So I recently inherited a 1983 Focus by KRAMER. The good one. Made in Japan. Not the crappy Focus made in the USA. Gibson Flying "V" shape, with Kramer drop head. Two HOT humbuckers, It needed a tremolo/bridge, so I bolted on a vintage trem from a stratocaster, since I'm not about to buy a Floyd Rose, or order something from China and wait a month for parts. I fired it up, and it screams. Very low action, punchy hums, clean controls . Immaculate body and neck. In real world dollars, what is this thing worth?. I wanna get an idea, before I post it on Craig's list. My guess is that it exceeds 200 bucks, but I dont know by how much. Anybody have any experience with these? Thanks.
They're saying $200-$350....but yours isnt mint, missing the floyd rose could really change what its worth. Anytime you get into vintage/collectable stuff, when you replace something that wasnt originally on there, even if its something nicer, it devalues it alot. Doesnt matter if its a guitar, furniture or a car.
I buy a ton of guitar stuff on CG, and many times the vintage stuff, unless its an awesome deal, doesnt sell. Lets just say for the sake of arguement that your kramer is worth $500 (its not but lets just assume) and you put it on CG as $500/bo. Thats what a hardcore kramer collector will pay for it. Since CG is only for 1 city unless your locale happens to have a kramer collector who also watches CG and has $500 your not going to sell it. The only people that are going to be interested is usually people that'll be able to make money on it...meaning for a $500 guitar they'll want to pay $350. You could be lucky and find that kid that always wanted a kramer focus and happens to have $475 to make an offer....but ive seen nice Fender & Gibson vintage deals sit on CG for months, and those have a much wider appeal.
ebay almost always gets a higher price for stuff because you have a much wider audience. If you take the neck off it makes it alot easier to ship
My advice would be to ask the kramer forum a price range for the guitar as it is, and how much the pickups, neck, tuners etc would be if you sold them seperately. Many times you get more parting it out than selling it whole. And if there's a collector dying for a 1983 mij focus, the kramer forum is where you'll find him. If theres multiple people interested you can always put it up on ebay and post on the forum that the auction started and let em fight it out with their cash :)
You'll be lucky to get $200 for it--but it's worth a try. There are some foolish people searching Craislist. Years ago a young man bought a Hondo Strat copy body from me (no electronics at all, just the body & neck) for $100 on Craigslist.