Over valued 70's P-bass?

[Stefan Cartmale]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of ads up for Fender p-basses circa 1970-79 at values between $3500-$7000. I suppose you could get a good one but are people over valuing these things? They obviously have the right to ask what they want to but I have trouble believing the basses are worth the price I ask out of curiosity as I've never played anything older than an '86 and to me it wasn't any different than my 2015. Does anyone have experience with 70's vintage P's? Am I missing something?

 

[bluesblaster]

The best advice I can give you regarding older Fender basses is play them first, you could get lucky but there are a lot of duds out there too. I recently played a mid 70's P bass at a shop that really was not that good and even though it was priced better than most of what you see on the internet shops comparitively , I still wouldnt have bought it just because it was a 70's Fender bass, its because it weighed a ton and it just didnt sound or play that great. I take into account what works for others might not work for me so if your able to get your hands on it first that would be better IMO

 

[Masbutch]

70s fender basses are very hit and miss. Most of them are heavy and only good for fire wood. That being said if your patient you’ll find a good one for a good price, my 73 P is the lightest best sounding p bass I’ve ever owned (I’ve owned 15)

 

[Sharko]

Aren’t all fender p basses overpriced?



lol, j/k





…maybe

 

[RickBlair]

A friend of mine has a 78 P bass that I did some work on. The setup was almost unplayable but he has hands like hams so it didn't bother him. After it was set up so that normal humans could play it it didn't have any qualities that prompted me to make him an offer on it. You really do have to judge each instrument individually.

Rick B.

 

[Stefan Cartmale]

Aren’t all fender p basses overpriced?



lol, j/k





…maybe

Cheeky Monkey.

 

[Lo-E]

Later ’70s is a period that has a reputation for being very heavy and having sketchy quality control when it comes to Fender (and most big guitar companies, actually). Even so, there are some real winners mixed in. My ’78 P bass is medium weight and well made but I’ve played quite a few that were boat anchors, had warped necks, sloppy neck and pickup routes, etc…. It’s just the luck of the draw.

What an instrument is worth is what someone is willing to give it up for and someone else is willing to pay for it. I think there are some buyers out there with more money than sense but if they’re really nostalgic for the seventies, who am I to tell them they’re wrong?

 

[micguy]

As musical instruments, 70's Fenders are indeed over priced. As nostalgia pieces, the market determines what people pay to relive their mis-spent youth.

The good news is, if you're looking for a good musical instrument, you can avoid all of this - there are much better instruments at lower prices if you sidestep old Fenders.

 

[bobyoung53]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of ads up for Fender p-basses circa 1970-79 at values between $3500-$7000. I suppose you could get a good one but are people over valuing these things? They obviously have the right to ask what they want to but I have trouble believing the basses are worth the price I ask out of curiosity as I've never played anything older than an '86 and to me it wasn't any different than my 2015. Does anyone have experience with 70's vintage P's? Am I missing something?

No one really answered your question, yes, anyone that pays much more than $3500.00 for any even early 70's Fender P is nuts.

 

[MCF]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of ads up for Fender p-basses circa 1970-79 at values between $3500-$7000. I suppose you could get a good one but are people over valuing these things? They obviously have the right to ask what they want to but I have trouble believing the basses are worth the price I ask out of curiosity as I've never played anything older than an '86 and to me it wasn't any different than my 2015. Does anyone have experience with 70's vintage P's? Am I missing something?

None of us wanted one back in the day. Too heavy. They didn’t sound “right”. Hugh issues trying to get to the bottom. There are plenty of better Fenders out there at better prices. Avoid CBS era instruments. While some are nice, a lot sound terrible.

 

[Stefan Cartmale]

I've owned a few p-basses. Japanese, USA, Japanese Squire, MiM. To date the best of them is the MiM. I suppose it will be like that with 70's p-basses too; you just have to find one you like or they are all over priced. I just see what people are asking and think, "is it a magical p-bass?" Does everyone have "a unicorn". Something about the MiM is a keeper. Light, beautiful contours, nice grain maple neck, actual Rosewood fretboard. Pluck a string and every inch of it just vibrates and hums. I'm not nostalgic.

 

[TyBo]

They weren't highly prized in the 70's, no real reason for them to be now. There are some good ones, only way to tell is by playing the actual instrument.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I started playing bass around 1977, and graduated high school in '83. Back then, you almost couldn't give away a Fender, unless it was pre 1970. I was there.

There were some good ones (I've had my 73/77 parts bass since 1983).

 

[KenD]

Your missing the fetishism, which is a good thing for you

 

[OnTheDownLow]

I wish they were cheap so I could get my favorite P necks ever made at little to nothing and have multiple ones on different bodies. Unfortunately that is not the case though.

 

[Gorilla Monsoon]

I’ll be in the market for a P Bass this summer, and the only one I’m ruling out is ANY Fender. I may consider a G&L, but a Mike Lull or a Lakland or even a Yamaha might fit the bill. Why anyone would pay $4000 for 50 year old electronics is beyond me.

 

[Ric5]

No one really answered your question, yes, anyone that pays much more than $3500.00 for any even early 70's Fender P is nuts.

I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine paying $3500 for a p-bass

 

[Grinderman]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of ads up for Fender p-basses circa 1970-79 at values between $3500-$7000. I suppose you could get a good one but are people over valuing these things? They obviously have the right to ask what they want to but I have trouble believing the basses are worth the price I ask out of curiosity as I've never played anything older than an '86 and to me it wasn't any different than my 2015. Does anyone have experience with 70's vintage P's? Am I missing something?

No one really answered your question, yes, anyone that pays much more than $3500.00 for any even early 70's Fender P is nuts.

Imagine $7K

 

[ebo]

There’s a 2002 Fender Deluxe P bass locally here for $1000 on Craigslist. One with the bridge humbucker. By some accounts a really decent P. I’m tempted. Tempted by an old stick of wood for $3500? Nope.

 

[ultra60]

I started playing in the 70's. The P bass was everywhere, and I wanted one. I was probably too young to be aware that there were quality control issues. It's not something I ever really heard back then. All the ones I played seemed fine to this young player.

For me, the coolest thing about the 70's Fender is the TV logo. Other than that, no interest. If Fender would go back to the pre 2016 American Standard design, with that 70's logo, I'd be all over one.

 

[J Wilson]

When it comes to any vintage instrument, don't confuse 'vintage' with old, tired, and pretty much average for its age.

For the thousands and thousands of instruments Fender, Gibson, Martin, and so many more have made, there's only a handful of models that command nosebleed prices and are sought out by the real collectors. General Motors made literally millions of vehicles, and while a '63 split-window Corvette commands top of the market prices for the best ones, they made thousands of cars in 1963 that are just old, tired, average cars, the majority of them long ago having been crushed. Guitars and basses are the same way.

I don't automatically write off all 70's Fenders as 'CBS junk', there are some good ones, but to my mind, NOWHERE near $7,000.00 good. Not even close. Not even.