Someone's parting out a 50's D6 Fender on Ebay

[Dennis Smith]

Just listed if interested.

[Brad Bechtel]

Here's the seller's listing.

[b0b]

I hate it when they destroy a classic instrument like that.

[Doug Beaumier]

This dealer is also selling the pots, the switch, the output jack, and a knob as "vintage Telecaster/Stratocaster" parts. He wants $225 (buy-it-now) for the 3-way Telecaster/Stratocaster vintage switch.

-----> http://www.ebay.com/sch/slappysvintage/ ... 0806800289

He seems to have everything except the pickups. Since they were 6-string PUs he probably put them into an old Tele or Strat and then decided to part out the rest of the steel guitar. What a shame. What disrespect for the steel guitar. Just to make a few dollars.

[Bryan Bradfield]

On the other hand, aren't forum members frequently looking for these sorts of parts?
I'm not condoning the seller's actions. I'm just pointing out that there may be positive feelings from some players about spare parts becoming available.

[Doug Beaumier]

That's true, Bryan, but in this case the entire guitar seems to be there... complete except for the pickups (which may have been removed earlier and put into a 1950s Fender guitar). Parting out a guitar that has major parts already missing is one thing, but tearing apart a complete guitar to sell the parts is something else IMO.

I can see your point though. Many years ago I was looking for a couple of original parts for my 1968 Fender telecaster, After two years of searching eBay every day I finally found the parts and paid top dollar for them. I was happy to have them and I didn't ask where they came from.

[b0b]

I once sold a Fender lap steel to someone who did that. It really pissed me off, because it was a beautiful instrument. He made a few hundred dollars profit, but the guitar is gone forever.

I wouldn't have sold it to him if I had known his intention. He even used a picture from my web site in his ad.

[Doug Beaumier]

Yes, parting out a complete, working guitar is very cynical and short-sighted. It happens a lot with Fender steels because their electronics are correct for vintage Fender guitars and may increase a vintage guitar's value by thousands of dollars. Before buying a Fender Champ always inquire about the electronics... are the pickup, the pots, and the knobs original or are they new replacements?

[Laurence Pangaro]

It happens to Gibson laps quite a bit too. My Ultratone was cannibalized for tuners, knobs and even the pickup magnet.

LP

[Mike Neer]

Once, I was selling a Gibson EH-150 with a CC pickup and I found out the guy who won the bid was going to take the CC pickup out and put it in another guitar. I canceled the deal (it was ebay). Don't ask me how I found out, I think I was perusing a forum and saw a link to my own auction

[Laurence Pangaro]

Yeah, I got my Ultratone on eBay. The guy said he was restoring a Goldtop. Later I saw the magnet on another auction by the same guy. Lame. Anyway, I got a cool guitar on the cheap.

LP

[Bryan Bradfield]

It is assumed that the pickups were first to go, and went into the seller's guitar. That's his prerogative as the owner.
Would it have been more ethical for him to now sell the complete guitar less pickups?
Would it have been financially dumber for him to now sell the complete guitar less the pickups?
Should he have just buried the guitar less the pickups?

[Doug Beaumier]

He should have left the pickups in the original steel guitar. Or at least he could have installed two repro Fender style pickups and sold the entire guitar with repro pickups. But this seller doesn't care about that. He's a dealer with a long list of guitar parts for sale.

[Cartwright Thompson]

Mixed feelings here too. If all the parts go to guitars that need them then maybe it's not such a bad thing.
In the case of this D-6, if it were complete I think the seller might do better by selling the guitar intact, we'll see. It'll be interesting to see how high some of the parts go with low starting bids.

[Rick Abbott]

Looks like his total is less than it's worth whole as of now. I'm no fan of this sort of thing. Is it in a case?

[Wally Pfeifer]

This is mine in mint condition. I wouldn't tear it apart for anything. Why do people destroy classics?
Wally[/img]

[Michael Laslovich]

Wow I'm totally in favor to keep some our great American made instruments sacred and move them on to future generations. I see players from all over the world playing those vintage instruments. My opinion for those sellers to keep in mind its like a tree once you chop it down you can't stand it back up. I love listening to all of your opinions.

[Doug Beaumier]

Why do people destroy classics?

I think it's because they don't play steel guitar and they don't give a d@mn about steel guitar. Most of them are dealers. They don't want to spend time and money repairing a guitar that has a problem. They'd rather tear the guitar apart and sell the remaining parts for a profit, unfortunately. Like I said earlier, I have mixed feelings about it because I've been on the buying end a couple of times and I was happy to get the parts. I didn't know where they came from, but I hoped that they came from a "parts guitar" that was beyond repair, not from a complete, working guitar that someone had torn apart.

[Michael Laslovich]

Yes totally right on. We have all been guilty trying to get the best buy and value to get our existing equipment in playable or better shape. The dealers do help us with this for sure. I would just hate to see these old instruments just thrown away after they are stripped. All I can say is that I give a lot of credit to people that put them back together and make them playable once again. This might inspire me to actually look for a fixer upper. But to be able to play right out of the box is the greatest feeling. One gets tired of the challenge when all you want to do is stroke the strings and make great sounds.[/quote]

[Jeff Mead]

Looks like he's only got one tuner pan though which would have been pretty much impossible to replace.

OK, so a nice steel is getting destroyed, but how many other steels are going to now be in better shape with the correct replacement parts?

Unfortunately market forces dictate that, in many cases, an instrument is worth more as parts than as a working instrument.

If you were selling an instrument because you needed the money, would you really resist the temptation to part it out if you knew you would raise more cash that way?

I can remember how happy I was the day I found a control plate and over-ride switch plate for my Custom T-8 (the original owner of mine had drilled them for extra controls). To be honest, I didn't care if it came from a wrecked guitar or a complete one that had been sold in bits.

[Stephen Cowell]

Looks like he's only got one tuner pan though which would have been pretty much impossible to replace.

Actually, that's the same pan that came on the Champ... more common than the 8-string version, IMO.

OK, so a nice steel is getting destroyed, but how many other steels are going to now be in better shape with the correct replacement parts?

Exactly... although I'd rather see a dog hit the junk yard than a nice example. I bought a SM pickup just for the cover... it was an expensive cover... but just try to find one otherwise.

[Mark Eaton]

There hardly is a sailor alive, who can keep a tear from his eye.
Cause he remembers the good old days when there were no whales to save.

Some of you will remember the line above from Country Joe McDonald's song "Save the Whales" from one of his best post-Fish albums, Paradise With an Ocean View.

The point I'm making, and most members here are knowledgeable about this and can remember, there was a time when you could barely give away a guitar like a Stringmaster, Deluxe, Dual Professional, or a Champ, and guitarists bought them on the cheap from pawn shops and guitar shops to raid them for the pickups and pots to put into their Teles.

Some of you have probably seen the Fender video of G.E. Smith discussing just this sort of thing as an inspiration for his signature model Telecaster. The fret markers even look like those found on a Fender steel. As a young guy, he was one of those that gleaned the pickups out of vintage Fender steels.

Since there has been somewhat of a resurgence in non-pedal and lap steel over the past 10-15 years, we are now disturbed by this parting out of classic Fender steels. 20-25 years ago I don't think anyone really cared. Sort of in the same ballpark as when people began realizing that some whale populations are endangered and it was time to sit up and pay attention.

If the pedal steel guitar had never been invented, vintage Fender non-pedal steels might command prices closer to that of vintage Teles and Strats (and they likely would still be making modern versions at Fender Corona).

Prices have gone up with this semi-resurgence, but one can buy a vintage D-8 Stringmaster for under $2000 in very good condition whereas a Tele from the same year might go for 30 grand.

[Doug Beaumier]

I can understand selling the remaining parts of a "basket case" steel guitar... one that is beyond repair or has a lot of missing parts. I've done that in past years. But I could never tear apart a complete, working vintage steel and sell the parts, regardless of how much money the parts would sell for. That's a bridge too far IMO.

[Mark Eaton]

Doug, in the former cheap pawnshop era, I would be willing to bet that after some of the old Fenders were raided for parts, the bodies ended up being used for firewood.

I couldn't do it either, but we're in a different era now and thankfully the majority of people think more like you do.

But apparently not everyone has "gotten the memo."

[Chris Lucker]

Rather than simply blasting this ebay sale -- what some are assuming is parting out of a complete guitar -- or, simply blasting the practice of parting out guitars that are not rare, how about posting in this thread the sources for original Fender Dual 6 Professional parts that did not come from parted guitars? That would be helpful.