A Vintage Ethical Dilemma/Riddle

Would you add a Bigsby, stop tailpiece studs, and a modified fretboard inlay to a nearly perfect 1967 Gibson ES345?

Of course not, right! So where's the dilemma?

Well here's the story. The owner wants very much to do these mods to this guitar because he is part of a community of fans - very serious fans - of the movie Back To The Future. So serious that he's spent over $26k restoring and modifying a Delorean to look like the car in the film. And in that scene where Michael J Fox plays Johnny B Goode for Chuck Berry himself, he plays a cherry red 60's ES345 with Bigsby, stop tailpiece studs, and an unusual looking solid block inlay at the 12th fret.

The argument for doing work like this is: 1) It's his guitar 2) he's going to find someone who will do it 3) These are not uncommon modifications to this guitar and Gibson themselves did some of them 4) This work may actually enhance its value within the film fan base and 5) Why is the vintage guitar community more correct or less crazy/silly than the BTTF fan community?

And yes, we do know the correct answer here, but I'm interested in the reasoning we all have. Discuss!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by scott gannon on August 13, 2013 at 1:59pm

Good Lord! Well the earth wins. Cool guitar saved. Predator removed. He's gonna love prison. Better sell the car too.

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Permalink Reply by Ned Knepp on August 13, 2013 at 5:54pm

Not to be too flip since it's really pretty serious but I bet he wishes he could go " Back to the Future".

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Permalink Reply by Robbie Collins on August 13, 2013 at 6:58pm

Ha!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Verticchio on August 13, 2013 at 9:06pm

The only thing that puzzles me is 'why' a wife would want to bail a monster like that out of jail. But that's a discussion more appropriate for a TV show where chairs are thrown on a daily basis by morons and illiterates. :)

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Permalink Reply by Steve Baker on August 14, 2013 at 11:27am

I'm not sure if the sale of the guitar was for bail purposes or for "screw him the guitar's mine now and I'm selling it" purposes. I hope it was the latter, but yea - more questions than answers.