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anyone know where I can find a fender catalogue from 1971? I want to know what models Fender produced that year and if they were any good. Was this when CBS started scrimping and saving?

essentially you're looking at strats, teles, mustangs, jaguars, jazzmasters, musicmasters, broncos...

i think the quality was still ok at that point, the pre CBSers will say differently (obviously).

stewart wrote:essentially you're looking at strats, teles, mustangs, jaguars, jazzmasters, musicmasters, broncos...

cool, but what flavours were they making at this time? To be honest I have a thought of what I'm looking for but want to know what might be in the mix. for example, were the teles being made as deluxe or thinlines? Were there any varierty in the jags, jazzmasters or mustangs? Strats, I never really got on with to think I could look at buying a vintage one.

you'd be better looking at the history of each model. but yeah, thinlines were available (from '69), and by '71 they offered the double humbuckered one (not the deluxe though).



mustangs were the competition models with non-matching headstocks.

you don't see a lot of jags and jazzmasters from the '70s kicking around, i imagine they'd largely be sunburst if you did find one, essentially the same specs as a late 60s model apart from an optional all maple neck with black blocks and binding (i think, don't quote me on it). regardless, good luck finding one of those.

Thanks Stewart, all sound tempting. I'm going to try and see what i can find and what prices are looking like. That Tele thinline looks lovely though

just found that guitar on vintage and rare:

Original Type Two Tele Thinline. Great tone and in hard to believe condition. This guitar is untouched, solder intact, and comes with its original Fender case. These are always popular guitars both for playing, and collecting, and when they are as good as this one , have definate investment potential.

Price: Please Enquire

http://www.vintageandrareguitars.com/we ... /item/6278

edit: just spoke to them about price for it and nearly dropped the phone when they said £3,850!

lorez wrote:just found that guitar on vintage and rare:

Original Type Two Tele Thinline. Great tone and in hard to believe condition. This guitar is untouched, solder intact, and comes with its original Fender case. These are always popular guitars both for playing, and collecting, and when they are as good as this one , have definate investment potential.

Price: Please Enquire

http://www.vintageandrareguitars.com/we ... /item/6278

edit: just spoke to them about price for it and nearly dropped the phone when they said £3,850!

I went there in summer 2008, took a look around, was horrified they were asking £2350 for a '73 Strat (or more than 10x what I paid in '73) and decided I'd better stop taking mine to the pub. I heard they charge about double what things go for on eBay, but when I looked for one like mine on eBay I could only find some German music shop also asking silly euros.

lorez wrote:just found that guitar on vintage and rare:

Original Type Two Tele Thinline. Great tone and in hard to believe condition. This guitar is untouched, solder intact, and comes with its original Fender case. These are always popular guitars both for playing, and collecting, and when they are as good as this one , have definate investment potential.

Price: Please Enquire

http://www.vintageandrareguitars.com/we ... /item/6278

edit: just spoke to them about price for it and nearly dropped the phone when they said £3,850!

Speaking of Vintage & Rare
I went with an old band mate about 5years ago to get a price on his original 64 Mustang.
V & R told my mate his guitar was only worth £300 if he wanted to sell to them & its just a good little band guitar.....

they are expensive I know. I used to work around the corner from their shop and pop in on a regular basis. Nice people but I wouldn't spend my money there.

At least it makes me realise what i would be looking at if the normal formula of 50%V&R is the proper going rate.

Aiming to buy a birth year Fender?

James wrote:Aiming to buy a birth year Fender?

yep, for my 40th next year. well it will be bought for me but I might have to fund some of the costs

It might be a bit obvious but try just searching Fender 1971 on ebay.com (the US site for more results) and then narrow down the categories so you exclude the amps. Searching the completed listings will bring up more results too as I think they go back 30 days or so. It'll give you a good idea of prices people are at least asking for if not what they're selling for.

To some extent it'd be worth narrowing the search down by what you like, as it's going to be a keeper just given the sentimental value. So if you prefer a Mustang or Bronco style. Also they made a lot of models at that time. 1972 was the last year for quite a few things so you could almost pick and choose what you want to have. and then of course, it's just a matter of finding it.

It might not be your thing but they were still making Coronados then, too.

As for the quality, I think things are still good then but from what I've seen by the late 60s a lot of details were less consistent. So for example, you could find two similar looking 1971 Mustangs that felt completely different because one had a chunky neck and the other slim. Neither would be particularly worse but one might suit you better than the other.

brilliant, thanks James. I already have some searches set up on ebay UK already but I will take a look at the completed listings. My shortlist at the moment is what I put above but now you mention the Coronado that might also go on the list. I've also started looking around at old catalogues to see what the models were/etc. Like you say the states might be the best source for some of the guitars though.

What I meant with the US ebay is really just that there's more content. You could do a search on there for 'Fender 1971' and find out that they made a Tele in sonic blue that year or whatever else. I didn't necessarily mean to buy from there, more just use it to check what's available. Buying from there might not be the worst idea though.

On the Coronado front, the I (neck pickup only, dot inlays and no neck or f hole binding) was discontinued in 1970, but the II (bridge and neck pickups, block and bound neck, bound f holes) and the XII (same as the II but 12 string) were both available then.

Get this. Looks hot!

http://cgi.ebay.com/1971-FENDER-MUSTANG ... 3f04fae3f8

vintage and rare generally charge double the going rate for everything. it's sometimes a good site to get an idea of market values though, look at what they're charging, half it, bingo, there's your top ebay bid.

taylor, thanks for the link. It looks like my 69RI, even the dings are in the same place

Stewart, thanks for the tip. Really good information. I think I might have to pay a visit to their Bath shop one weekend when the wife visits her parents

lorez wrote:anyone know where I can find a fender catalogue from 1971? I want to know what models Fender produced that year and if they were any good. Was this when CBS started scrimping and saving?

Here is a 1970 Fender Catalog(link)

westtexasred wrote:

lorez wrote:anyone know where I can find a fender catalogue from 1971? I want to know what models Fender produced that year and if they were any good. Was this when CBS started scrimping and saving?

Here is a 1970 Fender Catalog(link)

That has a close up pic of a Bass V but no mention of it at all. The coronados also only come in antigua so I guess it might be the case that all of the 70s ones are and they discontinued the other colours and the wildwood.

I wish my birth-year guitars were that cool... 91 blew.