Hi y'all, I was wondering what's the word on these strats. There's a site here ( http://www.fenderreissue.com/ ) that praises them but they are selling them as well, so their word is not worth much. Do you see them as collectible and rising in value in the future? They're asking for a lot of money!

https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/
https://www.dirtyfuse.com

I've been pleasantly surprised to see the market value significantly go up on these guitars. They are generally really good guitars. I've got one of the '52 Telecaster reissues from 1982, and it is amazing. I've played (never owned) a lot of the 82-84 strats, and most have been outstanding, some better than others. Hard to say what will happen to values in the future. It's hard for me to get my head around these guitars (and the generally awful 70's models), as being "vintage". I'm more prone to look at them as really good guitars, but I couldn't see collecting them as vintage investments.

Bob

Very interesting!

I'll start by saying that I bought a new 1962 reissue in 1982 and I still have it. I very rarely buy a new guitar but a friend called me and said you gotta come and check out this guitar, I did and loved it and had to take out a loan to buy it. It became my main guitar throughout the 80s. I bought it because it was a great instrument, even when new.

This is the only 'new' strat I own, every other one is 'vintage'. (I call everything made after the 70s new btw)

I have just recently brought it out of retirement and am enjoying playing it again.

Last edited: Apr 06, 2014 00:19:28

Back in 1996 I found one of these for sale (a 1983 model) at a local guitar show, thinking it was a "real" early 1960's Strat since it was on a stand by itself, away from the other for sale guitars and had nice patina with finish checking, a few bumps and bruises here and there and the darker-than-usual neck indicated that it had visited a few smoky bars in it's earlier years. There was no for sale sign on it, so I figured that the shop brought it as a display piece. I gazed at it for a few minutes and walked away to look at some other stuff.

After making the rounds, I wanted to take one last look at the black vintage Strat and to my astonishment, now there was a price tag on it...$700!! I asked the vendor what was the deal, and he said it was an old AVRI. I picked it up to check it out and yep, it had a V01xxxx neck plate. Even though $700 was a lot for a used Strat back then (and this one was pretty well-used) I worked out an even swap for a mid-'70's hardtail Strat I had brought with me to sell or trade. This was one of those "perfect deals" where both parties were ecstatic with the end result.

Now, understand that 18 years ago there was no big demand for early AVRI Fenders, especially at $700 when a brand new one could be had for a grand or even less if you were on good terms with your local mom & pop music store. I didn't know or care that the '82-84 AVRI's were built in the old Fullerton plant. What mattered to me was that this black Strat looked cool as hell and had the perfect neck profile for me. I was years later that the Fullerton made reissues became popular and somewhat collectible to some people. To others, it's just an old reissue guitar that does what it is supposed to do.

But when playing it, it makes me feel pretty good to know where it was born.

Jack Booth
(aka WoodyJ)

The Mariners (1964-68, 1996-2005)
The Hula Hounds (1996-current)
The X-Rays (1997-2004)
The Surge! (2004, 2011-2012)
Various non-surf bands that actually made money (1978-1990)

I have a 82 fender strat. Bought brand new for $250. I'm the original owner and still love it and it's playability. Still sounds great after all these years thru my 72 twin reverb amp

JakeDobner wrote:

The value is only going to keep going up, we even see signs of AVRI's becoming instruments that will only go up in value.

When a large crop of the old farts who grew up in the early sixties start collecting their Medicare, selling their homes for smaller condos or getting a mobile jalopy, next out the door go the Strats that they bought in their 30's to 40's at artificially inflated prices to remind them of their youth.

When that happens, and it will be soon, within the next five years, the market will soon be flooded with Strats built from the mid 50's to early 60's, with prices falling like a rock in a swimming pool. That 35k Strat will be selling for a grand, if that.

The boys n girls in Corona, TJ, and Tokyo assemble better Strats than were ever made in Fullerton. Just look at the technology advances since the early sixties.

After all, an old Strat is really just a couple pieces of commonly found wood, glued together along with some cheap electronics, and put together on an assembly line by non-skilled factory workers; simple as that.

The gotta have vintage is all hype, to keep early made Fenders in demand.

I can say this with some level of expertise because I have a 60 Strat that my folks purchased for me when I was in high school, as well as my 61 Showman and RU. If I had bought the Strat rather than my folks, then it would have been sold a long time ago and replaced with a 60 vintage. Now, it gets sold when the kids carry my old @$$ to the old farts home.

I continue to play several gigs, so, I meet musicians who own U.S. made RI's, as well as MIJ's and MIM Strats. Listening to those guitars, holding them, in comparison to mine, I found there is not much difference, if any, but definitely not worth $15k to $35k more, or whatever over inflated price the pre 60's are selling for.

Most non Squire Strats, with very minor modification, such as different pickups, will sound just as good as any Strat manufactured post 1954. Listen with your ears, not yours eyes from what you have read.

My Showmans, however, are a different story and would never be sold.

IMO, anything made after the last Siver Face went off line around 1978-79 is best used for a boat anchor. The worst sounding SF I ever heard sounded better than any amp Fender has made since Fender became FMI.

Around 1995 I picked up a Tonemaster from Zinky at the Scottsdale plant; he was responsible for making/introducing the new line of amps. I thought it sounded bitchin in comparison to my 61 Showman that had not been used since 1974, the last time I used it.

When playing one of my first gigs around 1996 after a thirty year hiatus from playing, a fellow musician joined us on stage and he brought a 64 Showman. My jaw dropped when I heard the tone. It was bitchin, even better sounding than my 61 Showman. Fortunately, he hated the Showman, so when I reached in my pocket and pulled out $350 right on the spot and said, "wanna sell it," he took it. A few weeks later I sold the piece of crap Tonemaster for about $1500.

Last edited: Jul 03, 2015 14:25:45

Here's a link to a story about the 1982 '62 vintage reissue Fender Stratocaster guitar.

http://martincilia.com/fender-stratocaster-1962-vintage-reissue-fiesta-red-made-in-1982-serial-no-v002729/

guitar wrote:

Very interesting!

I'll start by saying that I bought a new 1962 reissue in 1982 and I still have it. I very rarely buy a new guitar but a friend called me and said you gotta come and check out this guitar, I did and loved it and had to take out a loan to buy it. It became my main guitar throughout the 80s. I bought it because it was a great instrument, even when new.

This is the only 'new' strat I own, every other one is 'vintage'. (I call everything made after the 70s new btw)

I have just recently brought it out of retirement and am enjoying playing it again.

I got one around 83 when they were new mine was a hard tail and one of the best well made guitars that I own over the years, I got it then for around $300 alot of the parts were old Fender stock. this was at the time when Fender was bought by the people who worked at fender so they were making top quality stuff,I would kept it but no whammy bar I think I traded it for a seafoam green strat

Facebook pages theSupertones
or @ Timothy C Sullivan

I think the Fullerton era RI's have peaked for the time being. I am not saying where they go from here. What's interesting is the Corona 62 RI's seem to be becoming more scarce as well as holding/increasing their value. There is nowhere near the same amount listed on ebay 10 years ago. custom colors are fetching decent prices. Let's face it well built guitars are going to be appreciated as long their is a stable economy to support the buying. The AVRI guitars are just freaking awesome in every conceivable way.