A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Haven't you always wanted a Telecaster painted up like a '70s custom van for $25,000?

Yeah, neither have I... I found this in Sweetwater's "Deal Zone". Apparently, nobody else wants one either.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -exclusive

To be fair, it comes with a matching Custom Twin, so that accounts for about $1,500 of the $25,000 asking price.

I mean it is listed as the top item when you click on Deals, then on Guitars, and sort by "Most popular"...

I wouldn't go more than $24.99 for a Tele.
So I guess I'd bid $1524.99 for the combo.

The strap looks like rich Corinthian leather.

That one is destined to find a home in some Richman's Bastard's music room.

You get what you pay for.

I've been watching "Ozark" on The Netflix, everything looks like a way to launder money to me now.

So,

Fender master built custom shop Tele...$6.5K
Fender custom shop hand wired Tweed Twin not in tweed...$4k
Custom fuzz pedal...0.5k
Sweetwater “Exclusive” package markup over already high list prices...$14.5k

That’s more than double what you could buy your own custom set from the same Fender custom shop for. Why would anyone buy this? Seems like it is a Sweetwater viral marketing trick more than an actual product they expect to sell at list.

That one might be in stock for a while. That is if it’s actually in stock.

I am sure it exists, and I am sure it will stay listed for a while before it quietly disappears well below any advertised price. Or maybe the owner will take it home.

toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 4:24 pm That one is destined to find a home in some Richman's Bastard's music room.

They wouldn't make it if they didn't know someone would buy it There are a lot of things that only exist in this world because there are indeed plenty of Richman's Bastards out there.

Not gonna lie, if I were made of money I would probably buy it.

And to think I was thinking about blowing $269 Canadian on Jay Turser rosewood tele. Now I have a decision to make.....

uwmcscott wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 6:10 pm

toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 4:24 pm That one is destined to find a home in some Richman's Bastard's music room.

They wouldn't make it if they didn't know someone would buy it There are a lot of things that only exist in this world because there are indeed plenty of Richman's Bastards out there.

Nah, think of this more like a concept car. It’s 99% about marketing, and creating buzz. Sweatwater probably paid about $10-11k for it at most, assuming no break from Fender who is also getting marketing buzz for their custom shop. They are probably getting more internet buzz for it than had they spent $10k on Facebook ads, and they will likely sell it at some price recouping a portion or all of their investment. The other 1% is the off chance some richmans bastard pays the $25k in which case they pocket a big profit and get the free marketing.

For all we know, it is a joint stunt by Fender and Sweetwater and they may have little or nothing invested until and unless it sells. This type of stuff happens all the time.

I'm wondering why it's in the "Deal Zone"? That's where they usually get rid of open-box, scratch-and-dent, and clearance items. Did this guitar originally cost MORE than $25,000? If there was any kind of marketing campaign when the guitar was released, I completely missed it... and I don't miss much... especially when it comes to Teles.

Chocol8 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 7:39 pm Nah, think of this more like a concept car. It’s 99% about marketing, and creating buzz. Sweatwater probably paid about $10-11k for it at most, assuming no break from Fender who is also getting marketing buzz for their custom shop. They are probably getting more internet buzz for it than had they spent $10k on Facebook ads, and they will likely sell it at some price recouping a portion or all of their investment. The other 1% is the off chance some richmans bastard pays the $25k in which case they pocket a big profit and get the free marketing.

For all we know, it is a joint stunt by Fender and Sweetwater and they may have little or nothing invested until and unless it sells. This type of stuff happens all the time.

While it may seem like a pretty ridiculous price overall, there are indeed shops that sell guitars in that ballpark pretty frequently. PRS wood library/artist models, Gibson signature custom shop models, etc - and don't forget the plethora of boutique builders out there. Tack on a custom made Friedman head or some of the the other boutique amp builders and 20K is pretty easily reached - and purchased. My favorite shop ( Dave's in La Crosse ) sells that kind of stuff every day, and there are lot of other shops that do as well.

Certainly this particular one is a marketing stunt of sorts, but pricewise it's not as farfetched as one might think.

uwmcscott wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 9:03 pm While it may seem like a pretty ridiculous price overall, there are indeed shops that sell guitars in that ballpark pretty frequently. PRS wood library/artist models, Gibson signature custom shop models, etc - and don't forget the plethora of boutique builders out there. Tack on a custom made Friedman head or some of the the other boutique amp builders and 20K is pretty easily reached - and purchased. My favorite shop ( Dave's in La Crosse ) sells that kind of stuff every day, and there are lot of other shops that do as well.

Certainly this particular one is a marketing stunt of sorts, but pricewise it's not as farfetched as one might think.

It is if you consider that this is just a standard Telecaster with TV Jones pickups and '70s graphics. There's nothing special about this guitar. The only times I can recall a guitar costing that much money were the limited edition replicas of Van Halen's "Frankenstrat" and Jimmy Page's LP, and I don't even think those guitars were worth that much, but at least there was something rare and desirable about them. I don't see the allure in this at all... This is just a Custom Shop pet-project. I don't even think it's an investment piece. I just can't see what will drive up the value of (or desire for) this guitar in the future. In my opinion, this whole package should cost about $10,000, and that's being extremely charitable.

Mossman wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 10:35 pm It is if you consider that this is just a standard Telecaster with TV Jones pickups and '70s graphics. There's nothing special about this guitar. The only times I can recall a guitar costing that much money were the limited edition replicas of Van Halen's "Frankenstrat" and Jimmy Page's LP, and I don't even think those guitars were worth that much, but at least there was something rare and desirable about them. I don't see the allure in this at all... This is just a Custom Shop pet-project. I don't even think it's an investment piece. I just can't see what will drive up the value of (or desire for) this guitar in the future. In my opinion, this whole package should cost about $10,000, and that's being extremely charitable.

I'm with you on all of that. Bottom line though is that you or I, or most of the people here are not the target market for this - but there is indeed a market. If there weren't they would not go there in the first place.

It's the same market that won't bat an eye at a $90,000 pickup or a $750,000.00 cabin up at the lake - and there are a lot more of them out there than one would think.

Mossman wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 3:55 pm Haven't you always wanted a Telecaster painted up like a '70s custom van for $25,000?

Yeah, neither have I... I found this in Sweetwater's "Deal Zone". Apparently, nobody else wants one either.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -exclusive

To be fair, it comes with a matching Custom Twin, so that accounts for about $1,500 of the $25,000 asking price.

I dont know about the guitar and amp, but "Creepy Fingers, Low Muff" is for sure going to be the title of my next album.

uwmcscott wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 10:56 pm I'm with you on all of that. Bottom line though is that you or I, or most of the people here are not the target market for this - but there is indeed a market. If there weren't they would not go there in the first place.

It's the same market that won't bat an eye at a $90,000 pickup or a $750,000.00 cabin up at the lake - and there are a lot more of them out there than one would think.

I totally agree, and I think Fender would be stupid not to fill as many market niches as possible. I just like to think that if I ever became wealthy, I'd still know the value of a dollar, and not be stupid with my money just because I can.

The issue with the price isn’t that there is no market for $25,000 guitars. There certainly is. Heck, even a hand relic’ed guitar from Fender Custom Shop can get into that range.

The issue is that this isn’t one of those guitars. It is a fairly standard master built Tele with a custom paint job. You could order a guitar just like it from the same Fender Custom shop master builder for $6-7k.

This is how Fender Custom Shop marketing meetings must go:

First, eat a hand full of Psilocybin, smoke some weed and down a glass of bourbon. "Hey - I have this great idea. The 'Welcome Back Kotter" Telecaster and tube amp! We'll put the Sweathogs on the face of the guitar and on the grill cloth. We'll douse it with real sweat and add an authentic letter from Epstien's mother. It will sell for $25K!!! What do you think?"

Groan. To my tastes, if you repainted the tele a pastel creme and reduced the price of the package to $3K, that would be a fair deal.

Show me anyone reputable selling a hand wired tweed twin made with quality components for under $3k. The fair price of the package is definitely well about that even for non-Fender brand custom guitar and amp. You can argue custom guitars and amps are not worth it, but there is an active market that says that a similar package is worth $10-12k.

I think we've established that there's a market for this, but that doesn't stop it from being a stupid product...


...and I want some of them 'shrooms!

And the question still remains... Why is it in the discount section of the Sweetwater website??