1992 Bass Player buyers guide

[Chad Bennett]

i was visiting my parents and found a 1992 buyers guide in the basement. Interesting seeing how prices have changed in 24 years. It was also of note, that while basses were hit harder with inflation, higher end bass amps and cabs are not too far off from where they were then. Here's a few bass (msrp) prices from 92, let me know if you have anything you would like me to look up.
Stingray $995
Standard Pbass $389
Thunderbird $1249
Pedulla MVP $1675
Ric 4003 $1099
Sadowski 4 $1400
Status series 1 $1695
Wal standard $2220
Zon legacy $1599

 

[dbase]

1966 Bass Player buyer guide.
Fender Precision bass... $375

 

[Chad Bennett]

1966 Bass Player buyer guide.
Fender Precision bass... $375

I guess in all fairness the 66 was a US made. But from 66 to 92 it went up a whopping $15. From 92 to 2016 it's doubled +some.

 

[seang15]

i was visiting my parents and found a 1992 buyers guide in the basement. Interesting seeing how prices have changed in 24 years. It was also of note, that while basses were hit harder with inflation, higher end bass amps and cabs are not too far off from where they were then. Here's a few bass (msrp) prices from 92, let me know if you have anything you would like me to look up.
Stingray $995
Standard Pbass $389
Thunderbird $1249
Pedulla MVP $1675
Ric 4003 $1099
Sadowski 4 $1400
Status series 1 $1695
Wal standard $2220
How about Fodera prices?

 

[bassbrad]

I like looking at old magazines to see what stuck and what did not, what ideas were hot at the time but are not so cool today.

 

[Chad Bennett]

Fodera monarch elite or emperor elite $2790 (5 string $3345)

 

[Chad Bennett]

I like looking at old magazines to see what stuck and what did not, what ideas were hot at the time but are not so cool today.

In 92 (that's kind of when I was just getting big into bass) I remember Bass Collection basses and ART processors were pushed really hard.

 

[seang15]

Fodera monarch elite or emperor elite $2790 (5 string $3345)

I had purchased a 1986 completely loaded Monarch, brand new (had it built), for $1250. That's a seismic leap in price in 6 years time!

 

[Chad Bennett]

I had purchased a 1986 completely loaded Monarch, brand new (had it built), for $1250. That's a seismic leap in price in 6 years time!

if we could get one for $1250 today, we would all by them in pairs just to have a backup...

 

[dbase]

I guess in all fairness the 66 was a US made. But from 66 to 92 it went up a whopping $15. From 92 to 2016 it's doubled +some.

That's what I paid for a brand new Fender in 1966. Being just out of high school that was a lot of money back then. If I had it now it would be selling for $6000 - $8000.

 

[reddesert]

That's what I paid for a brand new Fender in 1966. Being just out of high school that was a lot of money back then. If I had it now it would be selling for $6000 - $8000.

That was a lot of money, period. From the inflation calculator, $375 in 1966 is equivalent to $2768 in 2015 dollars. Less than the collector value now, but twice as much as a new Am Std Precision bass.

 

[jjmuckluckjr]

I bought my Fender Precision brand new in 1977 for $415. That means next year it'll be 40 years old. I know people like to dismiss '70's era basses, and that's fine. But every time has it's winners and losers. This puppy is a beast (I mean that in a good way). Back then when I started, I had an instructor named Tom Evans, who spent years working for the Grateful Dead. Well, Tom had a unique theory about guitars and basses. He believed that older instruments sounded better because they had been played so much. That the act of playing, the vibrations, altered the wood on a molecular level and improving it's tone. Maybe it was just his way to get me to practice, it did. Anyway, the bass sounds and plays better than new. Perhaps Tom was right all along.

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

In Dec of '89, I went to GC, and got a brand new EBMM Stingray (with a Birds Eye maple neck, no less), with a case and sales tax, out the door, for $750.
What would that run me now? Almost $2,000? ( State and local tax where I live is almost 10%.)

 

[hintz]

In 92 (that's kind of when I was just getting big into bass) I remember Bass Collection basses and ART processors were pushed really hard.

Ah yes, the ART Nightbass!! I wanted one so bad when I was a beginner in 94!!

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

i was visiting my parents and found a 1992 buyers guide in the basement. Interesting seeing how prices have changed in 24 years. It was also of note, that while basses were hit harder with inflation, higher end bass amps and cabs are not too far off from where they were then. Here's a few bass (msrp) prices from 92, let me know if you have anything you would like me to look up.
Stingray $995
Standard Pbass $389
Thunderbird $1249
Pedulla MVP $1675
Ric 4003 $1099
Sadowski 4 $1400
Status series 1 $1695
Wal standard $2220
Zon legacy $1599

The "Standard P-Bass" back then I *think* was made in Japan; I had a 1991 P-Bass Plus... MSRP was something over 800... ah, memories.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

In 92 (that's kind of when I was just getting big into bass) I remember Bass Collection basses and ART processors were pushed really hard.

I worked in a store at that time - sold more than a few of those... Along with SWR SM400s and those crazy Trace Elliot rigs (with all the silly lighting)

 

[spaz21387]

In Dec of '89, I went to GC, and got a brand new EBMM Stingray (with a Birds Eye maple neck, no less), with a case and sales tax, out the door, for $750.
What would that run me now? Almost $2,000? ( State and local tax where I live is almost 10%.)

A 3band ray is 1499. A 2 band slab body classic is about 1800...I paid 1050 for mine when gc was blowing them out for 500 off retail in june of 2014.

 

[interp]

1966 Bass Player buyer guide.
Fender Precision bass... $375

The 2016 equivalent of $375 in 1966 is $2,789. Fender Precisions are therefore MUCH cheaper than they were in 1966.

 

[hrodbert696]

1966 Bass Player buyer guide.
Fender Precision bass... $375

= $2789.20 in 2016 money.

 

[Chad Bennett]

I worked in a store at that time - sold more than a few of those... Along with SWR SM400s and those crazy Trace Elliot rigs (with all the silly lighting)

That's funny, my first "real amp" was a SWR Studio 220 with a 4x10 (still have it). Then I bought a Trace combo in the mid 90s dirt cheap off a guy in college so he could buy a snow board (I wish I still had that one)