1961 Gibson ES-335 TDC Factory Second

by James
(Long Beach, CA)

Hi,

Just made the donation. It's from scoid. My question is:

This guitar is stamped with a "2" on the back of the peghead indicating it is a factory second.

What is it's bluebook value considering it is a factory second?

James

ANSWER

Hi, James--

Apparently Gibson used this marking until 1985 to denote a guitar with flaws in the finish. After 1985 they no longer marked the flawed guitars because, although they sold these guitars at a discount to dealers, the dealers were selling them for full price.

I could find no information about factory seconds and Blue Book value, probably because the Blue Book values are based on collector demand and collectors are usually not looking for factory seconds.

Here is the Blue Book pricing info:

1961-1962 Pearl Dots PAFs
Mint $30,000
Exc.+ $22,500
Exc. $18,000
Avg.+ $15,000
Avg. $12,500
General $10,000

Given the high value o0f this guitar, even if the factory second status reduced the value by half, you still have a valuable guitar.

If you are wanting to sell, you might try taking the Blue Book value for the appropriate condition category and reducing it by 1/3 and see what happens. After all, the value of ANY guitar is ultimately what someone will pay for it.

Lynne

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