Fender, this doesnt make sense...

[mslugano]

Originally Posted by djg714

I'm not afraid of buying from quality online retailers.

Completely. I haven't bought a guitar I played first for probably 15 years. Not all were complete winners but I bought respectable guitars that I could sell for at least what I paid. My number 1 and close number 2 were both Suhrs and were both bought before laying a hand on them.

[Tuco]

It seems to me that a decent compromise would be to buy the one at your dealer, and then later when you can afford it, have someone refinish it for you.

[scr@tchy]

Originally Posted by Rumblur

$5000 for a Strat is INSANE. If Leo himself could come back from the grave and make me one with his own two hands, I wouldnt pay 5G's. Period.

You can NOT tell me that CS piece is $3500 better than the BEST piece of wood Warmoth has in it's possession, the BEST pickups your choice of winders can make, the BEST neck, and the BEST hardware etc. Even if you sent it to Dan Erlewine for assembly and setup, you're still looking at MAYBE two grand, am I right?

You can buy a bootleg Fender decal for $15-35 all day long. Same for the CS logo if that floats your boat.

I would.

[scr@tchy]

Originally Posted by Rumblur

$5000 for a Strat is INSANE. If Leo himself could come back from the grave and make me one with his own two hands, I wouldnt pay 5G's. Period.

You can NOT tell me that CS piece is $3500 better than the BEST piece of wood Warmoth has in it's possession, the BEST pickups your choice of winders can make, the BEST neck, and the BEST hardware etc. Even if you sent it to Dan Erlewine for assembly and setup, you're still looking at MAYBE two grand, am I right?

You can buy a bootleg Fender decal for $15-35 all day long. Same for the CS logo if that floats your boat.

I would.

[jrmgtrplyr]

For those who don't know who the relic is aimed at, it was aimed at Keith Richards. I believe the story was something like Keith did not want to take his prized vintage guitars out on tour anymore and spoke with the guys at Fender and said I can't find any "new" guitars that play and feel as good as my worn in old guitars. From there Fender created the relic for Keith and realized he was on to something with that fact that sometimes "new" guitars feel stiff and unbroken in so to speak. I own two relic's a Strat and a Tele and I love them both (both are really closer to closet classic condition even though sold as relic) I honestly can say that some amount of relicing can make a huge difference on the feel of playing the guitar. I also agree that many of the Heavy relics go to far and look bad, but again to each his own and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The increased price for a special order is mostly due to it being a special order so they have to interrupt their normal day to build something special and that is why custom orders, even if similar specs as normal runs will cost way more money. In my opinion unless you are doing something truly crazy original as a 1 off, I would just look around there are a lot of shops that have done special custom shop runs that might cover the bases you are looking for with not as big a price jump.

[52ftbuddha]

This is one of the strangest threads I have seen in a while. I think all the discussion about the expense of relic vs. nos. misses the point. The OP states
"note: I dont make much money and I need to make use of the stores finance program."
followed by
"Fender, throw me bone. Its says on the site "CustomShop- when youre ready"
Well Im ready, now work with me"
You don't have any money and you want a custom shop guitar? Why wouldn't they charge you what they want. This has little do with fender and a lot to do with not having any money. In all honesty I think the dealer must like you. In an economy when many are out of work and lenders are thin on the ground I am amazed that you would want to HP retail goods. Not a good or smart move at the best of times. Do yourself a favor follow what some of the others have said about putting some money into the guitar you have.
To take fenders ad, you are not ready you don't have the money.
rob

[bluesjuke]

Originally Posted by K-Line

From my point of view....when I do a non relic, it is considerable more work. Doing an all nitro finish, thin, is a hard thing to get right. Relicing, once you find our formula, is not very time consuming at all. And, you do not have to be care ful with the finish.

John Page said doing a relic was nice in that they could do a beneficial thin finish but didn't have the worry of the labor of perfection in doing so.

[rhinocaster]

Originally Posted by jrmgtrplyr

For those who don't know who the relic is aimed at, it was aimed at Keith Richards. I believe the story was something like Keith did not want to take his prized vintage guitars out on tour anymore and spoke with the guys at Fender and said I can't find any "new" guitars that play and feel as good as my worn in old guitars. From there Fender created the relic for Keith and realized he was on to something with that fact that sometimes "new" guitars feel stiff and unbroken in so to speak. I own two relic's a Strat and a Tele and I love them both (both are really closer to closet classic condition even though sold as relic) I honestly can say that some amount of relicing can make a huge difference on the feel of playing the guitar. I also agree that many of the Heavy relics go to far and look bad, but again to each his own and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The increased price for a special order is mostly due to it being a special order so they have to interrupt their normal day to build something special and that is why custom orders, even if similar specs as normal runs will cost way more money. In my opinion unless you are doing something truly crazy original as a 1 off, I would just look around there are a lot of shops that have done special custom shop runs that might cover the bases you are looking for with not as big a price jump.

The whole Keith Richards story is fabricated. He had nothing to do with the beginnings of relics.

We need a sticky on TGP for this. It'd be nice if the myth didn't continue to spread here.

[sinner]

Ordering one up is still an unplayed untried out guitar, a shot in the dark. You take the same chances buying over the internet with a good return policy trial period. Sure, you would be out the shipping but that's cheaper than paying for a Custom Order, then waiting some months and getting a clunker. I know, I've been there.

[grateful.ed]

Originally Posted by 52ftbuddha

This is one of the strangest threads I have seen in a while. I think all the discussion about the expense of relic vs. nos. misses the point. The OP states
"note: I dont make much money and I need to make use of the stores finance program."
followed by
"Fender, throw me bone. Its says on the site "CustomShop- when youre ready"
Well Im ready, now work with me"
You don't have any money and you want a custom shop guitar? Why wouldn't they charge you what they want. This has little do with fender and a lot to do with not having any money. In all honesty I think the dealer must like you. In an economy when many are out of work and lenders are thin on the ground I am amazed that you would want to HP retail goods. Not a good or smart move at the best of times. Do yourself a favor follow what some of the others have said about putting some money into the guitar you have.
To take fenders ad, you are not ready you don't have the money.
rob

I'm just guessing, but I would think lots of people buying high end guitars finance at least part of it though stores' finance programs or cc's

[deflep]

I bought a fender custom shop heavy relic 59 Tele from Guitar Center platinum over the internet.

Verdict. It was under 3K, I got 0% financing for year and the guitar feels and plays amazing.

I look at the relic as just a finish option.

[Chicken_feed]

It's ridiculous that guitars cost that much.
I know a certain well-known Cajun guitarmaker who told me how much it costs to build a guitar.
Mind you, his guitars blow away anything put out by Fender. And even his finest guitars don't cost that much. I can't say how much, but there's an immense markup on those items.
Mind you, he doesn't enjoy economies of scale and doesn't move the amount of guitars that Fender does, so his markup is justified, at least in my mind.
But there's NO REASON any Fender guitar has to be priced over $2K.

[buddastrat]

Originally Posted by Chicken_feed

It's ridiculous that guitars cost that much.
I know a certain well-known Cajun guitarmaker who told me how much it costs to build a guitar.
Mind you, his guitars blow away anything put out by Fender. And even his finest guitars don't cost that much. I can't say how much, but there's an immense markup on those items.
Mind you, he doesn't enjoy economies of scale and doesn't move the amount of guitars that Fender does, so his markup is justified, at least in my mind.
But there's NO REASON any Fender guitar has to be priced over $2K.

Yeah but none of that matters. They don't need a reason to justify their price. You saying it's ridiculous that they cost that much. You should say, it's ridiculous that folks buy them at that price. They're the ones creating that pricing for Fender.

From Fender, I've seen so many "relics costs more because it's more labor intensive" to " a NOS costs more because the extra coats and finishing". How can both ways cost more than each other!? Has to be one or the other. All we can do is either buy or not buy.

To Fender, it doesn't have to make sense, just has to make cent$.

[BEACHBUM]

Cosmetics and electronics aside a Strat is a Strat and a Tele is a Tele. Even $1500 is a stretch in my mind. Anything above that becomes a matter of diminishing returns.

[sksmith66]

Originally Posted by Chicken_feed

It's ridiculous that guitars cost that much.
I know a certain well-known Cajun guitarmaker who told me how much it costs to build a guitar.
Mind you, his guitars blow away anything put out by Fender. And even his finest guitars don't cost that much. I can't say how much, but there's an immense markup on those items.
Mind you, he doesn't enjoy economies of scale and doesn't move the amount of guitars that Fender does, so his markup is justified, at least in my mind.
But there's NO REASON any Fender guitar has to be priced over $2K.

yeah... building a guitar is cheap as shit if you are willing to do it for $2 an hour. how the hell do you think the asian manufacturers are turning out pretty decent guitars for $300? what exactly do you think you are paying for when you buy a guitar? unless you are talking about some specialty parts it's $100 worth of wood, $50 worth of electronics, $50 worth of hardware and some guitar builders time. some builders time is worth a few dollars an hour and some builders time is worth a few hundred and hour. some people's time is highly valuable.

hell I don't feel like a decent plumber is worth $100 an hour so I do my own plumbing work...