If you had $1500 for a vintage guitar

[rollypolly]

What would you buy and why? I'm leaning towards an LG-1 (if I can find one for that price) but maybe there are better options out there.

[Lillis]

I think I'd go with a birthyear (1966) LG as well.

[WolfmansBrother]

I love old Gibsons. I would look for a pre-65 LG guitar in that price range (pre-65 for the 1 11/16" nut width). A nice '63 B-25 just sold in the classifieds here for around what you are looking to spend.

[Osage]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

What would you buy and why? I'm leaning towards an LG-1 (if I can find one for that price) but maybe there are better options out there.

LG-1's and B-25's in that price range typically have the dreaded plastic bridge and oversized laminate bridge plate. They rarely sound very good. I would stay away from any that have them unless you plan on having them replaced. You can still find an earlier one with the wood bridge and smaller plate cheapish but they aren't dirt cheap like they used to be.

[Goat Mick]

If you can go a little more than $1500 there is a great '59 LG-1 that I owned at one time listed in the Classifieds. (I'm not the seller, but I can vouch for the guitar.)

[RLetson]

From what I can see of the market, $1500 would be a down payment on an actual vintage guitar, even with the decayed notion of "vintage" promoted by dealers. (A guitar I could have bought new off the wall doesn't feel "vintage" to me.)

[RomanS]

On this side of the Great Pond there's no way you can find an LG for 1500 or less; I'd go with a Harmony H162 or 165 for a couple of hundreds, and spend the rest of the money for whatever work is necessary (neck reset, fret job,...)

[RomanS]

Other option: 1970s Guild D25.

[gr81dorn]

How about a Baxendale conversion or another such refurber? Unbelievably great playing and sounding, but all the mojo of a vintage guitar and will play well, last a long time, etc.

[PatrickMadsen]

I'd buy my 1910 Bruno 00 with Brazilian/Adi. Spruce top. Bruno was CF Martins accountant in the beginning of the business then went on to selling instruments under the Bruno name made primarily by Oscar Schmidt, Martin and a few others.

Oscar Schmidt, Bay State, Bruno and a few other vintage brands can be bought for less than 1500 dollars. Jake Wildwood usually has a few in his shop for sale.

There's nothing like playing a 112 plus year guitar made from Br. Rosewood or any other wood for that matter, seems like the spirits of previous owners come out to play along.

[Bridgepin]

Have you considered a made in Japan acoustic from the mid 70s to mid 80s? The higher end models are pretty darn good. But their prices have been going up fast also.

One thing you might what to consider when buying a older guitar, is you have to be very knowledgeable to know what to look for as to potential problems.

I would suggest saving up to get in the 2200 to 2500 range and buy a newer used D-18, D-28 or HD-28, just my two cents

[Br1ck]

Originally Posted by RomanS

Other option: 1970s Guild D25.

Shhhhhhhh!

$1500 should get you a 70 or 71 Guild D 35 or maybe a D 40. Beware of issues. Earlier guitars are more, later guitars are heavier. A 70-71 D 25 will be all mahogany I believe.

[elephony]

As someone who has built a collection of vintage guitars while mostly paying $800-1200, consider vintage guitars that need a neck reset or some other semi-serious repair work that shouldn't affect the guitar's tone/stability once it has been done. In my experience you get a bigger discount on purchase price than the repair will cost in exchange for having to arrange the repair yourself.

I got screaming deals on a Kay Kraft Recording King Nick Lucas from the late 30s/early 40s that needed a neck reset, a Guild 12 string from the early 70s that needed to have a crack stabilized and filled, and a National Triolian that needed a neck dowel reset, a refret job, and to have an unfortunate covering in house paint removed. (The house paint I took off myself using a heat gun, a plastic scraper, and a ton of patience; all the rest of this work was done for me by the repair guy I trust in my city.) All of them were in good shape otherwise, all of them sound great and play beautifully, and all of them are worth more if I were to sell them now than I have in them counting purchase and repair.

This admittedly requires some patience, as you have the NGD when the guitar shows up but can't really play it for a few months until it's also been repaired, and you have to pay for purchase and repairs, but the upsides are that as I say you get a bargain, and you can also separate purchase and repair costs to spread the purchase out if that's helpful.

The other, higher risk maneuver is to consider buying vintage guitars where you know what the seller has better than the seller does, and also those with blurry pictures, but both involved accepting higher risk of a dud guitar in exchange for higher reward if it's not a dud. Safer to just consider guitars that need repairs, and thereby to get better value in vintage guitars. It's possible the guitar you repair won't be amazing, but guitars that need neck resets and have lots of playwear are by definition guitars that have been played a lot, which usually bespeaks a decent instrument if you can get it back into fighting trim.

[TwangGang]

If I had $1500 for a vintage guitar - I'd think about trying to save another $1500 as the way prices are I don't think you would find much that was good quality in that range. Hopefully I am wrong?

[sinistral]

Staygold Guitars has a fair number of vintage guitars in that price range (here up to $2k to give you an idea):

Staygold Guitars—$0 – $2k

Scott Baxendale recently moved to Santa Fe to team up with Shawn at Staygold. Obviously you pay a premium to buy a guitar from a dealer, but they’ve already dealt with the hassle of getting the guitars in playable condition.