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I think Fender is seriously crazy!
- Thread starter FishDub
- Start date
You can't compare the used market to pricing on brand new gear.
$300 in 1979 is the equivalent of $1,017 in 2013. So apparently nothing has really changed at all as far as prices are concerned.
I agree with this 100% and nowhere is the self justification for turd polishing more prevalent than TB, but in my case with the classic 50's P vs both a 58NAV and 62RI, the cheaper bass won both times. I'm not going to lie and say it is the golden standard by which all Fenders should be judged, but with my personal setup, 62 pups and my own idea of better pots/caps, etc, it damn well comes about as close as the money will buy to CS territory. That's where the diminishing returns come in and the classic series excels...probably far beyond most Fender/Squier's are purported to do in copping a vintage fender vibe when it gets down to it.
Another thing about the Classic series is that you are getting color options, neck radius and pickups that are all different from the offerings on the standard line for the most part.
I've owned the Classic 60's P Bass and the Classic 70's Jazz. The P Bass was amazing but I couldn't get used to the huge neck width. The Jazz was just average at best. Mostly due to the hardware which I thought was junk.
Sold them both and ordered a USA G&L and I've never been happier. Used a USA Peavey from the 80's while waiting and it was better than the Jazz, but not quite as nice as the P Bass.
I think it really depends on each individual bass ultimately.
Sold them both and ordered a USA G&L and I've never been happier. Used a USA Peavey from the 80's while waiting and it was better than the Jazz, but not quite as nice as the P Bass.
I think it really depends on each individual bass ultimately.
I do think their prices have gone nuts. But i think its mostly about inflation. Every year you don't get raises to match inflation your actually getting a pay cut. Lately the only people who get 20% raises are the rich. Heck at my job 5% is supposedly a good raise, but it's actually a pay cut once you figure in inflation rates.
We're not rich or poor IMO but i will say the only used basses I've bought happen to be the last two basses I've bought. I got my fender mim jazz fretless for $300. For me the only exception for me to go back to buying a new would be for a custom bass.
We're not rich or poor IMO but i will say the only used basses I've bought happen to be the last two basses I've bought. I got my fender mim jazz fretless for $300. For me the only exception for me to go back to buying a new would be for a custom bass.
I don't know about that. The bang for the buck you get today is MUCH better than it was years ago. In 1968, a Precision bass cost $240, which is the equivalent of $1,625 today. And a 2013 P-bass is a better made guitar.
If you're getting a 5% raise, you've stayed well ahead of the US Consumer Price Index, which has gone up slightly over 1% per year since 2011. So your 5% raise was very nice. Congrats!
Truth, and also quote of the day.
The Jazz basses played by Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones, Larry Graham & many other greats were simple, reasonably priced tools built for the working musician, and it seems like Fender's "bang for the buck" factor has been dropping for the past few decades, while the "designer jeans" factor has been rising...
I would have said it was the people who spend thousands and thousands of their dollars on highly-priced gear who do most of the rationalising around here. (E.g., arguing that price = quality)
So would it be different story if they were American white middle aged men in the 50s?
So would it be different story if they were American white middle aged men in the 50s?
Replace the term "unskilled Mexican girls" with "unskilled labor", and you can get the point of his quote without dragging racial issues into the discussion...
I agree with you, George.
I have been buying (and selling) bass gear for 40 years, and I have owned tons of gear. In my experience, I have found that the more expensive gear is of higher quality. I have owned everything from a $90 cheapie import bass to brand new Fender Custom Shop basses and US Laklands (and everything in between). I find that the quality of workmanship is higher with the more expensive gear.
I'm not saying my opinion is right. I'm just sharing what my personal experience has been.
If higher priced gear gives you higher quality, then should the American basses be a one piece ash body other than a 7 piece lamination? Hell I bought an El Degas P copy in the early '80s that had less lamination than the Fenders of today! Back in those days, I was taught that laminated guitars were crap, and that solid body guitars should be 2 piece construction!!
Well times have changed!
Well times have changed!
The Classic Series 60's Jazz has had a poly finish since its introduction in '01 .. Fender recently started offering the bass in a nitro finish, which is $100 more than the poly finish
Why cant they make more stuff like the dimension and other new stuff, It seems a bit extreme that they have a hundred and one variants of the same 2 basses.
Inflation is a bitch ain't it?
New gear is soo over priced anymore that I just don't go to brick and mortar shops anymore other than to pick up consumables like strings, picks, and cables.
Since discovering TB several years ago, I've only bought my basses and amps from the classifieds right here. Never been ripped off or burned on a deal, yet. We keep a pretty tight ship around here despite our differences of opinion on many other matters. Sure, on occasion someone does get burned, but not often and it's usually the result of a seller/buyer not taking proper precautions to avoid a scam and others are always willing to offer advice on how to try to recover what was lost and word spreads on the offending party rather quickly ruining the chances of someone doing it multiple times with the same username.
Besides, browsing the classifieds is almost as much fun as visiting a brick and mortar. Sure, you can't touch, but there aren't any annoying kids attempting to slap a RHCP song poorly and I've seen a much larger array of interesting gear than I would if I drove to every shop within 100 miles and I live in Metro Detroit, there are a lot of music stores around here, big box, resale, pawn, etc.
As another poster said, you get a lot of bang for the buck these days. Jeez, the starter basses of today cost about the same as the ones when I started to play 30 years ago, and they're MUCH better.
Also, no inflation sounds nice, but that is often a result of serous economic problems. Check out Japan's economy over the last 20+ years.
because people actually buy P and J basses...every couple years they come out with something new (like a Zone or Dimension etc) but if they don't sell, they are discontinued...
I agree the Classic Line is quite nice and (imho) a decent value - comparing new prices to used prices is silly
