Question: Why is this bass worth $24,000?

[Grinderman]

I've had the experience of owning a piece of vintage Fender wood. In the early '90s I bought and sold a refinished, early '65 L-serial Fender Jazz Bass for a tiny fraction of what it would likely be worth now, let alone $24K.

That was one of so many idiotic decisions I've made in my 54 years of existence so far.

 

[Grinderman]

What the hell is that strap button doing on the back of the headstock for hanging on the wall??? defiantly not for playing. deals off im taking back my $24,000 offer its ruined

That a hootenanny button, a standard feature of '60s pre-CBS Fender basses.

 

[gnarlyWarlock]

The thumb rest is on the wrong side. Big red flag.

It's a tug bar scrub

 

[sleddogn]

new band...twisted panties....starring bassist with 24k axe....

 

[PunkNbass]

That a hootenanny button, a standard feature of '60s pre-CBS Fender basses.

really, are you pulling my leg or is that for real?

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Offer ‘em twenty grand. Worst they can say is no.

 

[Danny O Danny]

There are certain guitar stores who have adopted the business model of appealing to aging Baby Boomers who have plenty of disposable income to spend on nostalgic items to hang on the wall in their home office. There are a couple of these types of shops here in Seattle. It must be a lucrative business model, though I've noticed in the last couple of years that they don't seem to be moving inventory at the pace they once did. The flowery instrument descriptions on their websites are reminiscent of write-ups about vintage wines or cuts of Wagyu steak or Cuban cigars. The instruments are priced 30-50% above typical market price. Mike and Mike's literally has used instruments that you could drive three miles away from trendy Fremont to the The Trading Musician in the university district and buy for 30-50% less. The latter is a working musician's shop, whereas the former is geared towards collectors (both are fun to browse, and staffed by nice people).

 

[PunkNbass]

really, are you pulling my leg or is that for real?

well learn something new every day, I guess i never really noticed the hootenanny button on 60's P basses according to what i just found out they are like the thumb rest and put on those era basses im guessing most where removed in the 70's along with pickup and bridge covers.

 

[Grinderman]

really, are you pulling my leg or is that for real?

I've owned an L-serial number Fender bass but you need not believe me. It's easy to confirm.

The Fender Bass, An Illustrated History

 

[MonetBass]

It's only worth that if some dolt pays it. Simple economics.

 

[sonojono]

Reading these threads makes me want to post a Squier Affinity bass for $5k and have someone from talkbass talk about it

 

[Breeze3]

I was poking around Reverb and found this. I don't understand why it's worth so much. If it had some provenance, like it was owned by Duck Dunn or Steve Harris or someone, or was played on a well-known record, I could understand the asking price. But, this seems like they're asking waaaaay too much.

But, I'm new to basses, so I figured I'd ask here.

1963 Fender Precision Bass Vintage Pre-CBS Olympic White 100% Original w/ Blonde Case | Reverb

Only worth 24K if you want it and are willing to pay 24K for it.

 

[Gizmot]

It'll be interesting to see what this actually sells for. I did a Google search and there were several other Fenders of the same vintage that were asking for ~ $7,000 and some were less. Even if I won the lottery I wouldn't buy this bass.

 

[Grinderman]

It's a tug bar scrub

I must admit, it's an amusing anachronism. Imagine if Fender coined that term for that part now, with today's vernacular or slang... just sayin'.

Here's the copy for the marketing tagline: "Do you play with yours?"

 

[2cooltoolz]

I'd buy it in a minute.

If they let us have credit cards here at the asylum.

Seriously, it's a beautiful bass. It'll go into some rich guy's collection.

 

[jdh3000]

Why is anything worth anything? Because someone asks and someone else is willing to pay for it...

Why was gold ever worth worth anything? Because it was declared to have value and a currency was based on it..."Gold ain't good for nothing except for making false teeth" - Walter Huston-Treasure of the Sierra Madre

If no one EVER shelled this kind of dough for such things, we'd never such things for sale at those prices. But they do, so they do

It being worth more than the cost of the labor and materials is illusion. No one needs that much profit.

 

[mrperkolator]

The better question is how long can that item maintain such a high asking price? Generally speaking, once those that hold that nostalgia die, the items drop in value. I'd bet younger bassists will not care about 60's vintage near as much as older generations of bassists.

I'd bet that many, if not most boomer collectables will not be worth 80% of their current value in 15 years. My grandfather collected coins. Worth a lot to him. Once he was gone.... we got face value for the coins. Now, my kids don't know who's face is on the nickel. Somehow they know my debit card pin number though....

 

[lowfreqgeek]

It being worth more than the cost of the labor and materials is illusion. No one needs that much profit.

Who are you to determine how much profit one "needs"?

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

Who's going to lust after a Squier Affinity?

I can see it happening with how good they're getting in recent times. That may not last. Someone in 2029 might be screaming for a 2017 Affinity because they only made them this well for a limited time.

 

[Grinderman]

The better question is how long can that item maintain such a high asking price? Generally speaking, once those that hold that nostalgia die, the items drop in value. I'd bet younger bassists will not care about 60's vintage near as much as older generations of bassists.

I'd bet that many, if not most boomer collectables will not be worth 80% of their current value in 15 years. My grandfather collected coins. Worth a lot to him. Once he was gone.... we got face value for the coins. Now, my kids don't know who's face is on the nickel. Somehow they know my debit card pin number though....

The numbers of these things gradually vanish through attrition. They transitioned from banal affordable consumer products (albeit instruments) of mid-century modern America to venerable trusted player-grade instruments steeped in history musical recordings and live performance for about 4 or 5 generations. From there they gain legendary or folklore-like status among a narrow subset group of odd fetishistic Antiques-Roadshow collector nerds, less actual musicians, which transitions to an even more rarefied group of historians and museum curators.