Is market rate for charcoal frost metallic 14K?

[OSGTemp]

There have been a couple of charcoal frost offsets go for stupid prices lately, what is the story on charcoal frost metallic? It seems like it has always been an under the radar color that's only become a thing in the last few years, I can never remember seeing it in the 90s or early 2000s


12.5k



13.5k

[zhivago]

I don't think it has been under the radar as a colour...it is just very, very rare. I saw my first ever picture in a guitar mag in 1995.

There have been more Jags than JMs on sale in this colour in the past, but god knows what they actually sold for.

For what my opinion is worth, anyone buying a CBS CF Jag for $14k should have their head examined by a trained professional

[Despot]

Things are generally 'worth' what people will pay for them. I wouldn't pay that for a CF Fender - so it's not worth that to me. But I'm sure there are some out there as collectors who might feel that the price is justified for a rare colour. I can't see these being high on the radar of players.

That being said, Jazzmaster prices have gone through the roof lately in any colour. I've said a few times on here that the replacement price of my '62 (bought for just under 4k euro) is now probably closer to 5.5k or 6k euro. That's due to the rarity of Jazzmasters (generally) on this side of the Atlantic, as well as the weak euro to dollar exchange rate and customs duties (were I to import one). And ... well .. inflation!

I remember when I had the LPB Jaguar. LPB isn't the rarest colour by any means, but I guess LPB D&B Jaguars are rarer given the short life span of the D&B necks compared to dots or B&B. When I sold it on to a store (well ... traded it) the store owner tried to talk me out of it saying "just stick it in the case, shove the case under the bed and leave it for 20 years ... it'll have been a worthwhile investment". I don't agree with his assessment ... I see the guitar market getting less expensive in the next ten years as the baby boomers pass away and their guitars get sold on - I don't think we have a younger baby boomer generation ready to pay the same excessive prices for these vintage guitars - prices will moderate. I hope. Otherwise I will really be kicking myself for letting that Jaguar go.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I see the guitar market getting less expensive in the next ten years as the baby boomers pass away and their guitars get sold on - I don't think we have a younger baby boomer generation ready to pay the same excessive prices for these vintage guitars - prices will moderate. I hope. Otherwise I will really be kicking myself for letting that Jaguar go.

Now there's a message of hope I can get behind. I've been promising myself that if/when I buy a Jaguar it'll be a vintage B&B one, but even those go for silly money these days (I assume).

The only snag with this theory is that I'll probably be dying off myself around the same time as all those moderately-priced vintage guitars flood the market.

[Despot]

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Like ... right now I could never justify the expense of something like a dot neck ES335, or a vintage version of my ES355 (probably need to be a '64 to have the spec that I'd want - from neck shape, nut width and the required vibrola). But in ten years time ... if I had some spare cash and prices had moderated, even just a bit, I'd probably look around for that ES355 but the ES335 would probably still be out of reach.

But what I'd really be interested in would be a pre-CBS Telecaster. That's the one that is just too damn expensive to justify, and there should be enough of them around that the prices wouldn't be crazy if the market gets flooded in the next ten years.

But in all of my thoughts on this custom colours don't really factor in. I'd take any colour Telecaster, or ES335 (a ES355 will be red, unless it's a rare one in a special order and those will still command high prices on rarity value). Things like CF offsets will still be at a premium, but the baseline that's set against will be lower. If that means that more people who are players rather than collectors (and I'd class myself as a player rather than collector as I'm not too worried about wear or originality) can pick these up, all the better.

[FrankRay]

I've seen two charcoal frost jags for sale about two years ago; I think they went for about 8k. One was in japan, the other in the US. They are ferociously rare, and basically worth whatever the person who needs a charcoal frost jag will pay, since he'd be unlikely to see another one for sale any time soon. They seem rarer than sonic blue or black, but not quite so rare as seafoam or sherwood green.
I'd say 10k might be about right? The 66 in particular seems over-priced.

[amv]

The jaw-droppingly bad decal placement on the 13.5k makes me wonder if it's secretly a refin. Fender has always placed some goofy decals themselves, of course, but this one's a bit beyond the pale.

[fendercollection]

To me those are way overpriced! I just sold the 1965 Charcoal Frost Jaguar I had for about 6k. Can't imagine charging twice that, even for a Jazzmaster

[Embenny]

The jaw-droppingly bad decal placement on the 13.5k makes me wonder if it's secretly a refin. Fender has always placed some goofy decals themselves, of course, but this one's a bit beyond the pale.

I have commented before on a disturbing trend I have seen of people refinishing beat up sunbursts in the rarest custom colours and selling for a huge profit. Usually they admit it's a refin, but claim that refins only lose 30% value...so they'd ask $9k for a "charcoal frost refin" for what started out as a $2k refin sunburst.

[FEXII]

I have commented before on a disturbing trend I have seen of people refinishing beat up sunbursts in the rarest custom colours and selling for a huge profit. Usually they admit it's a refin, but claim that refins only lose 30% value...so they'd ask $9k for a "charcoal frost refin" for what started out as a $2k refin sunburst.

Like this . . .

https://reverb.com/item/3638284-superb- ... -headstock

At least he's not listing it as 'Vintage Original' any more.

[amv]

Actually I take back what I said about this particular guitar; I totally forgot about the "cloud" design on either end of the Jazzmaster decal (I'm a Jaguar fanatic), which is nearly invisible over a dark finish like charcoal and makes the gold Fender logo look like it's a good inch and a half off-center. Given that, this might be within the bounds of reasonable decal placement after all... maybe.

Nevertheless, near-mint 60's offsets in rare custom colors are suspiciously easy to come by these days, so my "refin skepticism" would be on high alert no matter what.