Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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graceless
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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by graceless » Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:45 am

Yes. Here is the offer history and subsequent price increase.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by northern_dirt » Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:10 pm

adamrobertt wrote:
Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:22 am

I've seen that Mustangs tend to be $2500 to $3500 depending on year, color, and condition. Are Coronados worth looking into? They might be affordable...
They pop up for $1500-$2000..
I wouldn't pay more than $1000..
I did pay $300 for a 64 in the 90s.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Mechanical Birds » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:10 pm

Coronado’s are like the last frontier of Vintage Fender deals to be had. Mustangs were teetering on the edge for a while and have mostly left the station by now. There are lots of sub-$2,000 Coronado’s out there and a lot of them look like incredible guitars. If I could find a LPB one with the pearloid Rotomatics and tremolo I’d go hard for it. There’s a Wildwood on reverb for like $1,500 right now that looks awesome.

Obviously they aren’t offsets but by and large occupy that space a lot more than they do with a Strat or whatever. The rejection of establishment norms kick, the undervalued by dads kick, the cool tremolo kick, unique sounds kick, etc. really feels like something I should jump on before it’s 5 years from now and I’m on here complaining about how I didn’t strike when I had the chance.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Highnumbers » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:44 pm

Mechanical Birds wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:10 pm
Coronado’s are like the last frontier of Vintage Fender deals to be had.
True, but they're also the least "Fender-like" of all the Fender models. They share more in common with Guild, Gibson and Rickenbacker than anything else in the Fender lineup. But if you want a custom color, that's a fairly inexpensive way to get there.

In my humble opinion, the best buys out there are 50s Musicmaster and Duosonic models. The last affordable 50s Fender models, and often available under $2K (for now...)

Also, as cool as a Mustang is, I'm not fond of the vibrato. So a pre-CBS Duosonic II is appealing as basically a hardtail Mustang.

Some CBS stuff is still somewhat of a bargain. Even the Electric XII (while creeping in price) is a pretty good buy at $3,500 or so. Or the Fender Bronco... they're still cheap and they're offsets.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by smjenkins » Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:48 pm

You can still find some 60's Broncos for ~$1500.

https://reverb.com/item/39415106-used-f ... uitars-red

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Mechanical Birds » Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:38 am

Yeah I really wanna try one. Never had the chance sadly

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Con-Tiki! » Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:34 pm

smjenkins wrote:
Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:32 pm
That Rick 381 is something special. I can't believe someone would look at that guitar and think "I'm going to sell it for parts".
the weirdest part, is that you'd have to own another incomplete 381 to be a buyer.
just an odd choice.
those two parted out a ton of Supro/National/Airline guitars a couple years ago which didn't make sense either.
(Christopher, also)
I've been to one World's Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing i ever heard come out a pair of headphones.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by graceless » Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:42 pm

Maybe they are dis-assembling them, photographing them, and seeing if a big part 'sells' before committing to selling the rest as parts. And in the meantime, they get to enjoy the complete guitar before, say, someone buys the pickups or neck, at which point they push on selling the rest.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by cestlamort » Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:28 pm

graceless wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:42 pm
And in the meantime, they get to enjoy the complete guitar
Sadly, I think that plays no part whatsoever in what they do.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by HedonismBot » Fri Mar 19, 2021 8:24 pm

Just saw this on E-Bay (not affiliated). Not exactly cheap, but relatively affordable (for a CompStang):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1973-Fender-Mu ... 0033.m2042

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by mcatano » Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:36 pm

Highnumbers wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:44 pm
Mechanical Birds wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:10 pm
Coronado’s are like the last frontier of Vintage Fender deals to be had.
True, but they're also the least "Fender-like" of all the Fender models. They share more in common with Guild, Gibson and Rickenbacker than anything else in the Fender lineup. But if you want a custom color, that's a fairly inexpensive way to get there.

In my humble opinion, the best buys out there are 50s Musicmaster and Duosonic models. The last affordable 50s Fender models, and often available under $2K (for now...)

Also, as cool as a Mustang is, I'm not fond of the vibrato. So a pre-CBS Duosonic II is appealing as basically a hardtail Mustang.

Some CBS stuff is still somewhat of a bargain. Even the Electric XII (while creeping in price) is a pretty good buy at $3,500 or so. Or the Fender Bronco... they're still cheap and they're offsets.

If you're interested in a coronado you're way better off getting one of the reissues. The vintage ones are problematic—the dearmonds are at best "not fendery" and at worst "awful" (depending on who you ask), the fully-hollow construction means they feedback like crazy at stage volume, and the bridges are only held on by string pressure. The new ones seem like actually quite nice guitars.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Highnumbers » Sat Mar 20, 2021 5:00 pm

Con-Tiki! wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:34 pm
smjenkins wrote:
Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:32 pm
That Rick 381 is something special. I can't believe someone would look at that guitar and think "I'm going to sell it for parts".
the weirdest part, is that you'd have to own another incomplete 381 to be a buyer.
just an odd choice.
those two parted out a ton of Supro/National/Airline guitars a couple years ago which didn't make sense either.
Only the pickguard, case and pickups are unique to a 381, all the other parts are shared across a broad range of Rickenbacker models. And Rickenbacker parts are very hard to find. So it’s even more surprising that I was able to win the bid on all of these parts. Luck, I guess.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Lost In Autumn » Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:52 am

mcatano wrote:
Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:36 pm
Highnumbers wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:44 pm
Mechanical Birds wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 1:10 pm
Coronado’s are like the last frontier of Vintage Fender deals to be had.
True, but they're also the least "Fender-like" of all the Fender models. They share more in common with Guild, Gibson and Rickenbacker than anything else in the Fender lineup. But if you want a custom color, that's a fairly inexpensive way to get there.

In my humble opinion, the best buys out there are 50s Musicmaster and Duosonic models. The last affordable 50s Fender models, and often available under $2K (for now...)

Also, as cool as a Mustang is, I'm not fond of the vibrato. So a pre-CBS Duosonic II is appealing as basically a hardtail Mustang.

Some CBS stuff is still somewhat of a bargain. Even the Electric XII (while creeping in price) is a pretty good buy at $3,500 or so. Or the Fender Bronco... they're still cheap and they're offsets.

If you're interested in a coronado you're way better off getting one of the reissues. The vintage ones are problematic—the dearmonds are at best "not fendery" and at worst "awful" (depending on who you ask), the fully-hollow construction means they feedback like crazy at stage volume, and the bridges are only held on by string pressure. The new ones seem like actually quite nice guitars.
I had a '67 Coronado XII back in the 90's, I gigged and recorded with it extensively. It was a fantastic guitar in every respect. I looked into buying a coronado reissue a couple of years ago, when I was getting back into playing. The fact that I hadn't even touched a guitar in 7 years may have been a factor, but I found the reissue to be damn near unplayable.I couldn't get on with the neck, which had one of the most awkward profiles I'd ever encountered- I have very large hands & I can play damn near any neck, but this one was awful. Theres a reason there's not much demand for them on the used market: they're terrible.

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by graceless » Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:35 am

Have I lost my mind...a refin '58 for 13k

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Re: Cheapest way into a vintage offset?

Post by Axolotl » Fri Apr 02, 2021 3:25 am

Hold my beer...
(it's a refin too)

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