Does anyone happen to know what Vintage Guitar Guide places as a value for a 65 or 66 Gibson SG standard in custom color Pelham Blue? I was just wondering if someone had a recent guide. The guitar is in Pristine Original Cond. Thanks all.
That's a rare find in that color. If it is pristine w/a nice original case you are talking good $$$! There was a collector in France who was interested in one but that was a while ago, thou he did have deep pockets. Look on Ebay, Reverb or search the net. A chain store is not a good place to go but a vintage guitar dealer is better BUT he will have to make $$$ on it too. Search the net for another and you'll see.
Thanks Voxman. I haven't been able to find another Pelham Blue to compare it to. I'm just curious as to what Vintage Guitars has it listed for. That is if they have Pelham Blue in their book at all.
Your not going to find one since it was so limited, that's the beauty of the whole thing! Great investment if one is into that.
Also, if you could get us some pics, we'd all be happy to look at them and it would give us an idea of how mint it is (to better help give an estimate). I'd be happy to give you one, as I do work at a music store (and am the store's vintage guitar expert), but it won't be anything official.
Logan....I already have a few pictures posted on this forum from 2007. The thread was titled "65 or 66 SG Standard".
I can see why you'd date it to a '66, with it having the skinny nut width, but, truth be told, just like the 335s, they started slimming down the nut width in '65 and by the end of '65 all the guitars had the slim nut width. Without seeing serial numbers and pot codes I would date it to late '65 or very early '66. Unlike most transitions at Gibson at that time, the batwings came in really, really early in the year, so there is not too many of the small guard '66s. Recently, the mint cherry '65s and very early '66s with the skinny but width have been on the market and sold for in between $9k and $12k. For a custom color (especially a desirable one like Pelham blue), people are usually able to double the sale price. So a reasonable estimate for that particular guitar would be $20,000 to $25,000 depending on the year someone bought that, or how strong the market is at the time. Hope this helped. Edit: Remember, this is in no way an official appraisal. I would still take it down to your local shop if you wanted to get it insured or to sell it.
I have decided to edit the title of the thread to read 65 or 66 SG Standard Pelham Blue..Value? Thank you PixMix for transferring my pictures from the older thread to the present one. Thank you Logan for your feedback. Considering the guitar has never been played or used in decades, the condition remains the same as those pictures. About 10 years ago, I was told by a vintage guitar aficionado that it could be either a 65 or 66 but more than likely a 65. It has all the characteristics of the very early SGs, and the Pots are also dated 65. The serial number does not match anything on the serial number lists (552583). As you can see from the pictures the guitar is pretty much in Museum condition. I have all the tags that came with the guitar when new from the factory. I purchased it at Sam Ash. It was only played a few times in 53 years. When I open the case I can still smell the paint.
If it has the 1 9/16 nut width it may go for a little less. The one in the link has the 1 5/8 nut. Why has it not been played?
I had a band in College, Lost interest and it remained in the family ever since. I believe the neck size is 1 5/8.
Thanks. It's condition is just as I purchased it new at the Sam Ash Store. I was told at the time (although I wanted Cherry) they were sold out. However, someone ordered a custom color (Pelham Blue). The customer never came to pick it up, and so it was offered to me. As a 15 years old kid (and being so anxious) I said yes! I'd take anything at that time but wanted the SG Standard only. The rest is history. It turns out there were very few ordered from the factory in Pelham Blue.
Very cool and very rare guitar indeed, that should go for big money...Norm's Rare Guitars had two of these in a few years back...maybe they were from the same batch as this one...here's the two videos they did on them... :)
The second one they had at norms is the same guitar that I linked to above and that owner said he paid around 25k.
