u/MasterOfManyWorlds

I recently sold a Strat to guitar center I've had for 24 years and never took a real liking to. I thought ok, I'm not a strat person and I love my 3 teles. But while I was there I saw one of these and fell in love with everything about it but the cost. I found a deal online on a used one and it arrived today. Even lighter than the GC one I tried (I really wanted one less than 8lbs), and I like the grain on the body and neck of this one a lot. There was a shipping accident, unfortunately, which marred the body in a few spots on the sides but the seller is refunding me some money and I think it's an amount more than fair considering the damage. Heck, a lot of people pay more for relicing and I got them to pay me for it.

Came with the 70th anniversary case and case candy, too.

I had no idea they carried things this expensive. Wish I could have played it.

Exit: I think it was a 58 actually

This Strat was originally a "Contemporary" strat with the crazy trem system and locking nut. Those are long gone... it now has a traditional Wilkinson by Gotoh bridge. Other changes include Sperzel locking tuners, Tex Mex Pickups, string tree and the pots and switches. Everything works as they should and it sounds good. The neck has always been one of my favorites, but I'm not really into strats so its lived in its case since I did these mods over 20 years ago when I got it as an eBay special. I think I paid around $200.

Pics show the worst of the damage to it. But there some dings all over the body.

What do you all think it is worth now? I want to sell it, I'm not looking for a ton of money but I don't want ripped off. I just want to let it go for a fair price, whatever that is.

I upgraded my Debut Tele with Bootstrap Original Recipe pickups, a Wilkinson bridge and compensated saddles, new control plate with cts pots and a 1 ply 5 screw black pickguard. A little scary drilling for the bridge, but I managed it and I did it by hand without a drill press. 3 screw holes are left behind the new bridge, but they don't bother me. I think it looks, and more importantly, sounds amazing!

In case anyone wondered or need to know what the body routing looks like. I've seen YouTube videos showing the body with only a single coil neck pickup route, I think those were earlier models. I believe you can tell the difference if your bridge has 5 screws versus 3.

And in a coincidence, less than a month later I was in Woodstock, IL where they filmed Groundhog Day, another Ramis/Murray movie. Watch out for that first step. It's a doozy!

I really don't like the look or feel of the modern bridge. I'm hoping I can just replace it with an ashtray bridge. I don't care about any left over screw holes or having to drill new ones, but I'm concerned about intonation. It seems the modern bridge saddles are a lot further back than the vintage style would even allow.