Today's secret word: "Overpriced."

[Gravity Jim]

Local "vintage" guitar store moved, so i checked out their new location on the way to an agency meeting. Nice... I like it better.

Earlier today, I was discussing with Neo my latest daydream guitar: a Tele with brass compensated saddles, a strong bridge pup, a Gibson mini-humbucker in the neck.

So I walk into this place, and what greets me but the very thing. A double bound sunburst Tele with a SD Antiquity in the bridge, Barden saddles, a Gibson-branded mini in the neck, and a bound rosewood board. Two thing wrong... a stupid pinup sticker on the face, and a badly positioned pirate decal.

So I ask Skip about it. Is there a case? Yep. What's with the neck? It's a WD. Uh huh. Does the pin-up come off? Sure.

'm reaching for the VISA when I ask, how much?

$950.

Am I nuts, or is that just a bit much for a well-used parts Tele? The decal is so badly positioned the first thing I'd do is sand it off.....

[NeoFauve]

and a badly positioned pirate decal.

Do you mean a decal of a pirate?
Or a bogus F-brand decal?

I'm not sure there IS a good position for a decal OF a pirate.
Except maybe in the workbench drawer.


I have no clue about sensible pricing.
I've heard from one self-appointed expert that my Tele's over priced, at $25 over the GC price of an MIM std.

[Gravity Jim]

Yeah, but your Tele has a nice Warmoth neck and top o' the line pups and DOESN'T feature a dumb rockabilly pin-girl on the face... And your asking almost HALF of what they want for this. I think that makes this overpriced.

[NeoFauve]

The body might be US ash or something.

How different is a WD neck from a Warmoth?

Sounds sorta' comparable. But the body's a wild card.
Did you play it? Or even go near it once you heard the price?

[Pearly Grapes]

Does it 'float yer boat'?
Do you get lost in the music when you play it?
Do you find yourself unable to stop thinking about it?
If I answer Yes to any of these, I reach for the checkbook, because IMHO regardless of the brand, parts, etc., it's a Keeper and I'll get a lot of enjoyment from it.
FWIW,
PG

[Don]

My USACG T-Style cost me about $800 to build. It's probably worth $500. It should be worth way more than that and is priceless to me.

[Gravity Jim]

PG - none of the above. But then I don't romanticize guitars. They're just tools for work.

Don, the Zcaster is the same way... Perfect for me, my fave ever, and I've got over 1000 bucks in it with its case. But I couldn't sell it for more than 500, I'm sure. Another reason why a WD partscaster (btw, did I mention that its a Strat neck cut down to a Tele peghead?) can't be worth nearly a grand.

[curtisstetka]

Agreed. That's overpriced, especially if choirs of angels didn't burst forth the moment you touched it.

You can build an even better tool for less money, Jim.

[NeoFauve]

Agreed. That's overpriced, especially if choirs of angels didn't burst forth the moment you touched it.

You can build an even better tool for less money, Jim.

The whole reason I set out to build my Tele (the original plan with the mini-HB & concentric potz) was because I had played a Schecter CS T-style guitar, similarly equipped, that did all that bursting angel stuff, but at around $2-friggin-K.
It was great.
Expensive guitars can be inspiring that way.

I figured out quite a while later that I already had a guitar that I can (with a little thought, and knowing my own tastes) get any sound I'm likely to want from.
(I have a funny feeling you might have the same thing, Jim.)

So, I have a Tele made of cool parts with a too-chubby-for-me neck. It's more of a straight up Tele than I wanted at first. I'm sort of proud it turned out as well as it did. But it's functionally redundant, AFAIC.

[boobtube21]

Sounds like a lot of dough...for what is essentially a fake, with the decal and all. I don't even know what I'd offer him, is the body a Fender?

I concur with building your own anyway. The Muddy Waters tele is a good platform IMHO. No binding anywhere on that guitar though.

[Gravity Jim]

Well, I was just posting about what guitar stores guys will try to get... truth is, after some thinking and good advice, I realize I don't even want a Telecaster. I have a great solid body guitar that does everything I could ever make a solid-body Fender-style guitar do, already. And guitars are not at the top of my purchase list: for example, I just bought a mic preamp that cost as much as an American Strat, and a box of software synths that could have been a Baja Tele. The preamp is a plain black box with some knobs on it, there's nothing fun or sexy about it other than how it makes my microphones sound.

I had just been sort of daydreaming about guitar in this configuration, and then saw Neo's Mojo Manicini clips and this guitar in the same day, and so naturally, I thought, Whoah, maybe I should buy this thing... and would have, if the price hadn't shook me from the dream. :)

[boobtube21]

Mic pre's can be sexy!

If you were doing countless guitar tracks for a bunch of different styles of music owning or having access to more than one guitar would probably be a good idea...even then one guitar could work but having the choice of multiple guitars/amps in that situation is as handy as having multiple mics/pres. Sound begins at the source (as you know).

But if you don't need it, you don't need it...