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I just don't get the appeal of "vintage" basses....

#101
Ubersheist said:
I was always amazed by the "crapshootivity principle," as you called it. Especially with 1990s Squires and MIJs. Even more so with the guitars. Some of those Squires just played absolutely wonderfully right of the rack without any setting up. Others, well.... ug. Same with the Squire basses, but they seemed to be a bit more universally crappy and the "good ones" weren't as good as the Squires where the planets seemed to align just right when they were made.
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True that.

Best Jazz Bass I ever played is my '91 FoJ, which has now been modified extensively. Hands down better than the three Js I had back in the 1970s and the American Vintage '62 (stack-knob) J I had in the early 1990s. It just felt RIGHT from the first time I picked it up over at a friend's house. Bought it from him on the spot fourteen years ago and still have it.

And then I've seen some outsourced Fender products in GC that you'd need Popeye's forearms to play. Who are the poor sods that get stuck with such crappy or ill-set-up instruments anyway?
 
#102
BigOldHarry said:
You'll hardly get an argument from me on the value of overpriced faux "Vintage" gear; Bad design is bad design, be it made to day or 30 years ago.

Look - I get folks liking an old instrument and enjoying it - I just don't buy the craze for all things old.
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That pretty much sums up my feelings.

Also, I sometimes have to wonder when one company acquires another company (e.g., Fender buying SWR) and then you get everyone saying that the new products are just not as good of the old project - how much of that is objectively true and how much is just in the head of the people making the claim?
 
#103
I have quite a nice vintage jazz bass (part of the re-issued series) and I love of it because of it's versitility and range of sounds as well as it's reliability, it's never broken down on me, the electronics are reasonable and it wasn't expensive only £300 quid for a good quality product :) although I do understand that you could get better basses for £300 I'm just saying don't diss vintage :)
 
#105
To the OP: I am quite happy that you don't get the appeal of vintage basses. Please do not try. If less people get the appeal of vintage basses, availability will go up and prices will come down... for people like me.

;)
 
#106
Ubersheist said:
Really. I don't. It seems like they're never easier or nicer to play then most modern equipment that costs 1/3 the price. The same goes for the quality of the sound on vintage instruments - most $3000 vintage basses sound about as good as an equivalent $1000 new bass to my ears. And the hardware. And the electronics always seem to be pretty lousy by today's standards. Lastly, it's one thing if the bass is really roadworn and has that beat-up old look, but if the bass is new, it really doesn't look any different then a ton of other basses out there. For example, there's all those reissues (and copycat basses by other modern companies), and the quality all the way around on them are better now then they were first built, and sell new for less then the vintage basses.

Do they appeal just for the bragging rights? If so, at least I can understand that.

So, please tell me, what really is the appeal for you? I seriously want to know.

(By the way, I have a 1968 P-bass, and used to own a couple of other oldies.)
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Sorry but there is nothing that plays better than my old 50's & 60's basses. They play like butttta. In my opinion the new basses take more effort to play.
 
#108
there is something to be said for the way wood ages through the years. Basses are made from organic material that changes over time. there are some tones that reveal themselves after decades of settling in. it's not to say that every vintage instrument sounds good just because it's old, but there are often characteristics that come to bear from a well-maintained instrument. my dad's '59 strat just has a feel to it. broken in easy to play. even my 98 stingray has some color in it that my 08 stingray just doesn't have. i don't have to have vintage instruments, nor do i have to money to buy them, but i understand the desire of some to seek them out. and their scarcity is what drives their higher prices.
 
#109
2 factors are rarity and desirability. just because something is rare doesnt make it desirable, and just because something is desirable doesnt mean it is rare. when the two combine, the law of supply and demand comes into play. and also pride of ownership adds money value. you can find tons of old basses with worn/ chipped paint ., thats why the near mint ones go so high above the others. johnny a. staind
 
#111
I never considered myself a friend of vintage gear. When I started in 1983 I loved the Fender, Gibson, Guild and Hamer basses that were new or almost new then. I still love that stuff, though most of it can be considered vintage stuff too. Sometimes hard to imagine that instruments from 1991 are already 20 years old!
 
#112
dj5 said:
I don't get the "real oldies just play like buttah" thing. Surely any instrument if set up the same and with smooth fret ends and neck finish should feel the same?
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I think of "buttah" in this context as to how an instrument responds to touch. It's not just (or even mostly) the physical aspects of frets and setup. It's more related to sound and response. In my experience, there can be a wide disparity in this regard between instruments that are setup equally well.

/rick
 
#113
isn't "vintage-reissue" an oxymoron? That to me is a compnay trying to tag onto the "vintage" craze to make some money...

personally, I prefer older "workhorse" basses to the new flashy, over the top ones. It is just my choice...I don't need 1000 bells and whistles to get the tone that always works for me...

it is also a "hero worship" thing as well...Steve Harris' main bass was the blue sparkle 72 p-bass...so I got one too when I was young (not blue sparkle though...that would be awesome); same thing with Geddy and Rickenbackers and J-basses...
 
#114
still playing my 1964 Jazz Bass (untouched). got it new in Feb. 1964 and never played another bass since then. I agree, looks like any other Fender Jazz from a distance and other basses may sound better to some one elses ears and are much more high tech but I love it because it's part of my life past and present, no more no less. I also hear it may be worth quite a few bucks!! It'll never be sold while I'm alive!!
 
#116
Dark Horse said:
Play what you like....like what you play....who gives a d*mn what anyone else thinks ?
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Now THAT, my friend, is a sig-worthy quote :)! Thanks for that.

I too would have my '64 jazz today if it weren't for some big city low-life junkies in the early '70's. God only knows what THEY did with it. Fortunately, I picked up a used '63 to replace it and I've been more careful with this one.

I hope I never have to sell it.
 
#118
dj5 said:
I don't get the "real oldies just play like buttah" thing. Surely any instrument if set up the same and with smooth fret ends and neck finish should feel the same?
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If only you could play my 73' Jazz....you would get it REAL quick dood. Anyone that has ever played it is like 'man it plays like butta!' And it truly does.

It also sounds phenomenal...people always try to buy it off me...but ill never sell it...never!!! :)
 
#119
knumbskull said:
...before Fender (or other manufacturers) went global-ballistic, they turned out some nice pieces, i guess.
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No doubt they (fender) turned out some nice pieces, but they turned out about as many pieces of middling junk right along with the nice ones.

When I was young I couldn't afford your typical fender but I tried a lot of them in music stores and I remember picking up a LOT of basses, both new and used that felt and played awful. Did I mention how expensive fenders were when I was a kid? When I could buy a good second hand peavey for $50, a p bass ran around $100~$200, and a j would set you back around $300 or more. When it took all summer of cutting grass to earn $75~$100, fenders were just too rich for my blood.

When I got older and decided I could only sound like the bass gods in my world if I played the same basses and amps they did, I went through quite a few p basses looking for "the one". What I usually got was a neck that felt like a split telephone pole with visibly uneven frets and multiple dead spots, bodies with assorted finish issues, shoddy electronics, and pick guards which would creep, bow, and craze up whenever the seasons changed. Jazz basses were like hen's teeth back then, and if you did happen to see one on the rack, new or used, it would be stupid expensive. The prevailing opinion at the time regards jazz basses was they were prone to twisted and bowed necks. Those I tried usually had bumpy feeling edge binding and really high actions. My cheap peaveys, which were my main players, typically had much lower actions and much more reliable electronics than the fenders I tried back then.

Don't get me wrong here folks, more than a few of the P's I owned were really nice, but I've never found a p with a neck I could get next too for any length of time and I simply refused to pay so much money for a jazz bass when I could buy 2 peaveys for around the same money

I bought my jazz plus because it had a neck and action which felt real close to the peavey dynabass I owned at the time, and I could get any tone I wanted from the active electronics. It was pretty expensive, but I was making stupid good money so I decided I could afford to splurge. It was a tossup between the j plus and the latest peavey which was their first neck through bass. The guy who owned the local music store owned one of the peaveys and I was in lust after he let me try it out, but there was quite a long waiting list to get one so I wound up with the jazz plus instead.
 
#120
Ubersheist said:
Actually, Roy's explanation made sense to me. That's a good analogy. I can sure appreciate a 1967 Stingray, but I know I'd rather spend the same money on a 2011 Tesla or something. (Actually, I'd never buy either, but the analogy makes sense.)
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I would rather buy the '67 Stingray just for the looks ... gorgeous looking cars.

For bass, there aren't so much aesthethic differences regarding vintage vs new. So i am with the OP with not wanting to spend that kind of money on a vintage bass.
But as stated above, many times: if it is not your cup, don't buy it. :cool:
 

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