if any parts places sell on consignment. It's definitely a covetable item, so we joke because we know the chances are slim that we'll ever encounter such a find...

*edit* oh, that tele forum... I didn't check the one here... and is Ed Roman "eddie vegas"? He seems to shift a lot of parts at very high prices (he's the one I was thinking of when I guessed at a price range above), but he must be buying very low.

Oooops...Guess I should not have made that last comment if I expect to get some help from you all...I appreciate any advice given at this point because I know very little about this kind of thing. Thanks again

Slapchop gave you the best advice, so that's why no one else chimed in.

If you aren't an experienced seller in the guitar world it is really hard to get proper value. Gruhn and Elderly are among the 2 most reputable dealers for this kind of thing. Proceed carefully there's a lot of sharks n the waters.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Well, friendly humor is clearly not appreciated... (^^). So to attempt to be more helpful instead, I'll add to what others have said:

Be aware that most dealers will buy from you for the lowest price they can get away with, and then sell it on for the highest price possible. Just because they sell a neck for, say, 10k doesn't mean that's what you'll get out of them.

In the case of vintage necks I'd be doubtful that the likes of auction houses will be interested (though I may be wrong, so ask 'em). So you ain't likely to find someone who will sell this neck for you on a commission basis.

Other than Ebay, that is. People are advising against Ebay, and I certainly wouldn't dream of buying an item like this there. But buying and selling are two different things. It would do you no harm to watch sales of vintage parts on Ebay for a while (set up a saved search) and at least get a feel for what this stuff goes for.

You may realise a lower price on Ebay than a dealer would sell this neck for. But that might be a higher price than he will pay you for it. And you can always set a reserve...

Essentially, ask a dealer what he'll pay you for the neck, then see if you can beat that price on Ebay. If not, sell to the dealer. Simple, really.

Any more helpful?

Cheers - C

Thanks Ceri...and I do appreciate the humor. My previous comment was simply out of line.

Welcome.

I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear how the sale finally works out for you, if you feel like coming back and telling us when it's done.

Good luck - C

I've been on The Gear Page and Harmony Central for a while...a lot of high-end stuff get's traded and sold by a lot of very knowledgeable people. I would just post a query (with photos of the neck...don't forget the end of it with the date stamp) asking where you might be able to get a ballpark figure of the value. I would not mention posibility of sales yet.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/index.php
I hope this helps.

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica