Round about route to an eBay question…

vitaminE

Hey guys!

Recently someone posted several clips on You-Tube of The Replacements ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Replacements ) from a very early gig at the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis. Tommy Stinson was 16 at the time and had to get a note from his mom to play the job. These clips from 1981 are absolutely brilliant. Anyway, at the show Bob Stinson, my favorite unconventional guitar hero, is playing what appears to be a copy of a Fender Esquire – I used to own a Fender Japan reissue but that’s another story. Easily influenced by others, I started looking around on eBay for a similar instrument to make my own.

Having never seriously considered buying an instrument from eBay, I came up with the following questions:

How do you know the instrument you’re bidding on isn’t a fake?

It was -5 F. here in northern MN this morning. Is it wise to have a guitar shipped in cold weather?

I’ve had a lot of luck expanding my collection of old hand planes using eBay. Can I expect a similar positive experience when it comes to guitars?

Any insight / advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

1bassleft · Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:47 am Post subject:

Nice to see you back, Toco. I've bought a few instruments off the Fleeb without anything terribly bad happening. It depends on whether you're settling for the Mexican re-issue. Obviously, originals are high-value items and the potential for a frauding increases. If you are willing to put several thousand down for an original, then best to post it up here for others to look over. Most of the RI sales should be legit but, again, post up for an opinion.

I don't think shipping even in such extreme cold will be too much of a major. I'd ask for the strings to be detuned at least a tone and allow for the guitar to stay in its packing in your house 24hrs to acclimatize before unwrapping and having a play. Difficult, when a new toy arrives but it'll prevent the outside chance of a shock to the system
(or your fingers sticking to the strings Laughing

)

lee_UK · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:53 pm Post subject:

Ive had very positive experience buying and selling guitars on ebay, i must have bought 15 over the past couple of years, and ive had 1 bad guitar, a total pile of crap listed as a custom shop strat, it was anything but custom-shop, i phoned him up, drove round to his house and got my money back, but i think he would have paid me back through the official channels if i'd have asked him, but i didn't want to take the chance.
A few rules, make sure the seller has a few sales behind him, i would be very wary of giving money to a '0' feedback ebayer, unless of course i was driving to pick it up and was paying cash.
check out the guitar for sale, ask for a specific photo of it, maybe the guitar facing downwards in the case, this ensures he actually has the guitar in his possession.
Get the serial number and check it against manufacturers websites, if he says he bought it 10 years ago and the s/no checks to be last years model, you know something is up.
Check his feedback from other buyers too.

Have you considered Tokai 1980's telecasters? or maybe the Fender squire Jap JV series from the early 80's? they are excellent guitars.
you can get both for quite reasonable money and both offer excellent investment, and of course they play and sound fantastic, not that i'm a Tokai / Squier fan Laughing

Michael · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:23 pm Post subject:

Use common sense and do some investigative work - you will be fine. Don't buy a 6 grand Fender from a 0 feedback user in China.

vitaminE · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:30 pm Post subject:

lee_UK wrote:

Have you considered Tokai 1980's telecasters? or maybe the Fender squire Jap JV series from the early 80's? they are excellent guitars.
you can get both for quite reasonable money and both offer excellent investment, and of course they play and sound fantastic, not that i'm a Tokai / Squier fan Laughing

My Fender Esquire was a 1985 Jap Reissue. It had one of the fastest necks I've ever played and was a really solid guitar. The problem was the color - it was an awful pale yellow that was officially called butterscotch blonde but looked more like a paint job mistake. Unfortunately, Metal ruled the day and I got rid of it and ended up with a cobalt blue Charvel model 5 - soooo stupid. The Esquire supposedly ended up with the guy from the band Highway 101.

Since posting this question my attention has turned from an Esquire to instead picking up a blue floral Tele with a maple neck and outfitting it with all new black hardware and high-output humbuckers with push / pull coil tap pots; possibly another "soooo stupid" idea.

lee_UK · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:48 pm Post subject:

Blue floral Tele would be a Japanese one, any kind of hacking would be sacrilage. Think of what your grandchildren would say.

vitaminE · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:53 am Post subject:

Take it easy, Lee!

I’m fairly certain that Fender produced a brief run of pink paisley and blue floral Mexican strats and teles at some point in the last couple years. Also, I’d install stacked humbuckers to avoid any serious damage - who could put such a pretty lady under a router?

Geez, it bothers me to find this instrument so appealing.

As for the grandkids; when they enter my music room they’ll be rendered speechless... Wink

1bassleft · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:02 am Post subject:

I've always like the pink paisley but the blue floral does make me think of those awful "Daisy Rock" guitars. Sorry, not Fender's nor your problem but I can't help making that mental association.

vitaminE · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:43 am Post subject:

My fondness for the pink paisley strat that I have and the blue floral tele that I’ve come to covet can be attributed to my early fascination with 3 guitars wielded by 3 of my favorite guitar players:

Jimmy Page’s 1958 “Dragon Telecaster”

Eric Clapton’s “Fool Guitar” SG

and Jimi Hendrix’s Psychedelic Flying V

I always thought those patterns were more like the weird amoebic shapes moving around in the background of an old Jefferson Airplane video than actual flowers. However, after perusing the Daisy Rock site, I’m thinking maybe I should quit mincing about and get a black B.C. Rich Warlock instead.

Michael · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 4:12 am Post subject:

Sure it's floral, but you can't discount it because it reminds you of Daisy Rock. Fender and floral combined does have some cred.

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