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Do some basses just need 20+ years before their good?

#101
Biggbass said:
totally depends on the instrument, builder, wood, etc. I was shopping for a Gibson L5 many years ago and looked at several old ones, trying to avoid the $12000 price tag of a new, custom order. I was surprised that none of them seemed to be what I expected a vintage guitar to be as far as tonal character, wood resonance, etc...nothing like a vintage acoustic for example. And a couple of the vintage L5's were pretty much the equivalent of dead firewood. I passed on all of them, even the one that had an asking price of only $1500, which was the deadest wood of all. With another comparison, though, my NYC Sadowsky P was stellar from birth and set the standard for all others to follow...new or used, worn or vintage. But like said, nostalgia comes at a price.
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I feel the same way about a lot of the vintage Martin guitars I have played. I got so excited that they were 60s and Brazilian rosewood and all that. Honestly, most of them sounded pretty average. Same goes for many 60s strats I have played. It is cool that they are old, I'll admit that. However, old does not equal good in many cases.

Anyone in SoCal have a 70s fender bass? I would love to play one... Can't recall ever playing one

I got a Sadowsky for the same reason bigbass did. It is stellar from the get-go.
 
#103
Most US guitar-makers that existed in the '50s and '60s slumped a bit in the '70s (arguably, Rickenbacker was the only major exception) for various reasons, a major one being that demand for guitars was off the charts then. Fender and Gibson changed hands to clueless corporations. Martin was passed down to a playboy. And they were grinding out units like crazy, without the benefit of the kind of manufacturing technology that allows for greater consistency between instruments. I have owned/still own numerous '60s and '70s Fender basses, and find them to be unique individuals, much moreso than today's American Standards, say. I have some excellent '70s basses and got rid of a few dogs. Some were fairly pristine, some beat to hell. I doubt any of them got noticeably better-sounding with age, though.
 
#104
I leave this thread for just a few days... LOL.

I do have to say that nostalgia is powerful and mind games play a big part in some thing's appeal, but I think I see a trend here that depending on the era QC across the industry really makes a big difference just generally. "Coolness factor" however is in the eyes, ears and hands of the beholder.

So nothing new under the sun eh? ;)
 
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#105
Nostalgia helps, the rise in cost of older instruments, etc.

I have some 70's made instruments I got used--but for decent prices (& many years ago)

I also agree that time has weeded out many of the dogs
 

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