My Favorite Flip, and It Only Took One Step!

I've done quite a lot of flipping in the past 9-10 years, but I have one that sticks with me as being my favorite.

A couple years ago (2011), a new store opened in Urbana, called Buy-Sell-Trade. The shop had an operation in Springfield as well. Similar to a Pawn Shop without the loan side of things, so folks could drop by and sell their gold and silver, collectibles, etc., and people like me could swoop in and buy some of the items.

Side note -- this business has closed down for being absolutely toxic as a business. Apparently they bounced checks to those selling stuff, couldn't pay employees, etc., which is really skeevey if you ask me. Read more about that scandal here.

I actually bought a signed baseball from them, signed by an old roster of Twins players. They had a lot of guitars in their windows and on other displays (including old vintage 60s tube amps, the kinds you buy from Sears, but they were asking way too much). One guitar got my attention because it had the Greco brand, and I knew that there were people who loved collecting Grecos. Here's some pictures (from when I took it home, so I apologize that you know what happened next):


So this was for sale with a price tag of, I believe, $180. Given the condition of the guitar, that seemed pretty high. I decided to do some further research and see what I could figure out. After hitting up a few forums, I came to the conclusion that the big Greco enthusiasts liked the copies that came out of the Matsumoku plant, especially the Gibson copies. This was an original design of theirs, and so wouldn't have as much value. The tuners, at the time, were a hodgepodge, and the finish was quite cracked up, so I wasn't too keen on getting it.

However, after going back to the shop a few times, I decided to take a chance. I asked how much they'd be willing to do and their offer was $150. I told them that I appreciated the offer but that was too much, to me. They put it back, and I had already moved on, looking around at some of the amps. Before I went out the door, they asked if I wanted to make an offer on the guitar. I think the person was a co-owner (and given their reputation, not the person with best intentions...). I told them what I had learned, and said that I could make an offer, but it would be really low. They said that the worst they could do was say no. My offer?

$35.

And they said yes.

It took some research on their part but I allowed them to do the research and they decided it was fair, given the guitar's condition. So I took it home and opened it up. Apart from a cracked pickguard, the electronics were all there, but really messed up. Nothing worked on it, and would require some work. Luckily, with the addition of a tone capacitor (to replace an old and presumably broken one) everything was working great. Some WD-40 on the pickup and you could see red pearloid around the pickup poles, which was really cool. The neck itself had some chipping and dings, which I repaired using superglue and some light sanding. The sanding really lightened up the wood on the back of the neck but it became smooth and fast. New tuners for $15, and with a total of a $50 investment, I had  a decent working guitar, but nothing I would consider a keeper. I decided that was the end of the "improvements" and I would just cut my losses there and try to sell the guitar for $80-100. So up it went on Craigslist.

I waited.

And waited.

...and waited...

And no real bites. Well, shoot, people probably aren't interested in this guitar! Well, let me drop my asking price to $60. Just see if I can break even.

Finally, a bite. Someone e-mailed me, interested in the guitar. Apparently he had owned something similar back in the day and was interested. He asked if I might be interested in a bass. Of course I would be. We arranged to meet.

So he tried out the guitar and loved the sound and its simplicity. I described the improvements. Then he brought out the bass.

Brand: OLP (Officially Licensed Product)
Model: MM2 - MusicMan StingRay 4-string clone

(stock photo, but the exact type I have)

I didn't know much about it, but decided to try it out and see how it played. I never owned a bass and would have liked to own one, so I went for it. Made the trade, straight up.

It wasn't until I got home that I realized what I had. It was a GEM of a bass, with a lot of supporters who viewed it as one of the best values in basses.

See here, here, and here. (Note, they're all from TalkBass.com. I don't really hang my hat on other forums that aren't dedicated to bass players. They're a strange lot, and tend to keep away from the guitarists...for good reason.)

Playing it, there's a couple things that stand out. First, the sustain. This thing has the most impressive sustain that I have ever played. It plays for so long. It makes for a great tone. Second, the tone itself is great, though lacking in the sparkle or spank of active pickups. I've heard good passives but the low notes and tone requires a good active preamp. In the past couple weeks, I've actually installed an inexpensive 2-band EQ active preamp and it really had promising results. There might be benefit from going to the vintage tone of AlNiCo pickups, but I don't want to put much into this or ruin what it already has going for it.

This goes to show you that some flips are not meant to profit. In a way, this was the greatest flip ever because I only spent $50 and I ended up getting a keeper bass that I plan to have with me indefinitely. Always great!

~C