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Post subject: Cheaper To Keep Her
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:55 pm
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With apologies to Johnnie Taylor :D .

I was going to respond to a post in the Stratocaster forum about the bridge cover/"ash tray" that used to be standard, because I found an old photo of my setup from 1978 featuring my '76 Strat with the cover on. That guitar was the first new Strat I ever bought. It sits next to my Mesa Boogie and old Vox stack. That Boogie is from the days when you had to pay cash up front before they built your amp to order, and you didn't receive it for 6-12 months! Mine took seven, and was hands down the best-sounding and most reliable amp I've ever owned.

Anyway, along with the photo I discovered the sales receipt for the Strat (plus an MXR Dyna Comp), which set me to wondering what I had paid for it in 2013 dollars! A hop over to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator yielded the following results:

Fender Stratocaster: $465.00 in April 1978 = $1,660.11 in April 2013!
Mesa Boogie: $1,280 in March 1978 = $4,998.19 in April 2013!!!
MXR Dyna Comp: $55.95 in April 1978 = $199.75 in April 2013 (not bad, actually, the current retail price of $69.99 is a big decrease in '78 dollars)

My point: I sold all my equipment seven years later for pretty much what I paid--I wasn't playing then, and I gave away the pedals and effects--but I should have moved heaven and earth to hang onto it! $1600 will buy you a nice American Deluxe Strat (and then some) right now, and I had pretty much dismissed the idea of replacing the old Boogie with a new Mark V until I realized I could get one for half what I paid for less capability back in '78! Look out summer! :P

My question is, even though musicians are among the biggest horse-traders when it comes to equipment, how many of you wish you had held on just a little tighter to some part of your setup or collection because replacing it today would be wildly expensive?

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How about that tuning fork? :D I didn't get an electronic tuner until 1980!

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The clerk wrote down the serial no. as his mom read it off to him, lol.
And only 6% sales tax in California! Those were the days...

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Post subject: Re: Cheaper To Keep Her
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:17 pm
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rudorama wrote:
And only 6% sales tax in California! Those were the days...


6%......!

Those really were the days.

What's that thieving clown in Sacramento demanding now, 11%? Twelve?

:shock:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Cheaper To Keep Her
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:54 am
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ya- I hear ya,, when I think back on what stuff cost back in those days..

this just put me in nostalgia shock over my first strat (sunburst / maple neck). (I think $180?)

I worked my arse of for it too.. I was about 14, you couldn't get a "real" job till you were at least 16.

But I managed to convince the sporting goods store where I used to get all my hockey gear to hire me.. I started out as helping them move to a new store, and then later stocking shelves and helping out with selling some gear (All under the table which would get that place shut down today). I also had a paper route.

I ordered the Strat @ the store I was taking lessons at. when it finally arrived, I was at least few weeks away from having enough..

The store owner assured me the money I had put down was enough to secure the guitar, and it wouldn't even be put up for display. I could barely stand the wait, I couldn't sleep at night, or concentrate on anything but that Strat..

So one afternoon, my dad gets home from work, walks in to my room, asks how much I need, told him I was 40 bucks away, he hands me two 20s, (that was a good hunk of cash in 72..) and says.. go get it! I picked it up the next day on the way home from the Jr. High we all went to.. I ran home with the case in tow..

Thanks for bringing that memory back..


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