Fender strat1960 origional. Where to sell it advice
Discussion
I have an origional fender stratocaster. Made in 1960 and I have decided to sell it.
Can anyone reccomend a reputable guitar shop in London who could sell it on my behalf as I doubt that any shop would be able to buy for stock in the current difficult times, or even a good site where i could advertise it.
I have had the guitar for a very long time and am completely out of the loop in terms of value (yes i do have a rough idea) and how to sell it.
Thus all advice gratefully received, Thanks.
If this was a Lotus I would have no trouble!
Can anyone reccomend a reputable guitar shop in London who could sell it on my behalf as I doubt that any shop would be able to buy for stock in the current difficult times, or even a good site where i could advertise it.
I have had the guitar for a very long time and am completely out of the loop in terms of value (yes i do have a rough idea) and how to sell it.
Thus all advice gratefully received, Thanks.
If this was a Lotus I would have no trouble!
just1 said:
In London I'd try vintage and rare. They are in Denmark st, and have a shop in bath. Google them.
If your happy selling to the us I'd go for fretted Americana, or Normans rare guitars. Again google them.
Good answers. For something worth as much as a 1960 strat I'd want a couple of appraisals though. And get it insured if you need to take it anywhere.If your happy selling to the us I'd go for fretted Americana, or Normans rare guitars. Again google them.
Don't let it out of your sight, you cannot know who to trust so do not trust anyone. You have a valuable instrument that a lot of dodgy people would like to part you from. There is a market for original parts both for real and to create fake vintage strats, making it well worthwhile to swap bits such as pickups and pots. Take it in to reputable shops but don't leave it, bearing in mind that to value it properly the neck and pickguard will have to be removed in order to see the date stamps.
JBM78 said:
Hope you don't mind me asking (and obviously feel free to ignore the question) but what sort of ballpark figure do you have in mind?
Depending on condition I'd estimate £15k - £18kSad to say OP but I would heed kev b's advice too.
Have a look around here too.
http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/pre-cbs-strats-bef...
Could do worse than speak to Phil @ Vinatge and Modern in Thame.
http://www.vintageandmodernguitars.co.uk/
http://www.vintageandmodernguitars.co.uk/
Thanks everyone for the guidance and the websites all of which i have visited and read through (I have the flu so plenty of spare time).
I was not aware of the value of parts, I left it at a Luthiers over christmas but they are long established and well know so I doubt there would be a problem but as they say forwarned is forarmed.
I can seee what needs to be done.
I was not aware of the value of parts, I left it at a Luthiers over christmas but they are long established and well know so I doubt there would be a problem but as they say forwarned is forarmed.
I can seee what needs to be done.
Edited by Type 49 on Saturday 29th December 13:22
If you've not sold it, take it to Graham Hill at Guitar Classics in Webbs Road, Battersea. www.guitar-classics.co.uk - he is totally and utterly straight up. He deals in high end guitars and I've been buying off/selling through him for getting on for 15 years. A rare gem.
The #1 issue here is provenance. Vintage Strats are so easily faked that buying is a minefield: fakes, refins and bitsacasters are common. And selling is difficult because unscrupulous dealers abound.
So, if you have any evidence that you have had it a very long time - such as photos of you with it at a gig in the '70s, etc - then it helps to lower a buyer's risk and in turn, support a strong asking price. (The idea being that you had it before fakery became so widespread.)
But if it's a genuine custom colour, all-original, no-refin, good-condition Strat, any dealer worth his salt has several buyers lined up.
Please upload a coupel of photos here for us (well, me at least!) to ogle.
FWIW, I've had some '50s Gibsons sitting at a dealer on commission sale and things are very slow at the moment. You and I should have sold these about 5 years ago!
So, if you have any evidence that you have had it a very long time - such as photos of you with it at a gig in the '70s, etc - then it helps to lower a buyer's risk and in turn, support a strong asking price. (The idea being that you had it before fakery became so widespread.)
But if it's a genuine custom colour, all-original, no-refin, good-condition Strat, any dealer worth his salt has several buyers lined up.
Please upload a coupel of photos here for us (well, me at least!) to ogle.
FWIW, I've had some '50s Gibsons sitting at a dealer on commission sale and things are very slow at the moment. You and I should have sold these about 5 years ago!
have you tried the sites www.thegearpage.net and www.vintagerocker.com ? ....both US centric site, but a healthy, and knowledgeable, community on each.
Call Graham Hill at Guitar Classics - 020 7738 2974 - He's a top bloke. Be careful not to pay too much attention to the other guitars in his shop - you'll ending up buying another one! As has been said. It's pretty cutthroat where old guitars are concerned - if I were you, I'd get it to Guitar Classics and then at least you won't have to insure it yourself. Get Graham and Mark to check nothing untoward happened to the highly valuable and easily removable bits of you guitar while it was out of your sight at Christmas. Might sound paranoid but you'd be suprised. The market is a bit slippy - but a 1960 strat should be relatively easy to sell. Phil at Phil's Vintage guitars in Thame, Oxfordshire is also a safe bet. As mentioned above.
Vintage strats can be a minefield. There is a market in fakes & duplicitous guitars simply because of supply & demands on these. However, some of us know what we're looking at.
Yours will have either CTS pots (137) or Stackpole (304)stamped on the pot along with the date codes. Being a 60, it will likely have a slab board rosewood neck, rounded pickup routes, a CTS 3 way switch & a white 'chcklet' paper tone capacitor. If you know what you're looking for, you can appraise a guitar with confidence.
This is the good news. The bad news is the market has taken a kicking in recent years. If you were selling an all original guitar five or ten years ago, you would easily have picked up north of twenty five grand. Now, forget it. If the body is refinished you can knock a further 50% off the value - still more if parts have been changed - pups & the switch are very common alterations. If it's routed for humbuckers or tone switches, again it's bad news.
People will pay, but they want originality & why wouldn't they? The desire in a pre cbs strat is the artisinal crafting which is really a half truth at best & the idea that they contain a resonant tone you don't get in modern ones. The truth is somewhere in there. Some are like that some aren't.
A further downside is selling through a dealer is really only going to enrich the dealer & possibly save you a little time. I watch these guitars constantly. I can think of half a dozen I've been tracking since November that haven't shifted - usually for greedy dealer pricing. I did a deal to but a '63 refin off a guy only last week> We agreed at £6k & he sold it to someone else for £6.5k & couldn't bring himself to tell me, so I'm still looking.
Sell it to me! I'll buy it if it's in budget & a fair price. I wouldn't entertain a dealer personally - just a middleman taking a cut for the privilege of hanging it in his window.
Pics please.
Yours will have either CTS pots (137) or Stackpole (304)stamped on the pot along with the date codes. Being a 60, it will likely have a slab board rosewood neck, rounded pickup routes, a CTS 3 way switch & a white 'chcklet' paper tone capacitor. If you know what you're looking for, you can appraise a guitar with confidence.
This is the good news. The bad news is the market has taken a kicking in recent years. If you were selling an all original guitar five or ten years ago, you would easily have picked up north of twenty five grand. Now, forget it. If the body is refinished you can knock a further 50% off the value - still more if parts have been changed - pups & the switch are very common alterations. If it's routed for humbuckers or tone switches, again it's bad news.
People will pay, but they want originality & why wouldn't they? The desire in a pre cbs strat is the artisinal crafting which is really a half truth at best & the idea that they contain a resonant tone you don't get in modern ones. The truth is somewhere in there. Some are like that some aren't.
A further downside is selling through a dealer is really only going to enrich the dealer & possibly save you a little time. I watch these guitars constantly. I can think of half a dozen I've been tracking since November that haven't shifted - usually for greedy dealer pricing. I did a deal to but a '63 refin off a guy only last week> We agreed at £6k & he sold it to someone else for £6.5k & couldn't bring himself to tell me, so I'm still looking.
Sell it to me! I'll buy it if it's in budget & a fair price. I wouldn't entertain a dealer personally - just a middleman taking a cut for the privilege of hanging it in his window.
Pics please.
Edited by Justin Cyder on Tuesday 22 January 18:53
I feel your pain as I have a couple of guitars I've been trying to sell for some tinme now, and they're not shifting! (And mine aren't even vintage!) Fortunately I have loads of other things I could sell if I ever become desperate for money.
I'd advise selling on eBay but insist you won't post it anywhere, and accept cash on collection only. It's true that selling direct to the next owner is miles better than to a dealer. And it's also true that anything not totally original will have a much harder time.
(Word of warning to anyone buying a guitar, new, vintage or whatever; if you plan on making ANY changes to it at all, keep the original parts. It might seem tempting to sell them to offset the price of the new goodies, but it then becomes impossible to restore it to original if it ever becomes neccessary.)
In the 70s, people modded Fenders all over the place, fitting fancy pickguards, carving the bodies out for humbuckers and locking trems, and stripping the bodies back to a natural finish. This helped inflate the values of those that remained untouched, but it also meant that the maltreated ones came back onto the market a few years later, having been extensively tarted up and offered as original. This makes sorting the wheat from the chaff a nightmare for potential buyers, and also explains why there are now more custom colour Strats and Teles than Fender ever made in the first place!
I'd advise selling on eBay but insist you won't post it anywhere, and accept cash on collection only. It's true that selling direct to the next owner is miles better than to a dealer. And it's also true that anything not totally original will have a much harder time.
(Word of warning to anyone buying a guitar, new, vintage or whatever; if you plan on making ANY changes to it at all, keep the original parts. It might seem tempting to sell them to offset the price of the new goodies, but it then becomes impossible to restore it to original if it ever becomes neccessary.)
In the 70s, people modded Fenders all over the place, fitting fancy pickguards, carving the bodies out for humbuckers and locking trems, and stripping the bodies back to a natural finish. This helped inflate the values of those that remained untouched, but it also meant that the maltreated ones came back onto the market a few years later, having been extensively tarted up and offered as original. This makes sorting the wheat from the chaff a nightmare for potential buyers, and also explains why there are now more custom colour Strats and Teles than Fender ever made in the first place!
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