Sold 1974 Fender Strat (price thoughts please)

DrCornelius

Hi folks ,

https://www.vintageandrareguitars.com/collections/fender-electric-guitars/products/1974-fender-stratocaster-sunburst

I bought this a few months ago hoping that something lovely would cure my GAS for having a constantly changing 6 or 7 guitars.  It hasn’t worked as I’ve just splashed out on an expensive Gretsch and have been eying up Teles too.

Its a lot of cash to be tied up in one guitar so I’m thinking of chopping it out to clear the Gretsch debt and maybe buy a moderately priced Tele.

As you can see it was up for £3495 - a lower than average price for a lightweight early 70s Strat because of the replacement neck pickup I guess.

I knocked them down a couple of hundred quid so with the market where it is now do you vintage experts think I could get my money back ?

I’d usually check EBay sold prices for clues but the replacement neck pickup makes that difficult  (V and R thought it was a custom shop one because of a red sticker on the bottom but I don’t have a clue - it sounds nice though)

Cheers for any thoughts in advance :-)

wellsyboy

@DrCornelius Does it have the micro adjust on the neck plate? I half watched a TPS Q and A the other day and Mick I think was talking about 70’s strats and I might have heard him say that those were starting to fetch big money but you would have to check that.

DrCornelius

wellsyboy said:

@DrCornelius Does it have the micro adjust on the neck plate? I half watched a TPS Q and A the other day and Mick I think was talking about 70’s strats and I might have heard him say that those were starting to fetch big money but you would have to check that.

Thanks Wellsy and yes it’s got the micro tilt thingy . Haven’t needed it so far as the action is spot on but it’s there anyway 

BillDL

wellsyboy said:

Does it have the micro adjust on the neck plate? I half watched a TPS Q and A the other day and Mick I think was talking about 70’s strats and I might have heard him say that those were starting to fetch big money but you would have to check that.

I find that quite comical.  Everybody complained about the 3-screw neck with micro-tilt adjustment at the time and for decades afterwards because they thought these features were unstable and lost tone respectively.  Mine was neither unstable nor a tone sponge.  Amazing how everything comes back around again.  When you can ask (and probably get) £50 or more for two original 70s Fender butterfly string trees with real ageing you know that the world has gone mad.

That's a really nice guitar though and it's great to see it with the original machine heads and bridge cover.  Mine came new and the trem cover was somehow lost in the packaging, but it never bothered me because I and millions of other people thought it was a nuisance anyway.  The same was true of the tuners.  A lot of people thought they looked cheap and swapped them out.  Mine worked just fine.

DrCornelius

BillDL said:

wellsyboy said:

Does it have the micro adjust on the neck plate? I half watched a TPS Q and A the other day and Mick I think was talking about 70’s strats and I might have heard him say that those were starting to fetch big money but you would have to check that.

I find that quite comical.  Everybody complained about the 3-screw neck with micro-tilt adjustment at the time and for decades afterwards because they thought these features were unstable and lost tone respectively.  Mine was neither unstable nor a tone sponge.  Amazing how everything comes back around again.

It makes a change that I’m finally on the right side of guitar buying fickleness so I’m not complaining !

wellsyboy

@DrCornelius ;May be worth watching this https://youtu.be/6pgKtemKByg from 1:38:24

DrCornelius

wellsyboy said:

@DrCornelius ;May be worth watching this https://youtu.be/6pgKtemKByg from 1:38:24

Thanks mate , will give it a go tomorrow . A bit preoccupied with the Man City game right now . Unbelievable turn around 

wellsyboy

Gave it a watch - I got it wrong but still worth a watch.

Gassage

It's a prime and perfect example (neck pup aside) of the less bad part of a perceived dodgy era.

The 3 bolt neck design was never an issue- it was the build quality that gave a solid idea a bad rep. Some are good, some are not.

Given that Norlins are fetching 4k plus, 3K is easily achievable, maybe even 3500 +. If I had it, I'd buy it now.

The two original pups are staggered gray backs- ground zero for me personally.

DrCornelius

Cheers @Gassage , i know you know and love your Strats !

Gassage

DrCornelius said:

Cheers @Gassage , i know you know and love your Strats !

I'd grab it in a heartbeat if I'd not bought a bloody house for me Mum last week!

As an investment- it'll be good.

fretfinder

Gassage said:

DrCornelius said:

Cheers @Gassage , i know you know and love your Strats !

I'd grab it in a heartbeat if I'd not bought a bloody house for me Mum last week!

As an investment- it'll be good.

Which, the house or the Strat? 

Gassage

fretfinder said:

Gassage said:

DrCornelius said:

Cheers @Gassage , i know you know and love your Strats !

I'd grab it in a heartbeat if I'd not bought a bloody house for me Mum last week!

As an investment- it'll be good.

Which, the house or the Strat? 

Bloody strat! Not the house- already bought her a downstairs loo- but just a bog standard one....

DrCornelius

Top man Gassage , I’d love to be able to do that although tbf mum and dad have a better gaff than me anyway

Re the Strat - I’ve had a lovely trade offer of a Tele plus cash this morning that I’m mulling over so this may be snagged already !

Gassage

DrCornelius said:

Top man Gassage , I’d love to be able to do that although tbf mum and dad have a better gaff than me anyway

Re the Strat - I’ve had a lovely trade offer of a Tele plus cash this morning that I’m mulling over so this may be snagged already !

It's only because I want the one she lives in back.

Zoonyboy

I worked in a Fender dealership, and the bad era for us was when the UK got a load of badly built guitars around 1978. Maybe it was worldwide. By 1980 the quality was much, much better, but Fender were in a tailspin by then. Those early 70's guitars are usually quite nice, IMHO.

fretfinder

Gassage said:

fretfinder said:

Gassage said: I'd grab it in a heartbeat if I'd not bought a bloody house for me Mum last week! As an investment- it'll be good.

Which, the house or the Strat? 

Bloody strat! Not the house- already bought her a downstairs loo- but just a bog standard one....

You must be flush…

Reflex

Hey Con, what’s the neck shape/thickness please?  Guessing it’s not a medium C

DrCornelius

Reflex said:

Hey Con, what’s the neck shape/thickness please?  Guessing it’s not a medium C

Sounds strange bearing in mind it’s nearly 50 years old but it feels quite similar to a fender modern C to me . It’s not hefty nor slim , just a pretty safe middle ground really

DrCornelius

Sold to a fine gent on here - thanks for all of your comments folks