What's In Zach's Attic Today?
As of December 7th, 2019 we have the following used and vintage instruments in Zach's Attic:
- Washburn HB-35-N more >>>
- Trinity College Celtic Mandolin TM-250 more >>>
- Blueridge BR-140A Dreadnaught more >>>
- Epiphone Dot Deluxe Semi-hollow more >>>
- Taylor NS-34ce Nylon String more >>>
- Taylor GS-Mini Acoustic more >>>
- Gibson ES-137 Custom Semi-hollow more >>>
- Ibanez FA-100 Hollowbody more >>>
- Rare Vintage 1978 Alembic BassMore >>>
Click on one of these instruments or just scroll down for photos and more information.
Zach's Archives
Want to peek at the extraordinary range of cool and interesting instruments that have passed through Zach's Attic? Just click HERE!
Contributing to Zach's Attic
We're always looking for interesting used and vintage guitars, basses and other fretted instruments that need new homes. (Sorry, we don't accept used band instruments.)
If you have a used or vintage instrument that you think Zach might be interested in, bring it in and show it to him. (Call ahead to make sure he'll be in the store when you come.) If he likes your instrument we can work out a trade or buy it outright.
You can contact Zach by phone at the number above or via our Ask Us! page.
Our Guarantee
Buying a used or vintage instrument can be a scary process. If you don't know what you're looking for, you can easily overpay or end up with an inferior (or even unplayable) instrument.
When you buy a used or vintage instrument from The Minor Chord we guarantee it to be as described. If there are flaws in the instrument that we know about, we'll tell you. If there are significant flaws we didn't notice and disclose, tell us within 30 days and we'll cheerfully give you your money back.
The Minor Chord is a music store you can trust!
Our Used and Vintage Instruments
Zach is our store manager and head instrument buyer. He hunts down the top quality used and vintage instruments that we feature here in "Zach's Attic".
Trinity College Celtic Mandolin TM-250Here we have an interesting Celtic style mandolin from Trinity College. Flat top and back with the oval soundhole yields a nice bell-like tone with good projection. We have it setup for standard mandolin tuning. A bit larger than a typical mandolin but still smaller than a mandola. These certainly do not come through the shop often, $399.00 in hardshell case. |
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Blueridge BR-140ABlueridge instruments represent great value. Just in we have a BR-140A model featuring a solid Adirondack spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides. Their take on a vintage-style Martin D-18 with the butterbean tuners and classic wood combination. Big boomy tone with Adirondack spruce's clarity and definition. This particular guitar came from one local owner who kept it in near mint condition. $799.00 in hardshell case. |
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Epiphone Dot DeluxeHere we have an excellent condition Korean built Dot Deluxe from 1998. A more affordable version of a Gibson ES-335, this era for Epiphone is well-regarded. The humbuckers sound big and full, a versatile guitar for many styles of music. Some tarnishing on the gold hardware but that's to be expected after 20 years. The 1-11/16 inch nut width and decently chunky 'C' profile is more typical of a '59 style neck. A solid deal at $499.00 in hardshell case. |
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Taylor NS-34ceJust in we have a harder to find Taylor acoustic/electric nylon-string model. The NS-34ce features a Grand Auditorium body shape with Venetian cutaway. This body shape has a nice full tone that smaller classicals can sometimes lack. Built in 2003, it has seasoned nicely over the last 16 years. One local owner, sold here originally. Fresh setup for normal tension strings. $999.00 in original Taylor hardshell case. |
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Taylor GS-MiniRecently arrived is the popular Taylor GS-Mini. A nice compact travel guitar that doesn't lack in tone. A scaled down version of their Grand Symphony body style, it feels substantial and solid all the way around. This version is the straight acoustic with the solid Sitka spruce top. This particular instrument was sold here originally to one local owner. $399.00 in the Taylor hardbag. |
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Gibson ES-137 CustomThis gorgeous Gibson ES-137 was personally built for a great friend of the Minor Chord by the folks in the Gibson Custom Shop in Memphis, TN. Easy to look at for sure in the stunning deeper red finish. But it not only looks good, it feels and sounds great too! Not too far from an ES-335, it handles rock/jazz/blues exceptionally well. The ebony board is smooth to slide around, nice comfortable 'C' shaped neck. The '57 Classic humbuckers surely fit the guitar well. The varitone knob adds some nice extra tones. A small amount of wear around one f-hole and minimal gold hardware tarnishing. Otherwise in excellent condition. Asking $2,399.00 in original Gibson hardshell case. |
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Vintage Ibanez FA-100From a well-regarded era for Ibanez, here is a vintage 1979 FA-100 hollowbody. Basically a copy of a Gibson ES-175D, you can yield the same fat, warm, jazzy tones. We've set it up for D'addario EXL115W, .011-.049 with the wound 'G' string. Adding flatwounds would jazz it up even more. The classic sunburst finish is attractive and overall the guitar is in very good condition. The strap button was moved from the side to the neck at some point. $899.00 with hardshell case included. |
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Common problems with used instruments
We see a lot of used instruments at The Minor Chord and a few common issues seem to show up in many of them. If you are thinking of buying an instrument on the private market, make sure you can spot these common flaws.
Lifting bridges
Most bridges on acoustic guitars are simply glued to the guitar top. If the glue joint starts to separate you are looking at a dangerous guitar. Six steel strings exert a huge tension on the bridge, and if it suddenly comes loose it can seriously injure anyone nearby. The staff at The Minor Chord has seen this happen - so we always inspect the bridge of an acoustic guitar before restringing it.
Piece of paper under a lifting bridge
If you can slip a sheet of paper under the bridge of your guitar (see picture) you should relax the string tension immediately and bring the instrument to us for inspection.
An experienced luthier can remove a bridge and reglue it, but the time and labor involved makes the process too expensive for beginner and intermediate guitars.
High action
The distance between the strings and the fingerboard is called the action height. If the action is too high the guitar becomes hard (or even impossible) to play because it takes too much effort to press a string against the fingerboard. In addition, the guitar will probably not play in tune because each string has to be stretched so much (which raises its pitch) as it is pressed down.
Proper action height depends on two factors: The alignment of the neck and the height of the saddle (the point at which the strings rest on the bridge).
Electric and steel-string acoustic guitars usually have a truss rod running down the neck that can be used to adjust neck alignment. Classical-style guitars with nylon strings typically do not have a truss rod, and the only way to realign the neck is for a luthier to remove, shim and reinstall the neck - a major operation. The same operation is required on electrics or steel-string acoustics if the truss rod doesn't have enough available play to achieve the needed adjustment.
Saddle height is easily adjusted on electric guitars using a very small allen-head wrench. The saddles on acoustics and classical nylon strings may simply lift out of the bridge and can be shaved or shimmed to achieve the correct height. If these adjustments cannot bring the action height to a playable level, an expensive neck reset is required.
A low action height is desirable for easy playing but the action cannot be lowered so much that the strings start buzzing against the frets. Inexpensive guitars tend to have uneven frets, which means that the action height cannot be brought very low at all. Resetting or dressing the frets can even them up but it is a time consuming and expensive process, worthwhile only for valuable guitars.
All of these adjustments related to action height are fussy and interrelated. It's best to leave them to an experienced luthier, which means it is usually not economical to rescue an inexpensive guitar having these problems.