65 Mustang - True Closet Classic?

[TexasSwede]

I've been pretty busy traveling for the past several months, but always try to read the forum once a week or so.

When I travel, I always stop into small town pawn shops and music stores and snoop around. Yesterday was an interesting day, I came across 2 Crate Power Blocks, a flawless turquoise Epi Wildcat, and the subject of this post, a blue 65 Mustang with Fender Deluxe amp.

Shop owner tells me he doesn't have any shortscale Fenders or parts for sale but says I might find something interesting. He emerges from the back with an old gray tolex case and opens it up to reveal a beautiful Mustang in all its dusty and musty glory. No checking or finish issues that I could see other than a dark finish smudge on the upper bout that looked like some dye from the thin black leather strap bled into it. It really looked incredible. Shop owner said local guy walks in with it and a Fender Deluxe Reverb and says he is original owner. Says he got them together in early 65 after deciding he was going to learn to play guitar. He apparently never learned, lost interest, and both pieces went into a storage closet where they sat until a few weeks ago. I laughed and said "yeah right!" Shop owner swears its the truth, and shows me the amp. Awesome condition, and ORIGINAL TUBES! Guitar case is in excellent condition, even has old empty string envelopes picks, strap, and old case candy stuff. Guitar fretboard looks dry, but is flawless and the frets are darkened with age, but UNTOUCHED! It's probably true, because get this, it wasn't brought in to be sold! The guitar's owner is in his 60's and has decided he wants to fix it up and finally learn how to play that guitar. Argh!

Before I get the "this post meaningless without pics" response, I need to say, since it was not for sale (yet?) I didn't have permission to snap a few on my phone. I do however want to mention a few things about this for possible discussion.

1. Middle screw in pickguard was raised slightly, and had a notched pick slid under it. Pick was the same daphne blue color and it looked like it could have come that way. I have never seen or heard of this before, but it definitely didn't look like someone notched the pick with a file. It was way too symetrical. Anyone seen this before? Was this something people did at the time, whether intended by Fender or not?

2. I left my name and number and a plea to both the guitar owner and shop owner to call me before it gets touched (resoldering, replacing, etc.). Any guesses as to what this guitar would be worth wholesale and retail? How about guitar and amp? I found these recent ebay transactions... RED or BLUE. The Deluxe Reverbs on ebay look to be all reissues, but they are going for $1K.

3. Guitar owner claimed he got it in "early 65." Didn't ask how he knew for sure, could have been a birthday present or something like that (if he's 60, he'd have been 14 years old). If this is true, it just might be a 24" scale "B" width with a 64 neck stamp! I double-checked Mr. Maxima's site this morning and verified that this would indeed make it a rarity.

This thing has me screwed up. I even dreamt about it last night. In the store, I had been trying to figure out how I could pull together $1K- $1.2K and still have a wife - after looking at ebay and maximas website this morning, I don't even have a chance, do I?!

[robroe]

i sold 10 of my guitars to you guys to blow 1K on my fiesta red jaguar

sacrifice is the name of the game

[George]

[Gomer]

This thing has me screwed up. I even dreamt about it last night. In the store, I had been trying to figure out how I could pull together $1K- $1.2K and still have a wife - after looking at ebay and maximas website this morning, I don't even have a chance, do I?!

That's a fabulous story. I hope you get the gear.

As for the marital obstacle, you could offer to swear-off gear for an over-generous period of time - say five years. Chances are, she will forgo the terms after a year or two. So the question for you now is: Is the Mustang/amp worth a 2-year drought.

[hotrodperlmutter]

► Show Spoiler

lgl

[Rox]

I love Mustangs . I own one . But there is no reason why they should retail for over $900 . It was a student guitar for God's sake .

[Haze]

Original Deluxe Reverbs are well over a grand thats for sure. My uncle has a matching year Deluxe Reverb to his 64 Jag and the amp's worth more than the guitar.
You'll be the luckiest man in the world to get it for anywhere near a grand. The guitar in "closet classic" condition will be 2 and the amp 3.

[stewart]

I love Mustangs . I own one . But there is no reason why they should retail for over $900 . It was a student guitar for God's sake .

so what? they weren't made to a lesser quality than other fenders.

my 60s duo-sonic II sounds and plays better than my 60s jag when it comes to the crunch, and that's a fact.

[lorez]

also Rox think about it this way. Guitars back in the 60's cost a lot more relative to stuff around these days. In the 60s a strat or les paul cost the same as a BMW (about £200) so if you think of the cost of a 60s guitar now and compare it to a second hand BMW then its not a bad deal really.

Also, if a guitar costs you $900 thats less than $3 a day for something that is going to give you a lot of pleasure. Now compare that to something like if you smoked a packet of cigerettes a day or drink a couple of pints a day.

I know what I would sooner spend my money on

[Rox]

also Rox think about it this way. Guitars back in the 60's cost a lot more relative to stuff around these days. In the 60s a strat or les paul cost the same as a BMW (about £200) so if you think of the cost of a 60s guitar now and compare it to a second hand BMW then its not a bad deal really.

Also, if a guitar costs you $900 thats less than $3 a day for something that is going to give you a lot of pleasure. Now compare that to something like if you smoked a packet of cigerettes a day or drink a couple of pints a day.

I know what I would sooner spend my money on

Awesome . I'll trade ya my Mustang for a Beemer . What ya say ?

[taylornutt]

Do it!!!

[Fran]

I love Mustangs . I own one . But there is no reason why they should retail for over $900 . It was a student guitar for God's sake .

so what? they weren't made to a lesser quality than other fenders.

my 60s duo-sonic II sounds and plays better than my 60s jag when it comes to the crunch, and that's a fact.

So true of the Mustang i had too.
What Rox should have said was 'why should ANY guitar retail over $900', but of course these are collector pieces now and that is why they do. Check 57 Les Paul Junior prices, another 'student model', us Fender boys have it quite easy by comparison.

Great story

[kypdurron]

And Strats were significantly lower priced than Jazzmaster and Jaguars in the 60s. Nowadays they sell for 6-8 times the price of a Jaguar of the same age and condition. Age does strange things to prices as soon as someone finds the stuff vintage and desirable. Which has happened to the Mustang after Cobain made it appealing t o a lot of people.

[stewart]

it's simple supply and demand- there's a finite number of vintage fenders and a growing number of people who want them. pre CBS strats and teles might as well not even exist for 99% of us, as they often fetch 5 figure sums. jags and jazzys are beginning to go the same way (not 5 figure sums obviously; although a '50s jazzmaster will set you back a lot of coin now), so what does that leave?

we'd all prefer lower prices but saying "it's not worth x" is immediately disproved when someone comes along and pays x for it. it's then worth x because the market says it is. it's the same when you're buying a house in a seller's market, the value of a given property in a street is dictated by the selling price of the one that was sold before it.