It's perfectly ok for him to bash single cuts and those darn coffee table basses, but heaven forbid we talk down about his basses. Didn't you get the memo?
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30 years from now, boutique or cheesy?
- Thread starter allexcosta
- Start date
It's perfectly ok for him to bash single cuts and those darn coffee table basses, but heaven forbid we talk down about his basses. Didn't you get the memo?
According to my crystal ball:
The current trend of relic'd instruments will be considered tacky and even instruments that earned their wear through years of play will be undesirable because some people got so good at relicing that it's difficult even for experts to tell the difference.
The fender P and J remain popular. Pre CBS Fenders are typically sold in excess of a million dollars.
G&L's become very highly collectible and become the vintage instrument of choice for many blues players.
Headless designs make a HUGE comeback especially in the jazz world causing Steinbergers to also take on fashionable vintage status. (Having a stringed instrument with a head on it will get the same reaction as bringing a BC Rich Warlock to a session today.)
Wireless technology advances so that a transmitter and receiver fits completely within a jack. They are powered by tiny batteries that recharge from the instrument signal. They replenish themselves just from the instrument being played. Active electronics go out of style in a big way. Anything with a battery compartment is sold for about half to 2/3 value of a similar passive instrument.
Instruments with fancy wood grains (that were never refinished) become highly prized among collectors. Restaurants who use low-end flame-topped instruments as decorations.
There are many advances in paint technology causing the refinishing of guitars... (Sometimes even vintage ones) to be common. Solid colors, metallics, swirl, chromium, UV sensitive, neon, holographic, faux-marble, and crackle finishes are in style. It's a lot like the 80's in other words.
The current trend of relic'd instruments will be considered tacky and even instruments that earned their wear through years of play will be undesirable because some people got so good at relicing that it's difficult even for experts to tell the difference.
The fender P and J remain popular. Pre CBS Fenders are typically sold in excess of a million dollars.
G&L's become very highly collectible and become the vintage instrument of choice for many blues players.
Headless designs make a HUGE comeback especially in the jazz world causing Steinbergers to also take on fashionable vintage status. (Having a stringed instrument with a head on it will get the same reaction as bringing a BC Rich Warlock to a session today.)
Wireless technology advances so that a transmitter and receiver fits completely within a jack. They are powered by tiny batteries that recharge from the instrument signal. They replenish themselves just from the instrument being played. Active electronics go out of style in a big way. Anything with a battery compartment is sold for about half to 2/3 value of a similar passive instrument.
Instruments with fancy wood grains (that were never refinished) become highly prized among collectors. Restaurants who use low-end flame-topped instruments as decorations.
There are many advances in paint technology causing the refinishing of guitars... (Sometimes even vintage ones) to be common. Solid colors, metallics, swirl, chromium, UV sensitive, neon, holographic, faux-marble, and crackle finishes are in style. It's a lot like the 80's in other words.
I would not be shocked at all to see some boutiques selling for very little in the future. Many boutiques are small, one-man operations, and many do not have big name endorsers. For outfits like that, once the maker dies or retires, it would be easy for a low profile brand to lose what little visibility it had, resulting in basses made by that brand having little value on the used market.
This has already happened with lots of high quality factory basses like Peavey, Yamaha, Aria, Ibanez, US Masters, TBC, etc.
This has already happened with lots of high quality factory basses like Peavey, Yamaha, Aria, Ibanez, US Masters, TBC, etc.
IMO, even now the market is so flooded with instruments, that in 2040 you'll find them in every trash bin...
I mean, how many basses come out from Fender and Ibanez every year, not incl. guitars?
Iirc, on one forum like 6yrs ago, somebody put a approx. number of luthiers in EU and USA, and it was just astounding...I forgot exact number, but it was like in 5 numbers...
Fender will still reissue same s$%& just different wrapping, and luthiers will still make 'coffee table' stuff...
The asian made (low cost) instruments will get better and better...
But seriously, where do all the instruments go - is there like an elephant graveyard, where they all go, or WHAT?
Somebody should make approx. number of bass guitars made from 1950s...
I mean, how many basses come out from Fender and Ibanez every year, not incl. guitars?
Iirc, on one forum like 6yrs ago, somebody put a approx. number of luthiers in EU and USA, and it was just astounding...I forgot exact number, but it was like in 5 numbers...
Fender will still reissue same s$%& just different wrapping, and luthiers will still make 'coffee table' stuff...
The asian made (low cost) instruments will get better and better...
But seriously, where do all the instruments go - is there like an elephant graveyard, where they all go, or WHAT?
Somebody should make approx. number of bass guitars made from 1950s...
Just as I like some older BC Rich designs, like the Mocking Bird or Eagle, I suspect I'll still like certain single cut designs in the future. What will everyone else like? I dunno'. I'm still trying to work out why some guys like to wear their pants sagging half way down their butt, but these same guys need to wear shorts that come down to the knee or they are "showing too much.
Stick_Player
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I think there will be more pointy and avante gard looking instruments. Or perhaps the std bass will look more like that harp thing spock played on startrek. Lol.
I guess i dont get how nicely grained wood, or any wood with unique look is cheesy (or a coffee table), but having a bass the same color as a 1950s cadillac, with as much chrome to match is "cool".
I hope everyone is right in this thread and that boutiques drop in price. Ill gladly buy them.
Somehow though i dont see Sadowskys, Foderas, Zon, Wal, MTD, Dingwalls, Elricks, Smith's, Alembics, Ritters, Pedulla, Drozd, Spector, FBass, Roscoes or other boutique basses all of a sudden being considered cheesy.
I hope everyone is right in this thread and that boutiques drop in price. Ill gladly buy them.
Somehow though i dont see Sadowskys, Foderas, Zon, Wal, MTD, Dingwalls, Elricks, Smith's, Alembics, Ritters, Pedulla, Drozd, Spector, FBass, Roscoes or other boutique basses all of a sudden being considered cheesy.
I'd like to know as well... Samick and Cort make like 200 basses per day each... That's around 100.000 basses/year from these two factories only...
It's not all of sudden, it's 30 years... And many people find them to be cheesy now...
Well considering that Alembic and Fodera were making boutiques in, what - the 70s, and those basses are still highly regarded I'd think that the boutique basses of today would be looked at similarly in another 30 years.
You could look at it like home furnishing if you want. Classical furniture has been "out" for hundreds of years but the people who like it will continue to do so.
You could look at it like home furnishing if you want. Classical furniture has been "out" for hundreds of years but the people who like it will continue to do so.
I thought the world ends around christmas next year.
Inorganic shapes will be out of favor as bell botoms are now.
Inorganic shapes will be out of favor as bell botoms are now.
Most of my basses are from the 80's. They look, and are, awesome. It was an era of experimentation and innovation.
That's cool now?
I wouldn't be surprised if not much changed. The oldest designs will still have their adherents, others will swear that only this month's technology is any good, and the rest will fall in between. I doubt "fancy basses" will ever be cheap.
Then again, maybe that guy who started the Basslab/Lightwave thread will be proved right, and that's all anyone will be using.
...and millions of people love Creed, but that doesn't make it right.
I like Creed. I am wondering though where the all people are who find
"cheesy" are.
I say things like the higher end Ritter basses (you know the 30k ones) will be in a museum of art. The more "affordable" players boutiques will be massively desirable to a select market like the vintage Fenders are today.
If anyone gets offended or upset about someone bashing their bass for whatever reason, then they need to wear thicker skin.
As to the OP. I think it all boils down to the overall design of the boutique. Some designs just transcend through the ages while others don't. If it's got a nice design then people 100 years from now will more than likely like it just as much as people today.
In 30 years, Key West will be largely evacuated and submerged and it'll be illegal to cut down a live tree without a permit. The cost of newly cut lumber will be so high that new basses will be made mainly of recycled wood from old furniture. Anything made with beautiful and/or high quality wood will be worth a handsome price. The use of batteries will be discouraged by the high cost of manufacture and disposal, making passive instruments more desirable. The most in-demand amps will be those with the highest ratio of power output to consumption.
The 80s was only cheesy in the 1990s and 2000s. The 80s is cool again in the 2010s. Just the same way that the 60s was cool in the 90s.
It is a single generational cycle. When kids are born never knowing what the 80s look like, will think the 80s are cool.
