$17,000.00 for a Jazz Bass

[rjny36]

I always wonder about the ones in relatively pristine condition. Perhaps there is a reason it wasn't played much, you know?

 

[blipndub]

Sorry, calculated for inflation a $400 purchase would be well over a $1000 dollars today. 65 prices are kind of pointless in this kind of discussion. They were not cheap was my point. But I'm shooting from the hip a little bit, I don't pretend to know much about it.

I agree that the old pieces in showroom condition are maybe good for that but I too wonder why they don't have 50 years of play on them. Then again there are many a guitar that was bought and given as a gift and never played.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Sorry, calculated for inflation a $400 purchase would be well over a $1000 dollars today.

At ~3 percent per year? I'm no math whiz, but

 

[blipndub]

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

 

[rjny36]

I agree that the old pieces in showroom condition are maybe good for that but I too wonder why they don't have 50 years of play on them. Then again there are many a guitar that was bought and given as a gift and never played.

Good point. I can't imagine too many folks at the time thought that, in fifty years, they'd be worth what they go for these days. Some little kid could have got it for Christmas, gave it a "Gee thanks, mom," and promptly put it in the closet.

It kinda makes you wonder what equipment we might have--that we take for granted at the moment--will wind up going for the cost of a home in fifty years....

http://cgi.ebay.com/1957-Les-Paul-G...ryZ38086QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[GlennW]

IIRC a new Strat in '66 or '67 had a MSRP of $325 - don't know where the Jazz stood in relation to that.

 

[DWBass]

I seem to recall that the Jazz Bass I bought new (wish I still had it!) in 1964 was about $450-475.

geez, did they cost that much in '64??

 

[Ed Goode]

My 1963 P was $275 with the tweed HSC in '63 ........ Dorn & Kirschner Music in Newark, NJ. It was my 1st EB ......

 

[GM60466]

That bass was $339 with the case in 1965. The matching headstock was the $10 up charge to the $329 MSRP.....and the case came with the bass.
I personally think that the bass in under priced. I've seen basses that were not nearly this nice selling for $3 to 5K more.

GM

 

[Twystoff8]

The '65 Mustang, brand-spanking new, sold for $2,000-2,400, depending on what extra little feature you added to the list (virtually all non-stock items sold individually back then, not as part of an upgrade package). Along with the T-bird and 'Vette, it was about as cool an American car as you could buy.

And the Jazz was its "cool" corollary, but for less than a quarter of the price.

Of course, a "decent" beginning salary for a college graduate was $6K-8K, too.

Ah, to be (that) young again.

 

[bovinehost]

Here is why the vintage market is exploding... There are a limited number of instruments, there will never be any more, only less.

You'd think that would be true, but I've seen an awful lot of very good fakes over the last ten years, so maybe we'll never really run out of pre-CBS Fenders.

 

[Buzz]

You'd think that would be true, but I've seen an awful lot of very good fakes over the last ten years, so maybe we'll never really run out of pre-CBS Fenders.

Even harder to find, are the rare pre-NBC Fenders. I think most were lost or recorded over like some of the Tonight Show episodes.

Don't quote me on that.

 

[Soma666]

uhm, im no fender genius, but ive never seen a vintage fender, especially one from that era with a matching headstock... and the decals on that thing looks like they were put on yesterday... refinish maybe

looks awesome tho

 

[r379]

geez, did they cost that much in '64??

Heck, it might have been less than that. Maybe that was what the Bassman amp I bought at the same time cost and the bass was less. That was a long time ago and I was a lot younger.

 

[jim nolte]

I used to have a 65 Fender price list. A 65 standard sunburst Jazz was about $265.00. to $275.00. The case was another $40.00 if I remember right. My Jazz is dated May 7 65 and I bought it for $200.00 used in 1969. Jim

 

[sixway]

I bought my first bass back in '74, a '76 left-hand sunburst P-Bass, with case (yeah, even back then they couldn't sell lefty basses!) in San Francisco for $450 out the door. I eventually traded it for a Ibanez SR-800
abot 15 years ago because I didn't like the tone or neck-dive... of course now it's worth between $1500-2000, and the SR-800....

 

[Misanthropic]

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

Did anyone check this out? $400 in 1965 would be $2,640.62 today, thanks to inflation.

 

[svtb15]

i remember J basses going for about $250 in the early 70s... in the early 70s i also remeber being able to buy a mid or early 60s jazz bass in the local paper for about $150-$175.. P basses of that era were about $125 - $150... If i only knew then what i know now as they say.. I bought a new Alembic series II in 1977 for $1600.... I shoould have bought 10 used jazz basses and sat on them...that would be a nice chunk o' cash to be sitting on... oh well..

I also bought my first fender in 1971 from sam ash in NY.. I paid about $180.. it was black with maple bd and white PG.. i see them on ebay for $2500 now.. its nuts.

 

[WarriorJoe7]

You'd think that would be true, but I've seen an awful lot of very good fakes over the last ten years, so maybe we'll never really run out of pre-CBS Fenders.

Yes I thought of this as I posted but failed to mention it.

 

[WarriorJoe7]

I wanted to add that before CBS took over I thin they were more expensive but I am totally guessing.

It wouldn't surprise me if a pre CBS Jazz was about $400-$450 and that an early 70s jazz was only $250 because they were mass produced.

But then againa I am guessing

BTW $400 in 1965 is about $3000 today according to an inflation calculator. some years had higher than 3% inflation.