I recently was going to purchase a 2006 MIM strat for 400 bucks and I started a post somewhere and many responded and said the guy was asking way too much for a guitar
that was modded with 2 SD hotrails and a fretboard job and road runner hard case.

I decided to try my luck on ebay, not to just buy a guitar, but to see how much a
body and neck and parts were so I could just build my own.

I found one nice body for 149 shipped (had all the pups and electronics) and another for
202 shipped ( all HSS mim ) and then I started looking at necks and 99 bucks without any hardware and 140 or so with pegs. I wanted a MIM medium jumbo frets. IF I bought the
plain ones and put my own fender tuners, the price still comes up to 333

The guy who had the entire guitar for 400 with case seems nicer then the above deal
and so I know I have to just keep looking. DO you think that people on EBAY are just charging way too much for a body ????? If I could buy a body for 100 and then a neck for one hundred, and then a case for one hundred, that is still 300 bucks !!

I appreciate knowing the thoughts of others as many of you have been doing this
stuff for years and Im just a newbie with a lot to learn.

I have a MIA 2010 strat and a 2006 MIM strat and I love them to death !!! ( ok, not really, Im just very fond of them as they are just inanimate objects and do not deserve to be loved, but what can I say or do that hasnt been said or done )

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae16 ... rStrat.jpg
the above picture is what I did to my MIM strat to make it sound different from
my SSS American strat. I like the sounds that come out of it !!!

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae16 ... AC15C2.jpg
I traded in my mesa boogie setup and lost 650 bucks, but I did not like the
sound. The new VOX is nice, but I think I jumped to quick in selling the mesa boogie.

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae16 ... gether.jpg
I bought the MB because it was Made in the USA and I wanted to put Americans
to work, but I ended up not likeing the sound. I overbought for just home use.

http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae16 ... ay2009.jpg
I sold a lot of telescope and computer stuff I was not using and I bought a new
2012 Gibson. Its my very first Gibson, and the frets sure suck compared to my two
medium jumbo strats. Im going to have to have a luthier do something with them.

Thank you all for reading my story and giving me advice about what is the best way to go. The more the merrier !!!!!!!!!!!!

If you go to both of my Threads on rebuilding your own I believe I mentioned my concerns with buying either a neck or Body on E-Bay.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=51950
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65048

I find it best to be able to pick up and look over the body or potential neck.
It just isn't possible to do so from a seller's pics as they are often not well lighted and the details of the grain are not revealed.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

$400 isn't a horrible deal, but personally I wouldn't pay more than $300. Generally speaking, modifications don't make anything worth more. Unless you want those exact modifications.

I've bought and sold a ton on Craigslist and almost everyone has flexibility on price. Always remember cash talks, and its a buyer's market. Good luck!

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EJ Strat
Mexican Tele
Twin Reverb
JCM2000
Hummingbird Pro

whats driving me crazy is that no matter how I try to do the math on buying a whole guitar or buying parts, when I get done with the guitar and it having a hard shell case, the price seems to always be up in the high 300 dollar region. Many on FREE CRAIGSLIST READER PRO show some nice guitars in the 250 region and then by the time you pay for shipping and a case, your back up again. To spend 499 at sweetwater or Guitar center and get a brand new HSS strat made in 11 or 12, they dont even come with a gig bag now. I know you can look online locally for a used case or bag, but its just what is the best bang for your buck in todays market as times are tough and money is tight. The guy asking 425 for his 06 strat, others have said only offer him 300 to 350 as I can go to his house and play the guitar and Im not just getting something in the mail and not played. The thing about fenders is the bolt on neck and being able to do your own setups.

After watching some of the videos on utube, I would not be afraid of buying some tools
from Stew Mac and working on my frets and doing my own work to fix things that are wrong. A high fret and a hammer are easy to do !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZHI4dpkc14

Ive built a whole house by myself, so I know I can work on a guitar with some degree of
proficiency. I only play for my own enjoyment and am not out clubbing or in a band. I have a small recording studio and just love to putz around. I got a tax check back and felt like getting another strat that is blue or candy apple red and a HSS.

Around my area most used MIM Strats at GC go for $300. Not sure how much the case would add. They had one with a hot rail in the bridge and was still $300.
When GC has a 15% off you get a MIM for $425 new.
Good Luck

$451.98 with the tax sure does sound really good for a brand new 2012 model. Now I just have to wait for the 2011 ones to be gone !!!!!!!!! I can look for a used SKB case and be all set !!! Thanks for the great idea !!! Lake Placid Blue, here I come !!!

Hi ctguy1955: it's a free market, people are allowed to ask anything they like for a sale. Doesn't mean we have to pay it. Ultimately, Ebay tracks the prices people pay for things, not the prices asked.

Fact of the matter is, buying seperate parts is often not a route to getting a guitar cheaper - sometimes it's a way of paying a lot more than for a complete guitar. However, what buying parts does get you is the exact combination of features you want, which may not be available in any one complete instrument.

'Course, there's always some knockdown deals out there, ya just gotta hunt them down. Sometimes that can take a lot of time...

Another route is to buy a whole guitar that is close to your prefered requirements, replace the few parts that aren't what you want and sell them on to cover the cost of replacements.

In the end, it's all about exhaustingly doing the numbers - and then forgetting all of that if you stumble across your dream guitar, new or secondhand, pouncing on it and worrying about the credit card bill later.

Good luck - C

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This would be your best bet because e-Bay nowadays is essentially all retail or above pricing. The only advantage is, if you're looking for something somewhat singular, it will inevitably show up there.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

It's not that you can't find deals on e-bay or some other company, it's just that people are looking to get most of what they paid for their guitars.

I was going to build one for myself and found that buying new and hot rodding it was cheaper than attempting a build from parts.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

It's similar to building your own car from parts. You could buy the car for $25,000 or buy all the parts required separately for $100,000. Parts are priced high.

There was a time when one could buy premium parts and assemble a premium guitar at a significant savings vs. the cost of a 'ready made' one. For all the obvious reasons, this gap has been forevermore closed where the opposite is now true. The new trend appears to be buying MIMs and modifying them to one's personal requirements.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

I found one I liked and pulled the trigger. Its a 07 in like new condition for 289 and 10 bucks shipping with a gig bag. I really like the dark color compared to the newer lake placid ones of today. I cant wait to get this in the mail !!!!!!!!!


http://s968.photobucket.com/albums/ae16 ... itar77.jpg

have you tried posting a wanted add on your local craigslist?

: edit: never mind i just realized i misread and you DID pull the trigger

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So the new/used strat wont be here until MONDAY. I thought it was coming from Albany NY to CT, but its coming from Texas instead. My Bad.

This will be my very first strat with a rosewood fingerboard. I have seen on videos
on youtube where a guy uses a small amount of linseed oil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YGPCOB6 ... ature=plcp just skip to 3:50 to hear him discuss the linseed oil.


There are a ton of videos on youtube about cleaning, but this guy Dave is the funniest guy on the net to listen to !!!

He says Lemon oil is really bad !!!

I also just heard that a cotton ball with alcohol is very good to clean strings ???

Thank you for the heads up on keeping my new strat rosewook fingerboard clean.

If you are really concerned with the price of the guitar, here's a basic rule of thumb....

Any modifications are an individuals preference, not everyone's preference. Don't expect a price increase for better pickups. The next buyer may change them out anyway.

I always check on the Guitar Center Used Gear section. I've found many used Stratsrats for around $250. Add new pickups and a hard shell case, and you'll be near that $400 mark if not higher. But the good news is GC has a 30 day return policy. If you get it (even from another store), you can return it locally. They'll set it up, restring it, and test it for you while you wait. Not a half bad idea. You could get lucky like I did and get a Classic Player Strat used for the price of a standard MIM Strat. The one near me took one in and they identified it wrong. I bought it six hours after they posted on their website....

The point is, good deals are out there. Just have to look.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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