Question about this combo 450(?) my grandfather bought

[bdawson7]

Not intending to douse any enthusiasm, but I recommend looking at the date codes on the potentiometers to confirm that they date to that era and are not modern ones. I have seen a number of "tribute" instruments, made by expert luthiers, that look like the real deal, and it would be good to rule that possibility out.

Exactly. Does all that wood look a bit too perfectly “toasted” to you?
Does that lower pick guard edge bleed show that that is the only old part of the whole guitar?
Is the headstock as a whole seen to be in too perfectly good shape?
Is the finish too uniformly even and slightly matte as can be applied with modern methods?

Nevertheless, I would still be happy make the owner a tidy profit on the instrument.

[Rowinbacker]

I mean I am no expert, but in person the guitar does have a fair bit of wear and tear that looks to be from general usage over time. I’ll definitely check out the potentiometers to check. If this was a “tribute” model of sorts, how old would you expect it to be?

[Rowinbacker]

The fascinating thing to me about this guitar is the double pickguard.

IIRC, the other two Combo 650 models that are known have a single-layer pickguard with a little notched cutout where the pickup sits (I'll let the owners of those guitars share photos if they like). Perhaps this one was assembled later in '59 when the double pickguard started for other models? Hard to say.

But extremely cool find, I'm always jazzed to hear this sort of thing is still out in the wild (and that somebody went to the RRF with it first!).

If there’s anyway I could see those photos that’d be rad

[Rowinbacker]

Did it come in a case? A photo of that would be cool

Here is a picture of the case and also a strap that was in it

[8mileshigh]

The case looks as clean as the guitar. Very nice!

[8mileshigh]

Here’s mine….

[jps]

Very nice, Graham!