Should I make this trade?

[Topkat13]

Maybe and I just don’t know. Hope this helps.

 

[BarfanyShart]

The Musicmaster seems more valuable, more collectible, and you like it ... I don't know what the advantage of the full-scale P-bass are to you, and I am assuming you cannot afford to by the P-bass any other way, but the trade doesn't seem like a great deal on its face. You might want to throw it up on TB for trade and see if you get some more exciting offers.

 

[fhm555]

Where does all this speculation that current production basses will not appreciate. Just a few short years ago I was buying MIM j basses for $200~$500 depending on condition. I’m currently selling those basses for $700~$900. I’ve got some MIA j basses bought in recent years and they are selling for about the same thing I gave for them so the idea that Mexican basses won’t go up is simply not true. The question is how long will the current pandemic driven trend in pricing continue?

 

[Evets1987]

It depends on if you own a P bass or not..

 

[S-Bar]

I agree with keeping what you have and saving up or just straight buying the other, alway add more to your arsenal
#basslife

 

[DrBnz]

Nah..... keep the Musicmaster. If you're bored with it, take off and store the original pickguard/pickup. Then build up a 2nd pickguard with a S.D. 1/4 Ib in there for a change of pace. Now if you want a Vintera P-bass that's a separate issue.... don't involve the Musicmaster. HAHAHA

 

[blastoff]

you claim to have a refinished music master, but i have not seen any pictures……..

 

[wheelsup247]

Trade a 1970’s American made Fender (that you love) for a 2020’s Made In Mexico Fender? That’s a decision the owner has to make, and hopefully not regret.

 

[mbell75]

Hello folks...I have a 1972 Musicmaster that is refinished. It plays great and I love everything about it, but I need something different and I am looking at a Fender 50s Vintera P-Bass. At my local music store, I have the opportunity to do a full trade for it. Should I go for it? Is it worth it?

Do it! A Squier Bronco is basically a modern MusicMaster. Buy a used Bronco and mod it out. That way you'll have a killer little bass for about $400 AND a Vintera! I mean lets be honest. The MusicMaster was a crap student instrument that only kids who couldn't afford a Mustang bought until hipsters in indie rock bands came along a few years ago playing them and now they are "vintage" lol. Its still an entry level sub par instrument. Same with Jack White making awful, plastic 60s guitars "vintage". Crap that was sitting in pawn shops for $50 no one wanted, now they sell for thousands. Comical.

 

[dragonrob1952]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but, through today, if you have a Guitar Center Gear Card you can get the 50's Vintera for $23 a month for 48 months, interest free and get $54 back in rewards.
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[chris_b]

If you have to ask us whether this is a good trade or not, means, deep down, you don't think it is.

So don't do it.

 

[GregT]

I wouldn't trade my 1978 Musicmaster for even a brand new American Professional II Precision bass! So, you know my vote.

 

[BAG]

You say you love your Musicmaster so in your shoes I definitely would not trade it.

A Pbass is not something magical and you can get that sound and feel much cheaper, particularly if you are not in a mad rush to get one. Scan the second hand market and pick up a Squire Pbass cheaply or a MIM Pbass still quite cheaply.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

If you already like your Musicmaster, then keep it. Why not just buy (or put a plan together to buy in the future) the P-bass as an additional bass?

If were me, this would certainly be the plan, but I don’t get gas…. Good post.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Hello folks...I have a 1972 Musicmaster that is refinished. It plays great and I love everything about it, but I need something different and I am looking at a Fender 50s Vintera P-Bass. At my local music store, I have the opportunity to do a full trade for it. Should I go for it? Is it worth it?

Do what you want. But, you can always buy another bass. Very seldomly, do you get to buy your bass back. And if you do, it could very well be at a higher price.

 

[beatdatthang]

Buy a used Squier affinity P bass for $100 and keep your music master. Then you’ll have 2 basses, one of which you know you like, the other that’s 80-90% of the bass you’re considering trading for. A P bass is a P bass. They just are. There’s no magical formula that makes a more expensive one “better” than another. Sure, there are some different options and colors and stuff but by and large, one P bass sounds just like and plays a lot like any other no matter whose name is on the headstock or how much you spent on it.

 

[truand85]

Hell no. Sell the music master, buy 5 vinteras...

 

[BBassBassington]

Just buy any cheap Squier/Fender P Bass and mod it over time. (Or find a used Godin Freeway, amazing PJ.) P basses are everywhere and very easy to get right. Even for $100 you can get a playable bass.

Keep your Musicmaster.

 

[2F/2F]

If the Vintera is a great bass, and it suits you better, then make the trade. The shop is offering you significantly too much credit for your bass, IMO and IME. They have probably $600 or $700 into procuring that Vintera (if it's brand new), and your bass is worth less than that.

Musicmasters are $750 – $1,000 local pickups, IF they are in nice shape and have the original everything. Beat and/or non-original, then less. Your refinish cuts that in half, and will also severely limit its appreciation over the coming decades, as clean, original examples (somewhat rare on student models) become more prized.

I'm not sure why they are offering you so much for it. Maybe they are stupidly not dinging it for its refin, and thinking they'll sell it for $1,200 or something like that. But, they are actually offering you more than its reasonable retail price in trade in, so...jump on it. The Vinteras are quite nice, and if history has shown us anything, it's that Fender doesn't let nice things stick around forever...then they often have a spike in market value. It's thoroughly feasible that if you get the Vintera now, you'll be able to sell it without a loss in 20 or 30 years (as people who bought new MIJ Fenders in the '80s and '90s are now doing).

And FWIW, a '75 Musicmaster is the bass I have played more than any other in my near 35 years of bass playing...so my opinion has nothing to do with Musicmaster scorn. I'm a very big fan of them.

As for the pickup, it doesn't need to be replaced. Just raise it, and use heavy strings (I use 50–110 Rotosound 77s). Musicmaster Bass pickups are flat poled, with sunken outer poles, underneath a plastic cover. You need to get the top of the cover closer to the strings than most pickups, in order to get "normal" output and low end from the bass. It can help to remove the cover, sometimes, if you are experiencing a lot of contact between your strings and the pickup cover. My Musicmasters are bone stock, and kick like mules.

 

[2F/2F]

If it is build in the seventies, has Fender on the headstock and is in working order, not modded too hard, it'll net you a grand, even if it's a Musicmaster.

A refin is definitely "modded too hard" to net that.