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Fender prices back in the day...

#22
GeneralElectric said:
Actually the price of Fenders hasn't really changed IMO. Someone was telling me that the old price of such and such Fenders equals the actual price of the Fender instruments. At least for the Am. Standard type stuff.
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But there were no Squiers or MIMs then - so the American made basses were way out of the price range of British teenagers!! :p

Oh and as to reminiscing - in the late 70s I could get 8 pints of cider for less than a pound and be guaranteed to throw it all up! ;)
 
#24
Bruce Lindfield said:
But there were no Squiers or MIMs then - so the American made basses were way out of the price range of British teenagers!! :p

Oh and as to reminiscing - in the late 70s I could get 8 pints of cider for less than a pound and be guaranteed to throw it all up! ;)
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Why didn't you get yourself a fancy little MusicMaster bass?


*shudder* What a crappy bass, I don't care what anyone says.:p
 
#25
GeneralElectric said:
Why didn't you get yourself a fancy little MusicMaster bass?


*shudder* What a crappy bass, I don't care what anyone says.:p
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I ended up buying a Fender Mustang, used from a guy at college, as my first "serious" bass - but it was terrible - hard to intonate above 7th fret - no tonal variation whatsoever - in fact the only good thing about it was its re-sale value,when I traded it in for an Ibanez Musician , which was superior in every respect! :p
 
#26
voodoobassist said:
...back in the day, I was in 9th grade,....my Mom bought me a 1963 jazz and a fender bassman amp, for $300...That was around 1968...
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Was that a 4x10 or a 2x12 bassman? In any case, these represent used prices in 1968.

For what it's worth, I seem to recall a new Jazz costing $260 in 1965. I might be mistaken, but the P-bass was about $40 less in my memory. I can't seem to find an old price list on line. Anyone have one?

Assuming a 1965 Jazz WAS $260 in 1965, that's $1,739.90 in 2008 $ according to Tom's Calculator. Instruments were not cheap then. :eyebrow:

Don't get me started on investment. For some reason people think that if they have a bass that appreciates, that makes it a "good investment." That is not an investment IMHO, good or bad. It is simply the appreciation of a single rather limited asset.

IMHO, an investment is something with the right mix of reward and risk that will allow you to reap very significant returns, like, oh say half your annual income or more---for life. This kind of investment generally requires many years and a lot of discipline. Darn! :D

examples: a small business, an education, retiring with $100k/year at age 60, etc.
 
#27
Bruce Lindfield said:
I ended up buying a Fender Mustang, used from a guy at college, as my first "serious" bass - but it was terrible - hard to intonate above 7th fret - no tonal variation whatsoever - in fact the only good thing about it was its re-sale value,when I traded it in for an Ibanez Musician , which was superior in every respect! :p
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I still like Ibby Musicians, they're good basses!

I still had the Musicmaster though, and with a fiery passion:mad:

The Mustang is eh, but at least it didn't use reject guitar parts:spit:
 
#29
mongo2 said:
Back in 1970 I purchased a '63 Jaguar guitar and a '63 blackface Deluxe Reverb amp both in lightly used condition for $250.

I also made $2.50 an hour building tennis courts, gas was about 30 cents a galllon, and Thrusday was nickel beer night.
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... I still had all my teeth, the USSR still existed and the girls were not frightened of STDs...:crying:

THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!

However, listening to the records of those days, the basses (majority Fender I suppose) sounded really dull!!!:spit:
 
#30
Jim Carr said:
IMHO, an investment is something with the right mix of reward and risk that will allow you to reap very significant returns, like, oh say half your annual income or more---for life. This kind of investment generally requires many years and a lot of discipline. Darn! :D
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I agree, nobody buys a new guitar as an "investment" and they certainly weren't buying Fenders back in the 60s. They bought them to play music!

Speaking of investments, say your bass appreciates from $2000 in 1968 to $6000 2008 (or less due to wear from reason #1 for buying an instrument). 3x your money in 40 years? A basic index like the S&P 500 is worth about 15x what it was in 1968.
 
#33
In 1970 I bought my first "real" bass, a brand new, out of the box Telecaster with a HSC + tax for just under $217.

The bass itself was $180, while a sunburst Precision was $165.
My friend bought a brand new '69 Tele guitar a couple of months previous for $145.

It was not an investment - within 2 years I had sanded the finish off and was already excavating to put in a Gibson EB0 mudbucker. I didn't know of anyone that didn't modify their instrument one way or another. I finally wore the body out with mods and put the neck on a DiMarzio Koa Jazz body in '84. This was my main player for many years.

The original body is in storage (sentimental value, no way to restore it) so a few years ago I put the neck (with original tuners) and pickup/bridge covers on a Warmoth Tele body to bring it full circle. :D
 
#34
GeneralElectric said:
Actually the price of Fenders hasn't really changed IMO. Someone was telling me that the old price of such and such Fenders equals the actual price of the Fender instruments. At least for the Am. Standard type stuff.

I was playing guitar in the mid 90s and the local store had strats for $599, now they are $999. I am now working at the store, it got bought by a bigger company, but in cleaning out, I found DEALER INVOICES from the 1960s! A new Strat cost the dealer in 1962 $125+ $2.48 in shipping. Times have changed.
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#35
I paid $150 for my brand new Musicmaster bass in '70, and $250 for my used jazz in
'75, a new Jazz was $350.


Bruce Lindfield said:
Actually I can remember trying to look at Fender basses with some friends around this time - there was a big store called the Fender Soundhouse in London - it was huge for a music store and very luxuriously appointed!

We went in - but got sent packing before we could even try an instrument! :hmm:

The salesman had taken one look at us and decided that we couldn't afford a Fender !! :p
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Saw a lotus Europa at a dealer in Pretoria back in the '90s.
Salesman said “It cost a lot of money”
I said “not really that much”.
He asked “Are you American?”.
I said “Yes”

he went and got the keys saying “lets go for a ride”.

some times misconceptions about your wealth work in your favor.

MM
 
#36
In the fall of 1979 I bought a new sunburst PBass(a 78 with black PG) for $399 +tax. At Swathmore Music in Swathmore Pa. I still have it.
My older sister was kind enough to pony up $25 for a (non fender) case.

I really wanted a Ric but it was 40-50 bux more.
 
#40
In 1967 I bought a brand new Fender Tele guitar from Mannys Music, NYC. Had to wait for it to come in and they gave me rosewood instead of maple but it was $147.50, no case. In 1972 I bought a Degas copy of a Pbass for $169 instead of a real Pbass for $209. In 1977, I bought a 1965 Pbass for $200 used.
 

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