Non-CS Fenders now over $3,000

la szum said:
I was told this exact thing about an Aerodyne I bought and now I love it. Weird!

I tend to gravitate towards 50's era/style necks that are on the fatter and wider side.

I just love the MIJ attention to detail. That Japanese aesthetic is something that I
really dig.
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Absolutely. I've had a few mij les Pauls now, they've all been really well made and all had features you have to go to the custom shop to get stock with gibson. It's predominantly been the Fender mij necks I've found to be too thin for me. The odd thing is a lot of Fender japan stuff is made by fujigen and I like the necks on most of the les paul models I've tried by them.
 
SillyOctpuss said:
Absolutely. I've had a few mij les Pauls now, they've all been really well made and all had features you have to go to the custom shop to get stock with gibson. It's predominantly been the Fender mij necks I've found to be too thin for me. The odd thing is a lot of Fender japan stuff is made by fujigen and I like the necks on most of the les paul models I've tried by them.
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I hadn't played an MIJ Aerodyne and solicited opinions. I live in a place where I cannot
try before I buy, so it is always a roll of the dice. I held off because of the thinner neck.
Until I didn't hold off any longer. I couldn't be more impressed with the Aerodyne. :chef

It doesn't have the ass or heft (tonally) of a Les Paul, but damn is it a fun and
easy guitar to play. :beer

Now I want more MIJ axes. :LOL:
 
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la szum said:
I hadn't played an MIJ Aerodyne and solicited opinions. I live in a place where I cannot
try before I buy, so it is always a roll of the dice. I held off because of the thinner neck.
Until I didn't hold off any longer. I couldn't be more impressed with the Aerodyne.

It doesn't have the ass or heft (tonally) of a Les Paul, but damn is it a fun and
easy guitar to play. :beer

Now I want more MIJ axes. :LOL:
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Me too. I've got my eye on a new tokai gold top. It's working out cheaper to order brand new direct from Japan than buying the same model used in the UK.
 
I went shopping for a Tele a couple of weeks ago. I thought I wanted one because Julian Lage has one.

I tried every Tele in two stores. From cheapest to dearest.

I didn't like any of them and walked away with nothing. Pretty disillusioned after.

Turns out Lage's Tele isn't even a Tele. It's a Nachocaster. And I can't help but feel if I bought a Tele-esque from my favourite brand, Schecter, it would probably smoke any Fender.

I haven't tried every Fender out there and can obviously be proven wrong but it just feels to me like Fender have rested on their laurels because they know their name sells.
 
There is some BS in this thread.
Fender makes better guitars today than it ever did. They are the most successful guitar company on the planet . Their budget models are the best value you can buy in terms of spec versus cash. If you don’t like them don’t buy them but BS about quality and value is exactly that BS.
 
Eagle said:
There is some BS in this thread.
Fender makes better guitars today than it ever did. They are the most successful guitar company on the planet . Their budget models are the best value you can buy in terms of spec versus cash. If you don’t like them don’t buy them but BS about quality and value is exactly that BS.
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Also: an American Standard Strat back in '91/'92 was around $900. The internet tells me that $900 1991 dollars is a hair over $2000 2024 dollars. An American Professional Strat is $1800. EDIT: perhaps my memory is off -- the internet is also telling me that an American Standard Strat was closer to $600 in '94, which is like $1300-ish in today dollars.

My hot take:

(1). Fender shoots themselves in the foot by only raising their prices like every 4 or 5 years in big jumps rather than little by little every year.

(2). I'm guessing when folks say "not that long ago" in this thread, they're talking, like SillyOctopus, about the early 2000s. Which was twenty years ago. Getting old sucks.
 
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The current Ultras are VERY NICE guitars. I regret not buying the one I tried in the store when they were lower priced. ..
 
One of my current favorite guitars started its life as a MIJ Squier from '86. I paid $100 for it around 12 or 13 yrs ago. I've since refretted and changed some hardware and of course pickups. I love Fender stuff but there's very little chance I'll ever buy one pushing $3K. It would have to be pretty dang special. I love my partscasters too -- in the end they play just as well if not better than something costing 4 times as much.
 
Boudoir Guitar said:
Also: an American Standard Strat back in '91/'92 was around $900. The internet tells me that $900 1991 dollars is a hair over $2000 2024 dollars. An American Professional Strat is $1800. EDIT: perhaps my memory is off -- the internet is also telling me that an American Standard Strat was closer to $600 in '94, which is like $1300-ish in today dollars.

My hot take:

(1). Fender shoots themselves in the foot by only raising their prices like every 4 or 5 years in big jumps rather than little by little every year.

(2). I'm guessing when folks say "not that long ago" in this thread, they're talking, like SillyOctopus, about the early 2000s. Which was twenty years ago. Getting old sucks.
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I just looked up what I paid for my Kiesel Aries AM7 in 2016, what that would be adjusted for inflation, and what they cost now for the same spec since it was easy to replicate in Kiesel's builder.

The price increase was around $300, but not accounting for inflation it's more like $900.

Looking at the US inflation rate, in 2021 it almost doubled, then 10% more in both 2022 and 2023. Probably the same around the world.

Accounting for inflation, a good number of my "bought used in the early 2000s for what I thought was a good price" guitars are now $1-2K guitars.
 
The American standard strat was £450 in 1987 ten years later it was £599 ten years after that £699. The guitar has also become considerably better over the years. The original AmStd was pretty much identical to the Mexican Player give or take a walnut plug and a Korean made trem and guess what those are £549 typical nearly 40 years later.
 
Oh and high end Fenders is a relatively new thing. Two or three signature models and a very small number of custom shop models was standard for Corona up to 2000 and CBS didnt make anything. Specs and details are definitely a step up on the more expensive models and custom shop models can take easily three or four times longer to make.
 
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