A friend who buys & sells guitars all the time told me of a Fender Stratocaster in a pawn shop for $125.00. He said it was American made, good condition, & Black & White). I am going to look at it tomorrow. So what do I look for in it to keep from being burnt? Should I be able to hook it up to a amp & play it? If it doesn't come with the OHSC, does that matter? I want to be able to know what I am looking at, as to if it is a good deal.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

Well, first of all, make sure it doesn't suck. Unless you're prepared to do a healthy setup on it. And yes, you should be able to hook it up to an amp. But let the owner know that you have intents on buying that instrument, he will be much nicer. Give us the S/N if you can, to verify it. Even if it isn't American if it is for $125 and it plays and looks great, I'd jump on it. RIGHT AWAY.


-The Screamin' J

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CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

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Well, most of the pawn shops around me put the American made strats on Ebay. Only thing you find in the shops are usually squiers.

$125 is a great price though. I wouldn't expect a case for that much. They'll usually have generic cases for like $30. It would be nice if they let you take the neck off and maybe the pick guard off, just to see if it was built from parts, but I don't think they'll let you do that.

I doubt it. I guess someone could mess up but it is a one in a million shot. The internet and ebay have screwed the chances of finding a blown away good deal. I have looked in pawn shops here in Texas for three years and have seen a few amps that have been undervalued (a little) but nothing else.

You used to have an advantage if you knew insruments, but now a hack clerk in a pawn shop can go on line and find out the value of most anything.

Once I found a Peavey T-60 in a pawn shop for $100, so I got it. But other than that I have yet to find another good (or even fair) deal. But if it's a real Fender, MIM or MIA, for $125 than jump on it!

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No what you are looking at and be willing to walk out without it. Most pawn guys no what they can get and hope that you will offer more then that price so never make e relistic offer first. Cat and mouse they do it every day.

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Yeah craigslist is the way to go now, I got a MIM sunburst standard strat for $125 on Saturday. Pretty good price.

Still have to make sure you know what you're getting though, especially if it's supposed to be a higher end guitar.

I'm not going to go into how to tell if it's a real Strat - we'd be here forever and there'd still be experts piping up with new tests to do.

What I will say is common to all potential guitar purchases - esp 2nd hand. Check the instrument very carefully for missing screws or even bits of hardware. The neck is absolutely fundamental, so make sure you sight along it - you're looking for a hump on the fretboard or even signs of the neck having twisted to the left or right. Check that the pickups work and are 'in phase' with each other. Look for cracks, dinks and any evidence of repair work.

Ask about previous owners and how the shop acquired the guitar in the first place. It's impossible to completely guard against buying someone's (stolen) pride and joy, but it's always worth asking some questions.

Finally, ask yourself - "if this guitar turned out to be a fake, would I still be happy with it as the instrument it is rather than what it might pretend to be?" If you can say yes to that, then reach for your wallet..

I went & looked at it. My friend apparently didn't look at the headstock to closely. It was a "Starcaster" for $150.00. So much for that. I guess we all dream of going into a pawn shop & finding a great deal.
Thanks for all your responses.

That's a bummer. At least you now have something to relentlessly tease your friend about.

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I have a friend that drives a tow truck and is one of the best drivers in NY. He is very much into music and wanted me to teach him how to play. So he would come over and we would have a good time as he is one of the funniest guys you will meet. Well since he drives all over the place he would stop at every pawn shop in the worst places in Bklyn that the cops dont even like to be in .One day he comes back with a triple humbucker Les Paul and another a beautiful custom shop strat that till this day is the best guitar I ever heard that he found for $500. I had to go away for two years on buisness and while I was away my wife said he came buy and wanted to borrow a tele so I told her give it to him but he wanted my 62 and I said no one gets that give him the blonde one. Well when I got back I found out he fell into a bad crack problem and I kept asking him for the tele till one day I had to drag him out and say where is it. So off to the pawnshop we go where it cost me $250 to get my guitar and we took out his custom strat which I was going to take to hold. Anyway the strat is gone and my other friend lent him $1,300 and held the Paul for 2 years and finaly sold it for 3 grand.This all started 8 years ago and he is only alive by fate as we physicaly dragged him to rehab twice he left his wife and four kids and is a mess today. The bottom line is there are still some pawnshop surprises and how can a guy who was never into drugs destroy his life at 33.

I have found numerous good deals at my local pawn shop. I have shown quite a few of them on this forum. The thing is, if you can patronize the local pawn broker often, they may give you some good deals. ANY business likes repeat customers.
It is true that the days of the $500 Les Paul are gone. But still, If you look you can find MIM/MIJ Strats for $100-300, if that is what you like.