Anyone know what a new Strat cost in 1954?

$249.50 plus $39.95 for the case.

The hardtail version was $229.50

Wow... Does anyone know what that is in 2010 dollars?

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

$249.50 US in 1954 = $1968.81 in 2009.

calculator doesn't adjust into this year.

Another calculator gave me this:

$249.50 in 1954 had about the same buying power as $2,002.95 in 2010.
http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Thanks.

Well that means about 2300.00 dollars with case. That makes a 1000.00 dollar American standard with case kind of a bargain,eh?
But then again if you buy the custom shops remake of the 50's strat with the same sort of case as they had in the fifties 2300.00 is still a pretty good price.

I suppose it does, yeah. From what I've heard the original ones were very high quality pieces. Never held one in my hands though and from what I've seen them going for I Ebay I probably never will.
Back then everything was made by hand which makes sense of the high cost. That and the fact that the electric guitar was still a new invention. I don't imagine everyone had them lying around their houses back then. No foriegn factories cranking out bazillions of them... They must have been a pretty unique item all together in the 50's and 60's.

I have been lucky to own a few and handle many Strats from about 1958 on. Some were great and some less so just like now. The main thing was the finish as far as being different to me. Great guitars then and now. Hey I even liked the CBS era Fender Guitars. Wish I had kept some of those oldies. Oh well,Hindsight is 20/20.

They were not made by hand years ago, they were massed produced the same way as they are today. That was the brilliance behind it all.

Sure, I know what your saying, but none the less, they didn't have CNC machines and the like. Manufacturing required more humans back then.

I think that's the most important, in the '50, the wood could come from trees having fews hundred years and they take time to dried it naturally.

Today it could be difficult to find those old trees .

Back in those days,1954,that was a lot of money...it was a lot of money in the 70s if you were making maybe $120 a week like I was with a kid or two!
I could have bought all the Strats and Les Pauls for under $300 that I could find,but couldn't afford to pay it....transportation was more important.

I've got a friend who has a 1954 Strat and case with all the hang tags and candy he bought new while he was in the Navy in Southern California. It still looks new. He never had too much time to play it, and by the time he got out of the Navy, it was kind of forgotton about and sat in the case until the late 70's when he showed it to me. He won't sell it. He knows what he has.

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

Some of the old one's I've played from the late 50'e to 65 or so were great some were dogs. Fender was very automated. Leo has lots of customized machinery at his plant. The guitars today are a bargain. The guitars are much more consistent today too. That's why I find it so amusing when people say this (fill in the blank) guitar is overpriced. My Strat in 1972 was $300. That was a lot of money back then. My fathers mortgage payment was $75 a month. My car payment in 1975 was $65 a month for 3 years on a new car, My father worked and my Mom stayed at home to take care of the house for 5 of us. My Father did it on less than $110 a week in the early 60's. That's pretty much the only frame of reference I can come up with.

Very interesting you consider the 70's git price compared to a 75.00 dollar mortgage and today the american standard is about 1000.00 and the average mortgage in the usa is about 1700.00. so by that alone todays fender is a bargain. The analogy would be the house is 1700.00 a month and the american standard is 6800.00.
this is of course apples to oranges but it does give an insight to ratios of cost inherent to inflation compared to the 1970's and before. I noted in an earlier post in this thread the analog to the strat cost with inflation. Todays strat is indeed a bargain compared to the earlier prices and we have greater access and more accessories as well.
The instrument market overall is very good
We can buy a classic vibe guitar for under 400.00 or a custom for several thousand and be quite happy either way.

As always its the music that matters.
Play on