Please - take a look, but no fighting...

[mongo2]

the rarest, best sounding alembic could be worth nothing if no one would be willing to pay for it. If you get "ripped off" and pay alot for some trash that was your fault -you should of done your due diligence. Maybe someone else would pay that amount becasue you did.

I agree, I don't think Alembics are worth their exhorbitant price tags either.

I've never been ripped off on an instrument sale because I've done my due diligence and learned what's what but I understand your stating that someone who was ripped off could want to pass on their "good fortune" on resale.

 

[P. Aaron]

Love the looks, but low on dough. I'll buy new off the rack and enjoy a more 'affordable' tone.

The insurance alone would bankrupt me.

 

[Krügmeister]

That bass is museum quality IMHO

 

[J. Crawford]

Am I the only one who would personally go pick it up myself? I wouldnt trust anyone, especially UPS or Fedex with a 65k package.

P-p-p-period, Junior.

 

[JumboFriendly]

To the person who'll end up owning this bass, the question of worth isn't necessarily as important as it'd be to someone of less means. The $65,000 price tag will not affect their quality of life AT ALL - they won't have to save for it, won't have to "cut back," won't have to miss a movie night or anything else that might be considered an inconvenience. They won't have to think about what else that money could buy.

$65,000 isn't a lot of money to whoever will end up buying it. They will likely never be forced to sell it. If they want it, they will buy it.

 

[My name is Mudd]

Maybe I'm dense, but why is that worth 65K? Just 'cause of age and condition?

 

[Jim Carr]

No offense, but I find the finish on that bass completely hideous.

+1

I believe "completely cheesey" is the operative euphemism.

One wonders what sort of individual would custom order this odd expensive instrument in 1964, and how it ended up being essentially unplayed for 45 years--fashion accessory or musical instrument?

Gold metal-flake is not my idea of "mod," though "surf" or "hot-rod" does sort of come to mind. It doesn't seem particularly "Bakersfield" or Nashville to me, either. Elvis was in the Army, so heck, where does this "THANG" fit in? Ratfink Bass?

I'm thinkin' Big Daddy Roth, Muscle Beach, "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini," "Beach Blanket Bingo," etc.

Don't you love the low side of american 60's culture? It is so convincingly and deeply low.

 

[two fingers]

I'm glad this thread didn't turn into a debate about price justification.

Ha! EXACTLY what I was thinking.


This same bass has been on the bay a few times at the same price with the same ad copy. I guess it hasn't sold.

Price not withstanding, it's a really cool thing to see. Something different. A bass that old, with that paint job, in that good of a condition, all factory. Cool.

 

[EddieG]

Gorgeous bass. But to me it's absolutely worthless.

I couldn't lay out that kind of money on an instrument, because I'd be afraid to play it. And any instrument that I'd be worried about playing is of no use to me. An instrument you can't play loses it's function. And that price tag makes me wonder what it's going to take for the vintage bass market to plateau. Surely it's got to happen soon?

Leo must be laughing his boobies off.

 

[GBassNorth]

I posted this note once before on this bass (a few weeks ago when it first went up for sale on the bay) and it's worth repeating:
The neck looks suspect. The 20th fret is in pristine condition yet the leading edge of the fingerboard is beat to hell [as is the headstock but not the body - go figure]. The truss rod has no rust or belly button lint or hardly a trace of ever being touched by a screwdriver yet the pickguard looks like someone took a weedwacker to it at the truss location. The gap between the pickguard and the control plate looks big even by Fender standards, the pickguard may have shrunk a bit but I doubt it since none of the screw positions look like they are puckering - so probably an non original replacement as well. The gold finish looks beyond "too good to be true" which means it probably is just that. All in all, it's a $3000 (if refinished) to $6000 (if not 100% original) bass tops.
Setting a $65K price probably turns as many people off as it does excite them. The seller clearly wants people to think this is an investment or mueseum grade bass, it's not. Probably would sell for the same price (between $3K & $6K) and a little quicker if he advertised it at $10K vs the current $65K asking price.
Am I an expert on these things, no. But I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.

 

[Korladis]

For 65grand I expect at least two bedrooms and a bath and a half! Sure wish I wouldn't have sold my then, four year old 64 candy apple red Precision!

65K for a two bedroom home? That's dirt cheap.

 

[bh2]

Gold metal flake should be confined to drum kits only IMO.

 

[Korladis]

Maybe I'm dense, but why is that worth 65K? Just 'cause of age and condition?

From what posters are saying, it's worth 65K as long as there's some rich moron willing to pay that much for it.

 

[Jim Carr]

...The 20th fret is in pristine condition yet the leading edge of the fingerboard is beat to hell [as is the headstock but not the body - go figure].

Amen. This screams parts bass. The cultural context argument supports this...See, my previous post.

The truss rod has no rust or belly button lint or hardly a trace of ever being touched by a screwdriver yet the pickguard looks like someone took a weedwacker to it at the truss location.

Rust on the truss nut you will not see, as it is not iron, yet, this one looks pretty unused. The pickguard "notching" is factory for the period, and normal. If this bass is not a chimera (parts is parts), it has been largely unplayed and in a stable climate.

The gap between the pickguard and the control plate looks big even by Fender standards, the pickguard may have shrunk a bit but I doubt it since none of the screw positions look like they are puckering - so probably an non-original replacement as well. The gold finish looks beyond "too good to be true" which means it probably is just that. All in all, it's a $3000 (if refinished) to $6000 (if not 100% original) bass tops.

I'd say $6000 if all original, but I am an armchair economist.
What we have here is the principle of "the really big lie is they way to win." I am not saying fraud, I am saying "Ho-Hum." This is not a museum piece, it is a cheesey custom '64 Jazz bass.

Setting a $65K price probably turns as many people off as it does excite them. The seller clearly wants people to think this is an investment or museum grade bass, it's not. Probably would sell for the same price (between $3K & $6K) and a little quicker if he advertised it at $10K vs the current $65K asking price.
Am I an expert on these things, no. But I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.

The auction has probably ended by now...

 

[Korladis]

Gold metal flake should be confined to drum kits only IMO.

I don't think it should be on anything, even drum kits.

 

[mongo2]

I don't think it should be on anything, even drum kits.

Yeah, who was the genius who thought "Gee, you know what'd make those drums look really good...."?

 

[rustynuts]

Simply not true at all any more. eBay changed their system so that images on the auction are cached and no matter what the seller does to the original picture, the change does NOT affect the active or finished auction. I list motorcycles on eBay for a living. I used to list a quick auction when I got a brand new bike from the factory, throw a stock photo on photobucket just to get the auction rolling, then change the stock photo to a real photo as soon as I had the bike built and photographed. Then one day I swapped out the photos in photobucket and nothin... no change to the auction. I must've hit F5 a million times... nothin. I even looked on another computer to make sure my computer's cache wasn't somehow messed up. Sure enough, there was no change to the auction. Maybe it's different on regular eBay auctions, but I'd imagine it's the same across the board.



It used to be possible, like I said, but a few months back, this was made a problem of the past, at least on eBay motors.

Jacob H

Not so on eBay proper, and these images are hosted offsite (not on eBay) so the seller can do what he wants with them, when he wants with them. Just upload a new image with the same file name and voila! Instantly change the entire listing. eBay doesn't have the server resources to cache every image on every listing.

 

[bh2]

I don't think it should be on anything, even drum kits.

Absolutely!

 

[T-MOST]

I disagree, jut because someone may be willing to pay a lot of money for something doesn't mean it's "worth it" at all.

It is to the "individual" who willingly and gladly paid for it.

 

[knumbskull]

nice looking bass. the gold sparkle paint job is great, i'd love to build a warmoth in the same style.

i find it funny that this bass (and its price tag) has some people here so excised. there are comparitively few human beings on earth who will ever spend that amount of money on anything, so what's the problem?