I've seen some dealers (e.g. Musicians Friend) have a 21% upcharge on the lefty USA 62ri strat.

However, Fender's MSRP has no such upcharge.

Is the MSRP on www.fender.com correct?

Thanks,

It is a supply an demand thing.
If Musicians Friend are selling it under MSRP then all you can do is ask for it cheaper or buy elsewhere.

Think of it not as an "upcharge" but less discount on the MSRP as that is all it really is.

I think I understand about markets, but thanks

What I'm trying to figure out is who - Fender or the dealers - decided all of a sudden to jack up the prices.



Actually, I think of it as extortion. But I'm trying to figure out who's the extortionist.

Cheers,

We'll I'll try to clear it up..

Fender sets an MSRP as a guide to the public and the retailer.
A guitar retailer sees a demand to sell 500 right handed strats.
Fender deals with them and they end up paying a cost price of $700 per unit.
They see a demand to also sell 50 left handed strats.
Fender deals with them and they pay a cost price of $800 per unit.
Lefts end up more expensive to buy due to less volume ordered (regardless of the cost to build).
Fender may also tell them there is an absolute minimum they can sell their guitars for. Say cost + 20% or $840 is the rock bottom.
The retailer looks at the price they brought the left handed strats for and can see they will only make $40 on them so they mark up the price to make adequate profit and cover expenses.
There is also other factors to consider such as slower selling models cost more to store and less competition on certain models.

Who is to blame?

Fender is not to blame as it must offer volume discounts to create bigger sales and shift more product.
The guitar retailer? Well they are the man in the middle and are just selling the guitar to make a bit of profit. Surely they cannot take a loss or a marginal profit every time they sell the item. They would go out of business.

Then there is the consumer who has the option to play on a left handed guitar or a right handed guitar.
It therefore must be the left handed guitarists fault for making them more expensive in the first place!

See simple when you understand economics.