Old or new? What is the consensus?

[stoolpigeon]

New for me...I cant stand a used instrument...just me.

 

[deedub72]

i don't care what you think, i'm with the "play one" crowd!!! if something still puts out after all those years,... why be all analytic and scientific?

I agree with you, if you have not played one you really cannot make an educated decission. It may or may not be for you.

I have a vintage P-Bass, I also have a couple of friends that are well known bass players...they both fell in love with mine. I guess it is just like any bass really, you can play a dozen that don't feel right but there is that one that you "bond" with.

It really comes down to personal taste. I would not drop 3 to 5K on a modern style bass that does everything except change a spare tire, but I would drop that on a vintage piece or a "refined" new one that I click with ie Lakland, Sadowsky, Lull. One thing I will say, I am not a fan of active electronics. Iown one or two that are active but they just sit there and damn near never get played.

All that typing and still back to you really have to play one to come to an informed decission.

 

[lowphatbass]

Some of may have to do with what style of music you play. If you need a 5 string to do the gig then obviously vintage is out. One plus for buying a vintage instrument is if buy smart you can always get your money back out of it, sometimes more.
The age of the wood and amount the instrument has been played is extremely important when it comes to the violin family(DBs, Cello, etc.), and yes, builders have been setting aside wood for aging for many years. With a solid body electric bass the wood resonating doesn't actually produce the sound you hear, it does effects the way the strings resonate though. How much effect this has on overall tone is totally debatable.
As far as bassists go I think the lust for vintage instruments is more of a Mojo/Vibe thing. You don't see as many people lugging around vintage amps as you do vintage basses.

Consensus: Different strokes for different folks. Music is art and involves feeling. There's obviously something to vintage basses, even if it's just the look and feel and not the sound it's still an important consideration.

 

[RobertPaulson]

Vintage instruments are a much better investment vehicle. As far as creating music, I don't think so at all. Get a good deal on a vintage bass and it will only go up in value. Buy a new bass off the rack, and it only goes down in value.

<-- owns a 74 rick, a bullet, and a b15.

 

[M0ses]

...or the pickups whose windings have been corroded just enough (seriously, I've heard that) or whatever.

I'm confused as to why you make light of this, because it is actually a very relevant factor. I don't remember the years this changed, but the originally the polepieces were in direct contact with the coil wire (nowadays the polepieces are wrapped with tape first) and after 30 years or so the wire does in fact corrode because of the exposure to AlNiCO, changing the characterstics of the pickup. And the only way to duplicate that effect is to wair 30 years or so.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't know what that means. Because obviously when they were new, they didn't sound like that. I don't know if the sound has changed for better or for worse. But there's no doubt that old pickups are different from new pickups.

 

[bassbully]

I simply prefer the feel,tone,look,mojo and vibe of vintage basses. If i had the money it would be all i ever played. I feel any vintage piece has stories and history to them and that attracts me. A new shiny bass not broken it and unknown loses appeal to me. I own only one vintage bass and feel lucky to have it...hope for more.

 

[smcd]

sixties-era fenders. I hear the wood is "played in" or "dried correctly" or I hear they just have an unbeatable feel.

Absolute laughable nonsense. Where do people come up with stuff like that?

 

[elgranluis]

I think modern basses are better, even if they are basically the same fender p bass as in 1957.

I believe that the best mim can sound as good as the best mij, or the best squier, or the best 65 J. There is a sound clone of every single bass ever made.

Basically, if you could have the exact same bass, same feel, same sound, same weight, same smell, would you choose beat-up over new?? I think *that* is the question.

 

[marchone]

What is interesting is that the first Fender Precision and Jazz basses set the standards that exists to this day, even if they're now fitted with active electronics.

I've always loved my '68 Telecaster but my new Spector is so much better in tone, range of tones, sustain and playability that there is really no comparison.

 

[Zebco]

My old black plastic Zebco 202 I used as a kid is a better reel than....

Good point on the vintage strings.

 

[Zebco]

People are not buying 50s/60s Fenders because they are great musical tools, they are buying them because they are cool to own -- like a first issue of Batman. But the more honest Batman owner will admit that his original first issue has no more utility than a reprint; the vintage guitar owner no so much.

This is truth!

 

[Zebco]

I simply prefer the feel,tone,look,mojo and vibe of vintage basses. If i had the money it would be all i ever played. I feel any vintage piece has stories and history to them and that attracts me. A new shiny bass not broken it and unknown loses appeal to me. I own only one vintage bass and feel lucky to have it...hope for more.

Now that can't be argued with, you say you enjoy the old ones more. Done.

It's the rationalizing that paying $15k for a $260 bass gives you something that makes you any more of a musician that get's a little wiggly.

 

[Zebco]

Absolute laughable nonsense. Where do people come up with stuff like that?

Here

 

[Jefenator]

A new Toyota Camry is a better car than a 63 Corvette...rides better, gets better mileage, more reliable, no rattles, just more comfortable and better engineered.

But who lusts after a new Toyota Camry?

I LIKE this analogy!!

And curiously enough, tone is a BIG part of the appeal of cool old vehicles, as with musical instruments.

... at least for me.

I can abide a nice, practical, less exciting car, though. (Instruments? Not so much...)

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

New custom made to your specs is the best route IMO. You get exactly what you want, the tone is excellent and the craftsmanship is second to none.

 

[Aspidites]

I have very bad OCD (the only person I have ever met with worse is my better half) so relic'ed instruments are virtually impossible for me to look at without getting physically ill. If I have an instrument with a ding or scratch I obsess on it to the point I have a hard time wanting to ever look at it again.

While I have a 76 P that is in far better shape than most the few small imperfections drive me nuts so I never play it or taker it out of the case. In fact the only reason I still have it is it was my first bass if that were not the case it would be gone. My better half got me a Yamaha TRB-5 for Christmas and I honestly do not want to play it because it has two very small dings in it and that is all I can see or think about.

So in long response to your question either new or used with the appearance of new. Besides that I like technological advancement so old is just that, old.

 

[dkhp124]

A new Toyota Camry is a better car than a 63 Corvette...rides better, gets better mileage, more reliable, no rattles, just more comfortable and better engineered.

But who lusts after a new Toyota Camry?

This may be the case if we're talking talking about a vintage Fender and a new Squire or something.. But if we're talking about a new MIA Fender Jazz Bass and a vintage '60s Fender Jazz Bass... Wouldn't it be a better analogy to compare a new Corvette to a '63 Corvette? In which case, the question would be, why would people lust after the '63 Corvette over the New one?

 

[marchone]

Look at what the top players are using. Tal Wilkenfeld and Will Lee, to name two, have new active Sadowskys in their hands at most recent gigs. Just saying.

 

[eggfan]

Wouldn't it be a better analogy to compare a new Corvette to a '63 Corvette? In which case, the question would be, why would people lust after the '63 Corvette over the New one?

Because the '63 is a time machine. And who doesn't like time travel?

 

[eggfan]

Vintage instruments already have a story to tell, and by owning and playing them, you become part of the story. You're connected to the history of the instrument and music in a different way than is true of a new instrument - not a better way, necessarily, but a different way that just appeals to some people. Other people could care less - to each her/his own. But items with a story to tell that remind us of the folks who paved the way for us tend to have a certain mojo. With vintage instruments, of course, that's clouded by speculators and people who want to be part of the story without earning it, but that's part of the deal. Some people will pay a "mojo premium;" some won't.
Having said all that, if an older instrument does the job, why shouldn't it be played? Should older instruments with life left be simply destroyed so that instruments made with better QC can take their place? Our culture of disposability lauds the new (and "improved") to an extent that in part, I think, accounts for the backlash of people determined to continue to use old stuff rather than simply toss it away. I tend to agree with the folks who say play what you can; keep what you connect with. The problem with vintage instruments being that they come with not only the mojo premium, but also the premium imposed by someone's determination to use their wallet to relive their adolescence.