What have I bought?

Hello all

I just bought a guitar at a garage sale for $5

I suspect if that is all I paid, it is probably all it is worth. The badge on the back says it is a Samick, so that tells me it is not exactly a up there with a Gibson, but when I went to the local music shop he said it would have been a $200 - $300 guitar in its day. But he was surprised to see a Jackson Pickup which he says is worth about $200 and Jackson mechanicals. I want to have a try at restoreing it, as beleive it or not, other than being a little quiet, it actually plays pretty good for what it is.

But I guess the question is, what have I bought? If it is an elcheapo, what is it doing with Jackson bits, they do look like they have been there all along, as there is no unused screw holes or anything that I have found, and all the springs and mounts seem as if they belong there. I went to the Samick website but could not seem to match it up to any model.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Ray

Here are a couple of happy snaps of my $5 special...

Its a budget guitar, Think they were sold by a wholesale company for less than $200. Theres no way a jackson pup costs $200 either. Maybe $20 used. Its is a good fixer upper though. It can be fun to fix up but I wouldnt spend too much. You get to the point where its cheaper to Buy a new one thats flawless vs putting great chrome on a bug.

Hey thanks for that, I guess at $5 I am not going to lose much

My other guitar is a Les Paul copy, looks really nice but the string clearance is way too big, but when I lower it, i get strings that buzz. Can't seem to see why as the neck is very straight. Anothe budget job I guess. You get what you par for.

Thanks again.

Ya might wanna Google around for "truss rod adjustment" and "fret leveling".

There are quite a few LP copies that can be made to play as well as, or better than a Gibby with a little knowledge, some patience, and surprisingly little money. That's one of the things that makes this such a great hobby.

is this a charvel charvette? that would explain the headstock shape and jackson parts.

charvel was owned by jackson i do believe and was their budget line.

anyway i think those were MIJ and were actually kinda decent.

yours needs work and i bet it will be a player.

congrats and nice score.

i would sand down the paint and check to ensure it is solid. some were plywood at that time and repaint it a color of your choice. i dont like black and i would put in a couple of dimarzio's and set it up nice and sweet and play the hell out of it.

Why would someone put a Samick neck plate on a Charvette guitar? That doesn't make any sense.

I have just dismantled it and the neck certainly looks like it was born there. When I undid the four screws holding the Samick plate on, the neck just dropped off, no glue, I don't know if that is normal or not? But If I had to guess I would bet that it is the right neck for the body? I can find no evidence that it has odd bits on it, all the screw holes look right?

I don't think this gap should be there. it looks like the neck is slightly too thick for the size of the cut-out section it fits into.

and necks are meant to be slightly curved, not straight