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Best and Worst Resale Values?

#27
Baird6869 said:
Just curious as to what basses the TB community thinks have the best and worst resale values?

I'm not talking about the 1959 Fender your grandfather paid $100 for and forgot about it in his closet until this year either. Current or recent stuff.

I personally think Music Man basses have the best resale. The MM basses I have bought gently used can easily be sold for at least what I paid for them and one can generally get close to new street price for a used but mint bass. Fender is also up there.

IMO one of the worst is Warwick. Most of the instruments that sold new in the $2000 range can be found for less than 1/2 of that used. As an example, I bought a used 1997 Fortress Masterman for about $700USD this year and it initially sold for well over $2000. And it is completely mint.

I have heard that the real high end boutique basses and customs are bad for resale as well.
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I disagree totally with custom and high end basses having bad resale value. maybe lsomething `ike pedulla. Who plays a Pedulla?? But try to buy a used Sadowsky, Ken Smith, Roscoe, MTD USA and a few others and see if you get one "cheap". I doubt you will. I very recently sold my 5 year old Fender MIA Active Jazz that I bought for $1300 new for $950. It was indeed mint but I only lost $350 and played it for 5 years.

I do agree that you will get ripped off trying to sell a
Warwick. I owned 2 Thumb basses a 5 and a 6. The six I bought for $1700 switched pups for $300 and sold for $ 1300. I lost $700 on that one! The 5 I bought for $1500 and sold for $1000! I will never own a Warwick again... I didn't like the tone and to sell it is even worse.
 
#30
Jazzin' said:
Just buy used stuff, so the resale value is the same value you bought it for.
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+1 with that ^

I just took a 35% loss on my Elrick.....that hurt!!

I bought my Lakland 55-94 used about 5 years ago for $1500. I invested $400 it to have the body swapped over from a standard to a deluxe model. All in all, I have $1900 in the bass. I dont think I would be able to get $1900 for the bass. However, I dont care!! This bass is a keeper. I will probally own this bass until the day. I dont know why USA Laklands dont command a higher resale value. They are great basses.

Prior to the Lakland I had a Warwick Thumb BO. I bought the Thumb at GC for $1600. However, I traded in my Hamer Cruise 5 with the 2TEK to help finance the Thumb. I paid almost $1200 new for the Hamer and only got about $600 on the trade. There was something about that Warwick that made me want to have it. It was pure compulsion. I feel out of love really quick with the warwick and sold her for about $1000. All in all, that deal cost me about $1200 ($600 loss on both the Hamer and the Warwick). The $1000 I got for the Warick went towards the Lakland.
 
#31
Best - I gotta go with Wal. I've owned 7 of them over the years (currently still have 3 in the stable) and the absolute most I played for any of them was $3200 at the time. I actually acquired a used Wenge Fretless MkI From a Gc in El Toro, Ca. that I felt guilty for buying. I was an employee at the time, and had one of my RDM's research the price they had in it...I gave them $1100 OTD for it because I didn't have the conscience to pay only $700 for it!!
 
#32
I think what all of the posts in this thread illustrate that instruments are over-priced to begin with. If an instrument loses half its value two months after it leaves the store IMO it was over priced to begin with. Of course the market really is what determines these things but that is the way it looks to me.
 
#33
KeithPas said:
I think what all of the posts in this thread illustrate that instruments are over-priced to begin with. If an instrument loses half its value two months after it leaves the store IMO it was over priced to begin with.
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It doesn't say that at all. It says that people place a lot of value on new products. This is pretty much true of everything.

The only exceptions I can think of are houses and things owned by celebrities.
 
#35
zachbass02 said:
Steinberger Spirits seem to be hot used..Musicyo sold them for 349.99 brand new...there was one on ebay for $400 right off the bat....:eek: :scowl:

QUOTE]


I didn't know that, i have a 5 string fretless spirit I got for just about nothing, its a pretty cool bass actually...I just never play it, ever.

I'm glad modulii have a low resale value, I would have never been able to afford one new!
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#36
OK, so if an instrument goes for half what it does new, maybe what holds its' value is a used instrument. New anything loses some value in the first few years. I doubt 3rd or 4th owner is different from 2nd owner. But even if you buy something new and hold it long enough, then it will bring more than when it was original. For instance the Rickenbacker that sold used on e-bay for $1725 was about
$700 new in 1976. And it sold for a little more than a brand new Rick, so obviously it "held" pretty well. And most Fenders of that era have held just as well. The optimum situation then is to buy a recent but used bass and hold onto it for a while. Of course the nicer the bass and the rarer the bass, the faster it will increase in value.
 
#37
I think it is important to note that resale value says nothing about the quality of a bass. It just says that there is heavy or light demand for a given item. Frankly, I don't know of any bass that doesn't drop at least 25% value once a person has it for a few months unless it is some kind of limited edition bass. Even Fenders don't go up in price until they are about twenty years old. Back in the eighties I saw seventies P-basses and Jazzes for $300-$500 all day long. Their price started going up basically in the last ten years.
 
#38
Baird6869 said:
I'm not talking about the 1959 Fender your grandfather paid $100 for and forgot about it in his closet until this year either.
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But I AM talking about a '58 Fender (NOT '59) . . . and it's not my Grandfather's . . . (but I'm a grandfather. Does that count?)

Anyways, you can see my FS/FT ad in the TalkBass BG classifieds . . .
 
#39
M5Yates said:
Alembics are one of the worst. Used Series models sell for less than 60% of their original price.


Ricks and Wals hold their value because of the long wait to get a new one.
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I one hundred percent agree...because the new price for a series model is vastly over priced anyway! :hiding: But then again Alembics aren't my favorite boutique customs. Personally I'm a Fodera guy myself, so that's not to say that I wouldn't pay 11 grand for a custom bass. But I don't think any Fodera goes for as much as a series II, I think base w/o options they start at like 9 or 10 grand I could be wrong.
 
#40
Absolute worst has got to be Warmoth. I'm forced to keep my Explorer because NO one will buy it even for 1/4 of the total of the parts. I tried parting it out and it's like it has lepresy, no one will touch it. And I can't complain (anymore) because I come to find out the damn thing is a doom/sludge metal beast! It sounds amazing totally distorted and fuzzed out!

Best resale value...I'd say a Wal. Maybe a Fodera but I don't follow those much. Sadowsky's and vintage Fenders seem to go well too. And if you're talking about returns on investment, hands down the SX wins. You can buy a used one for $125 and turn around and sell it for $250. Where else can you instantly double your money?
 

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