I have two Fender Stratocasters and am looking to sell one. I am not advertising a guitar for sale here. I am looking for some feedback on the color and any suggestions anyone has.

I do not want to sell this guitar as it is nearly flawless and has a great tone, but have little choice. I purchased this guitar in the summer of 1988. It was most likely the summer of 1988, or 1989 at the latest. The guitar serial number is E805xxx which was made in either 1988 or 1989. I purchased the guitar from an elderly couple who won it in a contest. At the time, they told me it was a limited edition color. I showed it to someone a few years ago and he said he had never seen one that color. Which is odd, because it is a basic green.

I paid $400 for the guitar which was almost half of what they were selling for new at the time. So, I got a good deal. The guitar is pretty much in mint condition as I use my other Strat as my daily player. I am curious as to the color, if it is common or not. And I am also curious as to what it may be worth.

Any feedback will be appreciated. Picture:



Thanks.

I changed the post subject title to put the type of guitar in it.

Thank you!!! That has to be what it is. I did not mention it in my original post because I didn't want to give away too much info, but it was won as part of a liquor promotion. You have solved my mystery. When the seller said it was a limited edition, I thought they were fibbing. I didn't care, because it was a good price at $400. It turns out they were right.

The guitar is in mint condition. The guitar has an excellent tone. Much better than my other Strat. It's a beautiful sounding guitar.

I did a Google search and did see that the guitars are selling. However, the sales prices are not listed. I may just hold onto it and try and sell something else. I debated starting to play it many times over the years because it is a wonderful sounding instrument. But, I never did.

Thanks a lot for helping me with your knowledge.

Thanks for all your help.

This tell about these Strats and has a good picts to boot:

http://www.sheltonsguitars.com/2008/1-22-08/fender-strat-tanquery-tonic-1988-1-22-08.html

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That's what I've got. Thanks for the link. It's a shame that nobody lists the sale price anywhere.

Well, I'm only taking a guess here but that page with the Strat on it says at the end "A new American Strat will cost you 949.00. Wouldn't you rather have something rare?" or something to that effect. That leads me to believe the one that was for sale on that page was around that price. Why mention 950 bucks if the green one would cost 1500? Just the way it was worded.

MULLY

There was one listed on Craigslist 2 months ago for $800.00.

http://www.iclassifieds.com/forsale/mus ... green.html

That one has been modified. It was set up for a lefty and holes were drilled and filled in. Modifying any type of collectible is going to diminish the value.

Personally, I think if in really nice condition and clean it should be worth around $1100 to $1200, the same as a nice EC or Beck Strat, just because it is a very limited edition. Yet it depends how much a person what's it too.

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Back in 2004 there was a limited edition of 50 Eric Clapton goldleaf Strats made for Guitar Centre and they now have a value of up to $5,500, granted the gold leaf would increase the value but where yours was such a limited run and colour it could be worth much more than other Custom Shop guitars from the '89 era.That's just my guess,even though the Jaguar Motorcars limited edition was much more elaborate in its inlays etc. that's worth $18,000 + these days.If it was mine I wouldn't take a penny under $3,000 and if I had the money I would gladly take it off your hands for that price.I hope that you can find a more concrete estimate than I can give you.You could always contact George Gruhn and for $50 he'd be able to give you a dead on estimate and it could be the best investment of $50 you ever made. www.gruhn.com BTW he'd need lots of pix,serial No. etc. Good Luck I hope you find a very loving home for the little beauty.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

There ya go, someone said they'd be willing to pay 3 grand for it if they had the money. Basically it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay. But, since this person doesn't have 3 grand to give you for it I don't think putting a 3 thousand dollar price tag on it would get you very far. Someone else was mentioning 12-1500. That sounds about fair to me. I mean although it is limited it's not like it's a Harley Davidson strat. Not to mention that you don't have the original case, paperwork etc... and no real way to prove that it's one of these liquor promotion jobs. For what it's worth, I have zero stake in this so I'm not trying to get you to give a price for me. Just tossing out my opinion on this.

Also, the guy that said it was worth 3 grand, guitslinger, also mentioned contacting Gruhn and getting an estimate. That's not a bad idea.
MULLY
wondering if he'd still be willing to pay 3 grand if Gruhn says it's only worth 15.

Hi There.

I will just put this out there for you to think about.

It is a 1988/89 strat, not a signature model, no artist, it was made as a give away for a booze company.
Other then the color (which I think is stunning BTW) it is a just a run of the mill American strat.

As to price, well it is at least worth what a American strat is worth, but you know that.
Is there a collector that would pay more for it? Well, there are people that collect anything and everything........it just finding them that is what will take some effort.

If it were selling it, I would start with contacting Fender customer service and see if by serial number they can send you a letter stating it is what we think it is, one of the 100 special guitars and not one that was painted to look like one. (I have no doubt it is what you say it is) There are many fakes and frauds out there, so you need to prove to a seller.
Next, I would contact a auction house that does Musical instruments and get a solid appraisal to what they feel they could get at auction.
If you do this, and the house feels they can get a good price for it, i would then contract them to sell it. Yes, It cost more to sell it this way, but they know who to call and whom to advertise it too get the maximum out of it.
If you get a couple of collectors into a bidding war, well it could get interesting.

I don't want to get your hopes up tho, I look at it as a tool to be played, not an investment.......but that is just me, others in the world may have a different opinion as it what it's worth.

Good luck.

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Marriage is like playing cards...

At first all you want are Hearts and Diamonds.

But in the end, all you really want is a Club and a Spade.

GT the new 2011 Vintage Guitar Guide page 78 bottom right lists the price beween $750 and $925 US dollars in excellent condition. Hope this helps.

There ya go. I think with a blue book value like that it wouldn't be out of hand to ask a grand or a little more for it. I don't think something like that is a super collectible item.
MULLY

If anybody ever has the chance to buy a guitar from a limited production run of only 50 for $5,500, do it. I would have to think that one of those 50 guitars would be worth much more than $5,500. Got a link to a price? I am no Eric Clapton fan. Yes, he's a great guitar player. I don't think his songs are very good. Even though I don't care for Clapton's music, even I would buy one of those signature series guitars for $5,500 (if I had the money to spare). There is only one way that price is going, and that is up.



I thought I read somewhere that Gruhn sold one like mine about 5.5 years ago. Rumors are what they are.



The guitar did not come in a case. It came in a triangular cardboard box with no printing on the box. It was a plain, light brown cardboard box which I have long since discarded. A plain cardboard box isn't going to be of any value, anyway. Otherwise, I would have kept it. There was no paperwork with it, either. I don't remember if I got a bill of sale from the original seller. If I did, I would still have it somewhere as I keep that stuff forever. I am sure the seller, who was well into his late 60s or early 70s then, is deceased by now.

I think the serial number and the color would be enough to prove it is what it is. I am sure a skilled guitar collector would know it is legitimate.

A little more info from here confirming what I have said:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... 018#177018



I don't think being a "signature model" necessarily makes a guitar of special importance. Especially if there are 10,000 of them floating around.

What makes a collectible of value is a strong interest in it (remember the Beanie Baby craze?) or a very small number in existence (or both factors). It is a standard American Strat, yes. But it was specially-made by Fender for a specific purpose. These Tanqueray guitars were not sold in stores. You couldn't get one. They weren't for sale to the general public at Guitar Center. The only way to acquire one was to win it in the contest or buy it from a winner, which is how I got mine. The color of the guitar was tied to the promotion (corresponding to the color of the bottle of gin, or so I have read) and as far as I know, was not made prior to or since.

100 of these guitars were given away as part of the promotion. If we assume a few guitars were manufactured as extras for the CEO of the liquor company, his kid, and maybe a few extra in case one gets damaged, there are not a whole lot of these guitars out there. As far as these guitars in good condition, how many could there be out there? 25? The ones that I saw being sold were a little beat-up.

It is a limited-edition production run, for whatever that may be worth. To you, maybe it is worth nothing. To a collector, who knows.

As for an interest, how many of you were even aware that these guitars were out there? Before I made my first post here yesterday, I had no idea about this guitar other than what the seller told me, that it was a "limited-edition", and even then I didn't think too much of it back in 1988.

It's hard to gauge an interest in something and determine a market for it when nobody knows it exists.



True. Things are worth different amounts to different people.



How much would that cost? Fender isn't going to help me for free, I don't imagine. That is a good idea, to get a letter of authenticity (of sorts) from the factory. Plus, it would give me an idea of how many were produced as part of the run.



Yesterday, I didn't know much about it. The seller told me in 1988 it was a limited-edition. I don't think that old guy spent a lot of time faking a "limited-edition" and selling it for only $400. My father went with me when I bought it, along with two friends. I spoke to my father about it today. He remembered going to buy the guitar. He remembered something I didn't remember initially. That there was someone there looking at the guitar just before we arrived and he passed on it.




I look at guitars as tools to be played, too. But they can be investments. There are plenty of guitars from large production runs that can be played. If I had anything rare, I would not play it at all.



OK, thanks for the tip. To be honest, I've never placed too much confidence in blue book values for anything. To get a better idea, I would need to know at how many have sold in the past few years and in what condition. In excellent condition, you might as well just play the guitar if it is worth only $750. New American Strats are selling for about $1,000. You couldn't even replace it with a new one for only $750.



The guitar did not come with a case or anything. Just the guitar in a plain cardboard box. That's how the winner got it and the person who discusses winning one on this board (I linked to his post). Yes, it would be cool to have some of the promotional materials for the contest. Where would I find any? I can check eBay. Other than that, I don't know.

I would imagine there to have been at least some sort of cardboard counter top display to house the entry slips that would include a picture of the guitar to be won. I am sure such a marketing display would have been displayed in thousands of liquor stores. And I would imagine that those liquor stores threw the displays in the trash after the promotion was done.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I think I may just hold on to the guitar for a few more years. I've had it for 22 years already, a few more isn't going to hurt. Maybe I'll put up a page on Blogspot with a little information about the guitar to raise awareness about them.

I really enjoyed learning about this guitar. If I had the time and money, I think it would be fun to become a collector. A little sleuthing to hunt down vintage guitars (you know they are out there), buy them, resell them for a profit, and repeat. Yeah, that would be a cool way to make a living.

Fenders are great guitars. I have enjoyed discussing mine with you. Thanks.