Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Brow on June 15, 2008, 09:28:06 AM
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Hey guys.
As some of you may know, I've been after a Tele for a while and had pretty much decided on a Baja Tele as I've heard nothing but good things about them and for the price, they have an awesome spec.
Every so often I pick up the areas free ads paper to see if there's anything interesting in it, and yesterday there was an ad for a Fender JV Telecaster with 2 piece ash body, 1 piece maple neck, nitro finish and is Open To Offers. I spoke to the guy and he says it's a MIJ 1983 Fender Squier Series Tele and that he was looking for offers around £500. He mentioned he'd probably take £400 to sell it quick.
I've had a quick look into these guitars and they appear to be very well received by alot of people, and may even start to be collectable.
I've never played 1 of these myself, and thought I'd ask if this sounds like a decent enough price or not, as I can't really find much out about their worth in £s :)
Thanks.
Craig
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I think that sounds like a fair price. They are quite sought after and ive heard that when they were released that they were better than the American fenders. thats gotta mean they're good.
Also depends on condition though. Some people would rather get a brand new product than risk getting a badly worn old one. Try to get a look before you buy it?
I wouldnt mind a tele but i just bought a telly :shock: and im skint for a while.
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I think that sounds like a fair price. They are quite sought after and ive heard that when they were released that they were better than the American fenders. thats gotta mean they're good.
Also depends on condition though. Some people would rather get a brand new product than risk getting a badly worn old one. Try to get a look before you buy it?
I wouldnt mind a tele but i just bought a telly :shock: and im skint for a while.
The guy lives quite local, so I'll be able to check it out in and pick it up myself in person.
About 90% of my guitars have been bought (atleast) 2nd hand, so that doesn't bother me too much :)
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I'de get some more opinions first. ive heard theyve been bought for less than that but maybe in worse condition. I wouldnt buy a second hand guitar without seeing it first.
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I'd be surprised if it's nitro finished, it will be poly from that era on Squiers. If it's a Fender JV then they're very collectible and may be nitro finsihed. I'd give him £400 if it's either of those to be honest as the early Japanese guitars are superb.
Check out this site for some info: http://www.21frets.com/
Oh, and get it bought ;)
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Twinfan beat me to it - I'd also be surprised at nitro on a Squier. I've got an early 80s JV Squier Strat, that had a very thick poly layer on it (that took me a long time to, er, "hack off" some 10 years ago!).
But if it's a good player and in a condition I felt was OK for me, I'd be prepared to pay £400. Get round and have a look at it :D
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Cheers for the info :)
I've got the £400 cash, so if I wave it under his nose, hopefully he'll take it :twisted:
I should hopefully be going round to have a look either later on today or tomorrow night, so will have to see how it goes.
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Cheers for the info :)
I've got the £400 cash, so if I wave it under his nose, hopefully he'll take it :twisted:
I should hopefully be going round to have a look either later on today or tomorrow night, so will have to see how it goes.
Reserve it for yourself or something, since you have the money, etc.
You don't want to risk pulling a Twinfan :roll:
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i actually managed to try a baja tele the other day, and to be honest I don't see what all the fuss is about them. Granted i might have tried a lemon, as i only tried one, but it was really heavy, had a really thick finish, half of the neck finish seemed to still be left on the upper frets, etc. etc. i preferred the light ash tele i tried next to it, and i'm not that fussed on those...
Assuming that squier is of similar quality to 80s MIJ tokais (i haven't tried those 80s squiers, so take what i say with a pinch of salt), I'd definitely get that instead of the baja. EDIT: though, as everyone's saying, if it doesn't have the nitro finish, the finish might be as thick as on the baja. :lol:
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The Bajas do vary.
I actually swapped my Baja for another yesterday :oops: Mine was a boat anchor and sounded a bit too full. The one I have now is MUCH lighter, the neck isn't as chunky, and the tone is much more balanced and airy.
Try before you buy, and go with your head. I knew mine was heavy when I bought it and thought "it'll be OK". It wasn't, and I ballsed up. Luckily I got a good deal on the swap ;)
And Brow, I'd get in quick on that Tele if I were you. It won't hang around long at £400......
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Hey guys.
I spoke to the guy again earlier and had secured the guitar for £400 to go and fetch it tomorrow.
I got a text message an hour or so later saying sorry but someone had rung up and had offered £550 for the Tele so he was letting them have it.
Looks like it's back to the drawing board! :roll:
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Oh well, thats unlucky, better luck next time I guess?
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The Bajas do vary.
I actually swapped my Baja for another yesterday :oops: Mine was a boat anchor and sounded a bit too full. The one I have now is MUCH lighter, the neck isn't as chunky, and the tone is much more balanced and airy.
Try before you buy, and go with your head. I knew mine was heavy when I bought it and thought "it'll be OK". It wasn't, and I ballsed up. Luckily I got a good deal on the swap ;)
And Brow, I'd get in quick on that Tele if I were you. It won't hang around long at £400......
oh yeah, definitely, that's one of the biggest problems with cheaper guitars, that they can vary so much. :) bad news about the tele too, brow, as twinfan says that sounded like a pretty decent price.
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The Bajas do vary.
I actually swapped my Baja for another yesterday :oops: Mine was a boat anchor and sounded a bit too full. The one I have now is MUCH lighter, the neck isn't as chunky, and the tone is much more balanced and airy.
Try before you buy, and go with your head. I knew mine was heavy when I bought it and thought "it'll be OK". It wasn't, and I ballsed up. Luckily I got a good deal on the swap ;)
That was a piece of luck, did the guy actually want a heavy one?
I hate heavy guitars, but when you're buying it's hard to judge the weight unless there are others to compare to. Especially if, like me, you get a bit of a nervous-tension-induced adrenaline rush in guitar shops. :oops:
My American Ash Tele was 9.5 lbs, but I've just rebuilt it with a lighter body.
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Ah well, I'll find something else.
I could beat myself for missing out on a parts Tele a month or so ago, that thing had an awesome spec but I hesitated too much and I missed it :(
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That was a piece of luck, did the guy actually want a heavy one?
The shop I swapped it with wasn't too bothered. I spend quite a bit of money in there ;)
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That was a piece of luck, did the guy actually want a heavy one?
The shop I swapped it with wasn't too bothered. I spend quite a bit of money in there ;)
Ah, a happy customer is a repeat customer. :lol:
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i actually managed to try a baja tele the other day, and to be honest I don't see what all the fuss is about them. Granted i might have tried a lemon, as i only tried one, but it was really heavy, had a really thick finish, half of the neck finish seemed to still be left on the upper frets, etc. etc. i preferred the light ash tele i tried next to it, and i'm not that fussed on those...
Sorry to Hijack this thread (to some extent) Dave was thet the Baja in Matchetts.
If it was I loved the shape of the neck, although when I plugged it into an amp I found it had no life whatsoever (I put it down to the cr@p Stagg amp and really old strings though).
So far I have also preferred the Lite Ash but with the Baja neck shape (and Baja switching)
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One of the early JV Teles went for £930 on eBay about 2 weeks ago - the guy who sold it paid about £110 in 1982..... He took it to Guitar Village in Farnham and they offered him £250 for it - guess who is happy that he declined and took his chances on eVilBay???
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One of the early JV Teles went for £930 on eBay about 2 weeks ago - the guy who sold it paid about £110 in 1982.....
If anyone has a JV Tele to sell, get in quick while the guys who were bidding against that buyer are still looking! :)
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This was a Series 1 - Fender logo with Squier in small letters at top of headstock and therefore more sought after - also had been in the loft for the last 20 years!
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Yep, they're very collectible.
The one Brow missed out on sounds similar, so £550 would still be a bargain....
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So I really shouldn't have taken a drill with a sander-drum attachment to my strat some 10 years ago then!!
Oh well, it's starting to look/play damn cute again, I've been refinishing it over the last few months. And there's no way I'd part with it anyway.
When I can find my wife's camera (and some batteries for it) I might be posting a "and here's my pimped squier" type post. It needs to come apart again for some more rubbing, and possibly some other "BKP-related" work, but it'll be finished sometime...
Oh yeah, and BAD LUCK Brow - I thought you were on to one this time... :(
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Sorry to Hijack this thread (to some extent) Dave was thet the Baja in Matchetts.
If it was I loved the shape of the neck, although when I plugged it into an amp I found it had no life whatsoever (I put it down to the cr@p Stagg amp and really old strings though).
So far I have also preferred the Lite Ash but with the Baja neck shape (and Baja switching)
yeah, that's the one rob. I think i tried it through that stagg amp too. I agree, i didn't think the tone was all that good- i'm not a major fan of duncans (far as i'm concerned, they're a bonus if they come stock but i'd never upgrade to them), but they absolutely smoked the baja's pickups. EDIT: now you mention it, i think it did have old strings. But i'd never seen it in there before, i don't think... :?
:)
EDIT #2: I'm holding out for a tokai breezysound. :D
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The 1 I almost got was a series 2 JV, which I believe are the 1s with Squier in larger writing and Fender in smaller writing, so not the same as the 1 that went for £900 or so as mentioned above.
Ah well, I may have dibs on a HW1 Texas Tele for a smidge over £400, so will have to see how it goes :D
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don't they go for something around that new? or are they dearer than the normal h1s?
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The JV thing is getting out of hand - I mean they play well, and sound warm but they are not 'that' good: i.e. 3 piece bodies, and the solid colour ones are 95% basswood - now I like basswood, but its a cheap wood because the JV was a budget guitar, the teles are not true ash but Sen, for the same reason.
One thing I have noticed about my one - a fiesta red basswood strat, is that it really rocks with Apaches compared to anything hotter - the weaker, more vintage sound of the Apaches blends perfectly with the warmth of the basswood.
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don't they go for something around that new? or are they dearer than the normal h1s?
The normal HW1s are around £430, but I've not seen a HW1 Texas Tele for less than £700 (if not more)
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The JV thing is getting out of hand - I mean they play well, and sound warm but they are not 'that' good: i.e. 3 piece bodies, and the solid colour ones are 95% basswood - now I like basswood, but its a cheap wood because the JV was a budget guitar, the teles are not true ash but Sen, for the same reason.
One thing I have noticed about my one - a fiesta red basswood strat, is that it really rocks with Apaches compared to anything hotter - the weaker, more vintage sound of the Apaches blends perfectly with the warmth of the basswood.
I agree totally, I bought mine cos I couldn't afford a real one! Having said that, at the time, we did regard them as "real" but "budget" ones, even the musos in the audience that drooled over your kit thought so... funny how things change.
But yeah, my JV strat (def not Series 1, but new in 82/3) turned out to be made of basswood when I took the finish off ten years back - I'd actually say "matchwood", it's very soft! However, tonally it is a very springy and stratty guitar.
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don't they go for something around that new? or are they dearer than the normal h1s?
The normal HW1s are around £430, but I've not seen a HW1 Texas Tele for less than £700 (if not more)
oh ok, my mistake... :)
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oh ok, my mistake... :)
No need to apologise!
I missed the HW1 Texas Tele too, so god only knows what I'll spot next! :lol:
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you aren't having the best of luck... though it is a handy way of saving money... any time i miss something i just think, "well, at least i don't have to pay for it now, and if i was so unsure that i let it go i probably didn't want it anyway..." :)