Guitar shopping. Decisions are being made... Used Fender Stratocaster....

GC's new prices are pretty slashed out the gate, usually at or around MAP, and you won't get too far haggling on tag prices. You may have luck, however, if it's an item that's been on the display floor for a while. Anything that hangs around more than a sales reporting quarter, they seem more willing to budge some to move it and put something fresh on that wall hook. Used gear, all depends on what they have it it but again, any item that hangs around for a while has a better shot of garnering a "get it outta here" reduction.

Refins are not cheap to execute - in addition to primer, color and clear coat paint you'll need a gravity-feed gun, a compressor, at least a makeshift ventilated spray booth and a buffer of some sort for the best results. They are time-consuming if done right. And they take practice to execute properly - if you want your home-shot daphne blue perfect out the gate, expect to shoot at least a half dozen jobs (probably more like a dozen) to get pro results. Spraying a thin finish and then not burning through it during wetsanding and buffing is both an art and an acquired skill, my friend. Expect to pay anywhere between $250-400 for a good quality daphne blue 60s Fender solid color non-metallic refin on a strat or tele body. Body prep work or lack of needed prep is often a variable that sways pricing (Are you shipping a paint-ready body or a guitar that has to be disassembled and then reassembled? Does an old finish have to be removed? Does it have dents/dings/gashes that need to be filled and prepped first?).

You can buy prefinished bodies all over the internet. Prices are all over the board, as is quality. Do your research before you commit to purchase. The best bang for the buck source IMHO is Allparts. Their prefinished bodies are typically ghost-built by the Tokai factory (Fender Japan) and they are not only stellar but priced VERY fairly for what they are. For what you'd pay for a pro-caliber refin, you get a great slab of superb tonewood that's not cheap in its own right cut perfectly underneath. Here's my most recent Allparts build. This a TV Jones TV Classics demo guitar I threw together for my shop. With the exception of the pickups and the bridge cut specifically for the bridge pickup's footprint, it is entirely Allparts goods. They call this color "candy apple orange."







Before you ask, building something like this in a Fender light blue is well over your $$$ threshold, this is just showing you Allparts paint quality. Also, Allparts doesn't do custom paint on demand, they offer current Tokai production line colors only. If you go to the Allparts website and you see sonic blue, not daphne blue, sonic blue is what they have and nothing else. Don't waste your time or their time asking.

My suggestion is to try and find a cheap, clean high quality pre-finished body (used, blowout, overstock) online from Allparts, Mighty Mite, Warmoth or another reputable source), and then build it up harvesting parts from a used MIM strat you acquire cheap. That's how you'd make something good come together its cheapest.

I've dealt with these guys before too, their stuff is always 100 percent as described. Deal with full confidence.

Fender MIM 50s reissue body in daphne blue

If you can land a Classic Vibe series Squier, they are actually pretty good guitars. The lower line Squiers, however, leave much to be desired.

If five bills is your absolute cap and less than that is preferred, your best bet (actually, your only option from what I see) is probably to continue shopping diligently and patiently for a used MIM or parts guitar or whatever in your color choice as you have been. Best of luck on that!

Those TV Jones pickups are the shite. I just put one in the bridge position of an older guitar of mine, replacing an experiment with some DiMarzios (never again) and I can't get enough. They sound amazing. It's got a coil splitter on the pot and the tonal possibilities are just mind-boggling. It's tempting to switch out all of my humbuckers for them.

BTW.

I want to punch the scrotum of anyone who "relics" a perfectly good Daphne Blue guitar.

If it's just a plain ugly black one or you are trying to make it look like someone's Guitar like "Blackie" or SRV #1 etc. fine. But to just mark up a pristine guitar? How about you play it enough to scuff it up!!?

End tantrum.

quote:

---

Any of you have luck with haggling with GC?

---

I don't believe they haggle any more, last time I purchased an amp from there he said they didn't do that anymore. Have read some forums that confirm it

Yeah it was several years ago they definitely did this but I don't think they do it very often if at all any more. They used to haggle on almost anything

That's the one. Just still want it cheaper. Lol

Guitar center in Houston has one for $540. It still sits because of an unfortunate pickguard choice. Looks like piss gold on that blue.

quote:

---

Pickguards are cheap

---

I know.

Waiting.