Stop the carnage!

[mburd]

I'd like to propose a moratorium on parting out intact and functional vintage basses. I'd also like to make a plea for some level of sanity on pricing of parts that have obvious and significant challenges. This guy totally kills me..

• no decal
• no tuners
• no finish
• truss rod nut drove in so far with too-big driver it splintered and cracked the neck (?!?!?!)

All for $2.3k? Does anybody here on this forum actually fall for this baloney? For real? sheesh..
C'mon kids.."don't cheap out"..

Not(intentionally) creating flame-bait..but actually interested in a mature discussion:
---can you rationalize paying uber-hyper buxe for vintage parts? Even if they're "compromised"?
---have you ever intentionally parted out a working vintage bass? why?

 

[kcole4001]

One point of view is there are usually a lot of people looking for that one or two last hard to find parts to finish a resto.
The sellers know this and charge a premium of course.

I do think it's a shame to dismember a perfectly good instrument to scrape a few more dollars from collector/resto folks, but it's their gear and I have no control over what they do with it.

I'm not a Fender player, so it doesn't really burn me as much as most, but the parting out thing isn't completely brand specific, I've seen quite a few fine Ricks parted out on ebay, and it's certainly no cheaper to piece one together than buy a fully assembled example unless you already have much of what's needed or are going to fabricate your own somehow (body, neck, etc.).

 

[bolophonic]

I am always amazed when people try to sell vintage Fender parts as "collectable" when the logos have been removed.

 

[agreatheight]

I'd like to propose a moratorium on people telling other people what to do with their property.

Look, I understand where you are coming from, but really?

 

[baileyboy]

I've purchased and sold a couple specific vintage parts on ebay. I like to keep my Fenders as close to "original" as possible, and apparently, so do others. If there wasn't a market for it, people wouldn't be doing it.

 

[mongo2]

I'd like to propose a moratorium on people telling other people what to do with their property.

+1

 

[HaMMerHeD]

I'd like to propose a moratorium on people telling other people what to do with their property.

Indeed.

 

[Munjibunga]

C'mon. They're just parts basses to begin with.

 

[mburd]

I'd like to propose a moratorium on people telling other people what to do with their property.

Look, I understand where you are coming from, but really?

The post was supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek; and intended to create discussion; not tell people what to do. I'm happy to find properly-priced vintage parts if/when I need them, but there are increasingly fewer unmolested parts as well as complete examples available for sane prices. As many of these instruments will be around long after we're gone, I feel some responsibility to the instrument for being an advocate for thoughtful custodianship and preserving originality. The bolt-together nature of their construction makes fenders particularly vulnerable. I'm not a vintage weenie per-se, but I'm advocating that careful consideration is given before forever separating parts joined in Fullerton. I care about the instrument more than just bossing people around.

Now pick up your room and walk the dog, or no x-box.

 

[mdogs]

If I was in the business of making money on Ebay, like a lot of these people are, and I could make more money by parting guitars out, I would do it in a heartbeat. It is called a FREE enterprise system. Why don't you take issue with players who put aftermarket parts on their collectible instruments and ruin the value?

 

[FunkMetalBass]

Where there's a market, there's someone exploiting it.

If I had parts that people considered vintage and would pay top dollar for, I'd do the same thing. I don't understand the whole vintage market anyway. I always choose function/aesthetic over the year of production, especially in terms of Fender basses where very few changes have been made over the years that affect either of them.