Greetings to all
Re; Cunneto Era Stratsw 1996 - 1998 - This is one long question, just respectively warning you out front here & thank you for your indulgence.
I would surmise that this subject has been discussed on this forum in the past, and I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get specific information about these specific guitars, frankly, all over the internet, as well as inclusive of chatting with Fender Customer Service - They were no help whatsoever, and seemed to know little on the subject whatsoever, and apparently, their detailed record keeping does not go back further than 2004 - that was strange
I understand the entire history of Cunetto, relationships with Fender, history of the entire notion of relicing, and its apparent start with these Cunetto Strats, and I suppose Tele's, that were marketed by Fender 1996 - 1998, unfortunately, in my humble opinion, a questionable endeavor at its very core essence of existence as a product.
What ever happened to the notion of aging your own guitars, personally, through play, perhaps the Eddie Van Halen methodology, and/or thinking of sending your perfectly finished ax to your day care center along with a few plastic tools for the kiddies to go to town, as an alternative .
Nevertheless, I understand how they came to be, how they accidentially became a major product line, and international trend, all commencing out of NAMM 2004.
The issue that I would put to the membership concerns solicitation pursuant to;
(1) actual specifications for these instruments,
(2) How, if in any way, they differ from regular CS production instruments, (3) were they all CS issued during 1996 - 1998,
(4) are some or all Masterbuilt (I doubt that they could possibly all be MB, since there were allegedly 4800 made in 2.5 years),
(5) Are most Cunetto's typical CS production runs (whatever that may mean - e.g. making 4800 guitars in 2.5 years, must involve a fair amount of non-MB activities or automation within the CS at large, whatever that may inply, or in reality be the processes specific to building Cunetto's; And again, ignoring the relicing process, which I have found lots of material on this relationship and processes -
(6) There is a question as to whether there are different levels of Cunetto relicing, as I have seen only several of these, however, the ones that I have seen, have different degrees of relicing, such as similar to the differences in terminology such as NOS, Closet Classic, Time Machines, Reliced, Extreme Relicing, etc.
(7) What would be some of the intransic, tangible, and/or intangible build qualities and actual specifications associated with these Cunetto's, e.g. components used, overall fit and finish, playability, tone, quality and spec for the hardware, pickups tuners, and electronics (what were the actually electronics used), underlying wood qualities and types, and whatever else would differeniate these guitars from regular CS production run instruments and/or MB guitars.
(8) How would one place a market value on these instruments, beyond the mystique of the name Cunneto. “Blue Book values”, right or wrong, love or hat ethem appear to not acknowledge anything particular special about these Cunetto Models vs. any Custom Shop Relic at large, and right, wrong, or indifference, seem to put a value proposition at ~ $ 3,000 or so, and that would be getting it all;
(9) As I have researched these myriad of questions, I have of late seen Cunneto's priced all over the board IN THE SECONDARY PRE-OWNED marketplace (new price in 1996 - 1998 was around $ 2,800 - $ 3,400, or so I understand
(10) Accordingly, prioces ranging from $ 1,800 (possibly a beater), $ 2,000 - was an extreme relic so who knows, and $ 3,000 and change - BTW - all were off white or Desert sand in color with anodized gold metal pickguards
(11) Last, but not least, were there special sub-production runs of these Cunneto's, other than the overall run of ~ 4,800
I have recently bumped into 3 - (COA signed by Page and ad allegedly implies that it is a Masterbuilt instrument by Black, with the Cunetto addition of very light relicing - almost a NOS look & back of headstock embossed with CS # XX of 20) in Desert Sand; another at $ 5,400 (# X of 20 - same deal with Page, Black, & Cunneto), and finally, I just came across an another allegedly special run of 10 - XX of 10 embossed on back of headstock - COA signed by Page, and allegedly masterbuilt by Cruz with Cunneto relicing for $ 8,000 or something crazy like that
SUMMARY - So, I am specifically trying to understand the specific specs for these instruments, trying to understand, if any, the underlying value proposition for these specific instruments in general, as well as anything tht could potentially make these limited runs of 10 & 20 - allegedly Masterbuilt by Black & Cruz accordingly - how would one even confrim such a thing) - all these unanswered questions vs. prices for regular Custom Shop Relics, Closet Classics, NOS models, and/or whatever other terminology that Fender invokes, in yet another version of the same instrument.
I have owned several Fender Custom Shop instruments over the years, and while very nice, I have not historically seen any inherent and incremental value proposition to command extraordinarily huge price premiums for the Custom Shop work in general, let alone these Cunetto's, and especially these sub-production runs of 10 & 20 mentioned above.
This entire story, sort of engenders similarities to Gibson & Murphy, and the huge price differentials commanded in the marketplace for a Murphy finish, of which I hade 2, bought at reasonablly sane prices, and as a former Gibson fan, there is nothing special about these, other than the Murphy name on the COA.
As a personal aside, I am clearly not talking about relicing here – I hate relicing to the max, as a concept and marketing blitz plan laid on the public domain, and I, for one, would not spend one incremental dollar for a relic’d instrument, in and of itself – I happen to think this insane phenomenon is sheer marketplace-driven insanity, at the very ridiculous and extreme notion of up-charging significant dollars, for the luxury of getting a perfectly good guitar finish, and screwing it up - TOWARD WHAT END, I ASK YOU.
Thanks to the membership, and to anyone that fights their way through the long-winded question, however, there are a lot of unknowns here, and no information that I have found to address these matters.
Any info and/or ;links to that information would be greatly appreciated, as I am considering purchasing (actually bartering with one of my LPR9's) for this one instrument mentioned above, # XX of 20, and have no idea what they are worth (I am thinking in reality, $ 3,000), why the market premiums if anyone is paying that kind of money, and what would be a fair price for one - 1998, EC+, little to know play, formerly owned by a vault queen collector, Candy, COA, Desert Sand/Gold anodized pick guiard (what is the deal with that), very light relicing, allegedly a Page signed COA, Black Masterbuilt allegedly, although how would one determine as such, and reliced by Cunnato
I am not a vintage collector that is betting on future valuations - I buy what I like to play as a hobbyist, and player of many years, and I am not a business
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Originally Posted by 71818
But your willing to trade an LP R9
