Conn F20, good deal or no?

[jive]

Been lurking around here, waiting to post until I had something to say, or a decent question. And here it is:

 

I have a friend that is selling his Conn F20 acoustic dreadnought. He has had it since 1974, when he took lessons in school. It was never played much, and has mostly been in it's case. The guitar looks like new, with only one very small spot on the finish at the edge of the headstock.

 

The only problem, and this seems to be a major one to me, is that it appears it would need a neck reset soon. The action is very nice along the first five frets, but down near the thirteenth fret, it is very high. I know a neck reset is quite expensive, and that has me wondering it this will get worse over time? I'm wondering if changing to a light string would help, or maybe sand the bridge a bit? I love the sound of the guitar, and the flamed maple sides and back are very nice. He is only asking $50 for the guitar, and the F20 rates very high in the reviews here. Any ideas?

[Muddslide]

I have no experience with these. I'd be interested to check out the reviews (and I will)...but isn't Conn the band instrument manufacturer? That's not necessarily a bad thing but I blieve their band instruments are considered middling. However, maybe they have different strata of quality in their product.

 

$50 is a good deal, but not necessarily when you add on a neck reset.

 

If you really love the sound and feel and looks of it, you could go for it, but before you take the plunge, I'd recommend finding out who would be doing the reset and ask them if they think it's worth it. Let them see the guitar in person if possible.

 

You can really get a lot of good acoustics brand new for under $300.

[DeepEnd]

I remember when the music store in my small Illinois home town started selling Conn guitars. Half the guitarists I knew went ape over them. They were nice guitars for the price, made by Aria, AFAIK. Your F20 is probably a maple dreadnaught with block position markers (right?) You can read user reviews here. It probably sold for about $140 new. If it doesn't cost too much to fix it up, you'll have a nice guitar but don't spend too much

[Kap'n]

IIRC, "Conn" instruments were different on the East Coast from the ones on the West Coast.

 

The ones here in the East were {censored}.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Had a Conn (probably a F-20) back in High School...decent little guitar, actually...

 

Try borrowing the guitar and having a light guage (.012-.053) set put on it and the truss rod adjusted by your favorite repair guy...your favorite repair guy should be able to tell you if, at that point, sanding down the saddle a little will help make it playable (assuming it needs further lowering of it's action)...

 

A neck reset'll probably not be a good investment, unless you like the guitar a lot!

[jive]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I am borrowing the guitar for the time being. I'm not sure if anything but a neck reset can fix it. I did the straightedge test on the neck, and the ruler fell well below the bridge. I'll try and post some some pics tonight, if that would be of help.

[guit30]

No Deal, too many great inexpensive guitars out there today to get something like that, unless you r crazy bout it

JIm

[Dave W.]

If you like the guitar, for $50 you can always use it to play some slide. If you are not into slide, listen to Kelly Joe Phelps in this clip from one of his lesson videos:

 

http://www.homespuntapes.com/media/19.wmv

[jive]

Well, he lowered the price down to $30, but I think I'll pass. The guitar does sound very nice, but has no sentimental value to me. To me, the expense of the neck reset would be too much.

 

Thanks again for all the replies!

 

Jive