Seriously deluded !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - SOLD - UPDATE

guitars4you

It already has a £1400 bid in place and you need to add 24% fees to that value - So £1736 - I like the guitar, the colour etc but please educate me as to why my opinion on the value is poles apart from this potential buyer 

https://guitar-auctions.co.uk/portfolio-post/lot-55-1988-fender-stratocaster-plus-electric-guitar-made-in-usa/

Strangefan

Because people are idiots.  I would say a grand tops 

Whitecat

People don’t understand traditional auction houses? They think it’s just like a smaller ebay?

bgmartinsbridge

And there was a yellow strat plus body on ebay for 400 quid a while back. 

gazrichards

It hasn’t sold for that much. It’s the auction houses estimate which will be given by a guest expert or by someone doing internet searches (probably the latter nowadays but I remember the local auction house coming in my guitar shop back in the day and asking us for estimates)
the auction houses job is to create a buzz to sell the product. Estimating it’s value higher will help do that. It’s win win for them really. 

Either it sells for more and they are seen as an auction house that sell expensive high end stuff, it sell for the estimate and they are  seen to know their stuff or it sell for less and they sell bargains. 

Things are only worth what people will pay for them

guitars4you

gazrichards said:

It hasn’t sold for that much. It’s the auction houses estimate which will be given by a guest expert or by someone doing internet searches (probably the latter nowadays but I remember the local auction house coming in my guitar shop back in the day and asking us for estimates)
the auction houses job is to create a buzz to sell the product. Estimating it’s value higher will help do that. It’s win win for them really. 

Either it sells for more and they are seen as an auction house that sell expensive high end stuff, it sell for the estimate and they are  seen to know their stuff or it sell for less and they sell bargains. 

Things are only worth what people will pay for them

No there is already a bid in place - It doesn't show on the above link - If I log in to the 'register a bid' section I can see what bids are already in place - I know how it works etc, but that £1400 is a live bid in place already registered for the day of the auction 

gazrichards

guitars4you said:

gazrichards said:

It hasn’t sold for that much. It’s the auction houses estimate which will be given by a guest expert or by someone doing internet searches (probably the latter nowadays but I remember the local auction house coming in my guitar shop back in the day and asking us for estimates)
the auction houses job is to create a buzz to sell the product. Estimating it’s value higher will help do that. It’s win win for them really. 

Either it sells for more and they are seen as an auction house that sell expensive high end stuff, it sell for the estimate and they are  seen to know their stuff or it sell for less and they sell bargains. 

Things are only worth what people will pay for them

No there is already a bid in place - It doesn't show on the above link - If I log in to the 'register a bid' section I can see what bids are already in place - I know how it works etc, but that £1400 is a live bid in place already registered for the day of the auction 

Ahh ok. I get it now. 

That graffiti yellow colour is quite rare and on a strat plus which is a sought after model. But yes adding on the tax and auction fee will make it an obscene amount

wesker123

Coda had one of those secondhand little while back. Think it was about 1k. 

Philly_Q

To be honest I don't have much - if any - idea of values in the current secondhand market.  New guitar prices have increased enormously in recent years, so does that also drag up secondhand prices, at least for name brands?

I had a Strat Plus Deluxe from that period, I think it cost just over £600 at the time which seemed quite a lot.  Good guitar.  A Fender American Pro now is about £1,500... so this is about the same price as a new equivalent - but it's "vintage"!  So it must be a bargain. 

I don't know.  My gut reaction now, from a position of ignorance, is that I probably would pay that much, if I really wanted it.  But if I was really looking for one I would research the going rates first.

HarrySeven

It’s Gardiner-Houlgate - what d’you expect?

dindude

Nostalgia of someone who has been looking for one for a while and has the cash 

maltingsaudio

Just maybe the bloke who’s bidding on it has a real thing for yellow. The thing about wanting a yellow strat and wanting it now is, here is possibly the only one available right here and now in the UK so what if he/she spends over the odds for it.    Isn’t that how gas works?

hassleham

It's a desirable colour for that model isn't it? I guess if it's in mint condition then I could understand the right person over paying for it if they wanted it that badly, as you don't see these in such good condition very often.

I know that if my favourite guitar of all time came up for sale, in my favourite colour AND mint condition, then I wouldn't particularly care what I paid for it, as long as I won it

Jackobean

For the same reason all those rancid 70's models no one would touch with a barge pole are now worth thousands - 
it's officially vintage, and everything from the previous generation is getting out of reach.

I'd wager a Plus model (along with early Clapton's and Becks) would prove a decent investment over the next 10-15 years, especially in a rare colour. They're all artefacts of a very distinct phase in Fender's development, before they went mad for reissues.

Bellycaster

That's a "Scott Grove" type rare Guitar

guitars4you

HarrySeven said:

It’s Gardiner-Houlgate - what d’you expect?

I know you are not a GH fan H, but they are only offering it for sale - It is the buyers who push up the price - I could understand £1300/1400 tops for an original clean example - But £1700 plus and it might even end up north of that if other bidders buy into it 

guitars4you

I recall these first appearing for sale - Back in 88, for a while the only colour we could get was yellow - It might be fairly rare now, but back in 88 it was a common colour on the shop floor - I own a similar example - One owner from new before I acquired it - Plus DLX version with the pearl plate - I had to have it re-fretted by @SteveRobinson which IMO has made it a better player - IMO £1300/1400 is the top price for such a piece - But as I said, maybe my value is wrong 

guitars4you

I know this is an early example with an E4 serial number + the 'split' Wilkinson top nut 

ICBM

I understand why you're sceptical, and like you I remember when these were new, and then when they weren't at all fashionable - but I could easily see £1500 for that model, that year, that colour and in that condition now. It's probably the most desirable Strat Plus there is other than a celebrity owned. Towards £2K... a bit steep but I'd guess someone would pay it. It's still cheap compared to some of the Custom Shop stuff now. Or some of the prices being asked for late-70s Fenders, which this will be miles better than.

imalrightjack

Well, it means somebody won’t just buy it to resell at a profit 

Funkfingers

Shill bidding, methinks.