Price watch (23)

Another difficult proposition; a Gibson Robot SG with a broken headstock.

Reality check

Gibson guitars with any kind of auto-tuning technology is a difficult one to sell away.  This guitar is an SG, the mechanical implements on the headstock makes the neck dive obscene. The other painful mitigating factor there is the broken headstock; it's unrepaired & offered for sale as it is. 

Managing expectations

This discussion will touch on matters pertaining to Gibson instruments with broken headstocks. The implications discussed here shall not be cascaded unto other instruments bearing other brand names.

A Gibson with a broken headstock will be devalued by 50% of its initial listing price & this applies to guitars with a repaired headstock. If done well, the buyer might offer a little more, depending on his conceptual acceptance of the repair standard. The 50% devalue status is not a strict adherence, it depends on the degree of damage (slight crack vs totally snapped off headstock / clean break vs fragmented break / etc.). Also, no two repair standards are the same simply owing to the nature of the damage. Some damages do not require a re-finish, a simple touch up & it's good to go. Other repair types, like a dowel insertion, is better off with a re-finish. In addition to visual appeal (the finish helps to conceal the dowel's existence), the re-finish helps seal gaps & strengthen the neck. 

Will I buy the Gibson depicted above?

No, not even for $500. Simple reason - I will incur further repair / restoration costs & the fact that it has robot tuners to begin with. These compounding factors will make the guitar repulsive in the after-market. At best, if there's a sentimental value in there, I might do a trade with a pedal or a good, practice tube amp. You might say the pedal-to-guitar matching consideration is way off in terms of value but if that is the case, then there is a failure to understand that this SG is in a problematic condition to begin with.