"Sting-Owned" '76 P Bass on EBay

I don't understand it either, but there is a market for collector pieces like this. I know a few guys in the guitar collecting business and some 1-2K guitars, played on certain tours, can fetch 80-100 grand.

 

Love Sting as much as anyone (or more than most, it seems) but I wouldn't buy that bass for that price, if I had the money. A highly speculative price on a much, much less expensive item were it not owned by Sting.

 

It would be fun to see, on-air, what the guys on "Pawn Stars" would pay for this bass.

 

About 1/4 of the appraisal.

 

And like many, if they could get their hands on it, at 1/4 the stated value on ebay, they'd probably turn around and sell it for 1/2 the value of what was stated on ebay, and making sure you knew about the "bargain" they got which they are passing along to you, then new owner.

 

Well lookie there....old Sting himself owned one of those rotten piece of crap 70's Fenders

 

Yeah, pawn shops, including the one on "Pawn Stars," typically pay practically nothing, WAY less than value. I wouldn't advise any musician to take their gear to one of those places, unless it was just pure, unwanted junk (just to see if they'd bite).

But I'd love to see if, for the show, they'd bring in some experts to appraise its value, and which experts they would bring in.

By the way, who ARE the experts for appraising vintage/collectible rock 'n' roll gear? Are there one or two generally recognized as being the best? Just curious.

 

That fretboard sure is pretty fretted-looking for a fretless.

 

They have a "guitar guy" he has done work for them and also appriased there guitars, he new his stuff though. Looked like he was in his late 20's and he was on an episode involving a gibson les paul some old hair metal dude owned.

 

The most recognizable name in vintage instrument verification is George Gruhn:

http://www.gruhn.com/

 

http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2010/04/1960-gibson-les-paul-on-pawn-stars/

 

it looks like it had the frets removed and filled, hence the lines.

 

Thats the one! that guy knows his stuff about guitars though.

 

That's weird, I only recall Sting playing fretlesses that were fretless "out of the box" live. But yeah it might very well be defretted.

 

Ok also I have seen sting play alot of fretless basses but the only P basses were a red-ish one and a natural one without lines i know he could play unlined fretless as he also had other fretless basses like some ibanez's and I think warwicks all without lines, so if he owned this its not even a very popular bass of his, probably a back up or something.

 

What no "Stinglay"

 

thanks. I'll check out his site.

 

Yes sir, the 70's P fretless version had a plain unlined maple/rosewood fingerboard (without dots), also the bridge is not original.

 

Funny...

Signatures on the body like that actually devalue an instrument's monetary worth...the only value it raises is for someone who collects Sting stuff specifically and what they might shell out for it is up to the collector. A lot of people don't realize that...

It also doesn't make the bass more valuable that Sting played/owned it.

Unless it's Jaco's fretless "Bass of Doom", or Geddy's 1972 Fender Jazz bass, it really doesn't matter who claims who played/owned the bass at one point or another.

Its just another defretted, 76 P, sadly devalued with a sharpie pen.

For instance: A buddy of mine got a smoking deal on a real 57 Les Paul Junior last year because it actually had a signature, by Les Paul himself, on the body of the guitar. Yes, Les Paul's sig actually devalued his own guitar. If you guys know how much those guitars are worth, then I'll tell ya, he got it for around $2k. That's dirt cheap.

After he bought it, he spent a good amount of money having a professional carefully remove the marker signature while preserving the original finish underneath. Now you can barely see the marker residue, and the value on the guitar has come back up.