This Squire was was an eBy auction, and it was low enough I thought "Why not bid?" My top bid was $44, which was cheap enough. However, in my haste I forgot to look at what the seller was going to charge for shipping. In this case, the shipping charge was nearly $50 -- way more than I expected, and enough to push my potential winning bid into "More-than-I-want-to-pay" territory.
But still, a Squire SSS Strat in excellent condition is worth $100 shipped, so I didn't sweat it much. The auction ended earlier today, and sure enough I had the winning bid. But when I checked my email this evening, I had a notice that the seller canceled the sale. WTF??
Not sure why the seller canceled the sale, other than perhaps it didn't bring the money he or she was expecting. If you consider the final cost ($43 plus his shipping charge), I think he probably should have set a minimum bid.
Why wasn't there more action on this auction? I'm sure the seller wondered about this. My best guess is that it is due to the heading he had on his listing ... which simply said "Electric guitar." It didn't mention any brand; since it was a Fender Squire, it would have been advantageous to list it that way -- it sure would have attracted more bids. Squire strats usually bring more money, especially one in nice condition like this one. The seller is an eBay newbie, which probably explains the missteps.
I'm actually relieved the seller canceled the sale; I didn't really want to pay that much for the guitar ... and I already have two guitars coming next week, the disassembled strat clone and the Washburn fixer-upper. I DID take time to tell my wife about them, and her main concern was that they would not slow my work in painting the bathroom. I assured her they would not.
SSS GUITAR REVIEW VIDEO. I'm a big fan of Scott Groves on YouTube, also known as Dr. Groovy, and I thoroughly enjoyed the one I watched earlier today. Scott reviews his favorite single coil pup guitars, which include a vareity of axes, including G&L, classic Gibson, a Fender James Burton Strat with strat-o-tele switching and others.
It was a very educational look at the differences between a wide range of single-coil guitars. Clearly, the traditional Fender Strat single coil pickups are typically more trebly and thin-sounding than most of the ones he demonstrated. One of the biggest differences was the lack of low-end on the neck pickup on the traditional Fender Strat compared to other guitars he demonstrates. It has me wondering if a pickup upgrade might be worth playing with on one or more of my guitars. Guess I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
I'll have more to report once my guitars arrive in the coming days. Wish me luck that I don't wind up with two piles of assorted (useless) pieces.
Rock on!
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