Mammoth Blog

New to the maze that's the collectible Fender Stratocaster market? Join me as I reacquaint myself with the current state of the market after a several-year Stratocaster hiatus. In light of the world's current state, economic, political and health included, it will be interesting to see what impact things have had on the vintage and non-vintage collectible Stratocaster. But first, for those new to this world, let's first go over a few basic ideas.

An old Stratocaster may or may not be collectible, despite the word vintage. Its collectibility depends on a number of factors such as year of manufacture and current condition (refinished, refretted, replaced electronics, etc., see this article by George Gruhn). Likewise, a rare and significant Custom Shop Stratocaster might not be a vintage instrument, but still very collectible. What's of concern in this article are collectible Stratocasters, both vintage and non-vintage. Note too though, that an argument can be made that the word vintage automatically connotes an element of collectibilty as opposed to the adjectives old or used. For example, a Frankenstrat assembled from a hodgepodge of parts from the '50s and '60s would certainly result in an old or used Stratocaster, but if we take the word seriously, not a vintage Stratocaster. In this line of thinking, using collectible and vintage together is a redundancy.

At what age does a used Stratocaster become a vintage Stratocaster? The answer is a matter of opinion with various sellers advocating milestones such as 20, 25 and 30 years. Most would probably agree that a guitar younger than 20 hasn't yet earned the title of vintage. In general, market interest in a vintage guitar widens the older the instrument is, meaning the number of people interested in a 55-year-old 1954 Stratocaster is probably greater than those interested in a 20-year-old 1989 American Standard. But, saying that the number of people interested in the '54 is greater than those interested in the '89 doesn't mean that there are automatically more ready, willing, and able buyers for the '54 than there are for the '89 in light of the tremendous price difference. An original '54 on eBay will most likely get more page views than an original '89 American Standard, but it wouldn't be surprising if the Standard received more bids as there is probably a larger number of qualified buyers in the Standard's price range.

What fuels the vintage and collectible market? Simply desire. Few of these instruments trade hands because of their playability or tonal quality. If anyone finds a YouTube video of someone playing a Custom Shop Marilyn or Harley Strat in a nightclub, please email me the link. The buy-and-store attitude isn't quite as sharp with vintage Stratocasters as you will find a number of musicians who view them as they were originally intended, working instruments, and likewise a few recording studios keep a variety of vintage guitars on hand precisely for their unique tonal features. But, it's still a safe bet that the majority of vintage and non-vintage collectibles are destined for the display case, closet, or custom storage locker.

The fickle nature of desire makes for a strange and confusing marketplace. Ages and models come in and out of fashion (e.g., the CBS-era Stratocaster's migration from shame to fame) and above all else, what a buyer or seller thinks is significant about a guitar might not be an opinion shared by his counterpart. The collectible Stratocaster market has a number of subcategories, such as 1960s Custom Colors, early Custom Shop one-offs, Custom Shop limited editions, prototypes, artist-related models, '50s two-tone Sunburst Strats, etc. Some collectors follow a particular model, such as the STRAT, the Dan Smith or early American Vintage Reissues. Most Stratocaster fans develop a particular desire bias or two and considering the prolific output from Fender since 1954, it's easy to see why the collectible Stratocaster market is a noisy something-for-everyone playground.

To put this in perspective, let's say that with respect to vintage we use the liberal age of 20. This means we're looking at models manufactured from 1954 through 1989, 35 years of Fender Stratocaster history. Then, if we broaden our interest to include non-vintage collectibles, we have another 20 years to consider, and the last 20 years represents a lineup that is mind boggling in diversity from a standpoint of both U.S. production models and the Custom Shop.

Chances are you're reading this article because you have a pre-existing interest in the Fender Stratocaster and most likely your particular desire bias has already begun to form. To sharpen and focus that bias, it's time to do some homework (or a lot of homework if you're a developing Strataholic). Time to get acquainted with Fender Stratocaster history.

Though websites like Strat Collector News offer a quick fix (or not so quick if you dig deeply), there's probably no better and enjoyable way to get acquainted with the Stratocaster's history than Tom Wheeler's excellent book, The Stratocaster Chronicles (review). It's the history of the Stratocaster from 1954 through 2004 with fact and detail presented in a story-like manner that brings to life the people behind the instrument. Tom's currently working on a new book that will chronicle the history of the Fender Custom Shop that's bound to have an impact on the non-vintage collectible market. Also highly recommended is A.R. Duchossoir's book, The Fender Stratocaster. Strat Collector News has compiled a basic reading list via Amazon that you might find helpful. And, no matter what Stratocasters interest you, it's always a good idea to spend quality time on Fender's current website, both with respect to its current models and the other information resources it offers. Fender is keenly aware of its history and what it offers today often has something to do with what was or was not popular yesterday.

Let's say you've done your homework, your Stratocaster desire biases are in place, and you're ready to take the pulse of the current marketplace. Where to start? This, of course, is where being online is a true advantage. You could attend the various guitar shows that take place throughout the year, but that's certainly not a quick fix nor is it a very efficient way to obtain a broad market snapshot as each guitar show is limited to the particular vendors involved.

The obvious place to start is eBay, but let me first point out that I'm not advocating buying or selling on eBay (of which I'm doing neither). I'm talking about using eBay as a source of information. I'll use myself simply as a case history.

My desire bias focuses on Fender in the 1980s (including 1979's 25th Anniversary Stratocaster). I enjoy the entire Fender and Fender Stratocaster history, but the classic vintage Stratocaster market (1954-1965) has never been my cup of tea, mostly due to the wealth of information needed to determine originality. I've seen true vintage pros at work and their level of knowledge about what was to me arcane trivia was amazing, and best left to them. The '80s was a rich and pivotal decade in the Fender story that included events such as CBS's sale of Fender to FMIC (and the related model re-thinking) and the introduction of the Custom Shop. While my eBay trip today was for a general collectible market feel (what's available, what's selling, and what's not at the high and middle level of the market), as you'll see, desire bias drew my attention to a few particular models.

I started with a general eBay search for Stratocaster (capitalization doesn't matter). While this is an extremely basic search (Home > Buy > Musical Instruments > Guitar > Electric > Right-Handed > Fender > Stratocaster - without including descriptions or the term strat), it yielded over 1,300 items. I then reordered the list by having the results display the highest priced items first (I'm interested in the top to middle of the market where I know most of the collectible Strats will be priced). Actually, Strat Collector News maintains current eBay Stratocaster search results on its eBay pages, such as Top 40 Stratocasters Currently on eBay in the United States (with similar pages available for Canada, the U.K., France, Australia and Italy).

The results are interesting: a fair number of '50s and '60s Stratocasters, some of which are claimed to be in excellent condition. I also spot a few auctions that play better to my bias: a Custom Shop Harley-Davidson 90th Anniversary; a white 1979 25th Anniversary; a more recent Custom Shop Dennis Galuszka Surf Strat; a Malmsteen signature Strat prototype; and a 1983 Dan Smith Standard in a rare Stratoburst finish.

Below are eBay widgets for each of these auctions. I include them along with comments not to advocate a sale or bid but to illustrate how a desire bias forms and how eBay can be used to stay abreast of the models we find interesting. I won't comment on the auction prices in this article as I've been out of the market too long, but as this article series develops I'll start to consider pricing.

Also note: The information contained in the widget and link to the auction page is only good for 120 days following the auction. If you've stumbled upon this article after that, eBay will have replaced the information with a random Stratocaster auction. Not a perfect world. source>>>