Does anyone know what the original list price was for a 1983 Elite Strat, Vintage White, Maple neck, w/tremolo?

How about an estimate of current value, one owner (me), near-mint condition (2 or 3 very tiny paint nicks, back and edge.)?

One went on eBay last week, the auction only went to £650 gbp.

There's a shop in Switzerland selling one for 2000 USD.

http://www.ricardo.ch/kaufen/musik-und- ... 669191486/

Cheers

David

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Thanks guys, that's good to know.

How about the original price back in '83, I can't believe my parents spent more than $200 -$250 at most. I'd love to know how much it's value has increased over the past 30 years. I've never owned anything that has gained value. Most things I've touched have plummeted in value the second I walked out of the store with them.

I bought a candy apple green one about 1984, I paid £600gbp then, it was the top of the range at the time, I remember it weighed a ton and I had major problems with the tremolo.

For an Elite back then your parents certainly spent more that $250. I seem to recall these listing for something like $900-$1,000 back then and selling for around $700 street. I could be remembering wrong; they could have been more expensive than that back then.

Thank you guys for replying

^wilbarreid - The exchange rate back in 1983 would put you're price at about $400 US, that fits with my estimate pretty well, seeing as it would have been an American import for you.

^John C - No offense, but you must be way off. First of all, there is no way my parents would have spent that much on me. I could barely play and we just didn't have that kind of money to throw around. Plus, that would mean that my guitar has actually gone down in value, if you account for inflation and that doesn't seem very likely, given how rare it apparently is.

Do any of you know where I could find an old price list? Other than emailing Fender, which I have, I can't think of another source.

Maybe we're not talking about the same thing - in 1983 the Fender Elite series was the "co-top-of-the-line" along with the Vintage Reissue models. The Elites had an active mid-boost circuit and 3 pushbuttons to select the pickups. Here is a photo of one from Stratcollector.com:



And here is something I just found that talks about the Elites and also has the 1983 prices listed on it at the bottom that shows the Elites listing for $995 (the "Gold Elite" with gold hardware was $100 more and the "Walnut Elite" with a walnut body and neck and gold hardware was even more):

http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/dreimer/elite.htm

I couldn't turn up a 1983 Fender price list, but I can tell you that those prices seem correct by my best recollection (I was 21 in 1983).

You had asked what they would have sold for in 1983, that would have been about $700-$800 given you could usually get between 20% to 30% off list back then. Of course these are really rare now and go for the prices the others posted currently.

If your parents got one of those for $250 in 1983 then that was a real steal.

EDIT: By the way guitars don't really keep up with inflation - some of them really take off and become collectors items, others do not. I have the guitar my parents got me in 1979; it's a Fender Lead II. I have the original reciept and it was like $325. They are worth about $700-$800 in the current market; and they just leaped up from say $500 only 12-18 months ago. However, based on inflation calcultators that same $325 would be worth just over $1,000 today.

In July 1983:

Std tremolo M/N $650.00
Std non-tremolo M/N $585.00
Vintage $995.00
Elite $995.00
Gold Elite $1155.00
Walnut Elite $1295.00
(case included in price, specific price for LH models, special custom finishes +$75/+$100)

EDIT: John was faster than me

Cheers,
Robin

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^John C - That is my guitar, only vintage white and a maple neck. I would post a picture but I can't figure out how.

I guess my mother is an even better shopper than I thought, because I just got off the phone with her and she said paid no more than $250. She's sure she never gave me or my brother any gift over $300 dollars for any birthday or christmas, ever, and it was brand new.

I really appreciate your looking into this, and I'm sure your numbers are accurate. Now I'm curious how the hell my mom pulled it off.