$50? You gotta be kidding me...

[nnickusa]

I've been looking for an old beater electric to play around with the pickups and electronics. Got lots of that stuff laying around. So, I started looking around for timber to make one, given that that's my new hobby...

Well, the other day on eBay, I saw this SG body and neck. $50 BIN. Since I wish I still had my 68 SG(wouldn't you?) I thought I'd have a go at it. I thought that I could use it to experiment with finishes, electronics and repairs like re-fretting and removeing the fretboard to replace trussrods, etc, without having a go at one of my guitars that I LIKE...

Got this this morning, and am stunned. The neck fits the pocket with a nice press fit, and the body and neck need final sanding, etc. Body and neck only, but that's fine.....I mean, $50, really? How could you? I can't even find the timber for anthing near that!

$50 SG 001 (Small).JPG (81.17 KiB) Viewed 12423 times

$50 SG 002 (Small).JPG (82.8 KiB) Viewed 12423 times

$50 SG 003 (Small).JPG (79.09 KiB) Viewed 12423 times

[Nick]

Since I wish I still had my 68 SG(wouldn't you?)

NO!
Something about the shape that's never sat right with me, maybe th pointy horns or something...not sure. But yeah 50 bucks for that is a good buy even if the timber aint of perfect quality (refer to Steve's post ).

[kiwigeo]

$50...sounds about right. $1 for the labour in some Chinese sweatshop factory, a few dollars for the wood and freight to Australia and the rest is pure profit for the seller.

[nnickusa]

Nick: There's just no accounting for taste

I'm also aware of pitfalls re: poor timber, but at the worst I'll learn to do a broken headstock repair.

Martin: I'm with you, but.....

[P Bill]

Maybe quality control at the fake factory flagged it for some reason. Show us your tangs.

[Matt Bach]

Nice buy for $50. Before you get too far in check they have drilled a hole for the bridge ground wire, most of the cheap kits I've seen don't have it done, one even didn't have a hole for the pickup wiring to get to the cavity. Easy to fix now, not so fun when the neck is glued in.

[nnickusa]

Thanks Matt,

Good advice. Didn't check that this morning.

[simso]

50 bucks, I cannot even buy mahogany for the body at that price, its amazing how cheap things are being manufactured for out of china, but there economy is changing, they are becoming westernised. Most factroies from what I hear are now moving to india

[kiwigeo]

50 bucks, I cannot even buy mahogany for the body at that price, its amazing how cheap things are being manufactured for out of china, but there economy is changing, they are becoming westernised. Most factroies from what I hear are now moving to india

1. find country with no middle class and lots of poor workers.
2. thrash the guts out of your workforce until they earn enough to become middle classed and start demanding higher wages and a better quality of life.
3. shut down your factory and go back to step 1.

[simso]

Yep after india, I can foresee nigeria, some parts of africa, there will always be an avenue for big business's to make a profit, even when something is being sold for $50

[kiwigeo]

Yep after india, I can foresee nigeria, some parts of africa, there will always be an avenue for big business's to make a profit, even when something is being sold for $50

By the time they've run out of countries on the African continent Australia and New Zealand will have become third world countries so we'll once again be able to buy cheap goods made in Australia.

[nnickusa]

All ethical questions aside, as Steve said, I haven't even found a piece of ANY timber, mahogany, paulownia, camphor weed, or anything else I can buy a blank for $50.....

Why I figgered I'd give it a try. I don't see any difference in what has always happened. England, America, Europe, Australia, NZ, etc. Virtual slave labour, child labour, insufficient wages, poor work and safety practises. The west invented all that during the Industrial Revolution.

As Martin said, once the workers gain a degree of sophistication and realtive power, things change and manufacturing costs increase and manufacturing moves elsewhere....See Japanese guitars, Korean guitars, Mexican guitars, Chinese Guitars, Indonesian guitars, etc.....

At all stages, we "liberated" workers decry the abuse of the next suckers, but fail to see how recently we are removed from the same position.....

However, the world cries out and demands cheap goods at any expense, and manufacturers comply. If all Australians were willing to pay the cost of Aussie made goods, Bonds wouldn't have shut, Holden wouldn't be closing assembly lines, etc, etc....

Tough call to make, but I just thought I found a pretty good deal on an SG body and neck.....

[kiwigeo]

No dig at your ethics intended Nick.....just lamenting on the state of the world

[Paul B]

The world is what it is.

Nice buy, that looks like it might become a fabulous guitar. Though, I'd rather get the shits with my own fret work, rather than get the shits with somebody else's.

[nnickusa]

Gave the frets a few pokes this morning, and ran a rocker over them. the neck is dead straight, the frets are level as, and it's rosewood and bound......I've got a set of maxon pickups from 1974(PAF Clones) that came out of the Ibanez Futura I'm restoring that sounded great......They'll go into this for the time being, along with a bunch of cast-off Gibsonesque parts I have laying around....

Might have a bit of fun with the finishing on this one and do something with airbrushing and other ideas....

Still gotta finish the one I'm working on first.....

[ckngumbo]

Looks like a great buy from way over here
Could have been a planned project that never launched. . . I would check the bridge holes to have some comfort they were drilled correctly before I did a lot with it.
Congrats!