Loaded Strat bodies on ebay

[QehQeh]

Hi All:
This is a little off topic but I thought I'd get more honest opinions here as opposed to a Strat forum.
I see a lot of brand new loaded Strat bodies on ebay. What’s the deal with this? Are these people tearing apart brand new guitars, building (new) “blackies” and selling off the parts that don’t quite make it? Perhaps these bodies don’t pass the “tap” test?
Here’s a link to an example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FENDER-AMERICAN-STANDARD-STRATOCASTER-LOADED-GUITAR-BODY-2011-BRAND-NEW-/220961370756?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6536887016279105676

 

[AprioriMark]

People part them out.  Sometimes new, sometimes used.  Some dealers are actually doing that a lot.

-Mark

 

[Jcurl02]

Probalby should send a question to  the seller and ask if it ever had a neck attached.  If he is honest  :-\ we'd learn a lot more.

I've always thought that these may have been damaged necks in shipping or that Fender was just selling replacements for damaged guitars.  I'm probably wrong on this.

On a similar note, I've been watching the Warmoth parts on EBAY.  I'm not surprised but saddened to see that most of the complete guitars don't bring a lot of money.  I'm not surprised as most folks don't know the quality or the work that goes into one and wrongly see it as a parts guitar.  It seems better to part out one then sell it as a complete unit there.

Fortunately, if my good fortunes continue, I'll never sell my guitars!

 

[Cagey]

Not only a parts guitar, but a used parts guitar built by an amateur out of parts bought at retail. There's just no way to win. Hell, you can't even break even. All the profit has already been wrung out of the materials.

 

[swarfrat]

I saw one seller that said they were B-stocks that were bought en mass and pulled down. Makes sense - dealer can't sell it as class A new, but someone might pay enough for the good body that whatever they get on the neck makes it worthwhile.

 

[stubhead]

"The Stratosphere" guy seems to be the big one, and there's no way he could do it without Fender knowing - I imagine he's one of their better customers, in volume and consistency. I'd be inclined to think that a place like Guitar Center buys their Strats in bulk - "500 US Strats, sunburst, 50 modified Jaguars in black, 50 in metallic..." etc. But the Stratosphere fellow is selling them off bit by bit, all the time... and as posted above, he probably sniffs out both B-stock guitars, and finishes and product lines that Fender over-produced and they'll dump them to him. If you add together a loaded neck and a loaded pickguard, sometimes they still are way below what you'd pay for a whole guitar at the best discount.

 

[Jcurl02]

I did send a question to the eBay seller and his response was "obviously there was a neck attached when it came from the factory but he sold it and other parts separately". 

 

[jwl68th]

I sold a MIM strat a couple of years ago on ebay to "Stratosphere". Within a week it was parted out and sold. Darn shame, it was a really nice playing guitar.

 

[tfarny]

The loaded warmoths ARE a crapshoot - it's not the parts it's the assembler. That's why there is lots of interest and no high offers. I've bought used Ws on ebay and mostly they've been nice, though. A MIM body on the 'bay and some used pickups can go a long way towards making an economical but great build.

 

[QehQeh]

Probalby should send a question to  the seller and ask if it ever had a neck attached.  If he is honest  :-\ we'd learn a lot more.

So here are replies from 3 different sellers...

(1) Hello, sorry, I don't know the whole history. I bought it as a complete guitar from either Craigslist, Ebay, or Heritage Auctions. I have a lot of guitars so I really don't recall. It's a hobby. I set them up, play them for days, weeks or months and sell them... sometimes complete or sometimes for parts. The neck was just sold on Ebay. It was an MX10 serial number. Thanks for your interest.

(2) I buy them and parts them out. That should cover all your questions I think. Thanks

(3) Hi there, if you are seriously interested let's talk we can work the deal perhaps, and of course you can come and pickup. This is an original new Strat directly from Fender, however I am selling my these two Strat guitars by parts, so the necks, cases are gone already. Send me the message (seller's email) at yahoo dot com. Thanks