Cool Beans: how long ago?

The $260-280 I paid in '04 is probably equivalent to more than that today, and probably no more than $150-200 in, say, 1980 dollars.

As I said, my memory is a bit hazy about how much I paid. The worst aspect of that repair job was that the guy took so damn long. I'm not a collector, and own only the one guitar; I was miserable to be without it after the first two weeks or so.