El Degas, black Les Paul....any additional info?

[flixantoinebergeron]

Hey everyone, just traded something for this nice El Degas Black Les Paul Style guitar, with a set neck. Logo has been scraped off/marker but can still be seen if I look closely. It's also been re-painted, but I believe it was black originaly. The diamond headstock logo looks different from the other El Degas I can find online...so i'm a bit confused. Most have been changed already (hardware, tuning keys, nut, pickups, knobs) and I plan on changing the pickups to something more PAF style.

Anyways....any info? The guy told me it was from the 70's...but could be wrong. Anyways only thing original left is the wood at this point. Neck feels great, intonation is all right and frets are still good too. Just would like some details if possible, out of curiosity. Thank you!


P.S. Tried to use photobucket.com like the sticky post says...but the site wasn't collaborating, so i used Imgur. Hope that's no problem.

https://imgur.com/a/uyuZoHN

[charles]

imgur is a-ok! Whatever works.

I see from your photos that the logo inlay was removed, (somewhat-poorly) filled, then the headstock repainted. From the shape of the filled inlay, it appears to have been a later (believed to be 80's) MIK model.

The other signs that lead me to this conclusion is the modified diamond headstock inlay (my two MIJ set neck Les Pauls have an inlay that closer emulates the Gibson split-diamond), and also the 3-screw truss rod cover which is what was standard on the later MIK models.

Let me know if you'd like more info on what I have in my El Degas collection to compare this to, in order to come to these conclusions.

[flixantoinebergeron]

Great! Thanks for the fast reply. So I can assume it's a MIK somewhere in the 80's. Good to know. Of course any other information is welcome, just because i'm curious, but that's already very good. Any idea of the value today? Not planning to sell it but again curious. I already expect much less than a MIJ one

[charles]

Value is actually getting harder and harder to call. As these guitars get older and older, it really depends on the playable condition of the guitar and whether there's a motivated buyer that wants to pay what you're asking.

The fact that this is a MIK model definitely will drop the value somewhat vs. MIJ. Regardless of how it plays, sounds, and feels, the bodies of these ones tend to be ply vs. solid and the country of manufacture is a sticking point for some.

If the logo was complete on this it might have actually been a good thing. The brand is not on par with others of the era but the poor removal job is too bad for people like me who would have actually worn the badge proudly. However, you might find someone who wants a less expensive Gibson alternative and likes that the badge is removed!

I'd list it somewhere in the $250-500 region, if I were selling it. When people can get a set neck Epiphone for under $600CDN it's sometimes a tough sell for a MIK model with modifications.