Thinking of selling Legacy hardtail - value?

[Surj]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of selling one of my G&Ls - my Legacy hardtail. I've been going back and forth on this for probably six months... it just doesn't get played much and I've kinda been wanting to get a Gretsch with a Bigsby or a Les Paul again. I tend to kind of rotate through guitars, and it feels like time for a change. Between this and my ASAT Leo sig, well, I just can't let that one go.

My question is: what is a Legacy hardtail worth? I can't find any recent sales on eBay to compare, never seen another one on Craigslist, etc. Anyone have any thoughts?

Details:
-Serial is CLF11814
-Hardtail Legacy, 4 bolt neck.
-Tobacco sunburst, unsure of wood.
-Seymour Duncan pickups - unsure of exact ones. Staggered poles, basically a real nice clean but fat Strat sound.
-In very good shape, except for two minor nicks in the back of the neck. You can see them in the photos.
-Includes original G&L hardshell case.

Photos for reference:
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... rview.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... front.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... front.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... -back.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... upper.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... lower.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... -back.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... front.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... -back.jpeg
http://surjgish.com/img/guitars/G&L-Leg ... _case.jpeg

I might change my mind - as I said, I've been going back and forth on this for months, and it's hard to get past the inertia and actually put it up for sale. Kind of feels like it'd be a mistake. After all, hardtail Legacies are very rare, right? But I don't play it much, and I hate the idea of it just sitting around.

So, whattya say? My guess is $900-$1000 - does that seem fair? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. If I can nail down a price and actually decide to sell it, I'll put it up in the marketplace.

[Muleya]

Wow, that is a nice one. I was just looking at used Legacies before I decided to order one. While it DOES appear to be in top notch condition, I'm thinking $1000 is a little high as some new ones are going for not much more than that on e-bay (partly why I decided to order one rather than buy used!) You might even find $900 is a little high. I haven't seen anything used sell for that much on e-bay in that last several weeks. One really clean tobacco burst went for $845. But someone's been trying to get $900 on a very nice cherry burst for a few weeks and it's still sitting there. But if you're in no hurry to sell, you might eventually be able to get $900 for it.

Hopefully some others will chime in with their opinions...especially since I don't know how the hard tail aspect figures in to all this.

[Surj]

Wow, that is a nice one. I was just looking at used Legacies before I decided to order one. While it DOES appear to be in top notch condition, I'm thinking $1000 is a little high as some new ones are going for not much more than that on e-bay (partly why I decided to order one rather than buy used!) You might even find $900 is a little high. I haven't seen anything used sell for that much on e-bay in that last several weeks. One really clean tobacco burst went for $845. But someone's been trying to get $900 on a very nice cherry burst for a few weeks and it's still sitting there. But if you're in no hurry to sell, you might eventually be able to get $900 for it.

Hopefully some others will chime in with their opinions...especially since I don't know how the hard tail aspect figures in to all this.

Thank you. That's what I'm not sure about, the hardtail and the non-stock pickups.

[Pump_Jockey]

I looked at several Legacys when shopping (ended up with an ASAT). Nice clean used = between $800-900. I doubt that the SDs will cause any decline in value. It's not like the guitar is a collectible and frankly the original Legacy pups are OK but a lot of people replace them without any qualms. In other words, there is no inherent value in a G&L alnico pup.

[Muleya]

Yeah, I'd agree with Pump Jockey. I've been told by dealers that replacement pickups are hard to value in guitars...in part because pickups are a little more personal. For some, the replacement pickups may hold extra value, others would prefer stock. So I've always put stock pickups back in my guitars when I've sold them, then if I have no interest in keep the other pickups, sell them separately, which I've always been able to do so far.

In short, like Pump Jockey says, the pickups probably have no real impact on the resale value, up or down.

The other thing is that G&L used to put Seymour Duncan pickups as stock in their guitars...until they developed their own...not sure when that was. Did you buy the guitar with those pickups in it? If you did, there's a decent chance they are the stock pickups.

My gut reaction is that the hardtail doesn't probably make much difference, either. Probably more personal preference than actual value. But my guess is the cost from the factory is similar, whether hard tail or fixed bridge. If anything, I'd think the fixed bridge may cost less, since it's a much simpler mount (no need to route the back, etc) and there's less hardware involved.

[Surj]

Thanks for your feedback, guys.

The pickups aren't stock. I did see in the archives here that some G&Ls had SDs in them stock, which I didn't know. Anyway, when I got the guitar someone had done exactly what we're talking about here: replaced the PUs with something more to their liking. In this case, it was some active setup - EMGs, if I recall correctly. Looked dumb, and sounded dumber. Thankfully they didn't mess up the pickguard or anything else in the process. I replaced them with the SDs, but can't find the paperwork to grab the numbers from, unfortunately. I went pretty traditional, but can't remember the specifics.

Anyway - thanks again. Not sure whether I'll end up selling it. I like the idea of the hardtail Legacy (as I did with the hardtail Strat I used to have) in an intellectual sense, but I'm not emotionally in love with it the way I am my ASAT. So whenever I think about selling a guitar and picking up another, it's always my first option.

[Prince_Julian]

I sold mine for $800 back in 2009. Man, I miss that hardtail.

Julian

[Surj]

Well, I put her up for sale. In the marketplace, and on the San Francisco Craigslist. Figured I'd start at $950, see how it goes.

[zapcosongs]

I think you're about $200 high.

Nothing wrong with high, though ;+) - ed

[Surj]

I'm open to offers.

Seems like the last few guitars I've sold, I've started too low, and been swamped with calls and emails and ended up feeling like I could have gotten more. I'm sort of uneasy about selling this guitar anyway, if I can't get a good price for it, I'll just keep it, I think.

[Loobster]

Hey surj, is the guitar still for sale?

[Craig]

Hey surj, is the guitar still for sale?

Please em or pm him directly about this.

Thanks,