synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4557
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Mar 08 2023 11:13 AM
Tqi wrote:
edwardsand wrote:
And now you can get a Squier Jaguar for close to the original price of a Fender Jaguar, and that is not adjusted for inflation.
Yep, and while QC is an issue, it's generally pretty great! Now if only we could get a Dual Showman for $600 new.
Hmmm. A C15N is $120, so $240. Could Fender build a FET based Showman clone and cabinets for $360? I mean a Champion 100 all-in is only $400, surely it must be possible... And that's before we consider Fender being able to do rather better than RRP-for-a-brand-name-Jensen on a pair of 15" drivers...
That's now my Fender wishlist item for 2023. A fully FET-based replacement for a 6G14 Showman, with a 2x15 cab. Chat do you think my chances are? ;)
The two Squiers I own are surprisingly good. No one is more surprised than I.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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DaveMudgett
Joined: Mar 17, 2019
Posts: 162
Central PA
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Posted on Mar 08 2023 10:35 PM
I started playing guitar in 1967 after a bunch of years of classical piano. My first guitar was a violin-shaped solidbody Kawai with 2 pickups. $39.99 at Boston Music, on Boylston St. I worked full-time summers on a tobacco farm in Western Mass, and was allowed to spend that much of my own money.
A couple of years later, I got a white with red-tortoise guard '65 Mustang for $85 from a Japanese grad student at MIT. I assure you, that was stylin' and profilin' where I was. The only people I knew who bought new Fenders at this time were people whose parents had real money. I mean, even a new Mustang was $202 at the time, and Teles, Strats, Jazzmasters, and Jaguars were even increasingly more expensive. I mean, $400 was around my entire earnings for an entire summer's full-time work in 1967, before taxes. By the time I got that Mustang, I was making more money working (still in high school), but there was no way most normal middle-class people could fathom paying that kind of money for a guitar for a teenager. People could get a pretty decent used car for that kind of money back then. A pretty decent brand new car could be had for around $1500-2000.
In December 2022, I got a brand new Squier Classic Vibe 60s Jazzmaster and a 70s Jaguar for $279.99 each. In December 1967 dollars, that is $31.98. The Jazzmaster is stellar, the Jag is good but the pickups squealed. Still, I woulda' killed for a guitar of the quality of either of them for that kind of '67-dollars money at the time. At the same time, I also picked up an open-box Paranormal Cyclone (Mustang body and pots, Strat pickups and trem, Jaguar-style switching, 24-3/4" scale length) for $200. Blows my old Mustang away in every way. OK, I guess you could quibble about the poly vs. nitro finish and the fretboard is not Brazilian rosewood - it's not even rosewood - yawn.
IMO, a lot of people in the US have no idea how good they have it now. Everything synchro and edwardsand said is exactly the way I saw things at the time. Disposable income was real tight for even middle-class people back then. Nothing like cable TV, computers, internet, streaming audio/vidio, cell phones, or anything like that to drain your wallet either. Credit cards? Are you kidding? Cash on the barrelhead unless you were really serious and could get someone to sign a note or do a payment plan. Our parents and grandparents were survivors of the Great Depression, WWII, and the Korean war. They could squeeze a nickel until it bled.
— The Delverados - surf, punk, trash, twang - Facebook
Chicken Tractor Deluxe - hardcore Americana - Facebook and Website
The Telegrassers - semi-electric bluegrass/Americana - Facebook
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DaveMudgett
Joined: Mar 17, 2019
Posts: 162
Central PA
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Posted on Mar 08 2023 11:07 PM
And hey - if you think the guitar prices are high, look at the pedal steel guitar prices - I play pedal steel now. Couldn't even think about it back then, way too much money. In 1963, $1000 for a double-8 Fender 1000, and $400 for even the cheapest 4-pedal 8-string Fender 400. Neither had any knee levers. You can buy a brand new, fully capable, all-pull, single-10 pedal steel with 3 pedals and 4 knee levers for $1600 in January 2023 dollars. That's about $163 in January 1963 dollars. Not exactly cheap, but nothing like a Jag, Fender 400, or Fender 1000 back then.
— The Delverados - surf, punk, trash, twang - Facebook
Chicken Tractor Deluxe - hardcore Americana - Facebook and Website
The Telegrassers - semi-electric bluegrass/Americana - Facebook
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