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$17,000.00 for a Jazz Bass

#11
It wasn't made sloppy... those old pickguards shrink

and when they sold for $450 or so, new cars sold for about $2000 or so.

So very loosely put... in 1965 A fender bass sold for $5000 of today's dollars.

So if you had bought a bunch of fender basses in the early 60s and kept them mint would it have really been a good investment, or could you have made more investing in something else.

It would have been a good investment if they were all custom colors with custom options and early years are the best (but is not being able to play them a good investment? to each his own.) If they were all a standard 1965 common color it would have been better to invest in many other things in strict money terms. If they were all !960-1962 custom colors than it would be much harder to find a better investment.... LEs Paul guitars and earlier Fender guitars.

Here is why the vintage market is exploding... There are a limited number of instruments, there will never be any more, only less. The world's population doubles every 30 or so years now, and I would bet anything that over the last 40 years the number of musicians has WAY MORE than doubled... probably atleast 10 times more by percentage. Plus the number of people who buy instruments as investments is probably 100 times more than in the 70s and 80s and continues to go up. That and the psychological implications of everyone thinking they are rare, and they are Americana because they are the first high quality brand burned into our consciousness. These instruments will continue to skyrocket.
 
#14
Actually this bass most likely sold for well under 400 bucks.
In the late 70's I remember most new J-Basses going for
around $389.00. to $432.00. Oh yeah most of my friends
worked in the music/guitar stores back then and we got to
hang out and mess around with a lot of the then new toys
of the day.
When I was 16 years old in 1972 a new P- Bass was listed at
$289.00 full retail but you had to pay extra for a case. Those
days are long gone.
 
#16
joelb79 said:
+1 old PG's shrink over time.

You can nitpick this instrument apart, but this is probable the finest example of a vintage instrument I have seen. And considering I live in town, i'm going to go play it now. :) Jut cuz.
Click to expand...

If you do go up there, and you should, I'd be curious to find out if they got this on trade, at a private auction, an estate sale or from a collector.

B.
 
#18
Buzz said:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]Just thought I'd share this "out of reach" find.Does anyone know what these went for new back in 65?
Buzz
Click to expand...
Unless that bass has been kept in a vault it looks too good to be true easpecialy the headstock transfers, to compare I've attached a rather poor shot of my 1965 Fender Jazz Bass's headstock that I bought new in 1966 I paid £107 UK $210 USD whilst serving with the British Army in Cyprus.
I sold it for £3500 UK $6900 USD around Dec 2003.
 

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