My late 60's Pan (Univox) High Flyer

[conkface]

Bought this one awhile ago. It's a late 60's Pan high flyer with non original candy apple red paint. The guitar sounds great and I often choose it over my much more expensive telecaster.

A toggle was routed into the lower horn of the body thus bypassing the original black switches which still apear to be functional.

The pickups sound great, like a cross between a p90 and telcaster. The fretwork sucks big time on this guitar! I'm not sure if it left the factory like this or not but they're different heights and most are cut so short that the thin e string barely makes contact with them. The other wierd thing about the neck is that there aren't any fret markers on the side so I have to put dots on the side of the neck with a sharpie! Anybody elses high flyer lack side neck fret markers?

Also, does anyone have a sugestion for a replacement bridge for this thing? The gibson ones won't work unless I want to drill extra holes in the body which I don't want to do.

Anyways, I'm pretty happy with this guitar but will probably have to invest in a fret job to make it more playable.
I paid $350 for it, if anyone was curious, which is probably too much but what the heck!

[popp]

I don't think 350 is too much... Nice guitar you have there. What's up with the bridge? Don't you like the plastic saddles?

[Veenture]

A pretty looking guitar; evidently a good refin job (if not the original finish).
Are you satisfied with the present pups? bear in mind that you may want to change them out too, sooner or later. Bad fretwork is also bad news...and then there's the bridge...do the strings pop off the saddles when you play? Does it need a trem handle? I see there's a part missing on the headstock too. All these replacements will only add to the drain on your wallet and at the end of the day it will still sport the mods from the previous owner. Did the price include a hardshell case too?
I would seriously re-think about putting more money and effort into this baby unless you know a good guitar repair man/woman who also happens to be your best friend!
You mentioned Hallmark in your introduction; investing in a new (or used) H60C would seem a better idea to me; the Hallmark comes with a beautiful hardshell guitar case too.

[conkface]

Thanks for the reponses.

I just ordered a period correct trem arm for $25 from ebay which should be ariving soon and yes, it is missing the bar at the headstock which I'm not sure if I'll replace as the strings seem to stay in the nut.

The pickups sound great so I don't need to replace them and the bridge does works fine. I guess I'm just under the impression that the nylon saddles won't sound as good as steel ones.

The cheapest I could get a refret for around here is about $200 which would put the total investment into the $575 range which I know I wouldn't be able to get if I had to sell it.

What's the cheapest that used hallmarks go for? It looks like they sell for about $1000 online.

Anyways, I do really like this guitar and something in me wants to bite the bullet and do the fret work despite being a financially dumb thing to do. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a half decent univox neck on ebay or something for cheap.

[slapshot]

i'm sitting here taking photos of my univox hi flier rosewood & maple neck & neck plate to put on ebay.
have you just saved me some fees
*scratchplate too but I need the electronics

https://picasaweb.google.com/107282177420286355119/Univox?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyc48qosIv4iwE&feat=directlink

[Sarah93003]

Very nice looking guitar.

[Veenture]

...something in me wants to bite the bullet and do the fret work despite being a financially dumb thing to do.

Hey my friend, that's hobby for ya, many of us have been there, I'm sure ...and I know I have!

[MWaldorf]

cool guitar. I've got two guitars that didn't have side markers - a Harmony archtop acoustic and a Teisco/Kimberly electric. In both cases I installed markers myself. It's a simple process - get a plastic marker rod from Stew Mac, drill a hole, glue in the rod, snip off the excess and sand flush.

As for the frets, depending on how much fret there is under the high e, you could either make a new nut with tighter string spacing to get the string over full frets, or give that baby a speed fret job, Mosrite style! If you botch the fret job, you were going to pay someone else to fit it anyhow, right?

[olrocknroller]

..., or give that baby a speed fret job, Mosrite style! If you botch the fret job, you were going to pay someone else to fit it anyhow, right?

I have a humongous flat-file I use for this job... Take the nut off before you start though, or the file will!

[conkface]

There are actually two big problems with the frets and those are that they're unlevel, which I could probably remedy myself, and more importantly at least 10 don't extend to the width of the fretboard on the low e side. Some by 2mm!

It is still playable and I've somewhat adapted to it but compared to my telecaster it's a struggle, however, I remember Jack White saying that you should have to fight a guitar, show it who's boss, or something like that.

Thanks for all the input! This place is the greatest!