Hello Kitty Strats Are... Trending?

[ZenGuitarist]

I came across this article about Hello Kitty Stratocasters and was surprised by how popular these guitars are becoming. I bought mine in early 2018 from eBay so I guess I got in on the ground floor before the prices started really going up. Mine is in mint condition with the gig bag so I should be able to get top dollar whenever I sell it but I have no immediate plans to do so. For some reason the guitar is a total babe magnet - women just love seeing a guy playing one but I'm not complaining.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

I know nothing about them but if you want to get “top dollar” I’d guess the time is to sell it while it’s popular because it may not be come January

 

[backporchmusic]

They sold originally for $99. Over the last two years, the price has gone from 300-400 to more like 600-700.

They are highly collectable and that will not change come January.

 

[bobio]

I am more often than not, confused by the things that go viral

 

[glenlivet]

Pet Rocks were once a thing too.

 

[northernguitar]

The HK Strat is easily the cheap, Asian guitar that has appreciated the most.

 

[widefault]

I had one in black, and beyond the weirdness they are really nice guitars. String through hardtail, high output bridge humbucker that sounded pretty good, and mine had a great feeling neck. Now, I paid $150 for it, so at that price I was happy. Ended up selling for significantly more. Not as much as a pink one would have brought, though.

 

[Powdog]

Allegedly they can make anyone play like Zakk Wylde.

 

[Peegoo]

I dig 'em!


You can play any music on any guitar.

 

[Miff]

How long before the $999 Custom Shop re-issue?

 

[Peegoo]

And then there's this.

 

[cometazzi]

I mocked them when I first saw them, but then I took one down and did the usual "play metal on a Hello Kitty guitar" thing and it was actually pretty decent. I was awash in $150 guitars at the time so I didn't pick it up, but sometimes I kinda wish I had.

You think I'd know better, because I had a similar experience with some of the showiest Daisy Rock guitars. They also surprised me in how well-made, well-sounding and nice to play they were for the price, even though they often looked ridiculous.

 

[elihu]

What about the bass with the angry penguin motif?

 

[backporchmusic]

The Badtz Maru Bronco Bass fluctuates more but has been 500-600 of late.

 

[ClashCityTele]

 

[SixStringSlinger]

I think it's mostly just a yuk-yuk, grown-man-playing-a-pink-kiddy-guitar thing. I'm sure it's a solid guitar (it's kind of hard to build/find an objectively "bad", irredeemable guitar these days), but the price it goes for now is mostly due to grown men amusing each other by playing a guitar that looks "childish" or "girly".

 

[northernguitar]

I think it's mostly just a yuk-yuk, grown-man-playing-a-pink-kiddy-guitar thing. I'm sure it's a solid guitar (it's kind of hard to build/find an objectively "bad", irredeemable guitar these days), but the price it goes for now is mostly due to grown men amusing each other by playing a guitar that looks "childish" or "girly".

I think the bigger trend is with Japanese girl-Pop bands using them and causing a market frenzy.

 

[McGoldTopp]

 

[SixStringSlinger]

I think the bigger trend is with Japanese girl-Pop bands using them and causing a market frenzy.

Ah, I wouldn't know about that. To be fair, my assessment has to do with their price/popularity over more than just the last few years. Today's prices (asking, anyway) are a more recent phenomenon, but they've been going of higher than you might expect by objective measures for a long time.

 

[Monoprice99]

A few years back I considered one for as inexpensive as they were then. I probably regret not buying one I did find locally for the insanity of what they eventually have appreciated for value. I just hated the look of them though. Today, I'd most likely build a kit Strat and creating one from scratch that isn't as ugly really. I'm not really the demographic for what I see as nothing special for the Hello Kitty theme. And then there's always just getting a HSS and leaving the switch in the Bridge position. More power to someone that gets that kind of money for one. Just astonishes me how a sub $ 200 guitar quadruples like that, in the end it's a Squier. My Bullet SSS HT, since it looks like a chrome spec'ed Robert Cray SSS HT must be worth close to a grand or more, MiM or CS ? Just a perspective ?