blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!
Not that much. A lot of the signature Strats were $1,300 last year and are $2,000 this year. Over a 50% increase in the total price of the guitar? That means they'd be paying about a grand for one guitar's wood (and that's after all the quantity discounts they've negotiated). That's a bit hard to believe, and we're not talking about extremely rare endangered exotic species worth their weight in gold, for Strat lumber. We're talking about models that have been had for over 50 years, in huge quantities, and the machinery's long since been pair for. Unit costs are low these days.
You can make up all the excuses you want for them (or Gibson), but their costs haven't gone up anywhere near that much. Look at what lumber costs in the hardware chains...has it quadrupled this year? There's probably surpluses of lumber worldwide with the stalled economy & housing markets. Companies buying in bulk are probably getting some attractive pricing now. Gasoline prices spiked last summer, but that's no reason to keep inflated guitar prices now. Face it, they're in business for the stockholders, not musicians.
Not that much. A lot of the signature Strats were $1,300 last year and are $2,000 this year. Over a 50% increase in the total price of the guitar? That means they'd be paying about a grand for one guitar's wood (and that's after all the quantity discounts they've negotiated). That's a bit hard to believe, and we're not talking about extremely rare endangered exotic species worth their weight in gold, for Strat lumber. We're talking about models that have been had for over 50 years, in huge quantities, and the machinery's long since been pair for. Unit costs are low these days.
You can make up all the excuses you want for them (or Gibson), but their costs haven't gone up anywhere near that much. Look at what lumber costs in the hardware chains...has it quadrupled this year? There's probably surpluses of lumber worldwide with the stalled economy & housing markets. Companies buying in bulk are probably getting some attractive pricing now. Gasoline prices spiked last summer, but that's no reason to keep inflated guitar prices now. Face it, they're in business for the stockholders, not musicians.
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