Should I make this trade?

[flannel cat]

nah...keep it,buy the other one and start a harem of cool thumpers.

 

[elgranluis]

Trade it for the vintera AND a bronco, that way you won’t miss the music master.

 

[bassbully]

I had a 72 musicmaster and while it was nice it’s somewhat limited tone wise. I would possibly do the deal if it’s a bass I needed and wanted. The market for a musicmaster will never be where other Fenders of that year will go to .

 

[rufus.K]

No.

Get a Harley Benton P to keep the cravings at bay.

 

[foolforthecity]

Don’t do it.

 

[Mrtoodamnsabre]

Musicmasters are pretty stable in value and it probably won’t appreciate a ton, but it’s valuable, but I think not so valuable you should part with a beloved bass like that. Besides the musicmaster sounds better than a p bass. I love my musicman basses, and the only fender I own, or ever felt like I had to get was a stock musicmaster bass. 70s fenders arent very consistent and musicmasters get modded a lot, so if you have one that is good, while it maybe be easy to get another musicmaster, it’s gonna be very hard to get one as good that plays as well as yours

 

[Mrtoodamnsabre]

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.

So is the Gibson sg. That’s halfway a joke, the musicmaster is the most CBS a CBS fender can be! Musicmasters in the 70s were made with fenders spare parts, mustang necks, strat pickups, tuners and bridges they had lying around. They’re as inconsistent as anything else offered in the 70s the Branco is the only thing close but materials and dimensions of the musicmaster are going to be 70s fender specs and not modern squire specs, including the pickups likely being scatter wound instead of machine wound. The Branco won’t be on ash, and the Branco won’t have the beefier 70s style neck or the nitro finish

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

the correct opinion! It’s the better bass, the p bass pickup doesn’t have as much thump. The musicmasters strat pickup puts the poles in really weird positions under the strings but mostly the strings sit between the poles, which makes it sound warmer and decreases sustain, combine that with the short scale format and it’s the thumpiest bass you can have.

someone on here said to move the pickups closer to the strings and this is also correct. A lot of people see the pickup and “hear” it as being thin because they think since it’s a guitar pickup it only can pick up guitar frequencies or something. Basically it’s the same sized magnets in a p or a j, but wound around a tighter bobbin, meaning a more scooped sound.

 

[Tommy Sparks]

Not me.

 

[jamro217]

Nope.

 

[BobDeRosa]

You didn't say why you "need something different." That might have influenced my vote. As it is, I voted to keep your Musicmaster.

 

[GroovyBaby]

I have decided to keep it. Any good recommendations for a 4 pole piece pickup replacement? I was thinking of a Curtis Novak MM Pickup.

I put in an Aero with exposed pole pieces and it sounds perfect. You can get them with or without exposed poles. Larry, the owner, lists them on Reverb but you can call direct if you want something special. It really is a clear and powerful sc pu that sounds huge!

 

[MultiScaleMale]

It’s a bass, not an investment. Which one plays better?

 

[braud357]

Every valuable pre-depreciated instrument will appreciate in value. It's already baked in the economic cake. You've heard the saying "a rising tide floats all boats". It doesn't take much looking back, even with modest inflation to see the impact of time. Back in 2013 a MIM Fender stratocaster could be had for $450-$500. Now? $700+ unless you get a lucky deal I was buying used Strats for $250 at the time. A guestimate of the increased valuation would be almost double in 10 years a good ROI without a lot of risk. With an (understated) inflation rate of near 9%, excess gasoline prices boosting prices of everything, what do you think will happen to the cost of everything? As new bass prices increase in prices it will drag used bass prices along with them, as long as there is a base customer who desires the particular brand/model.

I get it that some folks just don't want to be bothered with a stash and wait approach. Everyone has to make their own decisions. We haven't even talked about how much the owner paid for the vintage guitar or when.

But I think to say that a vintage guitar won't appreciate is probably on the wrong side of the equation.

This is my side of the discussion - it WLL appreciate in price if the item is desirable. To me, the Musicmaster is NOT desirable !

 

[FrenchBassQC]

!!!

 

[jazzman64]

I put in an Aero with exposed pole pieces and it sounds perfect. You can get them with or without exposed poles. Larry, the owner, lists them on Reverb but you can call direct if you want something special. It really is a clear and powerful sc pu that sounds huge!
View attachment 4681226

Do they sound good with picks?

 

[vindibona1]

This is my side of the discussion - it WLL appreciate in price if the item is desirable. To me, the Musicmaster is NOT desirable !

Having experience in such things, to an extent you are correct, but desirability only indicated how quickly a product will move and what price point will it sell at. The fact that inflation is raging SO fast that every hard asset will rise in value to some extent, some greater than others. It all depends on market condition. Granted it may take some years to gather appreciation. A lot of the equation is based on the value of the dollar and what you can buy now- and down the road. While I'm not predicting a scenario like the Weimar Republic, I am not certain how bad the economic situation is going to be. But be aware that the Fed has $9 trillion on its books that it will have to unload over whatever time. But that's on hell of a lot of money that was essentially "borrowed" starting with the stimulus checks and Covid Checks. The Fed has $9 trillion on their books that they will have to unload over time. Trust me, regardless of the techniques the Fed uses, printing and devaluing currency will be one of the main tools they use- because there aren't enough techniques to get the debt down fast enough.

IMO the OP should do whatever he feels is right at this time, knowing that it could be beneficial to wait to sell his vintage bass. Sometimes it's a mental thing rather than a rational fiscal thing that folks are comfortable with. However, the OP might look for a used instrument of what he wants to buy and sell his vintage bass outright. I dunno.. We're in confusing times.... except there is little confusion about what is going to happen to the short/mid term economy. That's already baked in the cake, unless we have some other catastrophe.