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I agree with Robb and Ivan - this has been an interesting history
lesson and mental exercise! To throw my two cents in there, here's
the economics portion of the course (I know, I know, but bear with me
here . . . ) Brian brings up an excellent point about the relative
costs of things, then vs. now - you really need to "do the math" and
apply the Consumer Price Index (CPI) (at least here in the US) to
take the time value of money into account. There are a lot of good
CPI calculators out there on the Internet that let you plug in the
original year and the amount, and convert to today's dollar. Here's
the web address of one of them:
Using Robb's example, the Strat bought in 1961 for $130 - $180 would
now cost $780 - $1,080 . . . not too far from current pricing, huh?
If the Jazzmaster cost $300 in 1961, it would be the equivalent of
$1,799 today - makes those AV reissues seem like a bargain, doesn't
it? At least that's what I tell myself when I look at the RI Jags!
I remember seeing a '65 Jag (I think that's the year) on ebay, and
the seller had a copy of the original receipt - it was $350 or so.
That would be about $1,992 in 2002 dollars! To me, that's a lot of
money! But it still makes the pricing on the AV's look not too
bad . . .
I guess the point is, Fender never gave these things away. On the
good side, the relative pricing has stayed about the same, and in
somes they are more "affordable" than they used to be. Well, that's
enough for today's econ lesson - another good thing is that there is
no homework this weekend!
I've probably rambled on too long, but then again, $.02 in 1961 would
be about $.11 in 2002 . . . have a great weekend guys!
-Dick
