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I was at Guitar Center today and the American Stratocasters and Telecasters are $1349. They were $999 the last time I was there and that was only about 10 days ago.I remember looking at a "road worn" telecaster and thinking to my self "who is gonna pay $949 for a MIM tele when an American Standard is only $999?".This was March 25(I bought a guitar so I checked the date on my receipt)

It's the 2009 price increase that covers all Fender models. It went into effect at Guitar Center on April 1.

Richard wrote:It's the 2009 price increase that covers all Fender models. It went into effect at Guitar Center on April 1.

Well that explains it.Thanks.

westtexasred wrote:So when did the Price of Strats and Teles go up to $1349?

When Fender decided they were tired of selling guitars.

I paid $250 for my new MIM Tele standard in 2001. Now they're $550.
$250 adjusted for CPI inflation from 2001-2009 is $299.54. That means MIM Fenders have increased in price 54.5% faster then the average of all other consumer goods, despite quality remaining constant.

They have to pay legal fees for that trademark case they lost.

well, due to the recession they're selling less guitars so they have to make more for each guitar they sell. also, they might be thinking, since they're not selling any guitars at the moment anyway, they might as well raise the prices; when the economy comes back people are going to want to buy a guitar and they're going to pay the price.

Naw

I think Fender is making a huge mistake. Now that all those boutique makers can make an exact Strat or Tele minus the headstock they're going to take a chunk out of Fender's sales, especially in the high end.

Once people start buying guitars again they'll lose a bunch in the high end market. Fender is betting that people will go away from a better made guitar just because of the familiar headstock and sooner or later that's not gonna be the case.

Not to mention that with the wealth of information on the internet, more and more folks are making their own partcasters from scratch or from parts off the net..

It is just ridiculous. I love fender guitars, but 550 for a MIM standard, 900 for a MIM players, and 1400 for a MIZ is ridiculous. I will take a squier anyday.

I'm afraid to look at what the MIM Tele Deluxe costs now. I've wanted one for ages.

They are like 799 or 849 or something like that with the sunburst generally being a few bucks more.

Before the increase. After I posted I got curious and checked.

Musicians Friend now has them at $939.99 for Black and Walnut, $989.99 for Sunburst(MSRP 1180.00-1240.00). Shit.

lolz

that is just stupid. THey are nice, but not 1K nice. I would save up the extra 1k and buy a real one FFS.

Agree 100%.

I think where they're really screwing up is with the medium range guitars. The mustang, the CP jag and jazzy, the j mascis. These were feasible options for me before. I would pay 6 something for a new mustang. $940 is just outrageous. you could easily pick up a vintage one at that price. for the upper range I think the price bump won't have quite as much of an effect in the long run. once people get over the shock they'll be buying them, which I think is why they did the price bump now when no one is buying new guitars anyway, allowing time for the prices to settle with the guitar buying public.

What was stupid was they did a brand-wide price hike when they should have looked at the buyer demographic of each range and model and seen if it would have made sense. the people who are buying mustangs aren't really gonna be able to do $940. the upper range have always been guitars you had to save up for. now you're just gonna have to save a little bit more. it sucks yea, but I don't think their logic is that off base.

I paid $800 for my '57 U1. I overpaid.

It's vintage, beautiful, actually worn in, and still plays great. It sounds amazing, makes everyone super jealous, and is rare. It cost $150 less then a Mexican strat that is about 2lbs heavier then it logically should be, has fake and poorly done wear, and will make nobody over the age of 17 jealous. Also, the strat will never, ever, ever, ever go up in value. EVAR. The scale of Fender's production requires consumers to buy multiples; how many will do that when the price rises 35% during a depression?

Fender FTL.

this does seem like an absolute boner of a boner by fender. in 2003 i paid a little under 1200 (financed of course) for my American Deluxe Jazz bass. Now that same bass is almost 1800?! i mean, i love my bass and i'm so glad i bought it...but to me, almost 2k for that bass doesn't make sense.

WTF Fender?!

lol this makes me consider selling off my mia 2005 p bass but maybe i could wait a little longer, also not easy to find lefty buyers

heavium wrote:lol this makes me consider selling off my mia 2005 p bass but maybe i could wait a little longer, also not easy to find lefty buyers

ha ha, yeah i thought about that too, then i checked ebay and saw that i don't think my bass would get enough for me to buy two other basses with it, which would be the only reason i'd ever sell it...not that i really want to any way. lol

yeah makes sense


the longer you wait the more people would be willing to pay i think, esp for american made fenders, i mean, no snobism here, i like the build quality of my japanese mustang much more, but there's gonna be a time when mim fenders aren't gonna be budget friendly anymore either.