Buying a Vintage Fender

mark123

theres a 63 strat for sale (8k) on this forum 
(i have no affiliation with him )

bloomer

I'd definitely be looking to get one with as clearly established provenance as possible, all original, original case, case candy etc, e.g http://www.davidjpym.com/page223.html

bloomer

and agreed that gibson is safer

builttospill

Wow! If I had that sort of cash I'd happily avoid the vintage route. I'm OCD, I couldn't trust any vintage guitar.
I'd probably opt for a custom build K-Line (fabulous builder high quality guitars with consistent playabilty) I'd even look at a  Fender CS Masterbuilt. And as others have mentioned stick the rest of cash in a decent ISA.

peteri

Pm'd

simonhpieman

I'd just like to say that I'm available for adoption...

Lewy

builttospill said:

Wow! If I had that sort of cash I'd happily avoid the vintage route. I'm OCD, I couldn't trust any vintage guitar.
I'd probably opt for a custom build K-Line (fabulous builder high quality guitars with consistent playabilty) I'd even look at a  Fender CS Masterbuilt. And as others have mentioned stick the rest of cash in a decent ISA.

But the OP wants the guitar to hold value...neither of those options will.

dubber

Gruhn do appraisals via email, obviously not foolproof, but can weed out things you may not spot ... or at least they did for me.

richardhomer

My advice would be to proceed with extreme caution. Some dealers are not as knowledgeable (or as honest) as they would like to make out - and with such large amounts of money at stake the risks are huge. The ‘kit of parts’ aspect of Fenders means being certain that everything came out of the factory at the same time (or even the same factory!) can be almost impossible to prove or disprove.

I’ve owned and handled a lot of pre-CBS Strats and ‘think’ I can tell a real one. But I wouldn’t trust my own judgement enough now to drop the price of a car on one. A Gibson 335 (or variant) is much less ‘fakeable’ - that’s where I’d suggest looking if you want to be sure you’ve got the real deal.

gringopig

.

designerseye88

Im sure you're set on a Fender but IMO there are other 'sleepers' out there right now which will give you a healthy return in 15 years. A top vintage Japanese Greco super real 1800. These things have almost doubled in price over the last few years and old vintage high end Japanese stuff is climbing rapidly. 

Also for investment i wouldn't rule out limited run guitars. Especially rare small production guitars from Gibson or Fender. Aged and signed models seem to hold their value really well, I've seen the aged Greeny custom shop model going for nearly 20k. 

Enjoy the search and as long as you'll enjoy playing it then that's the main thing but IMO i would consider other guitars too. Vintage Fenders are pretty high risk. 

Jackobean

gringopig said:

For investment you need an original. No refinish, no swapped parts.

Very true, but unfortunately this fact will most likely militate against your actually playing it.
What's the point of buying something super clean, if you'll be looking at a re-fret during your tenure?

gringopig

.

crunchman

There is no guarantee on prices of these staying high.  There is a lot of demand for them from the baby boom generation, who currently have a good amount of disposable income.

That demand is going to reduce in the not too distant future, as they retire and don't have the same amount of income.  In 10 to 20 years time, a lot of these collections will be coming onto the market, so there will probably be more for sale.

If you look at the prices of other collectibles, they have fallen when the generation that collects them gets old.  For example, Elvis memorabila has dropped in price recently.

They won't become worthless as they are great guitars, and there will be a floor when they come into reach of players again, but I can see them dropping from their current value.

Barnezy

Thanks all. The primary purpose of this is not an investment, but to have something of value that can be passed on and enjoyed along the way. 

It's difficult with these things, as with classic cars, to understand the market and to know what good value is. There are also risks to be avoided when you're not knowledgable enough on the topic. 

Appreciate all the advice. 

bgmartinsbridge

You could also do what my dear old dad did and buy me a vintage chair. 
40 years down the line it's worth 50 quid - thinking of selling it and buying some strings :-)

At least a guitar we can play for a few decades. 

ICBM

I'm not an investment advisor . But I would be *very* wary of spending that sort of money on one vintage Fender - or even Gibson - if you're not an expert and know exactly what you're buying. A possible exception would be something like a 50s Les Paul Custom, which might be just about within your budget in 'player grade' condition - and are hard to fake, compared to a Fender.

I would spread your investment/risk - buy three or four guitars, not one. Firstly that makes it less likely that you've put all your eggs in one basket regarding originality (bearing in mind some fakes are very good indeed) and which brands/models might be desirable in twenty years - and secondly means you will be paying closer to the *real* value of them as guitars, rather than the inflated value purely due to 'vintage' status. (ie the price you would have to pay for a new, Custom Shop or small company equivalent.) These guitars are also less likely to be faked, because there is less money in it for the faker.

For fifteen grand I would buy something like an early 60s Jazzmaster, a late-60s Tele Thinline or Bigbsy Tele, a 50s Les Paul Junior, a 60s Gretsch or Rickenbacker, a 60s Martin or Gibson acoustic, or some combination like that. Those are all proper vintage guitars and are unlikely to go down in value, in fact as the 'standard' vintage models get further out of reach for most buyers they're likely to go up - or you could take a chance and include a modern guitar... you never know what might happen with those - for example original '85/'86 PRSs are now worth a lot, if I'd bought the '85 Whale Blue Custom I could have had in about 1990 for a grand I would have done pretty well by now.

bgmartinsbridge

Have a Wizz @icbm

Barnezy

Ok let's put aside the investment piece as that is only relative to how much £15k is to me, and although we all have opinions, no one has a crystal ball. 

Let's put it another way. I'd like to spend £15k on a vintage Strat, that I intend to keep, use and eventually pass on. What are the pitfalls, where do I look, who to I speak to for advice, how do I avoid being ripped off? 

gringopig

.