Best year from Fender ?

Strat54

ICBM said:

Strat54 said:

The market says not, its buoyuant. Its funny the first thing an 'artist' does these when they get a bit of money is buy a vintage guitar....even the young ones are at it Rabea lining Norm's already busting pockets for a 71 Les Paul Custom.

I don't care in the slightest what the market says! If people have more money than sense that's their choice.

It's quite funny that a '71 Les Paul Custom is now considered 'vintage' too, if you think about it...

Agreed....but that's what folks think.....seems like only yesterday  

ICBM

To be fair, a '71 is much closer in age to a '59 than it is to a new one.

Strat54

ICBM said:

To be fair, a '71 is much closer in age to a '59 than it is to a new one.

I'm wondering if this is how it will progress, that young players like Rabea feel that '71 is so long ago that its from a vintage era to them? Better start buying up 80's Fenders now. Think there's a couple of unplayed Dan Smith era Strats in the next GH auction.....

ICBM

Strat54 said:

I'm wondering if this is how it will progress, that young players like Rabea feel that '71 is so long ago that its from a vintage era to them?

Probably. Also to be fair, I think a '71 would be no more expensive than a brand new one... although that's really only because Gibson's prices are so eye-watering now.

Fuengi

There is an interesting interview with Dan Smith on Reverb about standards at Fender in early 80s. Basically, he indicates that although there was a set of written standards for woodworking, in reality in the final product there was none. 

He said that a 64 Tele would differ from piece to piece. The makers on the factory floor used their eye and feel and that also evolved over time. Ultimately he said there was no such thing as 'a 62 Strat' as each one really was different.

It is only since the standardisation they introduced - to a fair bit of resistance from the workforce - in the 80s and in the new factory, that a standard for Fender guitars has emerged. 

fretfinder

Strat54 said: We've  gone down this road before, there's good and bad of all eras and being vintage guarantees you nothing but conversely the same can be said for Custom Shop.

This video for me demonstrates the glaringly obvious difference between new and old. No one can deny that.

I get what you’re saying in your post and can’t argue with much of it, but in my experience of owning far too many CS Fenders to mention I’d say that their consistently high quality is remarkable. I’ve never come across a bad one or one that wasn’t well worth the price tag, imho, against AVRI or lower price point Fenders. Conversely vintage Fenders can be notoriously bad, or good, never mind that it’s virtually impossible to tell these days if every part of them is actually vintage! And yet they all seem to cost £10k upwards, whereas you can get a very nice used CS model for circa £2K or less.

And regarding the video, if they’d chosen a dog of a vintage against a good CS guitar the result would have been the opposite. But of course they wouldn’t do that because it would fly in the face of the lore and mojo and mystique around the altar of vintage that we’re all supposed to worship! (Personally I absolutely do worship at the altar of 50s LP Juniors and I’ll fight anyone who says they’re not streets ahead of their modern reissue equivalents!  )

Of course, there can never be objective ‘proof’ that one guitar is better than another because at the end of the day it’s individual human ears and hands that do the judging and we’re all different, with different biases and preconceptions - me too! 

Strat54

fretfinder said:

Strat54 said: We've  gone down this road before, there's good and bad of all eras and being vintage guarantees you nothing but conversely the same can be said for Custom Shop.

This video for me demonstrates the glaringly obvious difference between new and old. No one can deny that.

I get what you’re saying in your post and can’t argue with much of it, but in my experience of owning far too many CS Fenders to mention I’d say that their consistently high quality is remarkable. I’ve never come across a bad one or one that wasn’t well worth the price tag, imho, against AVRI or lower price point Fenders. Conversely vintage Fenders can be notoriously bad, or good, never mind that it’s virtually impossible to tell these days if every part of them is actually vintage! And yet they all seem to cost £10k upwards, whereas you can get a very nice used CS model for circa £2K or less.

And regarding the video, if they’d chosen a dog of a vintage against a good CS guitar the result would have been the opposite. But of course they wouldn’t do that because it would fly in the face of the lore and mojo and mystique around the altar of vintage that we’re all supposed to worship! (Personally I absolutely do worship at the altar of 50s LP Juniors and I’ll fight anyone who says they’re not streets ahead of their modern reissue equivalents!  )

Of course, there can never be objective ‘proof’ that one guitar is better than another because at the end of the day it’s individual human ears and hands that do the judging and we’re all different, with different biases and preconceptions - me too! 

I've owned too many also....well over a hundred since 1990 and I've played four or five times that amount. Sadly I've had a couple of wet cardboard boxes in there and they were new ones, mostly masterbuilt too. 
To be fair in that video you have two well connected players favourite hand picked guitars versus one 'private' mans collection of vintage guitars so a fair match methinks. Dan's Tele is meant to be the best he's played yet the difference was huge.

ICBM

Strat54 said:

Sadly I've had a couple of wet cardboard boxes in there and they were new ones, mostly masterbuilt too.

This is also my experience. I don't like 'Masterbuilts' at all - I've never found one as good as any 'Team Built' I've played, which have all been consistently good to great.

I have also come across far more vintage dogs though.

tonystone82

I’m all over the 1960 tele as well the 59 Strat. Although the 56 Strat gets my vote too. That maple neck v shape especially is where it’s at for me. After that it’s 62 or 64 Strats that I think are the most popular.

strtdv

My personal preference would be a new/current custom shop made with old growth (100 years old) wood.
Modern production methods have hugely improved consistency, but I don't think there's a replacement for slow grown old wood.

robgilmo

94 MIM, the time just after the fire, astounding guitars for MIM Fenders of the time.

57Deluxe

whichever the year of the model you are trying to sell probably..