My definition of "player grade" would mean it's OK to have parts substitutions, but the neck has to be in good playing shape, and the thing can't be ungodly heavy. Most 70's Fenders I've run across wouldn't pass that set of criteria.
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Poll: When is vintage no longer vintage?
- Thread starter tb-player
- Start date
My definition of "player grade" would mean it's OK to have parts substitutions, but the neck has to be in good playing shape, and the thing can't be ungodly heavy. Most 70's Fenders I've run across wouldn't pass that set of criteria.
I'd absolutely call it vintage if I was the first owner and trying to sell it.
I'd absolutely refuse to pay vintage grade money for it, though.
I'd absolutely refuse to pay vintage grade money for it, though.
- Jul 7, 2010
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50% of the actual bass = 50% of the asking price. 
Now if they had the actual parts to go along with it then, here's my money...but...I personally would look up a neck and body from that era and see what sales were them, then add 60% pricing of the replacement parts and give them a number back.
If you really want it.
Now if they had the actual parts to go along with it then, here's my money...but...I personally would look up a neck and body from that era and see what sales were them, then add 60% pricing of the replacement parts and give them a number back.
If you really want it.
I don't see how it's not vintage, though it's not all original. I recently bought a 1978 Fender Jazz with the typical mods you'd expect: EMGs, BadAss II. It was hanging in a local shop for months, and I didn't even consider it until the owner knocked $500 off the price tag, which brought it in line with an AVRI II. IMO, price is everything when it comes to these types of old, modified, used instruments. But then again, it always has been.
Nowhere near original condition - in an age where faux aging carries value for some, is the refinishing of a 70's Jazz be considered a crime? Regardless, it's definitely on the vintage continuum. So the value, as someone above pointed out, is on a sliding scale. Purely subjective.
"Vintage" as a standalone word is used in a very nebulous way. Its common usage should be stricken from the language, as it obfuscates and deceives more than it specifies and illuminates.
It is supposed to be attached to another word or phrase that, when they are used together, specifies a year or period of manufacture.
The bass in question here is a modified '75 vintage Jazz Bass.
It is supposed to be attached to another word or phrase that, when they are used together, specifies a year or period of manufacture.
The bass in question here is a modified '75 vintage Jazz Bass.
i voted no because of what he said to you and how he altered the original listing. if the listing said "vintage jazz bass with upgraded pickups and bridge", i might have voted yes or not voted, but since he literally told you that everything looks to be original, and his previous listing said otherwise, he sux. the highest priced vintage basses would have original pickups and bridges.
btw, great story about washinton's ax - i haven't heard it before.
I would call it vintage but not original. The mods are all reversible if you wanted to track down the "correct" stuff from a collector's perspective.
As an investment collectable, anything altered from factory shipping degrades the potential and value.
In this case, it should just note the neck.
In this case, it should just note the neck.
Yes!! If I were to ever purchase this bass, I would name it Theseus.
I'd name it Martha, after George Washington's old battle-axe.
To a collector, that's looking to add to his collection? Well, if he liked to add famous/notable player's axes to that collection - and that bass fit the bill - with impeccable proof of provenance? Yeah, he'd probably pony up the scratch. OTOH; as a pristine, as-it-left-the-Fender-factory bass? Sorry, but other than the body/neck - and maybe the machine heads - there's nothing there to interest a collector. For a player - who likes the feel of older Fender bodies and necks - and intends to play the snot out of it, every waking minute? Well... I certainly wouldn't pay that much for it - even if I was right handed, and liked Jazz Basses (the answer is NO to both counts). But, somebody might; and, if you don't ask for that much money, you fer sure won't get it...
It flunks the 'It's Only Original Once' test. The Screw-Counting Cognoscenti will send this one back to the bench.
I was looking at new Fenders in the 70's when I started out, and before the buyout that ended CBS ownership, they were still made by regular working guys and gals cutting out bodies with templates and bandsaws, and doing neck profiles using that Mark One Eyeball tool. I don't subscribe that every 70's Fender wasn't so hot, but certainly more than a few of them weren't all that, and a certain number of them were really good. In other words, with production methods changed little since the 50's, they could and did vary.
It was not uncommon for experienced guys to try as many new ones in stores as they could find, until they found a 'good one'.
For the life of me, I don't and never will understand why I'd buy some 40-year-old sled for stoopid money when I can buy a far better version of the same thing from new production right now. With digital production, they're far more consistent, as now the only real variable is the particular piece of wood, and today they're far more demanding as to what they'll buy and use and what they won't. Try five of the same thing now, and aside from the weight varying slightly, they're all good. It wasn't always this way . . . . .
For me, vintage is stuff that's not made any more, and likely will never be re-issued. For Fender, I'm talking Roscoe Becks, PB Lytes, 24-fret Jazz Basses, that kind of thing. Jazz basses I can buy till the cows come home, and it doesn't even have to be a Fender.
One JW's opinion. Your results may vary. . . .
I was looking at new Fenders in the 70's when I started out, and before the buyout that ended CBS ownership, they were still made by regular working guys and gals cutting out bodies with templates and bandsaws, and doing neck profiles using that Mark One Eyeball tool. I don't subscribe that every 70's Fender wasn't so hot, but certainly more than a few of them weren't all that, and a certain number of them were really good. In other words, with production methods changed little since the 50's, they could and did vary.
It was not uncommon for experienced guys to try as many new ones in stores as they could find, until they found a 'good one'.
For the life of me, I don't and never will understand why I'd buy some 40-year-old sled for stoopid money when I can buy a far better version of the same thing from new production right now. With digital production, they're far more consistent, as now the only real variable is the particular piece of wood, and today they're far more demanding as to what they'll buy and use and what they won't. Try five of the same thing now, and aside from the weight varying slightly, they're all good. It wasn't always this way . . . . .
For me, vintage is stuff that's not made any more, and likely will never be re-issued. For Fender, I'm talking Roscoe Becks, PB Lytes, 24-fret Jazz Basses, that kind of thing. Jazz basses I can buy till the cows come home, and it doesn't even have to be a Fender.
One JW's opinion. Your results may vary. . . .
Because they dont want a sx bass. They want a fender jazz bass.
This reminds me of a story I heard Paul Reed Smith tell (His huge factory is just up the road from where I live. He used to be in a small shop in downtown Annapolis). He talks about how people clamor over his old handmade guitars because they want an 'original' or a piece of history. But the guitars being made today by his 140+ employees are far superior. At one point, he decided to build 5 guitars that they would sell as a special handmade-by-Paul edition. When he finished the bodies, they all failed QC, got cut in half and discarded. Technology wins the QC war almost every time (I'm sure there are exceptions).
I think the same is true for vintage guitars versus what is being made today. My guess is, many Mexican Fenders are superior in quality to basses made in the 60s & 70s. But still... when I show someone my '69 Precision, I get a very different reaction than if I were to show them a brand new American Professional II (which I guarantee is far easier to play...lol).
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All of those things count. any of those things done to cars kills the collector value though. they want everything original even tires and such. numbers matching is the highest honor in classic cars. especially mopar where an all original ride can go well over 6 figures.
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