1973 Fender Mustang.

Auto-Immune

Recently I went to a friends house and he had a mustang he was selling..it's a 1973 and appears to be a yellowish color. He told me its original color was white but the previous owner was a heavy smoker and it discolored the paint..if I was to buy this guitar would repainting it back to white be a good idea? Is there anyway to get the stained coloring off like a mr. Clean eraser or anything? If I did repaint it where would I go and would it be costly? The guitar is otherwise in working order they said they would sell me it for $500. I'm pretty sure that's a bargain

JamesJ

Well for one, people pay more for vintage instruments when the original finish is still there. Espicially when it shows signs of age. If it is a laquer based paint, the white color as aged naturally. If it's poly based, then maybe nicotine stained. I don't think anything is gonna really clean up anykind of smoking stain. Average refinish costs about 400 bucks if someone else is doing it. Kind of tricky doing it yourself but cheaper.

Irl

Id leave it as is, its not stained, it just has character. 😁

Doug

Wow, nice find! 🙄 Yep, it's valuable and ya really don't wanna touch it. Besides seriously decreasing its monetary value by refinishing or upgrading, you'd be destroying the history, the stories in the color and the dings.

If it's hard to get into this reverence for vintage thing, you could buy it and sell it to a vintage lover who will protect it. And you make a nice profit...I think it's worth about $1000 if it's 100% original...then use the profit to buy something closer to your taste.

Not many of these old Mustangs left in original condition...protect these axes.

spirograph

Doug said:
Wow, nice find! 🙄 Yep, it's valuable and ya really don't wanna touch it. Besides seriously decreasing its monetary value by refinishing or upgrading, you'd be destroying the history, the stories in the color and the dings.
If it's hard to get into this reverence for vintage thing, you could buy it and sell it to a vintage lover who will protect it. And you make a nice profit...I think it's worth about $1000 if it's 100% original...then use the profit to buy something closer to your taste.
Not many of these old Mustangs left in original condition...protect these axes.

yea whatever you do, please dont sell it as parts on ebay! buy it, and move it on to someone who will love it more, and use the profits to build a mustang to your tastes, or modify a reissue or something.

Auto-Immune

spirograph said:
yea whatever you do, please dont sell it as parts on ebay! buy it, and move it on to someone who will love it more, and use the profits to build a mustang to your tastes, or modify a reissue or something.

Thanks guys. I don't really like reissue mustangs. So I think I'll just buy the vintage and keep it. Maybe just change the pickguard or something. Leave the color alone.