I wanted to share my experience in researching, selecting and buying a Fender Mustang guitar as an example of how I make sure I'm getting a good value in a vintage guitar. I have been collecting vintage guitars for many years and buying guitars on on EBAY since 2001. I am a player as well as a collector and prefer mid-range price guitars that I can also play.

I started my process by setting up a custom search under my favorite searches. My personal preference is to buy in US $'s via Paypal, items available to U.S and located in U.S. and Canada. I have the search items sorted by time - ending soonest and add guitars that meet my search criteria to my items I'm watching list. I set up a spreadsheet (in excel) and recorded the following information on each completed sale: Description/Ending price/shipping/seller id/comments. Over a several month period, I recorded data on 75 Fender Mustang sales (I'm a patient buyer).

The sale prices for the guitars I watched varied from $335 to $1655, with an average of $825. As an experienced guitar buyer, some of this price variation was obvious to me, but some was new as well. All vintage guitars are more valuable if they are in original condition, including original finish and parts. A guitar with a bad or very worn original finish is almost always more valuable than a refinish. An older guitar with a original finish in good shape commands a high price. Changed parts also reduce the value of a guitar. It was common to see changed pickups, tuners, pickguards, knobs, etc. Sometimes these changes also caused other modifications as well - body routings to install new pickups, additional holes/oversized holes in headstocks to install new tuners, etc. Another key item for Fender guitars is the designation of "pre-CBS". Fender was bought by CBS in 1965 and many believe that guitars from this date and earlier are superior in quality and command a premium price.

As my database of completed sales grew, the guitars sorted themselves out in price into several categories, from highest price to lowest:

• 1960's Non-refin/original                              $1,279
• 1970's Competition Stripes                             $998
• 1970's non-comps, non refin                          $743
• 1960's Refins/non-original                              $639
• 1990/2000's Reissues                                      $534
• 1970's refins/non-original                               $517

Things I learned  included:

- Competition Stripe Mustangs form the '70's were next in value to '60's models

- No significant difference in pre-CBS ('65) and post-CBS ('66) '60's models

- All original, non refin '70's models were more valuable than '60's refin's

- Reissues from the 90's & 00's (made overseas) sold higher than 70's refins

The highest price ($1655) was for a 1964 (pre-CBS), original Dakota red finish, all original parts and orginal hard shell case. The lowest price ($335) was for a 1975 refinish with changed pickups.

My final choice? I bought a 1978 near mint with original case and case candy, ash body in original natural finish and rosewood fingerboard for $700. It appeared to be a good value vs. the market price (see $743 above) and I have a personal preference for the ash/rosewood combination, as it matches my favorite stratocaster (a '79) and I like the sound of ash bodies and feel of rosewood.

The above example of how I bought a Mustang is applicable to any guitar. Using the completed items search function can speed to data gathering process as well. There are many more topics to learn about in vintage guitar buying, including how to spot fakes and misleading descriptions, how to pack and who to ship with, how to ensure a safe transaction. Maybe I'll share more of my experiences in future guides.

Enjoy - Matt