Bass brands with bad resell value

[Neal Brakey]

In the long run I would like to know what brands out there that have just terrible resell value whether it be a good brand or not.
The first thing that comes to mind is custom built basses, like my Carvin which simply won't sell.
Mainly just trying to see what brands out there have really bad resell value, and if buying a new bass for a lot money this resell value question comes to mind, or if you don't mind spending a lot knowing you won't get much back if you sell it in the future.

 

[Stumbo]

Define "long run". In the long run we'll all be playing that big gig in the sky.

Never thought about resale value. Play what you like. Buy one or two you really like and have fun.

Resale value is for collectors. You can check the sold items on TB or eBay if you really want to know.

Someone will be along shortly to contradict everything I just said. So hold on.

 

[lowphatbass]

Any parts bass you build yourself/have built by a qualified luthier....unless you get a really good deal on the parts.

 

[Stumbo]

...like my Carvin which simply won't sell.

You mean it won't sell at the price you want. Yeah, the free market ain't no one's b***h.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

G&L
LTD

 

[Neal Brakey]

You mean it won't sell at the price you want. Yeah, the free market ain't no one's b***h.

Well, I cut the price down really low, and still nada, so who knows.
Sadly traded my Ernie ball music Man stingray for it without knowing much about basses at the time, no wonder the guy was so quick to get away when I traded it in person.

 

[Stumbo]

Well, I cut the price down really low, and still nada, so who knows.
Sadly traded my Ernie ball music Man stingray for it without knowing much about basses at the time, no wonder the guy was so quick to get away when I traded it in person.

Ouch! That'll leave a mark.

You've come to the right place for grest-ish advice.

 

[Neal Brakey]

Ouch! That'll leave a mark.

You've come to the right place for grest-ish advice.

At the end of the day I've just started my bass guitar journey, and am only a few weeks into playing.
I've done a lot of research, but sadly some brands and other things I simply don't know as of yet.
That's why I come to this forum, to get to know what I can from experienced players.

 

[Leo Thunder]

Barely any brand has a re-sale value over 60%. Used guitars, on the other hand, sell again for pretty much what you paid for them, provided you looked them up on ebay first.

 

[JW56789]

Musical instruments are like any other consumer goods: When you tally up the 10's of thousands of new basses made every year, there's only going to be a handful of best sellers that may or may not be 5 or 10 years out.

Think of the Shark Tank that is the 'Vintage' market: Gibson, Fender, Martin, and a lot more have made thousands and thousands of instruments over their histories, yet only a handful are true collectibles with big ticket prices. Chevrolet has made millions of cars, but you rarely see anything past a '63 Split-Window Vette, a '57 BelAir Convertible, or an SS or Yenko Camaro pulling down the big $$ at auction. Your uncle's C10 and your aunt's Impala she drove to church will go to the crusher without comment. Guitars and Basses are the same.

Any new bass is being bought at roughly 1/2 of retail full list price on a store level, maybe a bigger discount for the huge chains. That's roughly what it's worth after you buy it. Now having said that, some things will fare better than that in the short term (recently discontinued, rare color, demand was higher than production expected) and some of them will fare worse (virtually any custom, 'boutique' bass, or some really doggy, plain, cheapo off-brand piece).

So your best bet is to NOT get your blood up, get a bad case of GAS, and NOT shop around, take your time and see what's out there. I prefer 'open box' or barely used mint. The last thing I'm going to do is walk in a store, swoon, and pull out the card while I'm sweating, the room is spinning, and I'm deep in the throes of "I Gotta Have It Now!!!!'. If you settle on a certain piece, you'd be amazed the range of prices you can find given a 90-day period of watching the market. Buy as smart as you can. They're tools.

 

[Fenflex]

I like Warwicks and I noticed that the prices of used ones are really low in France compared to the price of a brand new one. Now that the GPS serie is out, the used prices make more sense but I often see german made (pre GPS) for sale for really low prices. So at least in France, I can say that Warwicks have bad resale value.

Luthier basses, custom made, Warmoth, expensive Ibanez, Cort and so on have terrible resale value here.

On the other hand, it's common to see Musicmans (Let's say, 2,2k new) selling for 1-1,4k used depending of year, finish, nb of strings etc. USA Fenders can also be sold easily but for less money that Musicmans.

I noticed that some discontinued instruments have a mare stable resale value, for example : MIJ JB Marcus Millers, MM Sub US, Fender Dimensions...

At the end of the day you will lose money 99% of the time from any instrument so IMHO: you better buy used gear from trusted people or under trusted people advice to get good instruments at fair price that you can sell after a fear years (if you want to) at a similar price.

A bass can last for a lifetime with good care (not like a car) so basically it's always a better deal to buy a used instrument than a new.

 

[two fingers]

Unfortunately, you got bitten by one of the worst. Carvin takes a big hit on price. It's a shame too. They are great basses.

 

[interp]

I only care about the resale value of instruments that I buy with the expectation of eventually reselling them. For those instruments I always select something that I am confident has the highest possible resale value. For those basses the resale price has typically been 80-100% of what I paid for them.

I’ve only owned three basses that I would never part with, and for those basses I would take a HUGE hit upon resale. So be it.

 

[Rib 13]

Keep in mind that guitars are iconography for Baby-Boomers and Gen-Xers - the subsequent generations started caring less and less about them as time moved on....They were a HUGE part of culture between the 60s and 90s - not so much today as they slide into niche market instead of mainstream....My prediction: Within twenty years, Baby Boomers will all be senior elderly-- most of their collections will be gone on to their children or grandkids (who dont care about guitars) and the market will be flooded with vintage and boutique instruments fetching prices nowhere near what they were initially appraised at.....so goes the Real Estate Market

 

[FrenchBassQC]

In the long run I would like to know what brands out there that have just terrible resell value whether it be a good brand or not.
The first thing that comes to mind is custom built basses, like my Carvin which simply won't sell.
Mainly just trying to see what brands out there have really bad resell value, and if buying a new bass for a lot money this resell value question comes to mind, or if you don't mind spending a lot knowing you won't get much back if you sell it in the future.

Yeah I was going to say the Carvin/Kiesel seems to be ones that comes up in this category.

 

[Neal Brakey]

Almost makes me wonder if I should just end up keeping it at the end of the day.
Who knows, it seems like a decent bass, but I'm gonna get nothing really for it sadly.
Some part of me feels dumb for trading a stingray for it, but at the time I was new to basses, and only traded on Craigslist sadly.
I feel I could have gotten something better, and keep kicking myself for it.

 

[40Hz]

Used G&Ls consistently go for low resale prices.

Makes no sense to me. They're fine basses.

 

[Neal Brakey]

Sadly I don't know what model or wood or anything that was used on it.
Makes it hard to put a price on it, so I just put it up for really low.
Kinda sucks really.

 

[Ghook]

chains

Sadly I don't know what model or wood or anything that was used on it.
Makes it hard to put a price on it, so I just put it up for really low.
Kinda sucks really.

Thats a nice bass. If you don't need the money keep it. It's ok to own more than one guitar at a time, at least I hope thats the case or there is a whole lot of us doing it wrong on here

 

[Marc61]

Maybe instead of resale value you should consider the value to you personally. There’s plenty of threads on this site of players who use basses we’d never buy but, you couldn’t pry it from their hands if you tried