What makes it vintage with a huge price tag?I have been looking around at older models and the prices are all over the map.What makes one more desireable then another?I just got the stratocaster guitar book by Tony Bacon.It tells the history of Fender and lists all the models and there specs.It's a great resource.I saw a few things I like in there and then looked them up online.Some of the 70's,80's and 90's stuff and even some of the more current models are affordable.Others are way out of reach.Can anybody tell me why?

"Mojo".

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Haha well aside from the obvious "mojo", I say the prices are all over the place because of things like condition and year.

The thing with condition use to be that if I guitar was worn out looking and had chips and cracks and dents, it would be lower in value. But since the popularity or relics has increased, vintage, REAL relic guitars have increased in value.

For year, anything pre-CBS is worth a lot because those are 100% true Fender build and spirit.

Like stated by the others, year and condition mean alot.....being all original means everything! All original and pre-cbs is gold! Are any guitars worth the astronomical prices? That's for you to decide. I like the feel of many older guitars, and the people building these old guitars were real craftsmen! Now days, machines do most of the work. When buying a vintage Fender, you buy it for mojo, as an investment, as a piece of music and American history. You don't buy a 1954 Stratocaster in excellent condition because you want to play it every day. That's what's really sad.

I've often wondered with myself. Before the age of the "Vintage guitar" collecting began, the 80's I think (do not quote me on this), used Fender guitars were, "used." They weren't worth anything more than what you would find in a pawn shop.

Here's what raises the price:
1. Back when Fender started they weren't churning them out like they are today. All early vintage Fender guitars are rare.
2. Paint: Custom colors are rear compared to the sunburst guitars.
3. Was the guitar made after the CBS buy out? Even though there's no difference between the day before and day after the sale, many people are very picky about it.
4. A guitar with original parts and no modifications is much more desired.
5. The number one reason for the prices? Collectors.
There are other reasons, but everything is very subjective.

Mojo certainly, but it's also about supply and demand fairly obviously.

The older they are, the harder they are to find. That makes them more rare and consequently more expensive. It's a numbers game. In 1957, Fender made x number of Strats. But with modern production methods, you can bet that figure is dwarfed by the Strat production total for 2010.

Sadly, many collectors are only interested in the dollar value of their potential investments. They'll be much less interested in how it plays and sounds, unlike the ordinary Joe who wants to own one but is completely priced out of the market.

Wonder how many vintage Strats are holed up in vaults somewhere? Very sad..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Not all of them are holed up in vaults.
I have several and I play them, but only at home. Why take the risk to gig with a 50 year old guitar still in pristine condition ?
A real player doesn't care about the overall condition of the guitar as long as it's almost genuine (a replacement tuner or a knob doesn't affect the sound of the guitar); what attracts him is the sound.
True to say that many collectors decide on the global condition and 100% genuiness of the guitar; the older, the rarer, the better.
But don't forget that without collectors such guitars would be disappeared icons.

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http://www.guitarmotel.com

I started out playing at the end of the 70s; there was already a bit of a "vintage guitar" market at that time. It seems like it really did start in the mid-70s; while some artists used (and frankly trashed through) the current production guitars - yes, I'm talking to you Mr. Blackmore smashing up 70s Strats and you, Mr. Townshend, destroying those Les Paul Deluxes. However, others were snapping up the pre-CBS Fenders and the original Les Pauls. The really rare items (again, Les Pauls, dot-marked ES guitars, Fenders particularly in custom colors) were already commanding relatively high prices by 1977 - at that time it was driven by both players noticing the old ones were better made than the new ones and by those who never could afford an instrument now being able to purchase the one they always wanted.

It does seem like the whole collector side of things really exploded in the 1980s; leading us to where we are now - those 1970s guitars that were perceived as "inferior" and drove players to want the older guitars are now considered to be "vintage" guitars themselves.

"those 1970s guitars that were perceived as "inferior" and drove players to want the older guitars are now considered to be "vintage" guitars themselves."
Poorman's vintage in a way.
But nothing detrimental to the guitars themselves, some are fine instruments, simply they were made during a doomed period (for all builders)

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http://www.guitarmotel.com

It is all supply and demand..
Finding an all original 1950's up to 1960's Strat is difficult.
Alain's collection is exquisite, I enjoy each visit to the Motel.

I believe that there is now and has been for a long time two very separate markets when dealing with musical instruments and their respective lineage.

One is the Collectors market, which is comprised of a small number of musicians, this market is about the particular item and it's intrisic value.
Musical is second, an all original 56, 57 sunburst strat is going to command very high prices.
There were quite a few built, but not many have traveled thru time unmolested
Finding one today means a bidding war...
It has priced itself out of circulation because of it's age and limited availability, it is also not feasible to bring out and gig on a nightly basis. The entire guitar is irreplaceable if damage or worse theft occurs.

The other is the Musician's market, of which I belong since vintage era is not within my resources. So original Vintage are priced out of my range but....Custom Shop reissues are not.
I have found the 56 Stratocaster NOS sunburst Time Machine to be the best alternative to the real McCoy. It gets brought out to gigs and even though I'm a little anxious ( as I'm always for any guitar brought out in public ) it is really an amazing recreation.
were I looking for say a 60's era Strat, the Custom Shop reissues would be my 1st inquiry.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Agreed - that's why I said "perceived as 'inferior'"; they had their own sound and feel from the old ones. There are great guitars and dogs from all eras from all manufacturers. Plus I feel there is irony that the guitars that really jump-started the "vintage" craze (i.e. the differences between say a '57 and a '77 Strat) are now "vintage" themselves.

Custom Shop re-ssues. Lovely. Never tried one that I didn't like. More supply and demand of course.. You want a vintage strat but haven't got £25,000? Fender will make you one for a 10th of the price..

Not complaining, it's a commercial company doing good by itself and by the customer. A very welcome flavour of the real thing for a modest premium. A fair deal.

I'm certainly not down on all collectors, and I'm grateful to people like alainlafrance for letting us enjoy his superb collection, if only vicariously. Merci monsieur!

Here's my last thought on "vault" guitars. As musical instruments they fail the first test: you can't play 'em.. So what is an unplayable instrument worth? Nothing of course!

Liberate them! Let them out, blinking in the sunlight once more and put them in the hands of perfomers and recording artists so we can all enjoy them! Let the "investment opportunity" types go and collect statues or something..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Vintage: Has to be old/discontinued.
Huge Price Tag: That means there's people willing to shell out the wazoo for it. For what specific reason I don't know, it's not like they don't make them like they used to (Isn't that what the CS does?) Perhaps it's because the wood was better then, or the wood has "breathed" for 50 years, or after 25 or so years the vintage fairy comes and sprinkles tone dust on the pickups. I think the only viable reasons for their value are that Pre-CBS instruments were made when Leo Fender was in charge and old CBS instruments were used by the likes of Hendrix/Blackmore/etc... Doesn't mean they're necessarily better instruments, just means they have some perceived historical significance which is a scent the collectors/museums/professionals and especially FMIC love.

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Just wish to point that several collections are merged on that site as we wished to make some kind of reference for what we thought to be the epitome of guitar crafting in the 20th and 21th Century.
The assumption of a collection is that it's never complete.
We're still not halfway...

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http://www.guitarmotel.com

Remember it was around 1970 that Clapton bought all those '50/'60s Strats in Nashville for a couple of hundred dollars apiece,that's where "Blackie" came from....I remember well into the mid '70s here buying a sales paper with listings by the dozens for Strats in the $200/300 range and Les Pauls were a little higher....you could just take your pick,then wham bam thank you m'am,they were higher than a cat's back....go figure.
I guess here in the Musical City,there was an abundance of used Fenders and Gibsons,and Gruhn got into a big business from selling lots of Martins,early on.