In an attempt to answer your question directly,

Who would know what the market can bear better than Fender?

I think you have simply encountered proof that there is a class of buyer who doesn't think a $2500 guitar purchase is something worth scrutinizing for value.

Every time I see a commercial building in a busy area of commerce I think to myself... some family, that doesn't pull a day shift, owns that and is making money while other people work there. A quick drive through the USA should suggest that there must be hundred of thousands of these happy folks and they are the folks that buy the stuff us folks think is just too freaking expensive. Some of them probably had lots of free time for Guitar lessons too. :-)

I mean, for real, the last time I bought a gas stove for our house I simply could not believe that 1860s technology could be sold in 2012 for $5k, $6k $10k.... I just could not believe it...  but there is was.

I of course bought something modest.


So, to answer your question directly, I don't think much about the justification for prices that are out of my scope of consciousness. I just figure I'm not the guy it's being offered too.

BTW, I think the relic stuff is ridiculous. I just do, but I've been told it is impolite to make a point of that, so I'm side stepping that as a different subject, because thankfully, the OP was about a more or less normal guitar.

best regards,
mike

In an attempt to answer your question directly,

I've tried to do that 3 times already I think.

I re-read the OP each time I did it too.

craigb


I don't worry about politeness:  The relic stuff IS rediculous!

I agree. Try taking an old beat up US made Gibson or Fender in for trade that still plays perfectly and they will pick apart every last nick and scratch, but if 'the manufacturer' put it there, then that's ok?


It just goes to show that it's not even about the love of music any more, it's about how they can milk more money out of people just off their name.

Jimi's dead?????!!

mike_mccue


Does that mean no Guilds, Gretsches, Charvels, Jacksons, Ovations, Takamines, Hamers, Tacoma, Orpheums, Olympia, or Squiers too?

Those are all "Fender" brands now a days.

Yup...according to Ronnie of "Ronnie's Guitars".  It shore does.  He almost cried when he talked about what's happened to Hamers.

yorolpal

mike_mccue


Does that mean no Guilds, Gretsches, Charvels, Jacksons, Ovations, Takamines, Hamers, Tacoma, Orpheums, Olympia, or Squiers too?

Those are all "Fender" brands now a days.

Yup...according to Ronnie of "Ronnie's Guitars".  It shore does.  He almost cried when he talked about what's happened to Hamers.

I cry when I hear an Ovation. Why would anyone buy, let alone make, such a horrible sounding instrument?

J/K

OAI?

;)

BTW ... I think Fender just calls that incorporated mess The FMIC Group.

http://www.fender.com/legal/tsc_act.php (<--- Warning ... link may make heads explode.)

My Ovation sounded great, but I never liked playing it without a strap because it would always slip due to that rounded back...

I guess it's simply "Select" woods for a certified premium price...because they can.

Yup, that's pretty much my view.

I'll tell you something else that's likely to happen when you get that shop of yours open for business, if you are like the majority you will undervalue yourself at the outset.

Can you even imagine what Fender would actually charge for the amount of workmanship you put into one of your creations?  It doesn't bear thinking about.

Put it this way I sense you are a concienscious top guy and you've built some amazing guitars already and you will have considered you have charged a fair price to your buddys here.  Now add 45% to that and that is pretty much a fair markup for the trade it isn't anything excessive, so why shouldn't you be getting that benefit?

Trust me you are worth it and this thread kind of bears that out.  Keep it mind when you are looking at a pricing structure for yourself.

How do I get an order placed before the price goes up to what it should be?

Karyn


How do I get an order placed before the price goes up to what it should be?

If I had to pay what it should be I wood have.

craigb


My Ovation sounded great, but I never liked playing it without a strap because it would always slip due to that rounded back...

Aren't the backs of Ovation guitars made of some kind of hard plastic?

yorolpal

mike_mccue


Does that mean no Guilds, Gretsches, Charvels, Jacksons, Ovations, Takamines, Hamers, Tacoma, Orpheums, Olympia, or Squiers too?

Those are all "Fender" brands now a days.

Yup...according to Ronnie of "Ronnie's Guitars".  It shore does.  He almost cried when he talked about what's happened to Hamers.

I remember having breakfast on the road out in Sandy Eggo with a guitar tech when he received the news on his phone from Hamer artist relations. It inspired me to buy a couple older Hamers to enjoy as players while I still could.

And then there's the way they used to be made...

mike_mccue

yorolpal

mike_mccue


Does that mean no Guilds, Gretsches, Charvels, Jacksons, Ovations, Takamines, Hamers, Tacoma, Orpheums, Olympia, or Squiers too?

Those are all "Fender" brands now a days.

Yup...according to Ronnie of "Ronnie's Guitars".  It shore does.  He almost cried when he talked about what's happened to Hamers.

I remember having breakfast on the road out in Sandy Eggo with a guitar tech when he received the news on his phone from Hamer artist relations. It inspired me to buy a couple older Hamers to enjoy as players while I still could.

Sometimes it can be that the name isn't the key...example; If I wanted a Charvel then I wouldn't
look to Fender but I'd look here.