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EBMM Music Man Basses...why so much $?

You could buy a brand new Ford Taurus for $15k in 1995 and now it is $25k for a new one. It is simply called inflation.
EB is a great company, makes great basses which all considered (offer, demand, quality, other similar products...) are correctly priced.

Yes, but the 1995 Taurus you bought in 1995 would today go for quite a bit less than you paid for it back then. Again, I was not talking about the price of brand new showroom instruments. I understand that the cost of materials and labor has gone way up since I bought my gorgeous trans teal Stingray back in the early 90s. I was curious to see who can justify paying over a grand for the same bass I bought in 1992. I mean, the same exact 92 Stingray. Not the 2014 version. I paid $750 for that bass. I would not pay more for the very exact same 92 bass. That's all I was saying.
 
Dude. Money changes value. /closed


;)

But seriously... For things which don't depreciate much (look that guy up if you haven't heard it before), they cost "more" (as a figure on paper) second hand, 22 years later, than they did brand new. It is a testement to the quality of these instruments that they depreciate very little.
 
Dude. Money changes value. /closed


;)

But seriously... For things which don't depreciate much (look that guy up if you haven't heard it before), they cost "more" (as a figure on paper) second hand, 22 years later, than they did brand new. It is a testement to the quality of these instruments that they depreciate very little.

Okay, I do not know what street price is on a new stingray. I do not. I do know about inflation, however.
In 1977, my parents bought me a brand new fender J bass - cost them $335, with case.
Using this inflation caculator, whch appears to be pretty standard:

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=335&year1=1977&year2=2014

That $335 would now be $1315

Zzounds has this bass selling for $1349 without case - a bit high, but close enough.

Does anyone know what an older 'ray went for back in say... 1990?
 
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One thing though: Middle class salaries in the US have been stagnant since the mid nineties (Unlike the 1% who have driven the average income upward). As a result, such a purchase will have a bigger impact on a budget for most people. But this will apply to most consummer products not only to EBMM basses.
 
Okay, I do not know what street price is on a new stingray. I do not. I do know about inflation, however.
In 1977, my parents bought me a brand new fender J bass - cost them $335, with case.
Using this inflation caculator, whch appears to be pretty standard:

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=335&year1=1977&year2=2014

That $335 would now be $1315

Zzounds has this bass selling for $1349 without case - a bit high, but close enough.

Does anyone know what an older 'ray went for back in say... 1990?

Back in '92, as a teenager, I bought a StingRay brand new at EU Wurlitzer music in Boston for, if memory serves, $749.
 
Back in '92, as a teenager, I bought a StingRay brand new at EU Wurlitzer music in Boston for, if memory serves, $749.

That would put a used one around $500. It all simply doubled in price. Same as the price of a new Fender Jazz Bass which was $649 and now $1249. Unfortunately it is unlike the average person's salary which is almost the same unless your are part of the 1%.
 
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Heck, I also remember I bought a brand new American Standard Jazz Bass in late 1999 for $679 at Guitar Center. Let's see...oh yeah, and also around the same time the Standard (MIM) series Fenders sold for $299 brand new.
 
Let me see if I've got this straight - "I paid $750 for my Stingray bass 25 years ago. Now they cost more, and that's crazy". Could that seriously be what you're saying??...
I don't think so. I think he's saying that the bass on the USED market now costs more than the bass did NEW.

Does that complaint make more sense?


Sent from my iPhone 5c zipped in a sandwich bag using TalkBass mobile app while floating in the pool!
 
I don't think so. I think he's saying that the bass on the USED market now costs more than the bass did NEW.

Does that complaint make more sense?


Sent from my iPhone 5c zipped in a sandwich bag using TalkBass mobile app while floating in the pool!


Finally, someone gets it. I didn't think I was being vague. I'm NOT saying a new Stingray that cost $750 25 years ago should still cost the same $750 as a new one made in 2014. I'm saying that THE used Stingray I bought 25 years ago is NOT worth twice as much today as I paid 25 years ago. It's a 25 year old, non-vintage bass...nothing special. Not a collectors item, not even all that much different from the Stingrays made today. Yes, it's still a good bass, but it has 25 years worth of miles on it. Perhaps they were hard driven miles, maybe it sat in the case since 1992, who knows. All I'm saying is that I would not pay what I've seen these go for. I don't think that is an outrageous statement.
 
I get that but I still respectfully disagree. A used sought-after brand name bass is typically worth 60-70% of the price of a new one. Regardless of it's age since it does not depreciate. It just happens that the price of a new one has doubled since the mid nineties. Consequently, the price of a used one today has now caught up with with the cost of a new one then. 60% of $1470 is $882 and the same exact math applies to Fender imstruments. Exactly the same.
Now, I understand that YOU are not willing to shell out this amount for a used EBMM, yet those instruments have followed the economical path of other Fender, Gibson...instruments. It is no different.
 
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I get that but I still respectfully disagree. A used sought-after brand name bass is typically worth 60-70% of the price of a new one. Regardless of it's age since it does not depreciate. It just happens that the price of a new on has doubled since the mid nineties. Consequently, the price of a used one has caught up with with what a new one was worth then.
Isn't that exactly what I said!?
 
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Finally, someone gets it. I didn't think I was being vague. I'm NOT saying a new Stingray that cost $750 25 years ago should still cost the same $750 as a new one made in 2014. I'm saying that THE used Stingray I bought 25 years ago is NOT worth twice as much today as I paid 25 years ago. It's a 25 year old, non-vintage bass...nothing special. Not a collectors item, not even all that much different from the Stingrays made today. Yes, it's still a good bass, but it has 25 years worth of miles on it. Perhaps they were hard driven miles, maybe it sat in the case since 1992, who knows. All I'm saying is that I would not pay what I've seen these go for. I don't think that is an outrageous statement.
The exact bass you bought new in 1992 IS worth more than you paid for it new in 1992. You may not like/refuse to accept it, but that is a fact. It's your prerogative whether you will pay todays prices, but others will and do. Feel free to dig your heels in as the world moves on around you.



*And for the record, a 25 year old bass IS vintage. Another fact many people getting older refuse to accept.
 
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One thing though: Middle class salaries in the US have been stagnant since the mid nineties (Unlike the 1% who have driven the average income upward). As a result, such a purchase will have a bigger impact on a budget for most people. But this will apply to most consummer products not only to EBMM basses.
The average salary in 1992 was $28k. Today it's $48k. Stagnant?