Fender Fever

GeeJay

Hi everyone,

I've been on the lookout for a Fender Custom Shop Strat for a few months, and one has just come up that ticks pretty much all my boxes. The seller of this guitar is Fender Fever and when I checked that name out on here, there seems to have been a bit of controversy around that particular dealer (I feel like I might have even read that they'd been banned?)

I definitely understand both sides of the 'dealer buys something from the forum and jacks the price up' argument, and that particular discussion has been had in detail in some other threads.

Instead i'm more interested in feedback around Fender Fever as a seller in particular. Has anyone had experience buying from them? How was the service / instruments / setup etc?

Thanks a lot,
Greg

Fishboy7

I don't think he's any better or worse than any other amateur dealer, but I can't see why anyone would pay those prices for a second hand guitar.  

You might as well just buy new or used privately.  These guys occupy a weird middle ground selling well used guitars for almost new prices whilst offering none of the benefits of buying new.    

SPECTRUM001

Hi Greg,

I have met the guy from Fender Fever, and he was really helpful and amenable.

The guitar he showed me was advertised as mint (which by Reverb’s definition; as good as new, however not actually new) with hang tags, and was priced (I thought) quite high.

However...it was not mint, as it had lots of playwear on the body, a scratch on the back of the neck and a mild ding in the lacquer. The QC hang tag was missing and the case quite marked up. The guitar was actually really good and played very well, just not quite what was described. I would have bought it if it had been a little cheaper (and to his credit, he did offer a better price - just not at the level I wanted) and perhaps I was foolish or a bit up myself - but at the time I was really fed up with the alternate planet that some sellers seem to live on. 

He did sell it, so presumably someone else was ok about the description and price...

GeeJay

Thanks guys. Yeah the overpricing is something I've seen levied at this dealer before. The guitar that has caught my eye is this one https://www.fenderfever.com/electrics/fender-custom-shop-60-reissue-stratocaster-relic-2018-chocolate-3-tone-sunburst which I think is a little bit overpriced, but it doesn't seem too bad given the typical Custom Shop Strat 2nd hand prices. Given it has the specs I want, I'm kind of fine with paying a tiny bit more to get exactly the specs I want.

Hattigol

A little bit overpriced??

I'd say it's at least £400 overpriced. He marks guitars up significantly - my guess is that he will have bought this for around £2,100.

guitars4you

Assuming it has the case, certificate, spec sheet etc and all is good then effectively the price any dealer such as myself, Guitar Village, Peach, Coda etc would be selling such a used guitar for 

How much he paid for it IMO has nothing to do with it - How much they sell it for and the service, support, warranty they offer is more important - If it is a legit dealer, a bedroom dealer, a private seller, then I can't help as I don't know him/them - But do your research and decide 

LPManic

Price is always relative. It depends on the guitar and how much you want to pay. If it's the one you want then don't worry about keyboard warriors (which we all are ha!)

@SPECTRUM001's advice is probably the most useful you will get in here. So have a think about that.

But again, price depends on many factors. If a guitar was THE ONE then I would pay what I was able to pay, without worrying about other prices and opinion etc.

Pabcrane

Sorry if this de-rails your thread somewhat but I followed your link then had a wee look. They've got an '85 Japanese Jazzmaster for £1985 (perhaps an interesting pricing policy - instead of plucking figure out of one's arse use the year!) Which is pretty high.

They also say that the Jazzmaster pickups are P90s, which means they know fuck all, and state that it's 45 years old, which means they can't do mental arithmetic. Or proof read.

I wouldn't trust 'em.

chris78

Do yourself a favour. Mark @guitars4you has a sunburst strat at a similar price. You’ll get a great guitar well set up from someone you can trust.

I bought a prs nf3 off fenderfever. Not a word about the buckle rash and couple of dings in the original listing. Steer clear

skunkwerx

Never heard of them before, just reading this thread means I wont be buying from them though. Seems like ass. 

hyperben

I bought a guitar from Fender Fever through eBay for some protection as I was wary of them. It was not as described at all and I used the return option on eBay. I then received a private email from Fender Fever asking what was wrong with it. He did give me a full refund without any issues though, but it felt like he was trying to avoid talking to me through eBay as they can see his messages that way. I’d steer clear unless absolutely certain it’s right for you, something very shady about him. Not sure I would’ve got my money back so easily if I’d bought from his site.

Strangefan

I asked if there was any movement on a es les paul, I was interested in, seemed very expensive at about 2.5k, I asked as I found some a lot cheaper, I got a huge message about  Mark up, tax. Basically justifying the price,  and then he forwarded some es les Paul's being sold in the US..... Like they're comparable..... He could have just said no. 

mrkb

Hes pulled all his stock off eBay in the last week, so perhaps he was having issues with eBays T&Cs?

GeeJay

Thanks for all the feedback everyone - really appreciate it.

It's given me plenty to think about and some cause for concern.

chris78 said:

Do yourself a favour. Mark @guitars4you has a sunburst strat at a similar price. You’ll get a great guitar well set up from someone you can trust.

I bought a prs nf3 off fenderfever. Not a word about the buckle rash and couple of dings in the original listing. Steer clear

Thanks Chris - I actually hadn't spotted that particular strat so will definitely be considering this. 

StefB

mrkb said:

Hes pulled all his stock off eBay in the last week, so perhaps he was having issues with eBays T&Cs?

They are all back now, relisted today to take advantage of the current £1 final value fee promotion.

guitars4you

chris78 said:

Do yourself a favour. Mark @guitars4you has a sunburst strat at a similar price. You’ll get a great guitar well set up from someone you can trust.

I bought a prs nf3 off fenderfever. Not a word about the buckle rash and couple of dings in the original listing. Steer clear

Thanks - Mucho apprecio 

impmann

Tbh, if I was in the market for a CS Fender, I’d avoid all disappointment and shop with either Guitars4U or Coda. I’ve had first hand experience with both on high end sales and both were utterly flawless.

cbellanga

Some time ago I was interested in a CS Tele he had in stock and just sent a msg asking the usual like weight, neck profile etc and he just replied saying the guitar wasn't for me! Very odd but anyway got the guitar from another dealer.

SPECTRUM001

cbellanga said:

Some time ago I was interested in a CS Tele he had in stock and just sent a msg asking the usual like weight, neck profile etc and he just replied saying the guitar wasn't for me! Very odd but anyway got the guitar from another dealer.

I think that might be code for ‘how dare you ask the weight’ !!

Whitecat

SPECTRUM001 said:

cbellanga said:

Some time ago I was interested in a CS Tele he had in stock and just sent a msg asking the usual like weight, neck profile etc and he just replied saying the guitar wasn't for me! Very odd but anyway got the guitar from another dealer.

I think that might be code for ‘how dare you ask the weight’ !!

As we know only an idiot would do so, amirite?

fretfinder

SPECTRUM001 said:

cbellanga said:

Some time ago I was interested in a CS Tele he had in stock and just sent a msg asking the usual like weight, neck profile etc and he just replied saying the guitar wasn't for me! Very odd but anyway got the guitar from another dealer.

I think that might be code for ‘how dare you ask the weight’ !!

Let alone the neck profile! Who on earth would want to know that before buying a guitar remotely?!