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Fender values in the future
- Thread starter Meenkya
- Start date
As much as I want to say that they will not appreciate, the fact that you could buy 1970's Fenders in the 80's for a couple hundred dollars gives me pause. Nobody wanted them at time and they were easy to find cheap all over the country. Now they bring a crazy price and the quality is questionable at best. With that being said, I still wouldn't look at a Fender as an investment.
extremely unlikely to be able to resell a new fender for more than you paid for it for a very, very long time - if ever.
pre-cbs fender is not the president for fender + age = profit. it's just not. those were fine instruments, they were a part of history.
fender's quality control has been very poor for years. the only way i can see a particular instrument holding it's value is if it becomes collectable due to a connection to a superstar, or if the quality being objectively exceptional.
fender has been living off of hendrix and his colleagues for a very, very long time. yes they've made lots of nice stuff. but the number of wonky necks, awful factory frets, and various other factory defects is just far too many.
pre-cbs fender is not the president for fender + age = profit. it's just not. those were fine instruments, they were a part of history.
fender's quality control has been very poor for years. the only way i can see a particular instrument holding it's value is if it becomes collectable due to a connection to a superstar, or if the quality being objectively exceptional.
fender has been living off of hendrix and his colleagues for a very, very long time. yes they've made lots of nice stuff. but the number of wonky necks, awful factory frets, and various other factory defects is just far too many.
That's kinda why I generally dislike the idea of buying a vintage instrument. I wanna use these things, and I don't want to worry about it. I care very much about everything I own, even cheaper items, but I wanna use all of it for it's intended purpose. Scratches and even some dents are pretty much unavoidable, especially if you regularly use that instrument, but that shouldn't be a matter of concern. Those are your mistakes, and your stories. I never ever consider how much something is worth either, because I just don't really plan on selling anything. Chances are, if I bought it with my own money, I'm gonna keep it till it breaks. My phone is scratched up, but who cares. My P bass has a bunch of imperfections, but who cares. I use them, I take care of them, I don't wanna sell em.
I guess you can look at 80s USA Fenders. They're now 40 years old and sell for TBH way more than I'd pay for one, but only a few hundred bucks more than inflation accounts for so not investment money. They're arguably nothing special and 40 years is a long time to have a bass.
Nothing like price hikes to bring up the value of older basses, right, Fender?...
The used market for guitars and basses reminds me of baseball cards, for those who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
People said "save those things, they'll be worth a lot of money someday". Well, we've all grown up and what baseball cards are worth money today? The same ones that were worth money when we were growing up, the ones from the 50s and 60s. The ones we collected in the 80s and 90s never appreciated and aren't worth anything. They will never be from the highly regarded vintage era (pre-1970) that the value is tied to.
Of course a good used bass has value in that it's good for something, but I would only expect it to be worth what any other comparable used bass is worth in those times.
People said "save those things, they'll be worth a lot of money someday". Well, we've all grown up and what baseball cards are worth money today? The same ones that were worth money when we were growing up, the ones from the 50s and 60s. The ones we collected in the 80s and 90s never appreciated and aren't worth anything. They will never be from the highly regarded vintage era (pre-1970) that the value is tied to.
Of course a good used bass has value in that it's good for something, but I would only expect it to be worth what any other comparable used bass is worth in those times.
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Nope. Not even a little. edit: See post 16 - spells it out perfectly - they just aren't scarce enough to be a Veblen good.
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Brokered CD's now paying 5.6% annually and lets not forget mutual funds. I buy these for investments. My Fender basses are to play as best I can. When I pass my family will surely not know what to do with them.
I bought a Highway 1 Jazz bass in 2004 for $600. There's one up for sale in the classifieds for $1,500.
I've long been of the opinion that the time will come when any of the Fender American Standard Jazz basses made between 2008 and 2016 will become collectible some day. Just don't ask me which day.
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You might be able to get more than you paid for it. Just the same I have a feeling that it won’t surpass what the new iteration of that instrument is going for at the time.
As a retired financial advisor my opinion is there might be better places to invest your money for capital gain. A couple of reasons.
One, supply and demand. There are a lot more basses being made to today by more manufactures than 50 years ago. Not to mention the number of manufactures and boutique builder making basses of a higher quality than Fender weren't around 50 years ago. Let's just say there isn't likely going to be a "sellers market" like there is today.
Secondly, with the advent of AI may make musical instruments obsolete, not to mention making musicians largely obsolete. I honestly believe that musical instrument are going the way of the rotary telephone, with instrumentalist musicians left swimming in the tar pits of the human experience.
As always I could be wrong. I think the only basses guaranteed to appreciate are Pre. CBS also 66 basses, they seem highly loved and sought after as well.
Rickenbackers? Don’t know much about them.
Modern basses I would bet will appreciate are Carl Thompson, Wal basses (low output high demand) and the 80s -2008 Fodera’s when Vinny worked on every instrument.
Of course you could add pre Gibson Tobias and early Ken Smith basses.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the future. I have a 2007 Fodera and a Wal MK3. Didn’t buy these basses for an investment love playing them as much as I can.
Rickenbackers? Don’t know much about them.
Modern basses I would bet will appreciate are Carl Thompson, Wal basses (low output high demand) and the 80s -2008 Fodera’s when Vinny worked on every instrument.
Of course you could add pre Gibson Tobias and early Ken Smith basses.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the future. I have a 2007 Fodera and a Wal MK3. Didn’t buy these basses for an investment love playing them as much as I can.
I hope to hell you're wrong on the latter. But North Americans are philistines and we don't value culture nearly as much as we ought to.
You will see, and frankly the it's the one's looking for capital gains 50 years out are the ones that will be realizing it. Us grey panthers will be long gone and forgotten. But we had a great time performing music while it lasted.
Best wishes.
He really shoulda bought a 50th anniversary SVT+Fridge cause in 50 yrs errbody will want and I mean errrrbody.
In 1985 I bought a Kubicki Ex Factor factory direct for around $1300, as I recall. They are considered iconic and very collectable. The current selling prices are in the $3500 range which is, surprise, surprise about $1300 in 1985 dollars. I own quite a few basses and I got 'em all because they appeal to me, not because they might appeal to someone else in the future. That's a sucker bet. Finding deals on stuff that's already collectable is a different story, but with universal internet access that has become very challenging. Now too many folks think their run-of-the-mill whatever is the equivalent of a Faberge Egg. 
The Bar Band Bassman
The Bar Band Bassman
