Fender's Bender?
 

Let's talk about these fender heavy relic stratocasters. they are classic american strats with a worn paint finish, aged hardware, custom 1969 pickups, and cigarette burns on the headstock. they were built to recreate the national anthem played at woodstock by jimi hendrix. they are descent guitar, they play beautifully, but i really dont think they are worth the retail price of $4000.


Opinions?

no one ever buys a highly detailed custom finish guitar for the tone. it's a status symbol first, musical instrument second.

it's also a hell of a lot cheaper than the EVH frankenstein replica.

For me, any fender not built to be played, is synonymous with failure.

As such, I will never own a custom shop fender, regardless how rich I ever become. The only exception would be as Mr Dave said, to take advantage of collectors value.

just to add a little clarification. i don't mean any custom or signature guitar is necessarily bad. most of the name guitars are worthwhile.

the problem occurs when it goes from being a guitar setup like a recognizable guitarist's (eric clapton for example) to being a replica (like the 'hendrix' strat)

I'm one of the people under that "complete bullsh!t" mentality. I saw in GuitarCenter's catalog they had an SRV replica priced at $17,000.

Replica. $17K. Shenanigans.

it's still cheaper than the EVH haha

Buy EVH Eddie Van Halen Frankenstein Replica Electric Guitar

Whoever that purchases this guitar is a dumbass...

I owned a Fender Closet Classic for a couple of months before finally selling it... I really did love the guitar but psychologically I couldn't get past the fact the guitar was built to look like it was already beat up and I spent $2000 on it. Plus I was younger and kind of needed the money, one day I would like to get a nice Fender that looks brand new so I can beat it up :)

Also, Mr. Dave... the $100 Rondo Special is playing beautifully still, been recording a lot with it :)

great to hear hehe, was kind of curious about how that ultra cheapy was working out hehe.

and i'm totally with you on wearing down the instrument yourself. the first dings in my strat kind of bugged me (even if it's just a mexican) but now they're starting to give it character hehe

just a side note... that EVH guitar was a very limited production run 200-300 max. you'd still have to be a super cheese ball yuppie to get one though.

I've never understood why anyone would pay huge amounts of money for a new guitar that looks beaten up.
Pay much less and hit the used guitar part of any music store or hock shop and get the "Real Deal" - something with genuine class. Bear in mind, the older the wood, the better the tone.