In '71 I bought a '67 P-bass for $120.00 with its original gig bag. My first bass. Still have it.
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Fender prices back in the day...
- Thread starter 20db pad
- Start date
i wanna go back in time, make 3 copies of an amazing bass rig, take them back with me, and id be good. in case your wondering "why 3?", its so i have one to play with, one to sell so i can retire at age 35, and one for backup since stuffs likely to get stolen (people these days...)
Let's see... In '66 I traded a Kingston P-copy + a Vox Panther for a '64 Jazz... straight up! Seems she couldn't sell it (slightly used) but her eyes lit up at the name Vox 
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In '73 I bought a very used '63 Jazz for $200. ''Pre-CBS'' was already a thing even then, though it hadn't yet affected price much, just desirability.
In '78 I went shopping for a new P. They were about $400 then, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one... quality seemed to have slipped.
Instead I snagged one of the first G&L L-1000's. It was $500, but I definitely thought it was 25% better than the P. Funny thing though, it's not worth too much more than that today, whereas that Fender... !
. In '73 I bought a very used '63 Jazz for $200. ''Pre-CBS'' was already a thing even then, though it hadn't yet affected price much, just desirability.
In '78 I went shopping for a new P. They were about $400 then, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one... quality seemed to have slipped.
Instead I snagged one of the first G&L L-1000's. It was $500, but I definitely thought it was 25% better than the P. Funny thing though, it's not worth too much more than that today, whereas that Fender... !
purchased my jazz bass new in february 1964 in west chester pa. for $240.00 still have it in pristine condition
I can tell you. My folks bought me a brand new Fender J bass (natural ash / rosewood fretboard) with case at Apex Music in El Cajon for $350 - and given that it was someone's mom, I'll bet that was nearly full-pop. I really wanted the Rick that was next to it, but it was $370 and THAT was the deciding factor.
And that J-bass was a horrid piece of crap. Shoulda got the Rick, dangit!
I recall pricing a brand new Music Man StingRay around 1978, and they were the same MSRP with the case as a new Jazz Bass- $700.
John
John
I purchased a brand new Fender Jazz bass - black, rosewood neck with dots and hard case for $400.00 in 1976.
I thought this was a neat pic - not mine - I snagged it from some other thread on here...storefront in NYC 1987
