Ok, I have a question about STRATosphere on ebaY

[lespaulreedsmith]

Where does he get all those parts? Is he buying guitars himself off ebaY and parting them out? I mean he's got to get that stuff somewhere...
I also see a couple of other guys doing it on ebaY also...
Anybody know? Just curious...

[MikeMcK]

Originally Posted by lespaulreedsmith

Where does he get all those parts? Is he buying guitars himself off ebaY and parting them out? I mean he's got to get that stuff somewhere...
I also see a couple of other guys doing it on ebaY also...
Anybody know? Just curious...

I'm pretty sure that's it... he buys and parts them out, I;ve noticed that whenever he has a body from a rare model, he;s got the neck, too.

[Structo]

Yes and there is Tune O Matic that does the same thing.

I wonder how many vintage guitars are disappearing from the face of the earth by these guys that cannibalize guitars.

Once taken apart, that's another great guitar that won't be sold or played.

I know the bottom line is, that they can make more money by selling the bits and pieces, but I find it morally wrong.
IMHO
YMMV

[Polynitro]

STRATosphere parts out mostly new, massed produced Fenders (although he does sometimes have 80s Fenders, he had a sweet 1988 52TeleRI I was watching), Tune-O-Matic parts out vintage Fenders that will never be made again I find this to be an important difference.

I know a lot of people think parting out a 1950 Broadcaster, 1 of only about 300 made to be the same as parting out a 2007 CIJ Tele but I don't.

[guitardirky]

reliablefender and gibsondependable do the same

[johneeeveee]

Originally Posted by Structo

Yes and there is Tune O Matic that does the same thing.

I wonder how many vintage guitars are disappearing from the face of the earth by these guys that cannibalize guitars.

Once taken apart, that's another great guitar that won't be sold or played.

I know the bottom line is, that they can make more money by selling the bits and pieces, but I find it morally wrong.
IMHO
YMMV

I understand, but have a hard time with it too.
One thing I've noticed is that whenever there is, say, a '57 fender neck plate for sale, it's almost always said to have come from a '57 Strat, and not the '57 Musicmaster that it may have come from. I find that morally wrong, if someone were to misrepresent a part like that, with no way of anyone knowing. With that said, there are probably lots of "all original" vintage pieces floating around as a result, that are actually more frankenstein than they appear.

[Boris Bubbanov]

Most everybody has seen how Musicians Friend has or had a "blem" or "scratch and dent" segment on their site. I think these guitars are primarily returns, and MF decided simply not to sell them as normal new inventory. This is how they got rid of them - they may be calling them used now; I don't know.

Meanwhile many high end dealers simply will not accept a guitar from Fender that does not meet their standards. The most important thing, to this dealer is their reputation or integrity and they simply won't let certain guitars go out the front door.
OK. So you tell Fender you're shipping the meh (maybe just model overstock) guitars back, and Fender says: "Stop. A man with a truck will arrive on Tuesday; just give those guitars to him. Get his signature and we'll send a fax, confirming you're released from those guitars."

Then the guitar shows up in pieces on e-bay at Stratosphere. The operation is just too darned big for there not to be some direct or indirect involvement with the manufacturer. The small number of used or 'reliced' parts they sell - just smoke. The patterns, where large numbers of hit-or-miss guitar model parts suddenly flood in ( 10 Jeff Becks, 10 Yngwies and 75 Highway Ones but zero Classic 50 Esquires), are too distinct. This is not a random, free market selection process in any way. I'm sure they win batches of guitars at auctions for defunct guitar shops, as well. And I guess there are a few models that simply sell well or sell used so close to usual retail, that these don't get parted out. While seemingly all bolt neck guitars are worth more parted out than whole, some are worth a little more and some are worth way way more.

[Speed_Racer71]

[strat56]

Come on guys, it's just a guitar. It's a product manufactured on an assembly line. There is nothing right or wrong about parting out a guitar. It's the same as parting out a car or a motorcycle IMHO.

If it bothers you then you should be upset with Fender not the person parting out guitars. If Fender would sell necks and bodies as replacement parts there would be no market for these guys to do what they're doing. We all know when it comes to resale a guitar with real Fender parts has more value than a guitar with Warmoth or AllParts parts.

I bought a 52 Reissue and decided I didn't like the neck, I liked the neck on my Deluxe Tele. I couldn't buy a Deluxe Tele neck from Fender to replace the neck on my 52 so I bought one from one of these guys on eBay. If I could've bought a Fender neck from Fender with a Fender decal, didn't care about the serial number, just wanted a real Fender neck, I would've bought it from Fender.

I understand the whole knock off thing, but I don't think people are knocking off 2009 Fender American Standard guitars and I'm sure there is a way that Fender can do something to prevent unscrupulous people from buying some Fender parts and making guitars and selling them as real Fenders.

[tim gueguen]

Fender did in fact offer replacement necks for several years but discontinued them. I would imagine they didn't sell well enough.

[Joe F]

Fender's replacement bodies were marked as replacement. I don't know if they did that with the necks, but I would assume they did, FYI.

Fender for example makes tens of thousands of guitars a month. Just like anything, there are over-runs, cancelled orders, inventory caches, stores that go under, etc. There are outlets that will buy all that stuff up. Parting them out probably is the result of them findings the best way to get ROI. If enough people wanted to buy the guitars whole, they would not bother. I got a Fender VG body from Stratospeher/ReliableFender and I am really glad - I hate the stock neck and didn't want to pay for it, even at the VG closeout prices. So now I don't have a neck on my hands that I would have to try to sell or just give away.

As for parting out vintage stuff - well, that's unfortunate in my opinion, but they make more money that way I presume.

[stevieboy]

Originally Posted by tim gueguen

Fender did in fact offer replacement necks for several years but discontinued them. I would imagine they didn't sell well enough.

Only a very few choices, though, IIRC one version of a RW board strat neck, a maple board strat, and a maple board tele, no variation in profile, radius, frets, etc. I think they may have discontinued them when they realized they were contributing to and encouraging the making of parts guitars, which they were fighting at the time

I do think the sellers get at least some of them somehow directly or indirectly from Fender as Boris says. I have absolutely no problem with it. Never bought anything, but I wouldn't rule it out, nice to know I could. Makes the parts available for people who want them, and they'll make more--and pay people to do so. Who loses?


Vintage guitars, on the other hand...

[burner]

I don't have a problem with it at all, and in fact I appreciate the fact that there is a good sourse for these parts since the manufacturer won't sell them.

Now, I certainly do not like the idea of parting out vintage guitars just to increase profit.
On the other hand I believe those instruments are meant to be played rather than sit in a showcase.
If you wanna' swap necks, bodies,pickups, etc. for their performance qualities then that doesn't bother me at all regardless of the "collectability" of the guitar because I'd rather see them being used to make music than remain pristine but unplayed.
If a guy wants to scallop the neck on his '54 Strat, or add a Floyd Rose because it helps his performance, I say go for it!
The biggest crime to vintage guitars is treating them like untouchable and collectable artwork rather than musical instruments.
That's what I think.

[LZ_69]

Originally Posted by strat56

Come on guys, it's just a guitar. It's a product manufactured on an assembly line. There is nothing right or wrong about parting out a guitar. It's the same as parting out a car or a motorcycle IMHO.

If it bothers you then you should be upset with Fender not the person parting out guitars. If Fender would sell necks and bodies as replacement parts there would be no market for these guys to do what they're doing. We all know when it comes to resale a guitar with real Fender parts has more value than a guitar with Warmoth or AllParts parts.

I bought a 52 Reissue and decided I didn't like the neck, I liked the neck on my Deluxe Tele. I couldn't buy a Deluxe Tele neck from Fender to replace the neck on my 52 so I bought one from one of these guys on eBay. If I could've bought a Fender neck from Fender with a Fender decal, didn't care about the serial number, just wanted a real Fender neck, I would've bought it from Fender.

I understand the whole knock off thing, but I don't think people are knocking off 2009 Fender American Standard guitars and I'm sure there is a way that Fender can do something to prevent unscrupulous people from buying some Fender parts and making guitars and selling them as real Fenders.

I hate people that part out cars and motorcycles; when repairable, too...

[LZ_69]

Originally Posted by tim gueguen

Fender did in fact offer replacement necks for several years but discontinued them. I would imagine they didn't sell well enough.

They probably got tired of people selling factory logo'ed parts-casters on ebay.