I dont usually question why someone does something,but this is way over the top.What is really strange is for such an outrageous asking price , there are no current pics of the guitar or any mention of its present condition.So you want to set up a trust fund for your kids with it , but you dont care if you sell it or not? Kind of a conflicting statement ,especially for a guitar that isnt in your possession . If I were one of your kids, I know how this would make me feel.

Man,this has gotten interesting.
I can understand what Jim,the owner,is saying...in a way....since I am 4 years older than he is I have also owned and played and modded vintage Fender guitars in that time period and have been astonished and pissed at what the collectors or whomever have done to the prices of those same guitars.
That being said,if I owned one now and wanted to sell it I would get as much as I could for it,because "there's a sucker born every minute",and if they have that much money to burn,they can pass it along to me for a Strat that only 40 years ago was by many considered an inferior guitar to a Gibson Les Paul,and could be bought for $250 or less.
In the time since then the supply and demand for vintage Strats has sent the prices skyrocketing to a point that I would never buy one even if I had the money,I'll stick to my modern Strats,they are great instruments.
That doesn't mean I would go on eBay and try to sell it with a price tag of 5 million because that is over the top and look at what has happened.
I would set the price high and get as much as I could,after all this is America and that's the way it's done,like it or not and people like George Gruhn have become famous and probably wealthy doing just that.

Anyway....the world is supposed to end in 2012....and Strats won't be worth anything in a little over 2 years.

Hey Niki, I do not know to much about Fender's policies back in 1980, but that is when Jim told me he sent the neck in to be refretted and refinished. I really doubt that Fender would put on a brass nut too. So I bet this was done through a Fender dealership and one assumes it was sent to Fender?

Yeppers Mr. C., As far as I know, DiMarzio never made tuners, they make pickups. But i have seen people call Schallers and Sperzels all kinds of things, not really knowing better. I think Jim might have his names mixed up. Man, I stop and think back to 1982 and, well.....that was a long time ago. If a guy gets hot in the head by a tree and put's him in that kind of a situation, one might get the names and facts a bot mixed up!

I just want to see picts of this guitar. I hope he can get his "lazy" son to go get it. (I told him I have one of those "sons" too!)

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Weapon X, all very valid points mate, very valid.

However how many times do we see similar sales all over the internet. A overload of information which is actually misinformation clouded with a story to cover a load of what could politely be called incorrect truth's.

Here's a decent parody.

Ebay Listing

About the seller

Take a look at his homepage!


I really won't lose any sleep over this, and I'm sure Jim won't lose any sleep over my opinion. Why should he care what some guy 10,000 miles away thinks. Infact as I stated before I hope he does make a mint off the guitar. Anyone who buys it for $5mil doesn't deserve the money.

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Yeah, I kinda presumed that would be it.

But I couldn't be certain there never had been a time when DiMarzio had a go at making machineheads - so I wasn't going to stick my neck out on it! After all, Planet Waves also make tuners, so...

A fella's allowed to misspeak and say tuners when he means pickups. No problem with that.

Cheers - C

Niki

Although this thread is harmlessly silly...5 Million Dollars... I thought that was pretty funny, but your ebay link is one of the greatest I have ever seen. I had tears of laughter in my eyes reading it....this is a must see for any guitarist...it just gets funnier and funnier as you read along. Excellent stuff.

As far as the 5 Mil Strat goes...if Buddy Holly himself gave this guitar to Jimi Hendrix, he played it at Woodstock, then gave it to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie then passed it on to Clapton who then sent Shania Twain NAKED to deliver it to me, and I was a zillionaire, there is not even a remote chance on earth that I would pay 5 Mil for it.

Vintage guitars and the super silly dollars that they command is a joke and a giant scam. I'm not talking about stuff like Clapton guitars auctioned at Cristie's where the money goes to the Crossroads Centre...this I support 100%. The rest of the "Vintage Guitar" world is giant BS.

Thanks again Niki for the link...it really was superb mate

Not even if it had Shanias DNA all up and down the neck.

JRomanov dont get me wrong, I didn't construct that page. I just found it yonks ago, it's kept resurging to the fore of my mind ever since! Kind of like malaria.

Look at it, although it's a exaggeration it's a typical example of a rip off internet advert for something. A whole story loosely based around the sale of a instrument. With completely unvalidated proof to back claims up of the items validity. All woven together to throw you off scent or divert enough of your brain power to stop you seeing the con.

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Pretty ripping funny, Niki....LOL Someone put some time and work into that........

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

If Shania delivered it naked....I would have to rob a bank.

Well it took me long enough to get my son to bring her out to me to photograph her... Father's Day, first time I've seen her in 28 years... Thanks to some of your comments about me, being a liar, faking old photos, asking a ridiculous price, I've finally named her...
The Holy Grail.......
I was wrong about the tuners as someone pointed out, they are German made Schaller tuners.... I must have been thinking about the pick-ups I wanted to put in her.... I never lied about anything, answered every email I received about her and never tried to hide my identity... I do have the white back plate and tremolo bar in one of my other instrument cases...

Jim

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For Those About To Rock, I Salute You......
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Nice pics. Looks like someone added a string tree. Only one would have been correct for a 57. Looking at your photo, is looks like the original (more worn) one, is in the non-standard position, and a new one, is where the original single one would be. Very pretty guitar.

Very cool....brass nut just like you said.....sure would like to see under the hood! Thanks for posting these....

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

So if it sold for $5mil how did you get it photgraphed yesterday Jim.

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If you want someone to bite on this guitar, you will have to crack it open. You need to show the serial numbers on the potentiometers (pots) which all should be 304 7XX (XX depending on the week they were made..01-52), and the body date located under the trem claw, and/or in the middle pickup cavity under the pickguard. (This is a minimum) No one will entertain a bid without that level of authentication. The schallers, the filled holes in the headstock, and the nut detract from the value to a collector, of which I am one. I have recently purchased a full original 57 in 8.5 condition. As the market is down, a fully original, fully documented 57 in 8.5 condition is currently a $35-40K guitar. Regrettably, sentimentality doesn't usually translate to the collector, who only compares price to what's out there. I wish you the very best of luck!