How much is a Strat worth ?

[minimoss]

hi, the reason i built my own was the japanese hank marvin strat i had, the paint had rippled and there was a crack behind the bridge. had an estimate to get it repaired £80 to repair the cracks and £350 to respray it. which was more than the guitar cost about 14 years ago think i paid £400. im not sentimental about things it was a good guitar but paying that sort of money i didnt think was worth it. so had a look about building my own. i wanted to use as much fender parts as i could. warmoth are licensed by fender it was an off the shelf ready sprayed hollow body about 4lbs in weight went for a fender usa neck. everything else was as much fender bits that i could obtain. i wanted to get the best guitar i could without paying fender price. i will never sell it, thats not why i did it. really happy with it. im 60 years old now and would hope it will last me my lifetime. im in the process of doing another one. different colour this time using the neck off my japanese strat and going for impersonator 54s. not sure how to upload pics yet, this is only my second post , really enjoy everybodys different comments and sound files, i will never please everybody its life you do your own thing. thanks for your replys.

[Billyboygretsch]

Well done and enjoy playing it for many years to come

[dave robinson]

Not sure if I would want to spend £1k on a self build but can see how it builds up Kinman pick ups would cost a lot some maple necks can cost a fortune and to have the guitar professionally finished ?? but it would have to be very high end. Without the name though not sure you would get your money back. But you do have what you want and it's not all about investment and you had the pleasure and satisfaction of building it. Be interesting to see a pic.
Dave did you have yours ready finished or do it yourself. Couldn't see a good respray for under about £250

I bought the body and neck from AGC Guitars on Ebay, I found them and realised that they were in our village so called in and inspected their goods. The body is finished beautifully in a very 'red' fiesta red - not pink or orange. It's the same red as the Knopfler signiture strat. The neck is vintage tinted maple, but more imortantly has beautiful 'rolled' edges just like the Masterbuilders do them, so it's a dream to play, £59.00. OK it isn't birds eye maple but it's a good as all the other standard Fender stuff. My gold parts are Wilkinson and similar, no Fender bits at all, which is why the price is low. I already had some Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II pickups that cost me £90. In the end a good cheap instrument that I will use on gigs where I wouldn't risk an expensive instrument.

[abstamaria]

An analogy, albeit a poor one, is the replica car. The mid-1960s Ford GT40 has spawned a whole range of replicas, and one can build an approximation for about US$30,000. The best replica is the Superformance; over 90% of its parts are interchangeable with the old car's. It is as entertaining, as fast, and feels and sounds as good as the pukka Ford GT40. It and the real thing are visually identical, and you will have to be an expert to tell them apart. The Superformance costs a whopping US$110,000 roughly. One of the real GT40s just sold for 100 times that. How much is a GT40 worth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBL_TRqcc3Y

[Tigerdaisy]

If you are not too good at soldering (it's not expensive to get the basic kit) you can get a good set of pups (Daddy'os) from AxesRus
http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Axesrus-Daddyo ... ssycts.htm
for £100 complete with scratchplate, pups, controls and wiring loom- you will need to solder the assembly to your existing jackplug. The pups are of a 'vintage' type- you can hear a Shadows type sound sample on the site. I put one of these assemblies into a MIM Strat some time ago and I got the best 'Fender' type sound I've ever had from a Strat ( I've owned four Strats- two US models both of which I was slightly disappointed with)
A cheaper option, although I don't suppose many here would go for it is to get a 'Vintage' base model, although I don't know how compatible the scratchplate screw holes would be with Fender/3rd party Fender products. Has anyone tried this? I have a Vintage V52 Tele which has been professionally set up (frets dressed and new nut cut etc) with Tonerider pups and is probably the best and cheapest guitar I've ever owned. Another option would be to get one of the more expensive Squiers currently available.