Antiques and Collectables – The Collectors Blog

by Tom Watson Apart from the weight of its own history, the Strat abides.Tom Wheeler, page 21, The Stratocaster Chronicles I own precisely twenty-nine books. Not much of a library for someone writing a book review. The number, to a book, is twenty-nine because I counted them this morning. Though...

The demand for good, clean, all-original Strats continues to be strong, particularly for 4-bolt, pre-CBS and Custom Color models. Unfortunately, the supply of these strats is low and it’s getting harder and harder to find the good stuff. Equally tough is that as the supply dwindles, prices go up, with 2004 prices up about 30% from 2003. I would say that the year 2004 saw more first time collectors entering the market than ever before. Many people feel that it’s now or never to get into a vintage strat, knowing that the same guitar may be financially out of reach in another year or two...