USA Fusion - fair price??

[37fiat]

I've been looking at some USA Fusions on ebay and other places, but it seems that the asking prices are way out there.

Can anyone give me an idea of a fair price for one of these guitars?

One of them on ebay has a few extra switches added, cracked neck pocket (just the finish) and some dings and scratches, yet is looking for more $$ than a nice SL1. He's willing to take offers but I don't want to piss him off by offering 60% less than his asking price, unless of course that's all they're really worth.

I've been watching a number of USA Jacksons go recently for $800 and
less, including custom shop and Limited Edition models, so it's hard to think that a Fusion would be more, but I'm no expert.

Anyone???

[MountainDog]

The two fusions on ebay (that you find by searching for 'fusion') are overpriced. The one you mention with extra switches is overpriced as the person thinks serial '230' is low, but the real serial has six digits is 000230 from 1990 Ontario, part of when they started doing 'production runs' of a model in USA.

A friend at work got one just like the ebay blue/green/purple one for $750.

If you are using 'fusion' as a search term, that could be part of your problem, as many people don't know they have a fusion with it's 24-3/4" scale. Look at all Jackson auctions and watch for the key identifiers of a Fusion, the little switch between the volume and tone, the lower horn scarf cut and the close grouping of the pickups. Those three together confirms it. Be careful about just relying on the lower horn scarf cut, as that occassionally appears on guitars that aren't fusions (for example, there was a body thing they did in 1989 that have the scarf cut on 25.5" scale bodies).

[charvel750]

You talking about the "Robin's Egg Blue" Jackson? Not sure it's a Fusion though, with the Kahler and all. With the right graphic, Fusions can be expensive. "Space Lust" and "Bikini Beach" can go for over $1000. But a jet black Fusion can be had for $600. That LTD '88 you spoke of was a "Buy it Now" and that was a rather unusually low price. Some people have paid way more for one of those.

[MountainDog]

I think it was these two he thought were high:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1990-Jackson-Fus...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Jackson-Fusion-U...QQcmdZViewItem

[John]

Jackson Fusion debate...

Yeah, I've been watching both of the Jackson Fusion auctions on e-Bay too. Yes, I questioned the seller of the red one about the 2 peculiar mini-toggle switches. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about the guitar nor what the switches even controled. By this I'm assumin ghe bought it used.

The other is the blue/green acid-washed looking fusion that is a nice looking guitar but the asking price is totally absurd. I made the seller a very nice offer the guitar but only to have him bad mouth me in his reply (which he did not post on the auction for obvious reasons later mentioned). Regadless of the fact that he had changed out the pickups and electronics entirely in the guitar he is insisted that he was holding firm on his $1,750.00 BUT IT NOW price and there wasn't even an option to make an offer or to bid otherwise.

After my e-mail explaing Blue Book prices and info. about the guitar ...the next day he relisted the guitar with a BUY IT NOW price of $1,600.00 and a minimum bid of $1,400.:ROTF:

I stated in my e-mail to him that the 2007 Blue Book price for that guitar ranges from $1,500.00 (mint/unplayed condition) to $700.00 (fair/good condition) and I met him 3/4's of the way in my offer only to have him reply back in an immature hateful manner. For some reason he stated he was 47 years old (why, I have no idea) but by the way he replied back I would think more like 15 years old.

Btw, in 1990 I bought a Jackson USA Fusion with a "puzzle face" graphic new for $1750.00 and I found it quite clueless that he thought he could/can get $1,750.00 out of his guitar 17 years later ...not to mention the fact that he changed out all of the electronics and pickups (although he is including them loose in the auction). I've yet to see one of these guitars sell for near $1,000.00 in excellent condition in many, many years.

- John

I've been looking at some USA Fusions on ebay and other places, but it seems that the asking prices are way out there.

Can anyone give me an idea of a fair price for one of these guitars?

One of them on ebay has a few extra switches added, cracked neck pocket (just the finish) and some dings and scratches, yet is looking for more $$ than a nice SL1. He's willing to take offers but I don't want to piss him off by offering 60% less than his asking price, unless of course that's all they're really worth.

I've been watching a number of USA Jacksons go recently for $800 and
less, including custom shop and Limited Edition models, so it's hard to think that a Fusion would be more, but I'm no expert.

Anyone???

[37fiat]

I think it was these two he thought were high:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1990-Jackson-Fus...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Jackson-Fusion-U...QQcmdZViewItem

Yeah those are the ones on Ebay, very high $$$! There was also one on Craigslist a while back.

[37fiat]

Thanks for the info on the Fusions, Mountaindog!

I do check the Jackson listings on ebay quite often, and there are more than a few that don't know exactly what they're selling.
The USA Fusions are one of the few guitars that I find difficult to identify correctly because some USA Dinky's also look very similar, except that they have a 25 1/2" scale neck.
Having bought a USA Fusion body(which I still haven't received ), I'm of course on a search for a USA short scale neck. Talk about a needle in a haystack! I figured I might as well get the whole guitar, then see which body I liked better, but certainly not at anything near those prices!

I was having a very hard time confirming that my guitar body was a Fusion(see earlier post), since the seller didn't respond to my numerous emails for him to measure it from the neck pocket to the floyd posts.

I came up with a very simple solution..... Measure the pictures on the computer screen!

It all starts with a base figure, the distance between Floyd posts is just a hair (about 1/64") under 2 15/16, which is 47/16th's. The 47 remains a constant, regardless of other measurements.
Measure the distance between the posts in the picture. Let's say it's 1" ( 16/16 th's).
Divide 47 by 16 to get the base number, = 2.9375.
Measure the distance from the end of the fretboard (or neck pocket if body only) to the centerline of the posts at the middle of the body.
In this case the distance is 1 13/16" or 29/16. Multiply 29 x 2.9375 = 85.1875
When converted to fractions (85.1875/16 ), this ends up as just a hair over 5 5/16" which would be correct for a short scale guitar with an attached neck. 5 9/16" would be about right for a long scale.
If the body is without the neck, for a long scale the distance from the center of the posts to the curve in the neck pocket is about 5 7/8".

All of this is however for 24 fret necks. I don't have any 22 fret neck Jacksons, so I don't have the correct distances for those. Don't even know if there are 22 fret short scale Jacksons/Charvels.

These calculations work very well, as long as the pictures aren't too skewed. The figures obtained may not be exact, but will most likely be close enough to determine what scale length it is, and in my case whether it's a Fusion or a Dinky.
A straight on picture provides the most accurate measurements.

Hopefully this might help others identify short and long scale guitars from pictures alone, although some can do it just from pickup spacing.

If I screwed up on my math, please do correct me, last time I checked I wasn't "prefect"!

[slayer]

I have owned 2 minty USA Fusions and 1 of them had the
Coral Sea graphic like in one of those auctions. Mine were all stock.
I paid way/way/way less for mine and neither was over $600. Jack.

[37fiat]

I'd be very happy to pay $600 at anytime for the Coral Sea one, as would many others, but the red one on ebay with the extra switches is only worth $500 max to me. I doubt the seller would accept that offer though.

[Razor]

I was very lucky when I bought my USA Fusion with the help of fellow member rjohnstone. Thanks again Rick!

This time of the year is a sellers market because it's income tax refund time. Sit tight and wait until May and you'll see the prices dip to a more realistic level. It's fairly normal to see good clean USA Fusions go in the $700 range when the time is right.

[37fiat]

Tax refund time!
There's something I hadn't thought of!
It makes sense I guess, a lot people with extra $$ burning a hole in their pockets.
If I ever sell anything, I'll have to remember that.
Patience is a virtue, so they say, I missed out on that one!