Given the specs sheet above noting the words 'discontinued' you should verify this with mroberts@fender.com. Sometimes the company carries over material on their website even after being discontinued. They did that with the Custom Shop/Masterbuilt Clapton specs some years ago, and recently with , the Mayer Blk 1 causing great confusion. If you look closely on the link you provided, there's no price adjacent to the CAR option. Stupid, if you ask me, but there are reasons for everything they do, like it or not.

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Why does this cost less than a regular AVRI 57? $2199 msrp, compared to $2399. It's selling for about $100 cheaper, too.

Is the FSR worth less, or not as sought after?

Ask the vendor these questions.

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Sweetwater, Musicians Friend, have the CAR AVRI 57 for $1599. The regular AVRI 57 is $1699. They had no explanation for the price difference. Same guitar, just a limited run being closed out.

But, that seems odd to me. Are FSR's not worth as much as standard runs?

You first posted about these back in December - do you remember what the list price and MAP price was for all AV '57s back then? I'll admit I wasn't researching these, but it seems to me that the list price for all solid color AV '57s was $2,199 and the MAP was $1,599 and had been for a year or two.

Sounds like Fender has had a recent (post-NAMM) price increase that pushed the MSRP of AV '57s up to $2,399 and the MAP up to $1,699. When a dealer like MF or Sweetwater gets a price increase update they load it into their system by some kind of model number (if you've ever worked in retail this is often called an "SKU" number). Since the FSR models were limited run and discontinued once that run was over, their specific model number would not have been included in the system update so they would remain at the 2011 price while all other colors were updated to the new 2012 price.

So no, the FSRs aren't worth less; these e-commerce sites are just charging you more for the other colors they had in stock before the price increase because their system has now been updated to reflect the price of new ones coming in the door. They really should sell you say a black one that had been in stock since the same time they received the candy apple red ones for the same price as the candy apple red ones.

John - that makes sense. Thanks.

John...I know for a fact that the price increases are also reflected on older stock in retail stores. I've seen customers sold this gear. Only the sophisticated know how to look at serial numbers and neck dates when shopping guitars. A parent shopping for a child's first guitar is at the mercy of the sales staff. Anything on the wall that long is IMHO dated and used gear and should be priced accordingly

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I agree - a lot of retail stores just automatically increase the price on "new old stock" guitars when a manufacturer has a price increase. However I have a few dealers whom I've done quite a bit of business with who will basically keep the price of say a "new in the stockroom" 2010 guitar at their 2010 street price and not increase it to the "new factory shipment" 2012 price.

As far as I'm concerned as long as the guitar has the full new purchase warranty then it is still a new guitar, but when the dealer ups the price then that is just extra cash in their pockets. Of course if a guitar has been hanging around long enough then they should just cut the price and blow it out to make room for something else.

The exception to this is Rickenbacker - for those unaware the "new guitar warranty" on a Ric starts the day it is shipped out to the dealer, not the day the original buyer purchases it from the dealer. Of course nothing is like a Ric, but to me that is a sucky business model and if the guitar hangs around more than a couple of month they should be discounted as used guitars since their warranty is running out.

In the automobile business, 'new' constitutes unsold, unregistered, and generally not driven over a certain number of miles. The weekend 'headbanger' balls which every one of us has witnessed turn these 'new' guitars into 'used' guitars in short order. Every guitar hanging on the wall generally has mileage. Automobile dealer vehicles of that ilk are sold as 'demonstrators' at reduced price and their warranties remain in effect and are based upon mileage. If a guitar fresh out of the case does not sound or feel as good as one on the wall of the same model, I usually negotiate for at least another 10% off for wear and tear.

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