When is Vintage Vintage?

groucho · #1 05-31-2009, 06:00 PM

Question for the assembled wisdom -
I am an old phart bassist (52) "in my day"
vintage meant 1960's or older...(pre CBS) Now it seems to
mean much more recent gear. In particular the Fender products,
I am surprised to see stuff from the 1980s talked of as "vintage".

I have a set of 1981 P bass pickups I am selling, should
I list them on Ebay as "vintage Fender"?

Anybody here willing to venture a guess about the price of
1980s parts, compared to the 1970s and 1960s parts?
I must say I am taken aback a bit, when I see what some of
even the "odds n ends" (strap buttons etc) can go for.

Rocky McDougall · #2 05-31-2009, 09:57 PM

Vintage could be:
When the price stops going down and begins to go up.
Or, when the demand exceeds the supply.
Or, when I buy, it's Vintage, when I sell, it's old junk.

I don't think 80's should be considered Vintage. But in a few more years, it will be.

J. Crawford · #3 05-31-2009, 09:59 PM

Im pretty sure its considered vintage after 25 years.

Thats what I heard last, IIRC.

Stealth · #4 06-01-2009, 12:22 PM

30 years is enough for a car to become an oldtimer. Should be similar for a bass.

lunarpollen · #5 06-01-2009, 12:35 PM

Vintage isn't really an adjective. It is pretty much useless as a descriptor on its own. An instrument can be a 1959 vintage or 1999 vintage. Knowing what vintages are valuable is what's important, not the mere age of an instrument. There are no magical qualities that suddenly inhabit an instrument upon its survival to see 10 or 20 or 25 planetary revolutions around the sun.

jimbilly · #6 06-01-2009, 02:04 PM

I think there's something to a piece of gear being 30 years old; at that point 45-50 year olds dealing with midlife crises can reminisce about the gear they looked at new when they were teenagers, but can now afford that same gear.

Stealth · #7 06-01-2009, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

Vintage isn't really an adjective. It is pretty much useless as a descriptor on its own. An instrument can be a 1959 vintage or 1999 vintage. Knowing what vintages are valuable is what's important, not the mere age of an instrument. There are no magical qualities that suddenly inhabit an instrument upon its survival to see 10 or 20 or 25 planetary revolutions around the sun.

Of course they do, 30 years of baking under the various rays of the Sun gives the bass some serious mojo.

xXxXBassistXxXx · #8 06-01-2009, 02:51 PM

30 years makes a classic car.

HogieWan · #9 06-01-2009, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

Vintage isn't really an adjective. It is pretty much useless as a descriptor on its own. An instrument can be a 1959 vintage or 1999 vintage.

The word comes from winemakers. Not all bottles are marked with their vintage - only bottles the vintner expects to improve with old age. Some will be terrible after 2 years and are best at 6 months, but the ones that are to be aged are made that way from the moment they pick the grapes.

i.e. - you'll never see a vintage SX

DanFold · #10 06-01-2009, 03:01 PM

In the UK, if somme is classed as vintage, it's from the 70 back... 60' 50' and so on...

allexcosta · #11 06-01-2009, 03:07 PM

It depends. Warwick basses from the early 90's are vintage. Fenders are not. Sometimes it means an era when this particular bass was of exceptional quality. Also, any musical instrument made before 1980 may be called vintage.

HogieWan · #12 06-02-2009, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allexcosta

. Sometimes it means an era when this particular bass was of exceptional quality.

that's what i was trying to say

groucho · #13 06-03-2009, 08:56 AM

I listed my 1981 P Bass pickups on Ebay - without any
reference to "vintage"...Saw an auction where a guy was
calling his 1980 P Bass pickups "vintage" and looking to get
$295 for them

Rocky McDougall · #14 06-03-2009, 10:08 AM

I think there is a difference between Old, Classic and Vintage. Everyting gets old. Classic I think comes from a desirable Era of the past. Vintage also describes something of quality. Like somewone said above, you will never see a vintage SX.

T-Bird · #15 06-03-2009, 01:05 PM

Hi.

Somehow thinking that an item that's 30 years old is called vintage, makes me feel really old.

Being 30 years old does not a vintage car/mc/bass/whatever make. IMHO of course

.

Regards
Sam

MNAirHead · #16 06-03-2009, 01:09 PM

Cars are vintage after 25 years..

Craig_S · #17 06-03-2009, 03:04 PM

So I have a vintage Japanese Vintage Squier, of exceptional quality!

interp · #18 12-26-2009, 10:49 AM

IMHO, when referring to Fender products "vintage" means pre-CBS. Period. But that's just my opinion.

MaxOnBass · #19 12-27-2009, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocky McDougall

Or, when I buy, it's Vintage, when I sell, it's old junk.

I do the opposite.. "Vintage?! It's old junk! I'll give you half the cash.." and "you call this old junk?! This is Vintage! I will not lower the price."

Richard Lindsey · #20 12-27-2009, 09:28 AM

"Vintage" is what you call old gear when you're trying to sell it.

It's funny, the idea that something gets better automatically with a certain amount of age seems largely a crock to me. Yes, there may have been eras when a line of instruments was made better, and that's worth noticing, but age by itself means little. In the wine analogy, some wines do get appreciably better with age, and some (perhaps most, if you look at the whole picture) don't--they just get older.

The idea that a '70s Fender is considered vintage now is comical to me. When I was coming up, everybody dumped on them and considered them vastly inferior to the pre-CBS Fenders. I don't believe anything magic has happened with those basses; they haven't suddenly become wonderful. Either they weren't that bad back then, or they're not that good now, or both.

If something was a dog when it was made, chances are that 25 years later, it's just an older dog.